DarthDementous

I thought I was losing my mind by how much I just openly and loudly wept and sobbed at the end but it's good to know that episode was just that affecting. I'm never going to forget the scene with Syril choking Dedra out of abject horror and Dedra completely breaking down at the end as the weight of what she's enabled hits her all at once

I don't think I've ever had a watching experience like it, what made it especially intense is that I've been having issues with hypertension in my upper body, and because of how much that entire episode made me clench my muscles, right around the point the massacre started and Syril absolutely gunned it for Andor the muscle tension was starting to cut off my blood-flow so I felt like I was nearly going to faint. certainly made it more immersive as if I was actually in the chaos of that plaza but jesus christ, I seriously considered whether I should've just waited to watch episode 9 another time but my body eventually calmed down so I persisted

I was in a slight fugue state for episode 9 so that's definitely going to need a rewatch

legitimately can't stop thinking about this arc even the day after watching, wasn't ever expecting Star Wars of all things to traumatize me

from this post it's pretty clear the only person that's part of the low IQ crowd is yourself

it's the first organized effort against the Emperor (then the Chancellor) but it's not the Rebellion which is an extrajudicial organisation, they were discussing an alliance in the Senate which Mon realises throughout the course of Andor is no longer a viable place to try and fight the Empire from

even though it's deleted, that scene fits into the overall continuity

I'm getting that feeling, and you're right about Luthen expecting this was always the direction things were going to go in. I hadn't really realized until this arc but Luthen is fundamentally incompatible with what the Rebel Alliance has become and yet he's such an important proto-phase of it, but his use especially by 1BBY I think is going to come to an end

Andor 2x07 Messenger
 
These first episodes of each arc all have some whiplash to them as you have to catch up on changing circumstances that only get revealed casually through conversations, like we're actually watching the end of a season long arc that we just didn't get to see the full season of.  Suddenly Luthen is kind of marginalized, not a central figure in The Rebellion (he doesn't even appear in this episode).  Cassian is more interested in getting things going on Yavin than Luthen's mission that Wil flies to deliver.  For some reason, I am suspect about Wil.  It's not just that we last saw him huffing fuel fumes with Saw, but also that he refuses to say where he came from, and just his general change in demeanor.  What's going on with him?
 
It's funny, I posted earlier in this thread that I hope the show never has The Force, Jedi, lightsabers, etc... and yet, these damn writers have someone worked The Force into the show in this episode and I thought it was really cool.  I liked that it was a mutual exchange between Cassian and this un-named force healer; with him getting some relief from his blaster wound and her having some kind of cathartic new connection to the force, like a faith restored kind of thing, that I really enjoyed watching.  She also that that Cassian is a messenger, and I don't know if that means his role in delivering the Death Star plans in the movie or something that will happen on the show.  Cool scene, though!
 
Another really good scene was Partagaz letting Dedra know that their scientists have been unable to come up with a synthetic alternative, and that Ghorman will have to be mined for its mineral thingy, and so, how does he say it? "Bad luck Ghorman"?  I am glad that as lightly as he takes imminent genocide that they are causing, Dedra is actually upset and clearly doesn't want to do it - but seemingly will do her part anyway.  I quite enjoyed all of Syril's scenes this episode.  Dedra is not telling him anything she's not supposed to, but he's no dummy.  He's going to figure out what's going on and i can't wait to see how he's handling it.  Dedra implores him to get off the planet but I think he'll be sticking around.
 
I also liked when Vel came to visit Bix to talk about Andor.  Seems like she was basically instructed to remind Bix that Andor is ready to be a leader but that is more stuff we have to take on faith since most of his missions seem to happen off-screen in between arcs.  I really hope both of these characters get really cool stuff to do this arc and aren't only here to talk about what the boys are up to!  Again we barely check in with Mon Mothma (she's really gotten the short thrift so far this season, I wonder if that will change).
 
Andor and WIl arriving on Ghorman to try to assassinate Dedra was a pretty fun ending.  It was moody and it seems like it's going to be a hard mission, with all kinds of talk of added Imperial measures, not to mention Andor seeing them everywhere.  Can't wait to see what happens next!

Dedra in a nutshell

I think Senate Escape Suite is a suite arrangement of a new theme for Mon Mothma. I think I heard it a few times in some of her scenes in this batch of episodes.
 
Also, a nice little detail I found in episode 2:
 
This section plays when Cassian leaves the jungle planet and it's revealed to be Yavin IV, and this very same theme becomes the Yavin IV theme in these episodes, playing in the scene where we see the rebel base at the start of episode 7, and a few times afterwards for some of Cassian and Bix's scenes there:
 

Brasso is pretty openly with Talia so that wouldn't have worked
 

Not about the money this time. It's about her growing realisation that the friend she's known her whole life and thought she could trust is turning out to be a complete failure and an active threat to the cause she's pledged herself too, and how that affects her and how she comes to terms with that severe conflict of interest

The point is what was seemingly resolved in Season 1 was actually a ticking time bomb waiting to go off and it's another part of Mon's life that's starting to be at odds with the direction her new life is taking

I thought I was losing my mind by how much I just openly and loudly wept and sobbed at the end but it's good to know that episode was just that affecting. I'm never going to forget the scene with Syril choking Dedra out of abject horror and Dedra completely breaking down at the end as the weight of what she's enabled hits her all at once

I don't think I've ever had a watching experience like it, what made it especially intense is that I've been having issues with hypertension in my upper body, and because of how much that entire episode made me clench my muscles, right around the point the massacre started and Syril absolutely gunned it for Andor the muscle tension was starting to cut off my blood-flow so I felt like I was nearly going to faint. certainly made it more immersive as if I was actually in the chaos of that plaza but jesus christ, I seriously considered whether I should've just waited to watch episode 9 another time but my body eventually calmed down so I persisted

I was in a slight fugue state for episode 9 so that's definitely going to need a rewatch

legitimately can't stop thinking about this arc even the day after watching, wasn't ever expecting Star Wars of all things to traumatize me

And the problem for me is that I didn't like him from the start - he felt very insincere in the first half, then when he changed, it went from insincere to twat. For such a twist to work you've got to make the character undergo such a radical transformation that the audience feels as betrayed as Ruby felt, whereas I was just like 'meh... didn't like him anyway'.
 
You're probably right that it's a hands-off approach from RTD, particuarly if it's just a standalone story with little or no bearing on the series story arc. The idea had promise and I did like Kate's 'solution' and dilemma, but it feels like inexperienced writing, possibly combined with questionable casting or directing.

Oddly, Vol. 3 doesn't appear for me on spotify but it does in other places like YouTube. Anyone else having the same issue?

I am glad I can relive the tension of 2x8 in my own room now
because geez

Real life often isn't very cinematic, is it?
 
But indeed, it's a very sour note to leave on. 
Especially seeing that the twat immediately gets released from his fate right after by our Repeated Mystery Woman Number Two.

I LOVED this part of Mothma's speech!
 
 

Just watched episodes 7 and 8 and came here to say wow, that was brutal. I was expecting things to go wrong really soon in Ghorman but man, that was hard to watch. The way they slowly let you know the Empire's plans to escalate the conflict to justify their counterattack, and the way the tension builds through the whole sequence with the anthem and all... Loved it, but kept me clenching my fists the whole time. I'll probably watch episode 9 tomorrow but that was some of the best Star Wars stuff I've seen in quite some time.
 
Also, Roberts' music was on point!

I thought I was losing my mind by how much I just openly and loudly wept and sobbed at the end but it's good to know that episode was just that affecting. I'm never going to forget the scene with Syril choking Dedra out of abject horror and Dedra completely breaking down at the end as the weight of what she's enabled hits her all at once

I don't think I've ever had a watching experience like it, what made it especially intense is that I've been having issues with hypertension in my upper body, and because of how much that entire episode made me clench my muscles, right around the point the massacre started and Syril absolutely gunned it for Andor the muscle tension was starting to cut off my blood-flow so I felt like I was nearly going to faint. certainly made it more immersive as if I was actually in the chaos of that plaza but jesus christ, I seriously considered whether I should've just waited to watch episode 9 another time but my body eventually calmed down so I persisted

I was in a slight fugue state for episode 9 so that's definitely going to need a rewatch

legitimately can't stop thinking about this arc even the day after watching, wasn't ever expecting Star Wars of all things to traumatize me

I understand your point. I guess I was too dismissive of it in that case. I loved the new Who of the last 20 years, but haven't rewatched some of those considered great episodes since then. And I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't as good as I remember. I just kind of was flat with it. I felt the dialogue was weak and the performances were too extreme. Of course I understand it was portraying a condensed timeline of paranoia, but I felt it could've been done better. And I remember the copying creature being more sinister, yet was quite unimpressed on rewatch. 

I also loved that little introductory bit with Syril playing with his spider toys. He's grown attached to the place and just wants to help it, even if as an unsung hero playing a little bit dirty but for a greater good. The Empire pushed away a good asset because of an open turn to raw evil just for power and control over any however thin veil of morals or ideals. And thinking back, Dedra's reaction to the group of riot cops just being kids hits harder, she knows they're there to be shot down intentionally and hesitates to give the order.
 
Also like how this show managed to make stormtroopers scary! Most of the time it's people we're dealing with, faces uncovered, personalities, backstories, lives, only when shit gets real do the faceless skeleton mask special forces come in.

I thought I was losing my mind by how much I just openly and loudly wept and sobbed at the end but it's good to know that episode was just that affecting. I'm never going to forget the scene with Syril choking Dedra out of abject horror and Dedra completely breaking down at the end as the weight of what she's enabled hits her all at once

I don't think I've ever had a watching experience like it, what made it especially intense is that I've been having issues with hypertension in my upper body, and because of how much that entire episode made me clench my muscles, right around the point the massacre started and Syril absolutely gunned it for Andor the muscle tension was starting to cut off my blood-flow so I felt like I was nearly going to faint. certainly made it more immersive as if I was actually in the chaos of that plaza but jesus christ, I seriously considered whether I should've just waited to watch episode 9 another time but my body eventually calmed down so I persisted

I was in a slight fugue state for episode 9 so that's definitely going to need a rewatch

legitimately can't stop thinking about this arc even the day after watching, wasn't ever expecting Star Wars of all things to traumatize me

I have not watched the episodes yet, but someone told me that music from Rogue One was referenced (perhaps in the Force healer scene), is this true?

Or "Sky Battle" from Deathly Hallows Part 1. The mixture of new material and Williams' themes is genuinely pretty clever and subtle, while still being an exciting action piece on its own.

That was so harrowing. I cried at one point due to the dread. I cried when they sang. I cried a lot, actually.
 
Syril's face when Andor didn't know who he was was fantastic. Perfect ending for him.
 
Mothma saying genocide and us immediately cutting to Bail. Excellent.
 
I do agree that this all felt like a (really great) ending. Curious where this goes next week, but I'm a bit wary because some clunky prequelitis was starting to rear its head a bit.

Ep8... man.
 
I knew I liked Ghorman but I didn't quite realise how much, in just a couple episodes. Add to that the previously discussed "people/culture coming together" aspect, the music (that anthem!!), the fact that this might have been the first arc I watched properly on the TV while alone at home, plus some pent up real world emotions/frustrations, some related to themes discussed in this arc, and... yeah. By the middle of the episode I was tearing up a bit like at Maarva's funeral march, but by the end I was properly ugly crying and shaking a bit, especially as the song came back for the credits, then transitioned into a subdued main theme.
 
I knew Syril wouldn't be OK with this with his sense of justice but it was surprising how much even Dedra was hating it, dissociating and focusing on what comes after, having to collect herself before the calls, and of course the ending. I wonder where she'll end up in the final arc.

this is actually a pretty good discussion topic for the thread, so whilst I am concerned we're going to get into conspiracy territory again we can at least launch the discussion and ignore anytime it dips into that

when you say perceived health I assume you mean how I think the general public looks at the franchise rather than how I do, and to that I would say there's still an appetite for some live-action content, any animated content that isn't explicitly targeted at young kids, and an anxiety but also disenfranchisement around the idea of Star Wars being back in the cinemas again. as a franchise, I think the IP is perceived as quite healthy, but as a movie institution I think Star Wars has basically lost every foothold it once had and now resembles something closer to what it was post Prequels and pre Sequel Trilogy

that being said, in terms of commercial and cultural viability this might actually be the best move right now. movie franchises that don't adapt to the streaming model are basically dying because cinema itself is losing its cultural foothold rapidly, and Star Wars got in at a good time to the streaming game with a strategy to create content that appeals to all different kinds of fans, and I think only really in the last couple of years or so have they finally started making good on this promise with shows like Andor and Skeleton Crew

as for the vibe of the audience itself, the culture war really ripped through and fragmented everyone when TLJ came out but I'm getting the feeling this sort of thing is starting to become embers that still has the chance of igniting in the right circumstances but isn't the forest fire it once was. I think the continued success of Andor, a highly diverse and leftist show, has and is helping bridge gaps in that regard. a lot of the people who get caught up in the anti-woke movement don't really come to it from political motivations but rather the feeling that overtly left leaning media is of poor quality and since the vast majority of any media at this scale is left-leaning, there's far more failures than successes purely from a statistical level

the fandom I think remains pretty dedicated and the particularly hardcore fans respond well to the less popular mediums (books, comics) which have had a higher quality overall than the popular mediums of this franchise

I base my perceptions primarily off my own experiences and observations with different types of people and groups within the audience of Star Wars as well as my own thoughts and feelings as someone who fits into the 'hardcore' segment of Star Wars fans willing to consume basically content from any medium. I've also acquired scattered bits of media production knowledge over the years so there's some extrapolation based on that, and probably media analysis from others that I've absorbed over the years

I don't think you really get to choose whether other people's opinions affect your own since it's inevitable they will, but I try to distinguish between my beliefs and beliefs I've inherited without realizing by scrutinizing why I hold a belief and making sure I can actually explain why by engaging in discussion with opposing viewpoints frequently