Andor

Everything about the prison... my god. Andy Serkis is hammering it out of the park as Kino. I was thinking "with only 12 episodes It amazing that they are spending all these episodes on this Prison..." and then I realized that we only just got to the prison during Episode 8 last week. I don't know what sort of voodoo Gilroy is employing to make me completely invested in characters after one fucking week, but everyone needs to support that man in his endeavors.

Now on the subject of Syril Karn. Everything with him and his mother, a woman who is a true bitch and yet never stretches credulity. There is a certain logic to her and its easy to fall into her point of view which makes her, somehow, even more horrific. Stalking Dedra and being a total creep in what he sees as a full-fledged redemption arc. Complete psychopath and yet chillingly relatable.

Then Mon Mothma standing alone. Caught in a loveless marriage, mother to a vapid daughter, trying her best to do what's right but is ultimately alone. Her speech in the Senate, in silence, with all the lights turning out from the podiums as people turned away from her words. The shot of her standing alone in the doorway after Val leaves. To rebel requires coordination but also near total isolation. Its setting up the eventual payoff when the Alliance to Restore the Republic actually gets to the point where its a coordinated gathering of forces and the sheer sense of joy and relief that will bring and how that sense of community will inspire them to fight hard to maintain and grow it. I'd like to see more explicit manifestations of the human-bias in the Empire and Mon using that to recruit more and more "alien" species to the cause.