This is the latest episode so far so I'll start with this, but I'll try to circle back to the previous episodes soon...
For now, we are on the 2nd episode of the, I suppose, 3rd arc in this season, which centers on the prison camp Narkina 5 (for Andor's part in the story, at least).
...
Dedra gives (or tries to give) the impression that she does not want to hurt Bix unnecessarily in the interrogation, but she doesn't really care. What's important is that she gets the info she needs.
Dr. Gorst's method is interesting. What is it again? Has something to do with the sound of a certain species/people dying... Psychological torture, I guess. I wonder how it is different from what Leia was supposed to undergo with the needle in A New Hope. Where was Dr. Gorst then? Or is Dr. Gorst going to die before 1 BBY so there was no one to carry out his process by that time, and they had to resort to other less effective methods?
Meanwhile, in Narkina, Keef (Cassian) is apparently trying to familiarize himself with how things work at the prison. This is because he is trying to figure out a way to escape. But Kino, the leader of Keef's shift sees what he's doing and disapproves, which is why he refuses to answer Keef's question about how many guards there are on each level. Still, it seems Keef has made friends enough in the shift group and has found others, even in the other tables, who also would want to escape.
And meanwhile, Mon Mothma is having a harder and harder time getting other people in the Senate to listen to her, though there are still some who were shouting support.
Something I did not see coming, though, was that Vel turns out to be Mon's cousin. Lol! And I thought people were right that she must have been Luthen's daughter. xD Turns out she's a rich girl who seems to really be committed to the rebellion.
Back in Narkina, Keef continues to try to question Kino who refuses to give him info he wants. Kino tells him to be careful, but Keef insists nobody is listening so it's safe to talk. He believes nobody cares enough to do so. (And to be honest, I agree with him. :P More on this later. ;) )
Now, there are a few names I should probably recognize but don't (I confess there's a lot of things I don't know. I'm just a casual Star Wars fan, I suppose, if at all...) like Maya Pei. I think the name has been mentioned already. Maybe last episode? Maybe by Saw Gerrera? But I'm not sure who that's supposed to be. Probably the leader of one of the groups going against the Empire, for sure.
Anyway, Dedra is slowly but surely getting what she wants done. But somehow, somehow... I'm starting to worry for her assistant, Heert. :P
In Narkina, there is rumor that a whole room (level 2, room 5, both shifts, 100 men) have been killed off. Tensions are getting high, but Kino orders them to keep their mouths shut for now, until they find out what's going on. As Keef said, it's better if the prison guards think they know nothing.
Syril Karn and his mother's relationship still puzzle me. :P I can't quite tell if they hate each other or if they just love each other in some weird way. Well, maybe both. Perhaps Syril hates his mother, while his mother loves him in some weird way. Yeah, maybe that's it. xD
Another thing I did not quite expect is Syril turning creepy, stalking Dedra like that... Is this what his obsession with Cassian does to him? There's some weird motivations here I don't quite fully understand yet. Does he like her somehow? Or is he just pretending to like her in order to get close to her because he believes she is the way he can find Andor? But whatever motivation he has, this somehow goes back to what I said earlier about me getting worried for Heert. Because here's the thing... Dedra, I believe, is first and foremost concerned about herself only. As Blevin said, she wants to go up the ranks, and she doesn't really want to share her success with anyone else, I believe. So... I doubt that what Syril is trying to do will work. But who knows, maybe it will. But in any case, Heert is in trouble because he is starting to show more initiative than what Dedra wants. And I have a feeling Dedra will shoot him down before long to make sure he doesn't, unwittingly or not, steal her thunder.
Yet another name I don't know if I should know: Davo Sculdun. Who is that? And I wonder if Tay is really trustworthy, or did Mon make a mistake with him? We'll find out eventually, I guess...
Oh, another name: Anto Kreegyr. I think he was mentioned previously already... My list of names to possibly look up is getting longer. xD Or I could just wait for the show to introduce them to me more. ;) That, or I might read a comment, or hear a reactor somewhere, give more info about them. :P
Now, Ulaf's story is sad... Ulaf is the old man in Keef's table. He supposedly only has 41 days left (as of the start of the episode) before he should be set free. The group shows concern for him, and Keef partners with him so that he could take on most of Ulaf's work himself, so Ulaf doesn't have to exert himself so much. Plus, and probably more importantly, the work can get done more quickly. And Kino just wants to get him through his last 40 shifts and get him home... But he suffers a massive stroke and the medic (also one of the prisoners apparently) had to put him down.
This medic told them what happened on level 2. A prisoner who's just been released from level 4, ended up back in level 2. Word got out, (and perhaps the prisoners on level 2 said or did something the guards deemed disruptive,) so they killed everyone on level 2. Point is: no one is getting out. Melshi was right. And the thing Kino is trying to hold on to - that they just need to behave and do their job until they finish their sentence and they can go home - is gone. So finally he gives Keef the info he keeps asking for.
...
And that's the episode!
Oooooh! I liked it. :D
Definitely gearing up for the final part of this arc in the next episode, which I expect might have a prison break or something? 'Or something' could also be the prisoners taking over the prison since the prisoners seem to vastly outnumber the prison guards...
Which somehow relates to the title of this episode. Nobody's listening! And as I said above, I actually agree with Cassian on this.
The empire doesn't care.
I saw a comment on a reaction to the previous episode saying if the Empire wanted efficiency, they would have used droids instead of prisoners.
I can't remember now if I was able to reply to that comment, but I was thinking... was efficiency even their goal? Or was the work just secondary, and their primary want is to exert power and control over people who don't align themselves right away with the empire?
And as Cassian says in this episode, "We are nothing to them. Melshi's right. We're cheaper than droids and easier to replace."
It's a recurring and underlying theme, isn't it? What was it Cassian said to Luthen in the first arc? Something about he can just walk in pretending that he belongs and no one notices because it never occurs to them that someone like him can come in and steal from them. They constantly look down on everyone else. Just look at how the commandant on Aldhani talked about the Dhanis, and in this episode how Dr. Gorst talked about the Dizonites. (Btw, that Dr. Gorst actor looked like he was really enjoying the thought of the massacre of a people. What a psycho! Lol. The actors in this show are really doing great, imo.) To them, people have no value.
And what's amusing to me is that I've had this impression even before Andor came out. It occurred to me while watching Mandalorian, particularly that episode on Morak with Mayfeld. To the empire, people have no value, even their own troops. How many thousands of Imperial troops did Mayfeld say they lost? A whole division? Their own troops, and they don't care. They're all expendable. And then I thought maybe that's why stormtrooper armor barely works like armor, because the empire doesn't care if their troops die. Just replace them with some more...
Anyway, going back to Andor. Nobody's listening. No one cares.
But of course, they're listening now after the announcement. :P
Yes, there are many 'fat and satisfied' people in the empire who will underestimate and not notice... but there are a few smart ones like Dedra who will. But they have another problem which might be their undoing. As I mentioned above, they seem pretty selfish and self-serving, and would likely trample over their peers to get themselves ahead.
