Andor - S02E03 - Harvest

[00:00:01] Hey Mark, I was listening to Paramore the other day and it really made me think about the amygdala and the limbic system. You just made those words up, didn't you? What, Paramore? We're the Nevermind the Music Podcast, where one musician and one psychologist talk songwriting and the mind, one song at a time. We'll hear everything from Green Day and OutKast to Stevie Wonder and Dua Lipa. And we mostly try to stay on topic. Except for when we don't want to. Nevermind the Music, wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:00:27] We're on this Delta Squadron, on your left. Anyone else on this comm link, send all transmissions.

[00:01:11] Welcome to The Lorehounds Andor Podcast. I'm David from The Lorehounds and we're your guides to a galaxy far, far away. This is our coverage of Episode 3 of Andor Season 2 titled Harvest. With the weekly triple drops for the season, we're doing our coverage Squadron style. John will be handling the first episode every week, Alicia the second, and then I'll be covering the third.

[00:01:39] And for each podcast, we'll be bringing in a different co-pilot. Before I introduce the co-pilot for today, I just wanted to give a couple of quick spoiler warnings and content warnings. First, we're going to be talking about the assault against Bix towards the end of the podcast. And if that's something that I just want to make sure that everybody is comfortable with that conversation and I will give a warning before we get into that topic. We won't be doing a lot on it, but I just want to make sure that if you need to bounce

[00:02:09] out, I'll give you a warning before we get into that stuff. And then the other warning is all things Star Wars. All Andor, all books, all legends, all canon, everything, it's all on the table. Uh, my co-pilot today is Ron Dawson. Ron, it's been a minute. How have you been? As well as can be expected, David, as well as can be expected. I feel like we're watching a blueprint. Right? I'll just leave it there. Yeah.

[00:02:38] It's really, it's weird. It's chilling in a way that it's, uh, so prescient. Yeah. Yeah. And this particular episode, uh, you brought up at the top, the song pick that particular scene is right on the nose for some things that are happening in the world. As a matter of fact, we'll assume. Yeah. Not what happened to her, just the conversation that led up to it. Yeah. Absolutely. And the whole situation around them. So anyway, what's your hot take for the episode?

[00:03:08] Um, and we can talk about episodes one and two in relation to three that everybody else for squadron coverage episode one, they won't watch or talk about episodes two or three and the same thing. So we can always go back, but we never go forward. And since we're at the end of the block, we don't know what's coming next. So that's fine. But what did you think of this episode and, and this arc so far? Yeah. Uh, I feel like it's a solid episode, a solid arc.

[00:03:34] I think, um, one of, I feel like similar to season one, it's a slow burn into the real action-y type of stuff. The kind of thing that makes your jaw drop. I can't remember that feeling. I feel like there's a little bit more in this first arc than last season from a couple years ago or how many years ago season one was.

[00:04:02] Um, I think for me part, I don't know if I would call this a problem, but there was so much hype about season two. Like my expectations are sky high. And although I liked all these episodes, I haven't felt like the, I haven't felt like the shoe has dropped with regards to the wow effect. Okay. And you know, that's not a slight on any of episodes or anything like that. But I feel like they're solid. Right. It's about internal expectation.

[00:04:32] Right. All my favorite podcasters are like, this is a masterpiece. Oh my gosh. And you know, I listened to, you mentioned other podcasters on here, right? You don't mind. Yeah, yeah. No, of course. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So I listen to like David Chan and then, um, I listened to, uh, or sometimes I watch, um, uh, his name is escaping me now, but, uh, another filmmaking, uh, reviewer podcast and he was reading a bunch of the reviews.

[00:05:02] And so I'm still hopeful. I mean, like I said, I've, I had never really had a doubt because Andor, I think is the best Star Wars related thing out right now. Mm-hmm. I think the first one, first season ended really well. And, uh, so that, that would be, that would be my only, again, it's not even, I can't even really call it a critique on the show because it's not the show. Like it's, it's just my own internal. It's, it's a me problem. It's a me problem, David. But, but yeah, I feel like.

[00:05:32] I'm with you. I have the same problem as well. So like the episode. What? Yeah. I have the same problem as well. I have been so excited for the show and my internal expectations. And so when I did my first watch, I did feel like, Oh, I'm a victim of my own high bar marking right there. And now I need to just calm down, settle down. Uh, I've watched, uh, episode three twice. Uh, I'm, I, and I should note I'm traveling right now. So I'm recording for my hotel room for where I am.

[00:06:02] So if you hear some jets taking off or whatever, it's not local X wings or anything like that. It's just regular old. Uh, so I haven't had time to like sit and process it in the way that I want. My family wants to watch with me as well. So I'm all, when I get home, we'll watch it again as, as well. So, but I do, I feel that, uh, I've been so excited for this and I was so hyped with the trailer, the very first trailer.

[00:06:27] And I, yeah, it's, it's hard to, um, it's hard to settle down and into it yet. So. What did you think of that first trailer? The one that had the more like contemporary type music. Do you remember that trailer? Yeah. Yeah. It was trailers. The first one had like a more contemporary soundtrack. That was very divisive. I think I liked it personally. What did you think? I didn't watch the second one. I watched the first one.

[00:06:53] I actually did a video breakdown for our subscribers where I, uh, I just, I scrubbed the whole video and stopped and talked about everything through it. And, uh, after that I said, I have to cut myself off because if I do too much of a deep trailer dive on these and start consuming all the ancillary media, I have the problem, which we were just talking about. My hype level goes up and then the show has this impossible task of jumping over that.

[00:07:22] So I just cut myself off after the first one. I liked the first one. I liked the music. Uh, it was a popular song, but like a less well-known song. So it wasn't like using dark side of the moon for Dune. Right. I'm like, what are you doing? Dark side of the moon in Dune. It was awesome. I loved it because it was a nostalgia button mash. And right. So, but that trailer I thought was, was masterful in, in its visual representation and its teasing of the storyline.

[00:07:52] And I liked the music. Um, and then after that, I just stopped cold. I just went cold Turkey on everything and or related. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. So, uh, I thought that the title of this episode harvest was kind of chilling in a way because we're reaping what we've sown in the purse, the first two episodes and a whole bunch of

[00:08:19] stuff comes in, you know, resolves just as if like, you're working hard to, uh, plant your crops and grow your crops. You know, you're, you're reaping what you sow. And so in this, there are consequences for their actions. So I thought that that was a very perfect title for the episode. I also found this whole arc at the same time, hilarious, but deeply, deeply disturbing and

[00:08:48] chilling on so many levels. And with every storyline, there was humor, there was levity, there was beautiful cinematography, amazing acting production design, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then underneath down inside there, there is some really disturbing topics that are being addressed. Something that, um, John and, uh, Marilyn didn't talk about with episode one, which I had, uh,

[00:09:16] uh, mentioned, and maybe we'll talk about it again, another episode was that whole conference that they were attending. That really gave me echoes of the WANC conference. And I don't know if you know what that is, but that was basically the, and during, uh, World War II, that's when the Germans, the Nazi party got a bunch of functionaries together

[00:09:39] to plan how they were going to, um, uh, uh, uh, uh, take, um, to actually do all of the things that they did in terms of the quote unquote final solution. Right, right, right.

[00:10:21] They have Deidre and, uh, Cyril in their fifties, Voswing vibe, whatever, like it's great. I don't remember them. I remember he kind of liked her. Did they establish in season one that they like became an item? No, the, the, the scene, uh, episode 12 ends with her in his arms at the end of the, the sort of, uh, the violence, the conflict at the end of, uh, uh, Marva's, um, uh, funeral.

[00:10:51] And, uh, he grabs her off the street from the crowd and the stampede and people that were assaulting her. He kind of rescues her. She doesn't know what's going on. She goes to attack him and she then realizes, oh my God, I'm in the arms of Cyril and he's looking lovingly into her eyes. And then that's where we sort of end. Okay. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Yeah. I remember like, I wasn't totally shocked that they were together and the way it was

[00:11:16] directed, um, made it seem like, uh, are they just meeting? Are they living together? And then when she like caresses his lip and that, yeah, I think it was episode one. I was like, oh, okay. They're actually an item. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. So this whole thing, so we've got all this great humor and these funny things with Edie, but then we, we've got imperial oppression in, in all its different forms, bureaucratic

[00:11:43] forms and it's violent direct action forms. It's systemic, you know, you know, uh, the, the system that's created, you know, the, the harvest, you know, the, um, the audits that they're, they're doing on, uh, Mineral, uh, all of these things. So Gilroy is totally priming the pump for us for Andor's motivation, Luthan's motivations, Mon Motha's motivations and what it really takes.

[00:12:10] And he's in a way there's a, there's a didactic element to the show, which it's, it's teaching us about how oppressive regimes operate and what are different ways people respond to that pressure. Right. So it kind of reminds me of the pit in a little ways. I don't know if you've been watching the pit at all. Yeah. I've seen, uh, I think maybe a quarter to half the episodes. Okay.

[00:12:34] It's very like, Hey, Hey everybody, this is what the modern American healthcare system looks like from the inside. Right. Right. Maybe pay attention to what's going on with our, with our healthcare workers and our systems. Um, so yeah, I think Gilroy is doing that in a very, uh, very deft way in terms of, of his storytelling. Anyway, I thought there was a couple of extra interesting things. There's really great exploration of motherhood through the Mon Motha and Lita relationship,

[00:13:04] as well as the, the Deirdre Ede relationship. So that was an interesting exploration. I was thinking too, about who's got plot armor. Only Mon Motha and Cassian are the only two people that are safe. I mean, like Mel, she, and Saul Guerrera, you know, we get some other characters in Rogue One that we know are there, but they're secondary. Everybody else. Um, and there's a line, I'll talk about it later when we get to that, the scene, but this is masterfully put together.

[00:13:33] The puzzle pieces of Rogue One and this series are, are really together. Um, one other real quick, uh, callback in, uh, episode one, the, uh, and, and, uh, Alicia encouraged me to, to mention this and she's given us a bunch of lore notes as well that I've, I've, I've, I fit into the outline. The, uh, Kaffreen was used as the password for Cassian, uh, for the TIE fighter, for the TIE Avenger.

[00:14:02] Not only was that where we first meet Cassian in Rogue One, but that's also where with the Anto Krieger setup, where they disabled the ship that then drifted into the shipping lanes and then it got towed back to Kaffreen. So they're, they're doing a lot of fun world build there. So, all right. Any other thoughts for the, um, the break, uh, or the, the, uh, first three episodes or, uh, this episode in particular? No, those are my hot takes for that.

[00:14:32] Like I said, solid episode. Good thing. Um, the three, I'm Glenn, uh, I'm on cold poly for this one and talk about a lot of good stuff. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, let's take a very quick break. And then when we come back, we will get into the episode breakdown and we'll start up with Cassian's escape from Yavin 4.

[00:15:03] Are you looking to get more out of the rebellion, but don't want a recurring subscription? Check out our Andor season pass linked in the show notes, where you'll get bonus holocron episodes diving deep into the lore behind the series, Alicia's rebel squadron radio, briefing you on the timeline and ad free versions of our coverage of seasons one and two. All that for a one-time purchase of $10. Whether you're with us for the season or the long haul, welcome to the rebellion and may the force be with you.

[00:15:42] And we're back. So, Cassian's escape from Yavin 4. Cassian contacts Clea from the stolen TIE fighter, telling her he's returning to Mina Rao. She warns him that the planet is crowded with a frequency blockade, but he ignores her warning and sets course for home anyway.

[00:16:04] Did you, what was your reaction to the Yavin 4 sort of wink and a nod as he was taking off from the planet in the last episode? So we know we're now starting this episode going, wait, was that Yavin 4? Right. So where he escaped the people who were fighting each other? Yeah, the Mayapag Brigade. Yeah. So is that like the Yavin? Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't sure.

[00:16:34] Yeah. Because when he took off, like I saw the pyramids and I vaguely remember seeing the title sequence. But yeah, no, that's cool. I think in the moment I wasn't making the connection. Right. That it was like the Yavin. Yeah, no. I was like, wait, wait, what is that? And I was completely flummoxed by it. I forgot to mention really quick at the top of the episode too, that the writer of this block is Tony Gilroy and the director is Ariel Kleiman.

[00:17:04] So one writer, one director for this block. And why I'm mentioning this is what's important is the timeline for this block of episodes is for BBY. So four years ahead of, before Rogue One and BBY in the Star Wars timeline notation, BBY is before the Battle of Yavin. Right. That I didn't know. Yeah. So yeah. So yeah, it was like, I was like, wait, what?

[00:17:33] And so again, it's just this interesting thing where they're seeding, they're weaving Cassian into so much more because, you know, he provides the, I would assume the initial scouting location for Yavin as a potential base for them. And I had heard that each week, each three season, three season, each three episode arc each week is going to represent like a year leading up to Rogue One. Exactly.

[00:18:01] So that means next week is, I'll sense it to be like a year later. Mm-hmm. Yep. So it'll be three BBY. Yeah. Right. We were all like, ah, like what are they doing with this crazy drop? Like we need the week to week to process and harvest feedback and do all this kind of stuff. And then how the hell are we going to cover it? So that's why we came up with the squadron strategy so that we can get episodes out and functional. Do you have, what are your thoughts on this release schedule? Is it working for you so far after one block drop? Yeah.

[00:18:31] I'd like a good two to three week drop. I feel like it's a nice, I feel like it's a nice compromise between the full on Netflix binge model, drop everything. And now you have to race to, you know, to watch 12 episodes of a show or 10 or whatever it is nowadays in order to not be spoiled or in order to join in, you know, conversations. Conversations. Yeah. Versus one episode week by week where you're like, oh my God, I've waited a whole another week after that episode.

[00:19:01] So I feel like two to three is like a good combination where I get enough, where especially if the episode you watch is really great and you're like, oh my God, I can't wait another week. And it's enough, especially, you know, at this, you know, at these are about 50 minutes ish. Yeah. You know, a lot of these shows are in the 30 to 40 minute range. So three, two to three of those drops in a week are not too bad to knock out. Yeah. It's very doable. In order to join.

[00:19:31] Yeah. So I like it. Yeah. I think it's working. I was at first like shocked, but I think it's going to work out really nicely because then you have that whole week to watch that block and then, you know, you go again. So I have to say that shot of space where Cassian's floating in the tie of Avenger, which is what the ship is called. It's some sort of prototype. We can talk about it in a second. Right.

[00:19:59] That, I don't think I've ever seen a shot like that in Star Wars. I was thinking, it's funny you said, I was thinking the same thing. And like, it felt, it had sort of like a, um, an alien vibe to it in terms of if like, I never feel like you're really in space when you watch Star Wars. Let's just keep it real. Right. Especially after the alakite, alakite, alakite, acolyte scenes where they're like welding in space.

[00:20:28] Um, so I never, you never feel like you're in quote unquote space in Star Wars. It's just, you know, they fly up into the black area, fly around. Um, and then the hyperspace jump and then they're the next place and that's it. Right. Right. So, but in, but in terms of that, that sense of floating, that sense of fastness that you get the eeriness of, of what it's like to be in that vast openness, you never really get

[00:20:57] that sense in the, in a Star Wars property. So it was an, it was a nice change in terms of how you look at spaceships in space in Star Wars. Yeah. Yeah. The nebula. And then the, as the ship drifts in front of the stars, the light winks out and then winks back on. It was incredible. Absolutely beautiful. And I love the radio tech, not only the, the portable radio that Cassian has, but also the one that Clay is using in the, and at Lutheran shop.

[00:21:26] It's so steampunk retro, you know, sort of old 50 styles operators, you know, taking a cord out and plugging it in, you know, manually patching the calls and in the routing box. So I, he's, he's, he's one of the most advanced star fighters in the known galaxy at this point. And then he's gotten his like, uh, steampunk radio fractal radio, you know, it was, it was very cool.

[00:21:55] I really want one, some of that kind of tech. I love that old fifties tech stuff. So, and I guess that radio is called a fractal radio and they've referred to that a couple of times in the last season and now, and that's kind of a cool name. Like the idea that it's, it's some sort of radio encryption thing. Right, right, right. So did you catch the, the scene where he's taking that panel off and pulling the wires out and to, to, to hotwire the type.

[00:22:26] The hotwire the ship. Cause it wasn't going anymore. I don't, yeah. What's that? Right. I don't know what that was about. I'm cracking up. I don't know if he was hotwiring the radio or was it hotwiring the ship? I think it was the ship. See, I thought he was going, he was trying to like maybe get into the signal, you know, the antenna array or something for the ship. And then maybe. Yeah. I only watched it one time. I only watched it one time. So. Okay. I don't remember it too, uh, too much detail about it.

[00:22:52] So I thought what was interesting too, was that in season one, I believe it's an episode. Well, maybe is it nine and 10, definitely 10 where he's indoors working behind a panel to cut the water line, to get the water out onto the floor, to short circuit the floor in the prison on Narkeeta five. Um, and he's working on the panel again in here. And I just thought that that was kind of an interesting, maybe it's just me, but it's

[00:23:20] an interesting visual metaphor for Cassian working behind the scenes. Like he's a guy that's getting in behind this, the edifice behind the surface and wiring stuff up together so that you can get some sort of results, right? He's trying to try to work through a problem. Uh, the other thing I thought was interesting, not only did Cassian master the ship by the end of the episode, like when he's flying down to rescue, uh, Bix and, and, uh, Brasso.

[00:23:51] Right. He knows exactly what he can fly that ship, right? He can target, he can shoot, you know, he can maneuver. So he's got it figured out. Uh, and when he flies into the atmosphere and he's calling Bix, I don't know if you caught this either, uh, but he uses a call sign stone and sky. And when Bix is on the radio, um, and then they have the picture of Marva next to the

[00:24:16] radio there, uh, stone and sky was what they were chanting at Marva's funeral in episode 12 of the season. Oh, cool. Nice callback. Stone and sky, stone and sky. So, you know, again, they're sort of recycling, but using things that would be logical for them to, to know about. But, but did you pick up on the fact that not only did Cassian not, when he got into the ship, he was like, what the hell is this when the, in, in episode one, but he's telling

[00:24:44] Clea, this is not the ship that I was expecting that I was stealing. Right. Exactly. He was expecting something totally different. So what's that about? Like, I'm like, Oh, there's a big mystery here around this tie Avenger ship. Cause we don't see the entire Avenger in any of the movies or anything else like that. Right. Right. And was he stealing a ship? Did he specifically go there to steal a ship or was he here for something else? Oh, okay.

[00:25:15] So that's the thing is I think he was there to steal a ship, but that's not the ship that he was intending to steal that he didn't, he trained for. Right. Cause he says specifically, this is not the ship that I trained to fly. Right. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, yeah. We're going to have to wait and see, I guess. It's a dope ass ship though. That is for sure. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Gatling gun things, rockets.

[00:25:43] We've never seen a tie fighter with rockets before. Or have we, have there not been any tie fighters that have shot missiles? I feel like, and it's escaping where I've seen it. I feel like there was at least one either TV show or movie where we did see, uh, one of the, like one of those double type fighters where they had like two. They dropped bombs. They definitely dropped bombs in Empire Strikes Back. Yeah. Maybe that's what I'm thinking. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:13] But, and I think X wings shoot proton missiles or, or, and Y wings can shoot missile, uh, like a proton missile or an energy missile. But these are physical rockets. These are atmospheric rockets. Right. Right. So that was interesting. Okay, cool. Let's move on to Mon Mothma's family crisis. Mon attempts one final conversation with Lita before her wedding, sharing that her own mother was drunk at her wedding and offering to call it off.

[00:26:42] Lita cruelly dismisses her. The wedding proceeds with traditional Chandrilan customs, including the ceremonial cutting of Lita's braids. I've been to a couple of big weddings, Ron. I'm assuming you have too. How did this wedding feel for you? Um, it, I, yeah, I mean, when I started my video career a long time ago, as a lot of videographers do, I shot weddings. So I shot a lot of different weddings, um, when they, when they brought out the, the

[00:27:11] two giant, the, the big limbs, the tree thing. Yeah. Yeah. It made me think of jumping the broom, which is popular in African-American weddings. You usually do that after you see the vows. This seems as far opposite as a black wedding as you can get. So I was like, I don't think they're going to be, I don't think they're jumping the broom. Uh, anyway. They were dancing though. They were throwing shots and dancing at the end, by the end. Yeah. I was going to say, so are we discussing all of the wedding scenes together at once?

[00:27:39] Or are you going scene by scene with regards to the, how we're. Well, let's, let's combine them. I've got a separate block here, uh, for the wedding gift and the rebellion politics. So let's just, let's just mash it all into one. Um, Davos Skuldoon presents a rare Shandy Merle temple figure as a wedding gift. Mon learns Tay has been fraternizing with Skuldoon, posing a threat to the rebellion. Luthun implies Tay must be eliminated. Horrifying Mon.

[00:28:06] Tay leaves early and is picked up by Sinta who briefly locks eyes with Vel. So yeah. So let's just talk about the whole wedding thing all in one big thing. Yeah, no, I think that's good. Uh, so in general, it was a wedding. It's wedding school. Uh, looked like it was a fun wedding. Um, I think when I think about the conversation that Mon had with, uh, her daughter, is it Lita? Yeah, Lita. Lita beforehand.

[00:28:33] Um, one, I think she misjudged the crying that Lita had been doing, I think on a previous episode about the boy not having, because it seemed like Lita is really into all this kind of tradition stuff, right? Um, and you know, you can't help but wonder if maybe Mon's mother was drunk because her mom wasn't too crazy about, because Mon was in a, um, was also in a- Arranged marriage as well. Arranged marriage as well.

[00:29:01] And so it's possible her mother was feeling a kind of way about having to give her away to some man who obviously- That makes a lot of sense. She has no chemistry with her husband. Yeah. I doubt that they ever did, because usually in a range of marriage, you, you eventually learn. Um, I can't say usually. It's not uncommon in a range of marriage where you will eventually, over the years, tend to love and grow close to the person. It's possible.

[00:29:31] It's within the range of possibility. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It obviously did not happen here, so I would guess they probably never had any kind of serious connection. So it's possible that Mon's mother was drunk because she didn't like the fact that she was giving her daughter away to some dude who wasn't going to be a great husband. And they had to go with these, like, old-fashioned, sexist, misogynistic traditions.

[00:29:56] And so, uh, but yeah, Leah's response was a little bit of a surprise, but she seems to be into it. The cutting of the braids I thought was interesting. It's, um, I know it's a reference. I know there was a callback, or that's kind of similar to when a Padawan becomes a full-blown Jedi. As his braid cut. So it seems like to be a thing.

[00:30:22] Um, at the time, I mean, this, I think this is reading too much into it, but like, at the time, when I first saw the scene, it kind of just reminded me of the clipping of, I can't remember her name in the movie, but in, uh, oh, Maleficent's wings. Okay. And, um, and Maleficent, the movie Maleficent. Right.

[00:30:47] Um, I don't think, obviously this doesn't have the same representation that the wing clipping had, but this idea of taking from her something that was close and personal, and obviously of a great importance, um, is significant. Um, and it kind of really speaks to, like, the patriarchal nature, I guess. Mm-hmm. Um.

[00:31:14] Or even, even the, the groom takes the knife from the father, right? Right. So there's this passing down, and he's the one, and it's the man who cuts the braid. Exactly. Yeah, that's my point. The man's taking, like, taking the braids away. Yeah. And the braids represent, based on the, on the, the chant they were saying at dinner, I can't remember if it was this season or last season, but I saw one of the episode,

[00:31:44] like that. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back in, uh, I believe it's in season one, there's the scene of Lita and her, her cohort sitting with an elder, uh, practicing these, uh, ritual, sort of enculturating themselves into the rituals of, you know, Chandrila. Right, right. So this, so, right. So the new husband cutting the braid suggests that you're now coming, coming under my protection. Yeah. So. That's a good observation. So that was, um, yeah, so I felt like that, that aspect of it was interesting.

[00:32:15] Uh, and I mean, you can tell it's, you can tell it, it's a, it's a ceremony where like, I've shot so many weddings and I've seen, like, you see the love between the bride and the groom. You feel the passion. Like, you don't get that here, obviously. Um. They're children. They're what? She's 14, 15 years old. He's, he's gotta be the same age. Yeah. They're, they're young. I mean, they're definitely in their teens. Yeah. But I will say this, the children, is it children?

[00:32:42] They, I'm still figuring out how to pronounce it. Right. Chandralyn. Chandralyn. Chandralyn. Thank you. Yeah. There's, there's some debate about pronunciation and, and, uh, we've already got an email about it as well. Okay. So Chandrala, Chandrilla, Chandralyn. Right. You know, so it's, it's fine internet. It's a, it's okay. We'll, we'll get it. You know, we'll get it worked out. I was just saying, uh, they know how to rave. I can tell you that. And who knew Mon Motha had it in her?

[00:33:11] She was cutting it up by the end of that episode. Um. I, I want to go back really quick to a point, guys. Yeah. I definitely want to talk about the dancing. But I wanted to go back to that point that you brought up just a second ago, which I think is spot on about Mon relating the story of her mother being drunk at the wedding. Being drunk at the wedding. Oh, that is just so painful. It's a painful memory. And now then what you said, I like your insight, which is, oh, maybe that's why.

[00:33:40] Because she knew that she was dooming Mon into this loveless marriage that is about tradition and custom and preserving the social and economic power of these high, quote unquote, highborn families, right? These families that are in there. That's how you lock up all of that wealth and power is by maintaining that social order around them.

[00:34:05] And Mon is trying to work against that at the level of the empire. And yet it's here. It is. Here's systemic control at this cultural level as well. Even though it's not the evil empire, it's still forms of control. Right. Right. That sort of supplant the individual's agency. Exactly.

[00:34:28] And when you think about a writer like Tony Gilroy, the depth and layers that he adds to his writing, there's two reasons that I can think of why she would be drunk. She's an alcoholic. Or she's really depressed about what's going on. Or both. Or both. Right. It could be both. It's true. She is probably in a loveless marriage where she had. Right.

[00:34:56] And we see what Mon does by the end of the wedding when she realizes someone. I mean, she obviously deals with a lot of things. That's just the fact that her daughter's in this marriage. You know, what her friend Tay is getting into and what Luthen's been saying. So, there's a lot going on as to why she decides to get plastered by the end of the episode.

[00:35:21] But, you know, assuming her mother was dealing with a similar level of either bureaucracy. The sort of cultural prison that they're in at this level of wealth and power. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. I can see that being a case of where. Oh, did you watch White Lotus at all? Did you watch the season of White Lotus? Okay. It hasn't been clicking with me. My girlfriend finished it all. I got for the. It's. Yeah. That's a whole nother.

[00:35:50] There's a line that comes up later about wealth and power. And, you know, there's the whole thing of like, I don't think I'm made to live a life that's not of luxury. Right. Or we have all this. So, it's our responsibility to enjoy it. Like, it's just. Wow. That's just really twisted. Yeah. Sure. You know. And this is the highest of high society. Right. You know. Yeah. Senator. I mean, her state is on a mountain. I mean, come on. Incredible. Incredible.

[00:36:18] But yeah, it's beautiful and chilling as well. Like, the costuming was gorgeous. Mm-hmm. You know, I mentioned earlier, like, you know, I've been to a couple of big weddings where like eye-popping sums of money were dropped for this. And obviously, you've seen that as part of your professional background. This wedding felt authentic. Like, this felt real to me. Mm-hmm. The costumes, the ceremonies, the emotions of everybody involved.

[00:36:49] It was just, I was so immersed in the world of this. And then when the disco droid comes out. Right. That's a good name for the disco droid. Disco droid. I think it's technically called a speaker droid, but I, you know, it's cool. And that music was the Space Florida music from season one on Nyamos when Cassian gets arrested, when he gets jacked up by the troopers. Oh, I remember that episode. Yeah.

[00:37:18] They use that music. And so this music is a derivation of it. It starts out, you can hear the melody and then it kicks off. Interesting. But then Mon starts dropping shots and- I know. She's like, boom, boom, boom. And then watching the camera work, watching the lighting. But then if you get a chance to rewatch it, watch the extras, the choreography of the dance

[00:37:48] moves that they do. Right. They really thought, a choreographer, there was a professional dance choreographer who was involved in this. This isn't just a bunch of people out waving their arms. These arm movements have specific repetitive motions that have been designed. And the way that the extras deliver them, it feels like this is centuries old custom of

[00:38:11] these people doing a modern disco dance, but doing traditional inspired group dancing. It's just beautiful. And then the camera work with the spinning around and the lights. Oh my Lord. It was just a masterpiece of visual storytelling. Yeah. I thought the dance- I also noticed the choreography and the dancing. I said, oh, they're obviously- I thought the same thing you did. I thought, oh, they had a choreographer for this episode.

[00:38:40] Because they're clearly doing a choreographed dance. And I think the reason for that is to contrast what Mon is doing. Because she's clearly not doing the dance. She's just doing her own thing. You can look at what she's doing. Oh, okay. She's kind of like all over the place. Yeah. And I think having everyone else do a choreographed dance and having her kind of all over the place makes her stand out that much more. I just got chills from that. For what you're saying now.

[00:39:10] Yeah, I think it makes that even more brilliant in terms of that creative decision to make Mon stand out as one person who's not joining the dance. Exactly. In our episode two podcast, Alicia was talking about some material she read from the costume designers. And one of the things that they designed for Mon Mothma specifically was always layered clothings.

[00:39:35] So that whomever she's with in whatever circumstance she's in, she has this clothing option to do more visual storytelling, which is like opening her collar so that she can breathe or buttoning up and being very business formal. And there's just all these layers and layers within Mon Mothma. And then to see her in this beautiful free flowing dress counter dancing to what's going

[00:40:04] on around her. Yeah. That's a really good observation. I really like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then the other thing that happened in that wedding that her conversations with Luthen about Tay, uh, and yeah, so my understanding, so make sure I understand. So my understanding is Tay is, um, is getting into trouble with Skuldun. So I pronounce the name? Yeah. Skuldun.

[00:40:34] Skuldun. Yeah. Skuldun. Um, who's a gangster. Who's essentially it's in essentially, essentially. And, and because. Oh, can I just, and I just want to interject something there about Skuldun. Yeah. Yeah. He is a, uh, uh, international finance gangster or, you know, galactic finance gangster, right? Very high end. But one of the things that he was lacking, because when he says to Mon at, in, in, in season one,

[00:41:02] I don't want a fee for washing your books. I want my son to meet your daughter. Right. He wants legitimacy. So he has power. He has money, but he does not have legacy legitimacy. Exactly. And Ming marrying into the Mothma, uh, family buys him that, uh, next level that he has, that's missing from his opponent. Anyway, please carry on. I didn't mean to interject too much. Yeah.

[00:41:28] So it seems like Tay is getting, um, it's getting too deep into his dealings and, um, it could, it could jeopardize. It sounds like it could jeopardize the work that Luthen and Mon are doing together with regards to the rebellion. If Tay gets into trouble, keeps getting deeper and deeper into the trouble that he's getting into. Right. So he's fixed Mon's, uh, financial problems, worked with Skuldoon to, you know, set up the foundation, wash all the books.

[00:41:57] Everything's clean. Tay's personal finances are now crashing because rebel activity is increasing and the empire is cracking down. Almost like, uh, I don't want to bring two, two concurrent politics, but you know, he's losing out because the, the, the economic rules are changing because of rebellion and oppression. And so he's losing out while everybody else is doing great.

[00:42:23] So he's looking at Skuldoon and is going, oh, this is a guy I could repair my financial positions with, but then that, but nobody can know what Mon Moth has, has been up to, right? That would jeopardize everything. It doesn't matter if Skuldoon wants in or out of the rebellion, whatever anybody else knowing is dangerous. Yeah. So that's the state of play. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:47] And, uh, what did you make of Luthien's line where, uh, she, she, I forgot exactly what she said, but he said something along the lines of that must be how nice that is for you. Something along those lines. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about. He calls her on her privilege and her ability to not be present to what the reality of this situation is about. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:17] How did that go down again? Exactly. So they were, uh, in an alcove talking after Tay had, uh, you know, they had some, you know, weird moments and she, I think it was in episode two where she's like to Luthien, well, we got to find a number to make Tay happy. I'm going to meet with him. And then he is not letting it go. He's still being weird and obsequious.

[00:43:42] And so they're talking and then Luthien says something, uh, people fail. That's our curse. So he's being very pragmatic here and, and, and, uh, and pointing out that, you know, I've known him all my life and he would never do that. Yeah. Exactly. Uh, yeah. I've known Tay since we were children and then that's established in season one. And so, yeah. And what is Luthien? I forget exactly the line, but Luthien says basically the price is his life.

[00:44:10] You know, that's the subtext is that we have to kill him to protect you and to protect the rebellion because he knows too much and he's, he's a danger. He's not committed to the rebellion. Mm-hmm. And, uh, if he's being sort of quote unquote greedy like this, he needs to get his, um, then yeah, he is a danger cause he could go to Skuldoon. He could go and we see Skuldoon. Actually, it's a blink if you miss it moment. He's talking to two Imperial officers at the wedding. There are two Imperial officers as guests.

[00:44:40] Yeah, exactly. It really is a blink if you miss it. It's like a cutaway. It's a real quick cutaway. Um, when Tay is talking to Mon Mothma before she's talking to, to Luthien. So. Right. Oh, is that before the, was that towards the beginning for you? Like as he's walking in? No, it's towards the end. It's just before, uh, Luthien and, and, uh, Mon Mothma have their little pull aside. Oh God. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So it sets it up really closely.

[00:45:07] And then I was thinking to have Sinta on site in position, briefed and ready to be the replacement driver for Tay. Sinta is the driver. Right. Right. If you remember her from season one, she's the, she's stone cold, right? Like it's not cold as ice. It's cold as Sinta. Uh, to have her in place and ready to go.

[00:45:34] Luthien put this plan into motion a couple of days ago, easily. 24 to 48 hours. He got this. He got this ready because she's there dressed as the driver. I wouldn't even put it past Luthien to have manufactured a reason for Tay to need to leave early. Hmm. Hmm. So basically you're implying Sinta is going to be the one to take him out. Yeah. Well, we've seen Sinta kill in season one.

[00:46:04] She's cold blooded. Right. Right. She's right. Or she's hot blooded, but you know, you know, she's hot to take down the empire. She's going to do what it takes. Yeah. Yeah. Luthien's ahead. He is ahead of the game. And then, oh, that, that gut punch of Val and Sinta seeing each other because there's, there's somewhere, I forget which episode there's, it's implied that they haven't seen each other in a long time. So this is the first time they've seen each other.

[00:46:34] Yeah. And they were lovers in season one. So, yeah. So, yeah. So I think, I think. I definitely caught that. Yeah. Yeah. At first I didn't recognize Sinta, but then based on the way Val was looking at her, I put two and two together and said, oh, I think that's Sinta. And that look, that look of hurt that's on Val's face as she's walking away. Right.

[00:47:01] I can just, I can think back in my own past of seeing a former, you know, romantic interest, whatever level, whatever length of time, but somebody that you really had feelings for. Right. And seeing him out on the street and then they walk away from you or they're at a party or they're with somebody else and you're just like, oh, right? Right. It's just like, oh, your gut drops, your energy drops. It's just horrible feeling. Especially if you didn't have a good breakup. Exactly.

[00:47:31] Exactly. So they played that perfectly. A couple of quick lore points before we move on. Thank you, Alicia, for, she prepped a little bit of lore document, a little lore dump. So I want to throw a few things in. The Shandy Merle, that big statue, those are a new addition to the lore. And she points out that Andor has been creating all of the new Shandralin lore.

[00:47:54] So everything that we're getting on about Shandrala, other than the fact that it is the capital world for a little while after the Battle of Andor, apparently. So this is really the first time that we're really building out this world and this culture. The statues themselves are new, but there's a reference to the Raktan invasion.

[00:48:18] And that is something that comes from not only last season, that has to do with Luthien's kyber signet crystal that he gave Cassian. But now they're creating the lore that it happened 25,000 years ago, which is a long-ass time if you think about it. That's insane.

[00:48:38] But apparently Alicia notes that it lines up with Legends lore and that it makes it likely that this invasion may play a role in the upcoming James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi, Jedi Prime movie that was, I guess, recently announced. Right. Recently announced. Yes. Probably never will be made. Don't chase it, man. Like, we can't. Star Wars is so frustrating sometimes. The administration of Star Wars. So you can't get your hopes up.

[00:49:08] No, you can't. How many movies have been announced that it's never went anywhere? It's just, it's heartbreaking at times. Anyway, and just a quick side plug, very quick. We have our season pass. So that's an ad-free and bonus content. One-time $10 payment. And we're sharing the proceeds with all the co-hosts and everybody who's being involved in that all gets to partake in that. But it really helps the podcast, helps us do all our production stuff.

[00:49:33] So for the value add of that is we're doing these weekly Holocron lore cast podcasts. And Alicia has one on the Rakuten invasion. And what's that all about? We've got another one that's going to be coming up about the Gorman massacre. I'm going to do one later in the season with a retired lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army, Matt Kavanaugh. We've talked to him before about Rogue One.

[00:49:59] And he and I are going to be looking at, you know, rebellions and insurrection and insurgency from a military standpoint. And we've got two or three other things that we're going to be doing that we're still scheduling and working out. We've got to see what the show brings us. So anyway, this week's lore cast is going to be about the Rakuten invasion. Last couple of things, Tima. Alicia covered this in the last episode. Tima is like a Chandelion cheer.

[00:50:26] Sagrona is like a cheers, you know, and then you can say Sagrona Tima. And then there was one other thing that they called out. And I don't have it in my notes, so I apologize. But I think she talked about it in the last episode. But anyway, I just love the language and the culture that they're creating around all that stuff. The last important point on this before we take a quick break is that Luthen talks to Erskine Semaj, Mon Mothma's assistant.

[00:50:52] And Luthen's talking to him and we learn something. This is, you know, this is classic Tony Gilroy, right? Be ready that this is going to be some material. So this assistant to Mon Mothma was born on Naboo, which is where Padme, Amidala, Jar Jar Binks, and Sheev Palpatine all come from.

[00:51:12] His father is Chandrillon, but his mother is Agor from Gorman, which is the planet with the spider cloth and where we're going to have this big moment. And then we'll have a whole Holocron bonus podcast about that. So it'll be interesting to see what they do with the assistant here. Yeah. Okay. Let's take a quick break. And then when we come back, we will talk about Cyril and Deirdre and then wrap up with tragedy on Mina Rao.

[00:52:02] And we're back. Cyril and Deirdre host Cyril's mother, Edie, for dinner. Edie attempts to establish dominance with a textbook passive-aggressive behavior. When Cyril steps away, Deirdre confronts Edie, stating that she'll now control Cyril's life and revealing that she knows all about Uncle Harlow's criminal past, effectively blackmailing Edie into submission.

[00:52:28] Ron, what did you think of Deirdre and Cyril's whole situation here? I think Deirdre is exactly the kind of woman who can be a good foil against a controlling mother like Edie is. Well, she's an ISB supervisor. I know, I know. She's secret police. Right, right. She's a master interrogator.

[00:52:57] She's pretty much the only one who probably could stand up to him after like Edie. Absolutely. Yeah, no, I love the scene when she was kind of putting her in a place. And, I mean, you just see the control that Edie has over Cyril. I mean, he takes Mama's boy to a whole new level. Yeah. When he goes to lay down on the bed. I know.

[00:53:27] He's exhausted. I screenshotted that and posted it on Blue Sky. If you look at his body position, it's so evocative. It's so sublime, but yet so evocative at the same time. I was just like, what television show ever does something like this? It's an incredible little one shot there. Yeah. Did you, as a filmmaker, did you notice how they were, the camera angle on Edie?

[00:53:57] In terms of like shooting down on her, like what about the angles? You have to go back and we'll have to talk about it again at some point. The camera placement is straight on. She's center frame, right? And she's what, three, what? She's head and shoulders. Right. And, but there's something weird. I don't know if it's the lens or the angle.

[00:54:22] It's definitely some lighting, but she is almost magnified artificially against the background. So it's almost like she's intruding into the space. It's almost like she's pushing her way out through the screen into our world in this weird way.

[00:54:47] Definitely go check it out because I have no idea how they, it's so subtle, but when you see it, you'll see it. Yeah. That's the kind of thing that a good Lynch choice would do. If that's something you're noticing, I'd have to go back and see it. But that definitely would be, and this is one of the things that is really great about a talented cinematographer or director is, is the impact that a lens will have.

[00:55:16] Like a lot of people, I mean, obviously if you don't do, if you're not a filmmaker, you wouldn't necessarily put this together. But, you know, the, the different feelings you have just going from, you know, like a 60 millimeter lens to a 50 millimeter lens or going or using a long lens to shoot a closeup.

[00:55:39] Like the compression that that creates versus, versus physically getting closer to a person, shooting them with a shorter lens. Right. And so, I mean, as a photographer, I'm sure you get it. So yeah, I think, um, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they're playing with regards to how they're shooting Edie as well. I would love to get your thoughts on it.

[00:55:59] When you get a chance to message me, when you, when you get a chance to check those scenes out and then, uh, we'll figure out some way to get that, your feedback in, whether we do or another, get you on the mic again or, or. Yeah, for sure. Feedback. So, cause it's, it's really, I, when I was rewatching the episode last night, I was like, wait, what the hell is going on? And then every time I see, saw her on screen, I was like, what is this? It is, it's really, yeah, it's really affecting. Very affecting. Yeah.

[00:56:27] I just love the whole vibe of Deirdre's apartment. I loved the scene of her. Is it her apartment? Getting dressed. Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. Okay. Uh, and I think she. Uh-huh. Go ahead. Because his apartment was. Like, he was living like down. He was living at home. Yeah, yeah. He was living at his mom's house. Right, right. Yeah, that's true.

[00:56:52] Yeah, no, I think this is, this is her place and just the starkness and the cleanly, you know, the cleanliness of it. But he fits right in. Like when he does the little utensil adjustment, he gets all like hot and bothered by like the fondue fork is like slightly angled. Totally has OCD. Completely. But her getting dressed like, so here's a, what are you doing to us, Tony Gilroy? Whatever it is, don't stop.

[00:57:20] But this tension between the fact that Deirdre tortures Bix using this, you know, this, the screams of, of these, this dying race of children, you know, the children of this like murdered race. Right. And it is all about, you know, and, and, and, and part of gas tells her in season one, like, oh, your detention numbers are really good. I'm going to send you some more of that work. Right.

[00:57:48] Like this is a woman who detains people on mass scales, who torture, who's not afraid to use torture. And then she's where she's changed, you know, checking out her outfit in the mirror and doing her fake smile. And it is just, it's so comedy. The whole scene is so comedy. But then when you realize that this is a woman who controls the fates of thousands upon tens of thousands of people and is not afraid to use, and is actually being actively recruited to commit genocide.

[00:58:19] Right. Right. She's going to be the ISB officer in charge of the Gorman situation. Right. I think, I also think the scene is a good example of what they did in season one, where we got to see an Imperial officer's family. Like, usually in Star Wars, Imperial officers. Oh, right, with the guy in Aldani. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The Imperial officers and the stormtroopers, especially. Right.

[00:58:49] They're just these, you know, cliched fears of evil. Mm-hmm. You don't really see them as human, really. Mm-hmm. And then so this idea of- Which is the terrifying thing about stormtroopers, because we don't see their humanity under the uniform. Right. Which is, yeah. Which is why Finn was such a lost opportunity, but don't get me started. Anyway. Oh, totally.

[00:59:19] It completely thrown away. Okay. Thrown. It's a, it, yeah, I'm with you on that. Yeah. Okay. Moving on. Moving on. Yeah. Yeah. To be able to see what it was like to become, to be sort of like, to come out of being a stormtrooper. Anyway. But this, this aspect of Deidre trying to figure out, Deidre trying to figure out what she wants

[00:59:38] to wear is an aspect of, in a sense, her humanity, seeing this more down-to-earth, mundane aspect of life. What am I going to wear to the dinner party to meet my mother-in-law? Or, I mean, I don't know if they're technically married yet. It's a year later. I don't think so, but they're, they're domestic partners, right? Yeah. Exactly. So, essentially, it's the equivalent of a mother-in-law. Yeah. Where do I wear to meet my mother-in-law for the first time?

[01:00:09] And, and then even that whole interaction between her and Edie as a way, as a way of seeing how this sort of more human aspect of an imperial officer is like. Yeah. And, oh God, there's so much like concurrent news that I kind of want to talk about, but I'm really trying to avoid it because we try to create a space where we can just have our entertainment.

[01:00:39] But believe me, everyone in listening, we're, we're, Ron and I and everybody else in the Lord Hounds, we're very aware of what's going on and we're a lot of plugged in. Right. But this idea that people. You cannot watch, you can't watch a movie like a TV show like this and not compare it to what's happening in the world. Like. Absolutely not. You'd be living on an island not to be able to do that. And especially like I, like I alluded to some of the very spot on language that's used in the final scene. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:01:08] He's telling you, I'm making a comparison here. If he's not. He really is. Yeah. He really is. So, but I, but I understand that, you know, the need to. Well, I'm just thinking about, yeah, yeah. Like we're, we're, we're, we're an entertainment forward podcast, not a politics podcast. And, and we want to, you know, make, we want a place where people can come and take a breath and have some fun. But yeah, like you said, we can't, this is Tony Gilroy like coming at us here. We can't not. Exactly. It's hard to dodge these things.

[01:01:36] And we can, we can abstract, we can talk about it in an abstract. Right. And in a broader contextual sense rather than a specific day-to-day politics sense. But I'm just thinking about some things that are going on now. So when you have the face of authority, when somebody is exercising that authority, then they have to go home at the end of the night. They have children too. They have spouses too. They are sons. They are daughters. They are brothers. They are sisters, uncles, aunts.

[01:02:01] And my God, how can you do some of the things that you do when you then go home and be in the face of a normal life? Right. When you have put people into a system where there is no, there's no out, right? Just like in No Way Out in season one, you're gone. You're off. That is, you're absolutely right that Tony is telling us something here. Right.

[01:02:30] And it's an interesting exploration as to how the people who are responsible for the atrocities that the Empire does, how do they carry out and live their life? Yeah. How are they as husbands and fathers? And for the first time, I've been watching Man in the High Castle. Oh, okay. Yeah. This came out. Yeah.

[01:02:56] But, you know, one of the, this isn't a spoiler, one of the main characters is a high commanding Nazi officer. And you see his home life with his family, with his wife and his kids. And you see how he cares about his kids. And so I think Tony's doing a little bit of that. Not necessarily in this scene, but he definitely did it in season one.

[01:03:20] Uh, and the, the ability to get you at any point to care for, and this scene made me to, to feel sorry for Cyril. To make me understand like why he is what he is, uh, how, uh, why he's the kind of person he grew up to be based on his upbringing. Right. Play. He went out to go play police. Right. Exactly. He is so vicious, man. And you can, and I understand why, like hurt people, hurt people. Right.

[01:03:50] And so he, he is taking out on the world around him, um, the frustrations he's gotten based on having such a domineering parental figure. And he is a natural talent. He's a natural analytic talent that, um, she never, uh, acknowledged or she was constantly cutting and berating him on, on those things. Right.

[01:04:12] And so he didn't, his talent was always put down, uh, his, his natural interests and stuff. So, yeah. And, and then to go back to that, that modernity thing, the whole like 50 swing vibe with the fondue, the background music in the scene is just amazing. Yeah. Incredible. Incredible. And I, I, I, I don't know where they got the, the creative vision for this, but it is

[01:04:42] truly inspired. Her outfit, the way her out, the clothes, the clothing in this is astonishing. Yeah. And I could totally relate to Cyril and Deirdre, uh, Deirdre as I could see myself having cocktails with them. Right. I cannot have cocktails with them. Well, you know, if not, if I didn't know their background. My parents, people. No, no. They're too boring. They are. They're a little bit boring. They're a little bit boring.

[01:05:11] Uh, but the cakes look delicious. Yes. And I, I love at the end, the very end of this scene, Deirdre gives, uh, Edie a little toast. Like, she's like, we've got an understanding. You know, she gives her a little nod and a wink. It's just wild. So. All right. Well, let's move on. Let's talk about, uh, the tragedy on, on, uh, Mina Rao. Yes. Uh, which is a new planet in the Star Wars, uh, Pantheon as well. During the harvest celebration, Kellen warns that Imperial inspectors are coming to their sector.

[01:05:40] As the group prepares to leave, Bix picks up on Cassian's signal. Lieutenant Kroll returns and attempts to assault Bix, who fights back and kills him and another officer. In the issuing chaos, Brasso is shot and killed. Cassian, arriving in the TIE fighter, finds Brasso's body before escaping with Bix and Will, leaving his friend behind. So I really want to quickly just give that, um, uh, warning that we're going to be talking about, uh, assault and sexual assault.

[01:06:12] And I'm going to push that. We're going to put that on sort of on the back half of this conversation. So I want to move through anything else around the rest of the scene before we do that so that people, anybody who needs to check out for their own, their own wellbeing has the opportunity to get the whole show, but then we can have that sort of, we're not going to go deep into it, but we do have to talk about, we can't not talk. And we have a very, uh, a very important piece of feedback from Katie, one of our, uh, subscribers and listeners who wrote in a really nice email sort of framing some of the things and talking about it.

[01:06:41] So, uh, we'll add her voice to our conversation because I think you and I are colleagues that we're like two dudes talking about an assault against a woman. So yeah, no, I think that's, I think that's great. Cool. So, um, so yeah, like I mentioned before, uh, uh, Bix, when she's talking to Cassian on the radio, they use that stone in sky call sign. And there's that picture of Marva and man, Will is such a teenager. Like he didn't clean the tools.

[01:07:09] He just leaves to go see his girlfriend before he goes. It's like, bro, you're escaping. Why are you, you can't just sneak off like that. Yeah. Yeah. So Brasso is probably one of my favorite people of, of Cassian's people. Uh, I love the relationship that they had. What was the relationship to Cassian again? They were just friends. Just friends. Okay. Just friends. There's no familiar relationship that I'm, I'm aware of. They're just buddies. Okay.

[01:07:37] And, you know, he, he's the first person he go, when he gets back from, uh, Morlana one after the unfortunate incidents there, you know, he talks to Brasso. He's like, Oh, you know, I saw you last night afterwards. And they concoct that whole story. He looks at this from season one. Yeah. Season one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Season one. And he's really one of, and then Cass and then Brasso delivers the final message

[01:08:01] of Marva to Cassian, uh, sort of giving Cassian that emotional catharsis that he can actually become a whole. And that's just before he goes to, uh, surrender to Luthen. I did a whole essay. I got a blog post on, if you go to lorehounds.com, go to our blog section. I have a blog post, which I'm going to turn into an audio essay as well, but it's the six, six key moments in Cassian's arc of him going from thief and survivor to rebel.

[01:08:31] And leader. And this is that moment of Brasso talking to him in the, uh, tunnel underneath the hotel where he delivers Marva's, you know, posthumous words to him saying that, you know, Cassian can't do, I forget what the exact line is. Uh, I love him more than any, you know, wrong thing he could do and that he, he is, he's whole and he's, you're whole and you're complete.

[01:08:57] And when you realize that you're, I'm getting chills, you're going to be a force unstoppable force. So Brasso is, and him are, are really connected. And so to lose Brasso was really hard. And I, I was like, at the end of the episode, I was in the same state as Bix and Will were, where I was just stunned that I can't believe that he's gone. It's the, the emotion of losing Brasso hasn't hit me yet. Like I'm still, I'm still numb to the fact that Brasso is gone.

[01:09:26] Had you rewatched season one recently before watching season? Yeah. I rewatched it twice. Oh, you did. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say if I had rewatched it sooner, I think the Brasso loss probably would have hit me harder because it didn't hit me as hard, but I haven't watched season one since it came out. So. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. It's been a while. So we did a live. We did a lot of things on a watch. It's hard to find time to rewatch a whole nother season of television.

[01:09:56] Do you remember the first podcast you and I recorded together? It was, um, Maya Erskine and, um, it was, uh, Mr. Mr. Smith. It was regarding, um, Mr. Mr. Smith. It feels like so fricking long ago. I know. In the mists of time. Like, oh my God. That was just last year, dude. I know. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Shows from last year. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You made my, my top 10, but yeah. So we did a live watch, uh, week by week, live watch on our discord.

[01:10:24] Like, uh, I live streamed it and then people came in and we were chatting and stuff like that. And then we were a spring break, uh, last week. And so we were visiting some relatives and, um, one of my relatives hadn't seen it before. And she, she and I have the same, uh, we're very different generations. She's much older than me, but she, we have the same TV tastes. And I was like, Hey, by the way, and or season two is coming back. She's like, and or what's that? I was like, wait, you haven't seen Andrew season one. Oh my God. We're watching it. So we were there for three or four nights.

[01:10:52] And so we binged watch 12 episodes with her. And my daughter started watching the end of it. Now my daughter, who's only nine wants to watch. So we've got, we've got to box some things up in, in the, in the season here to make sure that she's prepared contextually for all this stuff. But anyway, uh, let's let us sure, you know, everyone rest assured I'm, I'm cognizant of that. I'll be, my wife and I will make sure everything's okay there. But anyway, we binge watched. So I watched it twice. Uh, and so it's really fresh in my mind.

[01:11:20] And then I wrote this big blog post about, about the, so yeah. So I think I heard this on another podcast. I heard this on the midnight boys. Uh, somebody, I forget who it was mentioned that storm troopers can't hit the broad side of a barn, but in, in, in Tony Gilroy's star Wars. And we see a trooper take aim very carefully. I know. Since when do they start aiming? That's the first thing. When I saw that dude, it's like, storm trooper aiming.

[01:11:52] And the whole storm trooper, I think it's so ironic that there's this running joke among star Wars fans about storm troopers missing shots when in the very first movie, you know, Obi-Wan makes a point to say only storm troopers blasts are that precise. Yeah. That's a good point. I've read it when he's looking, when they're looking at the, uh, the Jawa. Yeah. The sand crawler attacked. Yeah. He says, only storm troopers are that precise.

[01:12:21] Look at those plaster shots. Someone did not get the memo about storm troopers, not being very good shots. Not in Tony Gilroy, in Tony Gilroy's star Wars. Yeah. In Tony Gilroy's stars. So at some point storm troopers stopped being precise in their story. Right. Um, it's, it's proportional. It's inversely proportional to the plot armor of the character. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

[01:12:49] So, um, let's see here. Uh, I got a couple of notes. I just want to try to, uh, yeah. So. So real quick, Kellen, the, um, the local worker who has been trying to protect, uh, Brasso and Bix and will turns out to be a turncoat in, in some way. I wasn't a hundred percent sure, but I think that is the case. Like he gave him up. Is that the idea? Yeah. Yeah.

[01:13:16] And we know that the mother of the, of the young woman who is interested in will, uh, that, that they run that shop cafe thing. She doesn't like them. So, uh, and, but there's an important point here. Kellen, when he's talking to Brasso says still no word from Cassian. Who is, and then he references who is the big boss that Cassian answers to. It's a blink. If you miss it line.

[01:13:45] So Kellen knows that there is a network that they are a part of, and that I think is going to be dangerous later on. Because when the Imperial forces, when the ISB shows up to investigate the fact that, uh, a, uh, uh, a unit of troopers and officers were wiped out by some mysterious TIE fighter, that guy's alive. And that fact is going to come out.

[01:14:14] And he, he knows that they're connected to a rebellious, uh, uh, network. Right. So clock that. Um, the other thing I wanted to mention before we start talking about the whole big situation was, uh, I just, so I'm, I'm out at this business conference. I was on my flight out and I was looking at the seat back entertainment and what was on the TV on the little screen, rogue one. So what did I watch in my flight? I watched rogue one.

[01:14:42] And I was sort of live, uh, uh, posting to blue sky. Cause you've got wifi in the air now. So I was like taking little screenshots of my screen back thing and pointing out things as I had this long thread, but there's a line that Cassian says to Jen when they leave, uh, Oh, I forget the name of the planet where, um, where Jen's father was on. And it's escaping me at the moment. But anyway, they're, they're going back to Yavin four and she's pissed at him saying

[01:15:12] like you were going to assassinate my dad. Uh, you let, you caused his death and he's up in her face. I've been in this fight since I was six years old. And he says this line, you're not the only one who has lost everything. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Bix, B2, Cassian will all of Cassian's people. None of them are safe. None of them have plot armor.

[01:15:42] And I don't doubt that we are going to lose all of them in some way, shape or form in. Oh yeah. For sure. Like, how can you not? And it's perfect. And I love the fact that they retroed from the movie, this one line, because that, I think that scene of Jyn and Cassian confronting each other on the, on the ship is where the Cassian and or character backstory idea of Pedro Pascal, not Pedro Pascal. Sorry. That's the other zaddy.

[01:16:12] That's our other daddy. Diego Luna. Right. I mean, these two gorgeous men, right? Like we have both of them on screen right now. It's incredible. Where Diego Luna, uh, really locks in on the idea of let's tell Cassian's backstory, because what does it mean to be in the fight since he was six years old? What does it mean to that? He'd lost everyone in his life for the rebellion. Then later he tells Jyn, you know, all of the things that I've done. And we only had the retrospective of rogue one at that time, but now we have two seasons of all of the things that Cassian has done for the sake of this rebellion.

[01:16:42] And all of it would be meaningless if we did not go to scare up, steal the death star plans and, and move the plot forward. So, okay. Sorry. I'm monologuing a little bit. I apologize. Oh, I'm very passionate about this part of the story. Well, I think it's funny. We have rogue one and two seasons of some of the best star Wars on television from one throwaway line in the original movie. Exactly.

[01:17:11] Many movements died to bring us these plans. That one line led to some of the best star Wars on television and one of the best, one of the better star Wars movies. Who would have thought? And I, I, and or one in two season was, if we're not even done with season two, these are going to be. So for me, if you can't tell dear listener already, uh, and Ron, you could probably assume this too. And or is a perfect television show for me because it is a dramatic and it has character

[01:17:41] moments, beautiful production and design, a smart, well-written script. And it's sci-fi, it's action and it's spy stuff all in one. For me, this is a perfect bite. This is my ultimate pinnacle of tell. This is what everything that I want from television is. And that, that it's star Wars is just the bonus. That's just the icing on this beautiful little cake.

[01:18:08] So, yeah, no, I would take everything you just said in terms of why it's such a, um, perfect kind of television show for me as well. Um, and on top of that layer that actually has something to say concurrently. Yes. Now it currently, but about history, like, and or season one could have easily, you could see that as a metaphor and allegory for 1930s Germany. Right.

[01:18:37] What was happening during that time, um, or, or pick any authoritarian period in history. Mm-hmm. Um, so sci-fi that is able to like have a message or to be an allegory for something else is, is something, it's sort of like my catnip when it comes to this kind of television. So, um. I, I agree with you and I think that was a missing in my description. So you and I are a hundred percent aligned on what this is. Right. Yeah.

[01:19:06] The badass TIE fighters shooting rockets. Right. Come on. Get serious. I mean, it's adult Star Wars, which I think is great. Yeah. For sure. All right. So let's, uh, shift gears a little bit here. Let's get out of fanboy mode and, and talk about something that's a little bit more disturbing. So at this point, if you, if you need to check out, there's nothing really going to be at the end of this. We have this great feedback email from Katie and then we'll wrap up the episode.

[01:19:33] So, um, so do what you need to do to make sure that you're well and taken care of. But we have this, uh, assault against Bix. We have this really chilling scene with the Lieutenant standing in the mirror where we saw the, in the dream sequence, Dr. Gorst was standing. Then we have the episode ending with this upbeat wedding music playing while Cassian and Bix and Will are just clearly in shock and traumatized.

[01:19:58] And then we have this like real big dramatic contrast between, uh, Mina Rao, the farthest farming planet. There's a whole podcast in there just talking about the whole thing that it's so cool. The world building they did, but then the, the Chandrillon, uh, uh, privilege of this wedding and stuff. But we have this scene where this Lieutenant, uh, assaults Bix, uh, attempting to sexually assault her and implying that he will, um, overlook their visa status, uh, if she were to sleep with him.

[01:20:28] And when we talk about really what's going on here, we're talking about undocumented people, uh, who's, you know, whose government, you know, paperwork, like that, that paperwork makes you valid or invalid as a, as a, as a human, as a person. We have, uh, migrant labor, itinerant labor, right? They're two leads. They, they go around and fix things. So they're, they're in, they're migrant workers. Um, they're awesome. They ultimately are ostracized by the people that they thought that they were friends with.

[01:20:57] Uh, and, and they were turned over to the authorities for, for, uh, deep, you know, whatever, where, where are they going to deport them to? I don't know. Anyway, like that there's a whole thing, but then wrapped inside of all of this is this, the sexual assault. So I want to read Katie's email. Katie, uh, has also written a couple of great blog posts for us. She wrote us really great analysis of Muay Thai fighting for, for, uh, uh, uh, the white Lotus episode. She's very active on our discord. Uh, her handle there is, uh, dopamine.

[01:21:28] And so here's Katie's email. You've noticed the discussion on discord about the scene involving the attempted rape of Bix by the Imperial officer that I brought up as a very jarring. It felt to me as unnecessarily long and frightening. Bix is already clearly still traumatized from her torture in season one, as we see in the very first episode of this drop and being an undocumented person on this planet makes her extra vulnerable, very real world conditions.

[01:21:56] I'd love to hear y'all's discussion on the scene. And if it took you out of the world at all, as it was happening, I'm wondering if there's a gender divide on how people felt at watching this scene with nearly half of all the women in the U S experiencing sexual assault at some point in their lives. It could land as more triggering for some of us than others, thus pulling us out of and or story and into real life.

[01:22:22] I felt like his language was trying to coerce her into a sex into a void being turned in and his invasive hand touch was more than enough to create a feeling of fear and danger. Taking it to those couple of extra minutes felt like too much to me. And I think this is resonating with some of the others, uh, in the conversation that we're having on our, on our discord channel, uh, for the lorehounds community. Was it really necessary to get so graphic?

[01:22:52] You can see her already employing the fawning technique to try to avoid danger when he's saying his job is so stressful and she smiles kindly and says that can't be easy. Already knowing that she's in danger and being in the throes of PTSD, her attack on him after he touches her hand completely makes sense. Well, he would of course fight back continuing to show his attempted sexual assault and how close he could have gotten if Bix had a freeze response rather than a fight response or didn't

[01:23:21] have that hammer in her reach made it feel like I was watching something else, a thriller or horror movie, for example, which likely would have had some kind of warning about it depiction of sexual assault. It stopped feeling like star Wars, even the gritty, more true to life star Wars. That is the end or series. So that's what I thought. And I felt what about y'all thanks as always for the great content and extra thanks to

[01:23:46] the amazing discord community that made the space for this discussion from multiple points of view in a respectful and safe environment. So glad to have found this group and feel accepted on so many levels. The content in the community are both such positive additions to my daily life. Katie, AKA dopamine. So I really wanted to make sure that we had Katie's voice in here as this conversation. Cause as we mentioned before, we're like two dudes talking about the sexual assault situation.

[01:24:13] And again, I don't want to get too deep into it because that we're not, I'm not a trained psychologist. You know, Ron, I know some of your background, but I don't want to assume too much, but we have limited experience in talking necessarily about this complex and nuanced things. And sometimes the podcast conversation doesn't really address all of the nuances. The fact is though, that this is imperial violence. This is a systematic oppression. This is a guy using the opportunity of his uniform to try to, you know, involve himself.

[01:24:43] I didn't find the scene going on too long. I thought it was, I hate to say this way, just right. Um, because it was bracing, but Ron, what did you think about this scene? And what are your broad observations? I felt like, uh, Katie's email. Thank you so much for sending me in Katie. I'm so glad you got a woman's perspective, David, because I, like you say, we're two dudes talking about something. Right. And thank you Katie for being brave to send that in. Right.

[01:25:13] Not everybody would have sent something like this in well thought out and well articulated so that we can really get some nuance on the, on, in perspective. Sorry. Right. Right. Um, not that dudes can't also be assaulted, but obviously it's very, very, very different. Um, but the point I do think, and this came up for me, like, I, I already don't see Andor as regular Star Wars. Yeah. So my expectations are a little bit different.

[01:25:40] I do think of it as quote unquote adult Star Wars. I mean, the very first episode of season one, they're in a brothel. You never saw, you've never seen a brothel in Star Wars. So. Right. And we have a guy smoking on Aldani, right? The guy flicks his cigarette off the, the bridge, off the, right. And they're using profanity and, and, and they're being explicit about the language when they're talking about the brothel. So right out the gate, you realize, Oh, this isn't your mother's Star Wars, right?

[01:26:09] We're not on Kansas prime anymore. Um, that being said, I saw a video last night from Star Wars theory YouTube channel. And he, he did not like the scene at all. He, he said that kind of similar echoing similar, um, what Katie said, um, we didn't need to see it.

[01:26:33] Like, and he, he made allusions to other scenes in Star Wars where the director alluded to what happened. Okay. Seeing it like when, um, in the prequel series where Anakin goes into the, to the younglings, you don't see them, you don't see him slaughter the kids, but it's implied. That's what he did. Same thing with the, um, with the, um, the sand, the sand people when he slaughtered the sand people. Right, right.

[01:27:00] Um, so there, he, so he made allusions to these other scenes where some type of extreme violence is implied, but you don't actually see it. So he did not like the scene at all. He almost, he suggested, he's not even sure if he's going to watch the, I'm sure he will watch the rest of it. Right. I'd be surprised if he didn't, but he's, that's how upset he was. And I remember when I was watching it feeling like I understand what he's saying, but they've

[01:27:27] established that Endor is like this adult thing and, um, it is tackling themes that Star Wars has never done before. So in a sense, I appreciated the bravery to kind of go there to show something that is horrible. That is real life. That does happen. Um, another, another, another point he made was that this wouldn't be allowed, which I don't agree with. He said, this would not be allowed in the empire.

[01:27:56] Like Darth, like Darth Vader would not stand for sexual assault. I'm like, I mean, maybe he wouldn't, but you know, Darth Vader's up, you know, killing mofos like a drop of a hat. Look at any modern military contact. Look at him at, at least we're Americans. Right. So we're talking about sexual assault happens on military basis and we have the uniform code of military justice.

[01:28:21] We have some of the most severe and harsh penalties in that code of justice for this kind of stuff. And it happens on a shockingly frequent level. Yeah. An inappropriate and unacceptable level. And it happens and it doesn't matter who's the commander in chief at the time. It's against the code of justice for the military. If you swear an oath, that's what you abide by. And it happens. So this lieutenant out on this farming world doing an audit. Yeah.

[01:28:50] And are they, isn't this plant in the outer rim? Do they say it could be? I don't remember. I don't, I would assume it would be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the kind of people who will be assigned to that would probably be more inclined to take advantage of people versus if you're working on Curzon or something. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. And then it would just take a different form, right? It would take a graph form or yeah. This guy is, he is, this guy is the authority out there and he's got an itch and he wants to scratch it.

[01:29:19] That's a terrible way of phrasing that. I apologize if that seems disrespectful. But the fact that he has a animalistic urge that he is not going to let, he's going to let control him rather than he be in control of his own agent, his own body. Does that make sense? Am I saying that weirdly? No, it totally makes sense. Okay. That, all that being said, I do think it's a fair critique that they did not have a warning. At least I don't remember seeing a warning. No, I didn't see anything.

[01:29:47] Because yes, Star Wars has, I mean, and or has been quote unquote adult Star Wars, but it's still Star Wars. Mm-hmm. And it's fair to assume, and I don't remember if there, don't you have to have a TV rating? I don't remember seeing, if there is a TV rating, I don't know if you've seen it. I don't know. I think people kind of like. Yeah, it's background noise now. Who notices TV ratings, right? Right, exactly.

[01:30:15] And so the fact that there's no warning that there, that, you know, that there's a graph, that there's, you know, a possible sexual assault, I can see people being surprised going into this and being kind of like, oh, wow. I mean, I would, if I, if this was the kind of thing that would trigger me, I would be upset

[01:30:38] at Disney for not warning me that this scene was in this, in this episode, because as adult as Andor has been, we've never seen anything like this. This is the kind of thing that can trigger people. Disney doesn't have a certain brand expectation. So not to have any kind of warning at the top of the show that this is a scene, that there is a scene like this in this episode, I think is a fair critique. To me, the thing was the realism.

[01:31:08] Yeah, it was very real. The guy using his language and going, oh, my shoulders and all this stuff. Like it was- And then at the end, and then she actually says he tried to rape me. I don't think I've ever heard the word rape in Star Wars. Completely. Completely. The word, the letters, R-A-P, right. Right. She didn't say grape. I can't usually do. Assault, he attacked me. Right, no, she said the words. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:31:36] So not having any kind of warning at the top, given the expectation of who watches Star Wars films. I mean, kids are going to be watching this show. Yeah. I have to, my daughter wants to watch this series with my wife and I, and now I've got to be able to have, she's nine and I have to be, I have to figure out how, and she's got, it's a reality that she's going to have to face. And my job as a parent is to prepare her for the world.

[01:32:01] So at some point, this is stuff that I have to think about, which is, ah, just fucked. I'm sorry. I apologize for swearing. Yeah. But that's fucked up that I have to prepare my daughter for that. But I'm also not going to not prepare her for it. Right? Right, right. And you don't think you need to have that kind of conversation before watching a Star Wars episode. So I think that's a fair, I think that's a fair critique. Yeah. If they had that warning, I feel like having the scene in and of itself fits in line with

[01:32:31] what they've established and or as a television show. We just needed the pre, yeah. I do. I kind of do. After hearing, especially after hearing Katie's email about it. Yeah. Yeah. If you had never, if you had this in, sorry. Yeah, go ahead. I stopped. No, no, no. Go ahead. I was just going to say, if you have had this circumstance in your life in one way, shape or form, you know, to then just have the scene come upon you like that. Yeah.

[01:33:01] I am very much in agreement that there should have been some sort of heads up. I don't think that the scene was egregious in and of itself, but I'm more, I'm numb to television violence in a way. This creeped me out and like it was a thing and whether it was too long or too, I'm not going to comment about that because I can understand a lot of nuances of it.

[01:33:26] So yeah, I think in agreement, some kind of indication, hey everybody, just so you know that there's a disturbing scene at the end of this episode. Like you don't even have to say that much about it, just, you know. Yeah. And all that said, I'm glad she clocked him. Right. She shot the fuck out of it. I mean, part of me was wondering, are they going to have Cassian? I knew Cassian was going to arrive in a ship at some point. Right. I was wondering, are they going to have him come in and save her at the last moment? I'm kind of glad that they did it.

[01:33:54] I'm glad that she was able to take care of it, take care of the situation. I felt like his response to being hit in the head was realistic with regard to what happens when you get hit upside the head twice with a wrench. And so, but yeah, I mean, it's a disturbing scene. Yeah.

[01:34:16] Um, and, uh, when Star Wars Theory was talking about it, he was talking as if they actually did the deed. He obviously, he didn't. So I don't know if maybe he just wasn't watching it right or he closed his eyes or something, but, but yeah, it's a disturbing scene. I think it, I think it warranted some type of warning given, given the nature of it. Watches Star Wars, something more than a TV rating. Right.

[01:34:45] I need to go back in now and see if they actually had a TV rating and what it was. I didn't see anything, but I wasn't paying attention. I wasn't looking for it either. So yeah. Um, okay. Well, um, thank you everyone for your understanding. I mean, obviously Ron and I are trying to be, um, uh, sensitive and careful about how we're, we're talking about this, but we also, I think both Ron and I and everybody within the lower hounds community are not people who, uh, aren't against that, like violence towards people, violence towards women.

[01:35:15] And so it's, it's a hard thing to talk about. So I, I hopefully we did, uh, um, we, we talked about it in a way that didn't cause further harm, but that we tried to advance some things. And if you have something to say, if you feel motivated to say something, definitely let us know. We are open to constructive criticism. Uh, Katie wrote a really great email and, and, and sort of framed that for us. So we're always willing to take on these points of view because I think that's something about

[01:35:42] the lower hounds community is that we're thinking and feeling people and we want to explore ideas and, and, and think about, uh, this kind of stuff. And there's no doubt that Tony Gilroy is putting a whole bunch of stuff right in our faces. Yeah. And, uh, and some of these are really important topics for us to be considering not in a armchair way, but you know, there's going to be some, you know, we, we have, we are living our lives in the real world as it's happening now. And, and that means something.

[01:36:11] So if we can take something from this, um, then that, I think that is our hope is that this conversation engenders people to feel strong and brave in the circumstance of, um, of scary stuff. Yeah. Cool. All right. Thanks again, Katie, for sending that email. Absolutely. Uh, right. So we'll, I think that's where we'll end the episode today. Ron, thank you so much for making time. I know we tried to try to fit our schedules. I was traveling and it's early for you, but we're in the same time zone, which is wild. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

[01:36:41] Yeah. And, uh, I definitely want to hear from you more later in the, uh, the season and, uh, you know, let us know some of your thoughts. I know we're doing squadron rotation. I got, I don't know who's up next on my squadron, but, um, but thanks. And, uh, yeah, we had, it's been a minute since we've had you on any, any conversation. So we gotta, gotta see what's coming up. Are you, uh, are you ready? Are you excited for alien earth? Uh, which is going to be the new. I haven't seen anything. I haven't seen, I think I saw one little teaser. They've only put out teasers in a poster or two. Yeah. So, yeah.

[01:37:12] Um, but given who's behind it, um, I'm confident that they can. So good. Well, maybe you and I, cause nobody else has been really interested in talking about it. So maybe you'll, you and I can get a chance. Yeah. I'm the, I'm, I'm the bigger alien fan. I mean, alien is liked by people in our community, but I I'm, I'm sort of the lead guy for it. So yeah. Yeah. No, I'm always down to talk about alien. Yeah. And what's the director's name? I'm blanking his name right now. Um, yeah, I'm blanking on his name too.

[01:37:39] The guy who directed the original alien or who's doing alien earth. No, no. The guy who's doing alien earth. Uh, um, it's Fargo. It was the director of Fargo. Is it? Yeah. Wally. No, it's terrible. Sorry, everybody. Yeah. My, my brain is so full of Tony Gilroy right now. Right. If only there was, if only there was like a, a place you could look up where anyway, while you're looking it up. Yeah. While you're looking it up, I'll just run into a couple of notes.

[01:38:07] So thanks everyone for listening to this coverage. Noah Hawley. Noah Hawley. That's it. That's what it is. I knew it was something. Yeah. Close. So next week, uh, the episodes will drop on Tuesday. John will be leading off on coverage for Alicia will be leading off on coverage five and I'll be leading up on coverage six. When episode six, remember to check out our season pass for more in-depth analysis bonus episodes. I'm going to be doing some video analysis.

[01:38:37] I have a, an idea to do a couple of shorts where I talk to a couple of people, maybe you and I can do a short and talk about that camera angle thing where it's just going to be like real quick. Like we'll just hop on, we'll talk for five, 10 minutes and then, and you know, low production value. Uh, but we'll have these Holocron lore episodes. We have the Rakuten invasion. And I know I'm pronouncing this. I've got the salalables wrong on that one. And somebody's going to get me for it.

[01:39:02] Uh, uh, we've got, uh, stuff coming up on, on the, the Gorman massacre. So, uh, check out the link in the show notes. It's just 10 bucks flat fee. And remember all of our co-hosts also get to share in, uh, those proceeds. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback for us, star wars at the lorehounds.com. Also join us on the discord. We have a fun community there. We've got a great moderation team. Uh, it's a really supportive community. It's a lot of fun. So join us there. I just want to give a quick shout out.

[01:39:32] Oh, and then we have a bunch of affiliate podcasts. I'm not going to go into anything else right now. Cause I gotta, I gotta run back to my, my work related thing. And Ron, you want to get on with your day. Uh, but check out the link, the link tree for all of our other affiliates to our discord server boosters. Those folks who, uh, support the discord by donating their extra, I don't know what they're called nitro bits or something. I don't know what the hell they're called. Anyway, it makes our, our server more functional, uh, space and it makes it for just better for the community.

[01:40:02] So Aaron K tiller, the thriller, dork of the ninjas do 71, Athena, Adjalea, Tina, with Stu, Nancy M ghost of perdition and radioactive Richard. Thank you for supporting the community to our regular monthly and annual subscribers. People who, uh, are real, the corner, real cornerstones of our ability to produce all of these podcasts. Uh, there are top tier subscribers, some Martian, Michael G, Michelle E, Brian P, SC, Peter O

[01:40:31] H, Adam S, Nancy M, doove 71, Brian 80, 63, Frederick H, Sarah L, Gareth C, Matthew M, Sarah M, Andra B, Kwong Yu, Deadeye, Jedi, Bob, Nathan T, Alex V, Subz, Zero, Aaron K, Dali V, Mothership 61, Norls, Kathy W, Lestu, Jeffrey B, Elisa U, Neil F,

[01:40:55] Ben B, Scott F, Steven N, Julia F, Kali S, Ilmaril, forward slash Tim and forever last, but never least, Audrion. Thank you all so very much. Thank you. Uh, if you're not a subscriber, thank you for listening and for being with us to our subscribers. Thank you, Ron. Really great to see you. I look forward to talking with you again before too long. Yeah, it was great. Can't be on. People want to check out what I'm doing. Blurred Ronner is my handle. I'm mostly active on TikTok.

[01:41:27] Oh yeah, totally. Sorry. I didn't give you a spot to promo yourself. No worries. I just gave myself in there. Yeah. Good job. Cool. And, yeah. You still have your YouTube channel up and running? Yeah. So, I mean, Dungeons and Durags. Okay. And Blurred Ronner. Uh, I started putting some stuff up on my Blurred Ronner YouTube. Um, not a lot. We just weren't going on. I got, I got to figure out where I put my time. So. Right. I feel you. Yeah.

[01:41:56] But with, with, I'm more active on TikTok with that kind of, who knows the future of TikTok. So, I'm trying to do more YouTube stuff. Fair enough. Cool. All right. Thanks again, Ron. Talk to you soon. Okay. Bye everybody. You too. Bye. The Lorehounds podcast is produced and published by The Lorehounds. You can send questions and feedback and voicemails at thelorehounds.com slash contact. Get early and ad-free access to all Lorehounds podcasts at patreon.com slash thelorehounds.

[01:42:25] And connect with us on Twitter at thelorehounds. Any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities. Thanks for listening. Operation and or is underway. Excellent. If we release three episodes per week, the Lorehounds will never be able to cover every episode.

[01:42:52] The Imperial forces will crush the rebellion before it begins. Standby. We're picking up something on our scanners. Echo Squadron reporting in. Delta Squadron on your left. Tango Squadron on your six. With Imperial forces coming in fast, we're calling all Rebels to join the fight this season. Starting after the April 22nd premiere, you'll hear three full breakdowns for each week's episodes of Andor Season 2. Each podcast will be led by one of our squadron leaders, Alicia, David, and John.

[01:43:20] We'll be bringing in new and familiar voices to fill out the roster. Search for the Lorehounds on any podcast platform to join us in a galaxy far, far away. And don't forget to check out our season pass for even more content like our Holocron bonus pods. It's good news for anyone except Darth Vader.