Andor

This is a reprint of the TV essay from Issue #92 of Exploits, our collaborative cultural diary in magazine form. If you like what you see, buy it now for $2, or subscribe to never miss an issue (note: Exploits is always free for subscribers of Unwinnable Monthly). 

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As I watched the second season of Andor, a line from The Phantom Menace came to mind: “always two [Sith] there are. No more, no less”. While this philosophy was adopted by the Sith to hide from the Jedi, it means their order is one built on inherent disposability; either a student eventually becomes so powerful that they kill their master, or they aren’t worthy enough, and thus their master has to dispose of them to move on to a better apprentice. It’s not surprising that when the Sith lord Palpatine took control of the Republic he reformed it into an Empire that evokes his Sith ideals, but it was during Andor where I saw just how thoroughly his imperial forces are designed to be as disposable as the Sith order he belongs to.

Deputy Inspector Syril is introduced at the start of the show, and despite his honest belief in Imperial order being for the greater good, he winds up killed in the Ghorman massacre he unknowingly helped facilitate. His superior and “lover” Dedra then lets her ambition get the better of her and unknowingly leaks the plans for the Death Star, which lands her in prison despite her devotion to the Empire. This in turn causes her own superior, Major Partagaz, to take his own life as “penance” for her mistake, and we know this keeps going after the show’s finale. Partagaz’s colleague Director Krennic is killed in Rogue One by the very Death Star he oversaw construction of, and Krennic’s own overseer Grand Moff Tarkin is killed when the Death Star is destroyed in A New Hope. No matter your station, no matter how much you give to the system or how many you push down to secure your own place, you are never safe from Imperial disposability.

Ironically, this is what makes a code-phrase from Andor used by the Rebels not only true, but a fundamental reason why they succeed: “I have friends everywhere.” The Rebel Alliance is a cause built on valuing everyone who’s a part of it, where instead of nameless grunts to be disposed of at a moment’s notice, all of its members are essential to winning the fight.