#I’m considering Taramyn and Vel having switched places but I also suspect Vel might be Luthen’s daughter

[corellianhounds]

I’ve been holding onto this thought until I could see what they did with the end of the season, but it does bear repeating that it sucks that nearly all of the named black characters we get in the show either die, are Imperials, or aiding the Imperials; the exception is Saw, who we know dies in Rogue One without getting to see the success of Rebellion.

It’s been pointed out by other folks on here that none of the black rebels live to see the rebellion they’re a part of come to fruition. While a lot of characters across different races die this season, there is a noticeable absence of named black characters living to see another day in the end. Not only that, but Andor’s father Clem is killed in a way that hits far too close to home in the real world, and while the show is meant to reflect and criticize so many of the problems our current society has in itself, this does still mean there’s a noticeable part of the show that is going to be difficult for black audiences to contend with (both in regards to the police brutality and the hanging itself). While the depiction may be done with care, it’s still there and it still contributes to the number of times it happens in media

Something that could have been done differently would have been swapping Maarva and Clem’s roles. I bring them up because even for as much as I like both characters and their respective actors’ performances, it wouldn’t have changed a lot of the story if their places had been switched. I would have liked to see Clem as the figurehead in the community whose passing brought the people of Ferrix together and sparked the retaliation against the Imperial occupation, with his visage and speech being the one people were literally looking up to in the end. It would have been just as beautiful to see Cassian’s relationship with a loving father as it was with his mother, and though it would have been differently heartbreaking if Maarva had been the one caught in the wrong place and wrong time on Rix Road all those years ago, it would still have been an atrocity of the Empire without adding to the amount of traumatic black deaths we see or that are alluded to in tv shows and movies in general. Again, I don’t think the original choice was done without care and I understand what the writers were criticizing/highlighting, but that part of the story still happens.

I guess it would have been nice to see a black character like Clem with a more prominent position and dialogue in the story like Maarva’s role. A Son of Ferrix, cared for by his community and worried over by his adopted son, giving the call to action and having a more visible role, resisting the Empire up to the end. Having a wife whose death had just as much impact on him and Cassian as his did on them, having just as strong and complex a relationship with Cassian, all of it. All of their dialogue and the dialogue about them could have remained the same if they were in each other’s roles.

There could have been a way for Lieutenant Gorn or Taramyn to make it out of Aldhani without it interfering with Vel’s perception of Cassian and Luthen’s directive to kill Cassian later. Nurchi didn’t have to be a snitch, or he could have double-crossed the Imps there at the end. Birnok could have survived the prison escape. Melshi’s role could have been switched for Stordan Tonc, another of Cassian’s crew from Rogue One.

It just feels like there could have been a little bit more done to ensure some of these lives had the chance to go on, even in a story where so much is being sacrificed already.

#tw lynching #tw police brutality #tw hanging #Andor spoilers #Andor show #I’ll look for the other posts in my drafts #It’s not my intention to talk over black people or other people of color there’s just a lot of posts by other people to wade through— #— in the tags so I don’t venture in very often #Andor critical #Maarva Andor #Clem Andor #Cassian Andor #Nurchi #Saw Gerrera #hounds speaks #Andor meta #I’m considering Taramyn and Vel having switched places but I also suspect Vel might be Luthen’s daughter #unsure of that though because of what little we know about Luthen and Vel #and I feel like that would have come up with Luthen in relation to Mon Mothma #I also don’t know what’ll happen in the second season so for now it’s just a thought #taramyn barcona #Lieutenant Gorn #Birnok #long post