Andor: Dedra Meero, "Systems Either Change or Die!!!!"

I cannot understand how a studio like Lucasfilm can turn out utter pigswill like Mando SE:3, Bobba Fett, Obi-Wan and Asokah but also release an utter masterpiece like Andor. Andor feels like quintessential late 70's/early 80's Star Wars written by Lucas himself. Simply wonderful.

I love when empire is presented in this professional manner, they are actually competent and not bunch of goof balls to get murdered by vader when ever he needs to look scary

For once, the villains are not incompetent. Not even Blevin. He isn't incompetent. He just has different priorities. He wants his cushy office job on lockdown where he has complete authority and can maintain the status quo, gaining as much credit as possible through as little work as possible.

But when Meero's investigations threaten this status quo is is quite vigilant and skillful at trying to undermine her. It's just that she evidently either expected him to do this and planned accordingly, and/or was very careful in just how she circumvented his authority in his own sector.

And then finally, instead of reprimanding Meero and maintaining their current order of operations just because, their boss accepts Meero's logic that rebels aren't going to play by arbitrary rules set by the empire, and agrees they must adapt their strategy accordingly. He doesn't get caught up in the fact that his own leadership evidently hasn't been working as he wanted to and this has indirectly been called out. He puts his ego aside and accepts and acts on advice from a subordinate.

THIS is how you create an intimidating enemy. All involved are incredibly intelligent, it's just that Meero has a little more imagination, and Blevin is lazy, due to being less of a zealot and more interested in his personal career than the Empire itself. Meanwhile their boss designed their sectors to be effective at handling required bureaucracy and basic law enforcement within those sectors. He didn't design them to handle a cold war, which is what he now realises he's up against.

You know that Dedra would kill you in a heartbeat if ordered to, but you can't help but root for her.

A giant poker table where everyone is cheating...

Oh my god she's so fucking hot

It's ridiculous how much of an ass this Blevin guy makes of himself in this scene. Yeah, yeah, dog eats dog, "Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power", - except you have a boss who wants the job done instead of sorting through your petty squabbles. He was told there is a widespread plot to prepare an armed rebellion (with secret military tech no less) and hard evidence to back those claims and he keeps droning about his intra departmental power struggle... If it was Vader at the head of the table he could have just killed him.
I think that's symptomatic of a general problem with Imperial administration and management. People were mocking "weak" Republic for being torn by political machinations of an eternally subtle Sith. Well, compare to the mighty military police state which created armed resistance everywhere it went. Andor does a really great job of showing all this.

This is the true depiction of the empire. corrupt and male-dominated. Because the female imperial officers in Legends fought against these, they created strong characters such as Admiral Daala and Ysanne Isard.

I close my eyes and hear Yennefer plotting and scheming

As I've heard another fan put it:

4-7: "wow dedra is competent and getting things done!" :D
8-12: "oh God dedra is competent and getting things done" D:

Can we all agree that if the Imperial leadership was half as competent as Partagaz they would've crushed the rebellion (with or without the space wizards)?

Taking the stellar writing aside, the delivery in acting is superb for both Dedra and Partagaz. And what makes this statement crystal clear is the sheer contrast with the poor performance given by Ben Bailey Smith as Blevin in the same scene.

Partagaz's system made a lot of sense when there was no rebellion being organized on a large scale. With all these ambitious personalities under his umbrella, having strict territorial boundaries for them was undoubtedly necessary to keep them from constantly trying to steal each other's cases. But once the evidence is presented to him, he is immediately able to recognize the shortcomings in how they had been doing things.

I left one comment two months ago but I'm leaving another one to reiterate that I'm unexplainably, incredibly attracted to Deidre and also I might need therapy

Partagaz's facial expressions are amazing! And the way he handled this, being willing to accept when flaws are pointed out in his systems and willing to adapt, being receptive to ideas that run contrary to the rules when the situation is such that those rules are no longer adequate. He is such an interesting character and I can't wait to see more of him in season 2!

one of my fav scense. great example of how many ppl in empire were actually into meritocracy... long live the empire!

andor is AMAZING it is almost like old ST

Andor showed the Empire in a way that most Star Wars content dares not show it as: Competent, scarily competent.

The ISB is the definition of Imperial Efficiency and Competency. And its beautiful to see how they weren’t afraid to show that in this show.

Anton Lesser looks and acts like a combination of Ian Mcdiarmid and Jim Broadbent

I knew I'd heard her voice before. So that is what Yennefer looks like heh.

Provocative exchange of idea! Long live the Empire!

As evil as the Empire was. It was efficient.

I know uniformed characters aren't very memorable or sexy to make but I do hope we get a few of these characters in action figure form. Its also impressive to see imperials that aren't arrogant mustache-twirling sycophants.

She is the strong independent female character that Star Wars needed ! As a woman, I look up to her, I want to be her (ok, not do bad things, but you get it), not Rey, not Holdo, not Rose. Dedra Meero ❤

Who wrote this dialogue? It's good

This is how you lead, it must be frustrating to be surrounded by a group of people who stick to the rules every single time and don't use their own brain when required.

Well, systems could change AND die.

It's interesting to me to see scenes like this cited as the Empire showing good leadership within its internal organizations - when in reality it's just baseline how humans tend to act. From a leadership perspective you can see how the Major is in actuality doing a terrible job. Yes, he may value the work that is being done, but instead of actually leading he is pitting his own subordinates against one another. Forcing them to compete and backstab and scheme. It's exactly how almost all authoritarian governments have worked and is the precise reason for their near universal incompetence. Master-class is understanding leadership from the writers, because it gets across exactly what it should.

This has GOT vibes can't lie and no its not just because of Qyburn 😂😂

First half of the season: Hell yeah, get it girl boss!

Second half of the season: Oh fuck, that's right, she's a space Nazi.

The Aggressive, Competitive atmosphere of the Sith Empire with structure and deep reach of the Old Republic. The ISB did their jobs well...for the most part. Yes, the Empire is evil at its core, with members only caring about their own gains. However, when people start rising up in the ranks because of true inspiration and dedication, the Empire becomes TRULY terrifying.

I just appreciate how logical everything in this system is, even if it is the Empire. Meero had constructive feedback for Partagaz, he listened and used that feedback to make the correct decision. Dedra received praise and also a warning "watch your back" because of corrupt/incompetent individuals within the ISB

She's the perfect anti-villain and he's a great tutor.

I love how you can hear Dedra’s stress while speaking, it gives a whole level of realism to her acting.

A perfect representation of what occurs within large multi-national corporations. Even while they preach teamwork and working together, the ones at the top are basically stabbing each other in the back when they can. Oh I've seen it enough to know it happens. And I am surprised at how many people refuse to admit, this is how life at the top works. The same in politics.

is it a coincidence that all the imperial officials have british accents? after all the british empire and imperalism went hand in hand

what are those pencil things on the sides of the chest ?

Star Wars for adults is so much more interesting than Star Wars with lightsabers for kids. Really wished Disney would push more content like this.

I did not like Andor because I could not relate to Andor's motivation. I prefer my heroes don't destroy humans. That's my thing. Even the bible says it right. That's the one thing I believe about religion. Humans should not destroy humans. Governance Systems work to protect the average human. If not, it's the wild west as things are right now. In America, we don't value human life. We create new victims every day but we ignore or block out what happens to victims. We focus on the one who destroyed. We make sure they are comfy and have rights. But that victim, forgotten. The humans Andor took out, forgotten. I will never side with a hero who takes lives. That's why I didn't like Henry's version of Superman. Zod could have been contained. My point is, we are conditioned to forget the victims, that's why so many are forgotten in the real world.

Love all these ISB meeting scenes, it's like watching a James Luceno novel being brought to life! It would be great if the same team did a series chronicling the career of Tarkin or Thrawn.

this show was so good at bringing in subtle yet emotion full music that really amplified the scenes. i cant think of any other occasion where Star Wars has done it to this level.

I actually think in S2 of andor deadra will be killed or leave the ISB and go with cereal 🥣 eater

The writing is so FUCKING CRISP I can't get over it

Let's all be honest here if the empire was written this good consistently then the rebellion would have failed.

immediately recognized her voice. She’s Yennefer from witcher 3 so of course she’d nail this role.

Looking back at this scene, one thing often overlooked is that Blevin here does have a point, to a certain degree - he's just misdirecting his suspicion.

We now know that the Rebellion does have a spy at this table, at this meeting.

Blevin is insisting on enforcing the rules of information compartmentalization between the Sectors and their supervisors, rules that Dedra broke.

There is another answer to his question of "if everyone in this room playing as loosely with the rules as [Dedra]". Yes, imagine the damage Lonni Jung (Rebel spy at the table) could do if he behaved as Dedra and was allowed to proceed unimpeded.

Holy shit, the Empire is competent and scary. Is it 1980?

Ha ha, the teacher's pet got screwed.

I’d argue that overall the Major’s strategy of leadership is poor, because he promotes infighting and intense competition amongst his workers, so they are for the most part more concerned with their own careers than with the tasks at hand. BUT, it clearly works to an extent in the short term and it is so satisfying to see the Empire portrayed as such an effective threat. I don’t think this strategy would work long term, cause backstabbing and sycophancy don’t make a good team, but clearly it’s working here and it makes them all the more terrifying to see. So calm, organised and united… for the cause of totalitarian oppression and tyranny.

This scene of ISB officials having a discussion in a meeting is far more engaging than anything else they've released on D+ for SW. The dialogue writing, acting, line delivery, direction, camerawork, thematic relevance and real-world inspiration are so crispy and top tier. This series is the DEFINITION of "slept-on"