I wouldn’t call her sadistic. That implies she takes pleasure from hurting people, and I don’t think she feels anything at all about the people she hurts, beyond the satisfaction of a job well done. Somehow, that makes it even worse.
Maybe they just move them to new buildings instead and made a mistake? That way the knowledge can’t spread. Must be a lot of turnover. Andy Serkis has done so much CGI that it’s forgotten he’s a good actor.
I mean, some people have forgotten…
Did we know prior to this episode that Val was Mon’s cousin?
No, that was designed to be a surprise. But it does also help tie everyone together a bit more. You can see a potential path that might lead Cassian to Mon Mothma now.
It was wondered upthread whether she was related to Luthen, perhaps daughter, but yes, this is an interesting path.
I still wonder whether the little book that was passed onto Andor will return in some way. I can’t imagine that it was given screen time, and purposefully passed to Andor, without it being important in some way. Same with Andor’s little robot chum.
I still can’t get over how different she looked there as opposed to on the heist. I had to take a few moments to recognize her each time she’s shown up recently.
I think there’s going to be a big switch between Dedra and Syril. Syril is the true believer, Dedra is just ambitious. She seemed horrified at the thought of being so dedicated to the Empire you’d give your life up for it. I think we see Syril continue to move up the ranks, and we see Dedra get her hands on the manifesto and turn spy.
Wow, you’re right, I hadn’t noticed him at all. Do you think he’s gunning for her job, working for one of her rivals, or in the Rebellion?
I actually thought Dr. Gorst was the only thing keeping this from being a perfect episode. His earnest description of his technique, with the “choral, agonized pleading” of dying children, was over the line disturbing IMHO. Maybe they’re trying to show that while the run of the mill Imperial officer’s aren’t sadists, they’re perfectly willing to use sadists. I did like that they ended the scene with a callback to Princess Leia’s interrogation scene in ANH.
Don’t know about the rebellion, but it was noteworthy that, just after Dedra was accosted by Syril, her assistant was already in the office and had done several things off his own bat and was rewarded with a wary “look” from Dedra. I just get the feeling that some degree of paranoia is setting in. I predict a “reckoning” at some point.
Well, the Empire is essentially the Sith Reborn, and one of the fundamental problems with the Sith is that “Betray your master” has always been the primary way of advancing through the ranks. So it won’t be any kind of surprise if she does cut him down to size.
Ambition is fundamental to being a Sith, but so is hiding your ambition until you’re ready to strike. So I expect he’s actually just that enthusiastic for the job, and hasn’t quite embraced the Sith attitudes. So he’s done for.
could be…but she might be the toasted or the toastee.
He’s might already be sneaky and ambitious enough to make his power-play stick. We saw how Dedra’s boss was happy to promote on the basis of such initiative-taking.
I think your scenario is more likely but it’ll be fun seeing it play out either way.
My sense is that this level is not very Sithish. It’s more corporate. Her boss is a firm data driven manager with high expectations who encouraged her breaking his borders. I think she was just a bit surprised to see competence in her staff support.
OTOH Syrill’s zealous hard line believer mentality throws her for a loop. Really unsure where their going to go with him but he’s the strong contrast. Which does a fascist structure want more - those who don’t especially care about right or wrong but work hard to advance themselves within the system - or true believers who will ignore commands in service of The Cause of The State?
and, interestingly, could we not also identify some similar conflicting motivations for some of the rebellion (or proto-rebellion) players?
He also has that element of danger around him. Sure, he encouraged her this time, because he ultimately wants results, but even as he was praising her, it felt like he was just about to drop the axe on her.
He’s got multiple subordinates, all of whom are looking to advance, probably to his job. His trick is to keep them fighting amongst themselves just enough that none of them can quite get it together enough to come after him.
It’s like the staff meeting on the Death Star in the original film. Tarkin was in control, the subordinates were arguing with each other, and Vader was there looming over it all with a sense of menace. Push it too far, and you’re getting Force-choked. This is the same, just without the Force.
I’m just glad that Syril doesn’t seem to have a romantic interest in her. That would be too creepy and he’s already doing a fine job of it.
For the first few episodes, I considered Syril to be a decent guy. He was a police officer investigating a double murder, standing up for the law against a corrupt department that wanted him to look the other way. He wasn’t evil or cruel. In another show, he could have been the hero.
He does seem to be sliding into obsession now, so I’m rethinking my stance. The turning point was when he allowed his boss to expunge his record - a tiny little act of corruption… but he’s on the slippery slope now.
Interesting. I took him quite another way. He seemed very stiff and out of his depth. Ambitious and unwilling to learn.
I think it is testament to the quality of the show that he remains ambiguous, I don’t know what he will do nor what direction his story will take but I’m eager to find out.
I will say when I saw his actor smiling and laughing it threw me for a loop! 