I was not expecting a drunken Mon Mothma dancing, but am totally blown away with how tragic but upbeat that scene was. I have that song stuck in my head now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QmwFav-vXY
Took me until I took a look at the reddit discussion threads to realize that
Tap for spoiler
Tay is definitely getting a number, and that number is one bullet to the back of the head. I thought Luthen sent Cinta to keep an eye on him, in hindsight he’s definitely dead. He made himself into a liability.
I also really like how the end of this arc mirrors the end of the first arc of Season 1, with Cassian flying them out for a change.
Yeah, I agree. Luthen sees him as a risk, and he needs very little risk to decide to take someone out. Shame. I liked Tay, and I think a good talk could have helped, but he definitely seems to be a risk; not entirely on board, knows too much, and served his purpose. Still, Luthen is ruthless.
I kinda felt like there was a lot of filler. They didn't need to spend an hour of the first two episodes focusing on drama within the group of dipshits who presumably
spoiler
will get used by the empire to justify the genocide of Gorman.
I thought Cassian would step in as leader of that group of idiots and turn them into something useful, but now that he hasn't, I think you're right. They're exactly the idiots Dedra needs.
If that was what they were setting up, they could have done more to characterize them, show us what tendencies or how their lack of ideology makes them susceptible to manipulation, the message I got was just "look at these paranoid, incompetent, trigger-happy, overly-dramatic idiots.
Like there's historical examples to draw on for what Dedra is planning, from the IRA assassinating their own after British intelligence fabricated evidence others were traitors to Russian police having SR assets on payrole who participated in assassinations to get in with SR groups and identify them in the 1800s, to the FBI's varied tactics to destroy or render groups ineffectual that would all be more interesting than some group that's easily manipulated because they're just a bunch of morons.
Agree it was a slower part of the first arc, but I don't think they're filler. They're a microcosm of the current issue with a disunited rebellion. With that in mind, they're likely going to play a part in convincing our other players that it's time to come out of the shadows and take the risk of becoming a single fighting force; you could already see how frustrated Andor was with Luthen to have to deal with them at all.
To your other point, I won't be surprised at all if they end up as Dedra's reliable rebels (good thought... it hadn't occurred to me), but they could just as as easily be dead by this time next week, as I guess we're getting something of a time jump between each arc. In either event I don't think "tangential to the overall progress of the Galactic Civil War" is narratively the same thing as "filler."
Cinta & Vel.
I don't expect the show to do flashbacks (although we got them with Cassian in season 1), but I have to wonder how they first met.
It's obvious Vel would give up on the whole rebellion right now if she and Cinta could settle down somewhere. Conversely it's clear that Cinta can give up Vel in order to advance the rebellion even a little bit.
Was Vel a "spoiled rich kid" who picked up the rebellion "for fun" and found Cinta, and now that she's found love wants to get out?
Did she find Cinta first? But lose her to the rebellion? Did Cinta use Vel and her money/connections to further the rebellion?
So many characters in this show seem reluctant to be rebels. Luthen is 100% in. His assistant is likely 100% in. Cinta is 100% in. Is Cassian? Is going back for Bix and friends a weakness or a strength?
I feel like they’re setting up to force one or both of them to make a choice between the rebellion or each other. Maybe also Cassian with Bix.
