Andor is the angriest Star Wars has ever been

Traditionally in Star Wars, getting pissed off doesn’t get you very far. You can’t blame Jedi, as there are many annoying aspects to Star Wars mythos. When iconic Star Wars characters and ideas center around space wizards that adhere strictly to moral codes, any deviation from this code is the only source of bad guys. This is where Jedi get confused. Normal, human emotions are made anathema. While expansions to the canon add a bit of nuance — love, for example, isn’t forbidden as much as Attachment is, and how it can warp a Jedi’s balance in the Force — more negative emotions like fear and anger are more verboten.

Star Wars tales go beyond Jedi and its heroes gradually lose these limitations. Clone troopers are the stars of The Clone WarsAnd Bad Batch deal with all manner of emotional and moral dilemmas that make the show’s premise — brainwashed clones finding their humanity and (sometimes) bucking their programming — so compelling. Kanan Jarrus, Ahsoka Tano and other shows which follow Jedi out on the fringes when the Order is nearly extinct. RebelsExplore stories beyond the mundane to give these stodgy wizards an easier reworking, treating them first as Jedi, and then moving on to other tales.

Star Wars has been popularized by a large audience so some of the darker moments have been removed. While protagonists may have their angry moments, none of them are truly angry. People. Jyn Erso even Rogue One, perhaps the most quietly rage-fueled character to lead a Star Wars film, is ultimately on a quest to redeem her father’s legacy, and find a noble cause. In her story, anger is distracting.

Image: Lucasfilm/Disney

Cassian Andor has a different build. The flashbacks from the three first episodes of Episode One show that Cassian Andor is different. AndorShow, his initial trauma was a time when Imperials flew out of the skies and murdered his family. Rescuers adopt him and find him beating up a deck console. When we’re introduced to him as an adult, it’s clear: He never stops being that kid, blindly taking his rage out on the only thing left he can blame.

Crucially, when Luthen Rael decides to recruit him for the nascent Rebel Alliance, Cassian’s anger is Why? Luthen wants him, and it’s how he motivates him. “Don’t you want to hurt these bastards for real?” he asks, knowing it’s far and away the most compelling pitch he can make to Cassian. It’s a striking contrast. Rogue OneThe Rebellion begins the campaign against the Empire. This is where freedom fighters are carrying the message of hope, moving the movement farther than the old bitter soldiers like Saw Gerrera.

But Andor, and the small group of rebels we meet in this week’s episode, “Aldhani,” are not there yet. At this early stage, the Rebel Alliance is tenuous, suspicious, and vulnerable — there are conflicting ideologies and ideas about how things should be done, both in the high-level subterfuge of secret Imperial traitors like Luthen and Mon Mothma, and in the boots-on-the-ground operations being conducted by a handful of rebels like Vel Sartha. What unites them right now is anger: a fury so ingrained that they are willing to take the bickering and curveballs like the addition of Cassian Andor, a guy they know nothing about, in stride as long as they can agree that it’s time to make the bastards pay.

Lucasfilm

It’s this palpable anger that makes AndorFeel worthwhile and unique. The show isn’t necessarily the first Star Wars story about angry heroes, but the primary focus of most Star Wars movies and series is pulp adventure, of good winning out over evil. There is bound to be big and bombastic action. AndorIn its initial episodes, it established itself as being primarily concerned with character drama. It’s a quieter show, one that lets you seep into the malcontent felt by Cassian and those he meets.

The anger of the characters that will form the Rebel Alliance — the roots of which are unknown to us right now, though that may change — forms the bricks on which a coalition to overthrow a fascist empire is built. They may eventually achieve loftier and more tangible goals, but they must not lose sight their ultimate goal. But for now, the people fighting the Star Wars are finally mad as hell, and it’s never felt more relevant.