My favorite moment was during the prison break when they finally reached the control room. The source of the deep, monstrous voice that has condemned hundreds to their deaths and oppressed the entire prison population for years. They finally reach him and it's just some scared, ordinary dude using a voice modulator.

The show really did a good job at portraying the viilains that come not from the top, but from the professional middle manager class. Status quo at all cost. The Empire would not have such a large workforce loyal to it if it didn't appeal to their sense of order and stability.

I think the bad guys in Andor are so menacing and threatening BECAUSE they're not grandiose, obtusely evil villains like Darth Vader and the Emperor. They're just normal people doing really bad things, and that makes their actions feel so much more real.

I briefly worked for the DWP in the UK - the Department of Work and Pensions. Such a dull sounding name, with a dull mandate - to organise and distribute money to people who are currently not working (either temporarily or due to disability). Such banality, yet full of so much evil its hard to put it into words. My job was to take phone calls from claimants - people seeking benefit money. I'd take their details - extensively. I'd ask them questions. I'd read off lengthy terms and conditions and declarations with actual legal weight behind them. And then I'd wish them a good day and the computer would automatically hand off their details to someone who decided whether or not that person deserved money. Sounds innocent enough, right? Well. The DWP likes to find any excuse to not award money to people. To be invasive in their questions. To not tolerate any frustration or anger at the system. To actively punish anyone who breaks the rules, whether they intended to or not. To decide whether or not someone starves to death or becomes homeless due to circumstances out of their control. To accuse people with life long disabilities or making things up to avoid work. To pressure people who shouldn't be working to go back to work. Work Will Set You Free. I dealt with all sorts of people on the phone. Young and old. Those in constant crippling pain, those who were recently fired, those who already worked but didn't get paid enough to survive. All while surrounded by people in an office who were so friendly and chatty in between work, who brought sweets to share and planned nights out together. And it didn't balance out the amount of despair and frustration and fear I heard in people's voices on that phone for hours on end. I had two people who were clearly suicidal in a single day. We had a bomb threat in the office. We hid our work ID's when we left the building. Ultimately I couldn't handle it anymore. I had a nervous breakdown dealing with the stress of trying to juggle the morals in my head. Was I doing a good thing, helping those in need? I did my best to be friendly and helpful, even bent a few rules as best I could to improve strangers' chances - and I got 'words' from managers who were listening in on calls silently who disapproved of how I handled certain cases. I realised no matter how hard I tried I was still part of an evil system designed to keep the downtrodden down and scare people into working pointless demeaning jobs all over the country. That was my job - an instrument of terror. So after only a few short months I talked to my supervisor about how my health was preventing me from continuing. I couldn't sleep, I was overeating, I was constantly getting high after work and my body was falling apart alongside my mental wellbeing. So I stopped working there and put myself into that same system I'd helped enforce and became unemployed. To someone not in the know the DWP might just seem like a banal office job, just people in suits doing a boring but necessary job. But in reality the DWP has caused the suffering of many thousands of people, many of whom died due to its decisions. And the people who made those decisions were hidden away from the public - just faceless "decision makers" who even I as an employee never saw. People who never had to speak to the people who's lives they were impacting, who's only interest was hitting quotas set by corrupt politicians. It is an evil organisation. And I was briefly part of it. And that sickens me. Moreso when I realise how much I missed that paycheque. I was so close to being tempted into accepting evil, and the price was insultingly low.

It is, phenomenal, that the story about a secondary protagonist in a prequal movie that happens mere minutes before the 4th Star Wars movie has some of the most interesting worldbuilding Star Wars has gotten since the first three prequal movies.

Sergeant Mosk goes from “First Line of Defense of the Empire” to realizing what that actually means after the Ferrix riot. Seeing him just drink on the steps and thinking of what happened is such a great moment. Add on: his actor said he wasn’t asked back to shoot anything for the second season. So this is where Mosk’s story ends.

At first I didn’t understand why they kept showing Cyril’s mother in this show. After the final episode it made sense. She is the opposite of Andor’s mother. The two mothers show the two types of motivations within the two sets of characters. Where Cyril was accepting of oppression, Andor was part of the angry outburst against it. Evil is allowed to perpetuate because regular people don’t take action. What makes thing even more complicated is that Cyril made that very same point as part of his speech to his men. As was pointed out in the video, none of them really believed it.

One thing I love about the show is how the Empire does what I like to call Casual brutality example you can have a scientist talk about a genocide and using a child scream as a weapon of torture with the same tone that some people will talk about building a PC

Another thing to consider is the ISB Major. He's one of the best characters in my opinion. He shows competent, level headed leadership. For instance, there is a scene early on where Meero and Bliven(? the other lieutenant) have an argument that they take to the major. He decides against Meero, gives her a bit of a dressing down, but then tells her how she can do better. Perfect leadership, and deserving of respect. I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked him from the first time he was on screen, and it really got me thinking. I know what he is doing, I know his aims, and I know who he is working for. But damn, his technique is impeccable, and I cannot help but respect him for it. So, I think he is a great representation of how the evil can take on a respectable appearance. He is the old teacher, guiding the next generation to greatness, but what is left unsaid is what they are really doing, and the ends that they serve. He also contributes to making the Empire a legitimate threat. Knowing that there are extremely competent calm and rational people running the Empire makes it all the more menacing. The Major isn't going to screw up by doing something rash. The rebels have to outplay him.

This is a fascinating look not only at Andor but also how mundane evil actually is in real life.

fun fact: they was going to slightly humanize the Empire in RotJ in a deleted scene: the officer in control of the death star's laser is ordered to blow up endor if the shield bunker gets destroyed by the rebels, he questions the order but is simply forced to follow orders. Then once the bunker is destroyed, he continues on with the order but is very clearly upset by it. Then once the death star is locked on, he hesitates for a few seconds waiting with dread before giving the order to fire as he looks down in shame, ultimately giving the rebels enough time to destroy the station before it fires.

"Institutions have this habit of posing themselves as natural, as unbiased, and apolitical." - "The institutions Eichmann worked for didn’t pose themselves as political, they posed themselves as a necessary component of society which justified the work he did" - "Look out for political institutions that claim to be unbiased, apolitical and necessary. These are the type of institutions that enable ordinary people to not think of the political implications of their work and commit ordinary evil." Gems like these are in part the reason I am addicted to this channel.

I love Partagaz. He reminds me of an old professor leading a seminar more than a military leader which I think is really interesting.

I do know if this is a disagreement but Dedra strikes me as more ideologically motivated and willing to go to extreme lengths, such as ordering torture (equivalent of an SS officer in the Nazi regime). She is also higher up in the hierarchy, so bears more responsibility in shaping Empire policy. Cyril's motivations, on the other hand, seems to be a simpler and not so much as result of dedication to the Empire's overall goals. He is also a victim of a devouring/oedipal mother, which seems to reflect on his neurotic obedience to the letter of the law. He does not understand that corruption of the authorities in the outer rim can, in reality, be a strategy for ruling that geography, and ends up being a clog in the machine. I love your reviews. Thank you

As someone who lives in Iran under the Islamic Republic regime, I relate to the show a lot and I see undeniable similarities between the show and real life.

Where you see this the most is in the Interrogation scene. When you boil it down, the scene is showing evil so terrible it's almost absurd: The empire wiped out a species, and uses the dying cries of its children as a way to torture their prisoners... It's hard to beat that level of evil. But the tone with which the Interrogator exposes this is that of a scientist who's exited about the effectiveness of his method. There's no real malice in him, you don't feel like hurting people turns him on. He just likes results and is proud that his method is seen as so useful by his superiors. Really this guy would be just as excited to test out his theories, working for a government who asked him to create the most soothing and relaxing sound ever... But he's working for the Empire, and so his enthusiasm serves their dark purposes.

When Dedra suggested leaving the insurgent pilot dead in the cockpit of his ship so that the Rebel faction didn't think the ISB intercepted him, that too me was the most chilling of all. She said it in such a way like it was all in the natural course of work. Her supervisor just agreed with it, he did not even attempt to dissuade her or try another way. Can you imagine in today's society if such a thing is happening and we don't know about it? A government intelligence agency taking a human life in the natural course of their work. Luthen displays the same qualities too, like when his ISB mole told him about the ambush that another Rebel group was walking into, he summed it up that it was merely the cost of Rebellion. At least Saw displayed some attempts to try to save that group.

This is very, very good. Whenever I see works like these I can't help but think about Louis Athusser's paper "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses", and Slavoj Žižek's film "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology". The line "Institutions have this habit of posing themselves as natural" spoke to me like a firecracker. It's true. You can literally watch people try to make you think some power dynamic they benefit from is just the natural way it's meant to be. It's like experiencing culture shock. I had an old prof tell me "the moment you think, 'that's the way it is', they fucking got you."

Thing is, on average, nobody wants to think about the full implications of their lives. It gets too big. It costs too much time and effort while they live already stressfull lives. To get by, people need a manageable 'model of reality' that they can run in their minds cheaply. This is very easy to exploit, and that exploitation is very hard to fight because it takes energy to realize how you're being exploited, and even more energy to go against that exploitation. Energy most people feel they don't have.

A big part of it as well is showing good guys doing bad things. Andor kills 2 people at the start. Luthen is willing to sacrifice Kreegyr. When this contrasts with Syril and Dedra who are doing their job to keep the peace (as they see it), it makes for really intetesting grey areas.

I think one of the best things Andor did was have the empire apply force to ordinary people with much fewer stormtroopers than we're used to seeing in star wars. Like in real life, where they don't send in the military to shut down every single protest, in Andor the empire mostly makes use of much more ordinary looking Imperial Army troopers, who are notably armed in the Ferrix riot with 'Less Lethal' batons and shields - only the few stormtroopers present have blasters. As in real life, in Andor oppressors armed with non lethal weapons are still oppressors. It's also worth noting that it wasn't the people of Ferrix that started the riot, but the Empire - rather than face criticism the Governor tried to shut down a protest that until that point entirely was non-violent by violently throwing the speaker (B2/Maarva) to the ground. Again, another reflection of how protests have turned violent throughout history.

The idea maybe true of the overall depiction of the ISB and Empire but the description of Syril Karns character seems wrong. He is depicted as not fitting in with his fellow workers, he is actually a true believer amongst others who are more like cogs in the machine. He is shown to have some inner need to prove himself, possibly feelings of inadequacy. He is a zealot. He doesn't "just follow orders" - actually he disobeys them to pursue Andor.

i think it's also really smart to show Karn's mother with her own brand of authoritarian love, as well as Luthen's brand of ironfist control over his rebels. Also awesome that Luthen recognizes fully what he's doing when he said he is forced to use the tools of the Empire to fight the Empire. As in, when you live under an authoritarian power, you will become, to some degree, an authoritarian too.

“There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.” Terry Pratchett - Small Gods

Robert Macnamara, Sec of Defense during Vietnam is a good example of ordinary evil. He calculated with X body count of enemy, we win. To get there, you drop Y bombs, run Z missions, etc. He didn’t know that by asking for dead bodies, the field commanders would just start killing civilians. Also didn’t know that Ho Chi Min didn’t care about body count. Could have lost two times the number, four times the number, and he would have never given up. Ho was Luthien, Macnamara was the bureaucrat.

At its core the banality of evil was an inability to have empathy.

The Canvas certainly goes far and beyond in terms of making the best content. Kudos to them.

As a corollary to the idea of “the banality of evil in Star Wars,” originally in the prequels the *Order 66* given to execute the Jedi wasn’t a subconscious trigger built into the clone troopers via a microchip-it was one of a number of executive contingency orders that the Grand Army of the Republic were trained in, in the particular case of 66 being, “what the GAR should do in the event that the Jedi Council attempts to overthrow the Galactic Senate.” The clones weren’t coerced into killing their Jedi commanders because of a morality-changing macguffin, they were just soldiers blindly accepting and following orders. Personally I think this is way more impactful than the retcon introduced in The Clone Wars, because it highlights this exact form of evil: doing something you know is wrong, without questioning it at all.

I highly recommend Star Wars The Clone Wars, there’s a few episodes with similar themes to that of Andor. I also recommend Rogue One as well as it’s what lead to the creation of Andor as a series

After my Army platoon killed two civilians in Korea during a live fire exercise (Many Koreans don't recognize the US Army and the boundaries we use for exercises and some entered the area where we just started firing mortar shells and were obliterated) and their deaths were just swept under the rug, I decided my military career was over. Everyone acted like nothing happened, two dead, more wounded, and it was just another day at the office for almost everyone involved. That to me is the banality of evil.

What I loved about Dedra is now she reacts when all hell breaks loose in the final episode. Because she instantly looses all control and power. Her power is the empire standing behind her and saying you have to listen. But the fist of the empire is busy fighting in the streets, leaving Dedra alone in the mud in a jacket that clearly displays she's the enemy. She could've easily been killed, by accident or deliberately, by either side for any reason. When Syril saves her, but before he reveals his identity, her fear is palpable, because she is truly helpless. The man dragging her along could be saving her, kidnapping her, taking her to be shot, or using the chaos to take advantage of her. And that choice is purely in the hands of the man behind her, a power she had wielded for the entire show and only lost mere minutes ago. But, in season 2, there's a very strong chance she seamlessly regained her power the moment the empire regains stability on the planet. But in that brief tilt she would've easily fallen through the cracks and have never been missed. A new lieutenant would take her sector and that's that. That's the culmination of her true power, when everything is taken away. Compare her to Andor, who's repeatedly had any power he's had stripped away, but he always rebuilds it, power that is uniquely his.

I think one of the most interesting evil characters in the show is Luthen. He admits that he is evil, but the best example is how he explains the heist to Mon. She's horrified that it'll bring down terrible consequences on regular people, and luthen basically says "that was the plan all along, so that enough people will hate the empire and join us. I want the empire to be cruel and evil because that's how our side wants to portray them". He's willing to sacrifice not just kreegyr, but untold masses of regular people, just to build the narrative of "empire bad"

Fantastic video! This banality is the exact reason I was so impressed and enthralled with Andor--as an admittedly lazy Star Wars fan. There are so many unique details throughout that display this banality. One that stands out to me (spoiler) is when Andor is in the prison/work camp, the guards make an off-hand remark that they don't have enough staff to assist with intaking Andor. Usually in prison movies, being understaffed is kind of felt during an escape attempt, but having the guards grumble and complain about that fact during a remedial task is just good cinema.

One of my favorite quotes in one of my favorite books is “he just had to wait and hope the laziness of bureaucracy would do the rest”. And SW has a lot of this. The banality of evil also allows holes that can be exploited. The Death Star is kinda like a big example of this. Seems so big and uniform but because it’s so big it has week spots no one notices.

Gotta say about syril that thoses Values you mentioned he cared for were part of the Values showed by the clone troopers and seing his toy clone soldiers makes you realize that despite just seeing them on the news they were probably the only positive influence he had growing up considering his toxic relationship with its mother

Your voice eq is perfect. Thank you. So many channels have abrasive voice processing

i loved this show. it showed that you can make something great within the star wars universe without lightsabers and force users. it brought to life the gritty and unorganized beginnings of the rebellion.

Just discovered you channel. Really good content. It's so sad how clearly we can see this ordinary evil in our world once we know what to look for, but most people don't know what to look for.

Not only is this show incredible but the discussions surrounding it are too! Not just the conversations about it being the best Star Wars media and why but the politics and philosophy as well. Its one of the most thought provoking pieces of media in recent history!

I first subbed for your commentary on paintings, however, I love your analyses on other forms of art/media!

So, funnily enough I am reading Eichmann in Jerusalem for my PHIL-400 class, and we talked about “Moral Luck.” In the context of the book, we spoke on how someone might have better moral luck on having been born in a certain time or certain place; two people are speeding/going over 100mph, one person hits and kills a child. While both were doing the same thing, one got unlucky and therefore has a worse outcome even though they were both doing the same thing.

Sociologist Max Weber wrote extensively on the role bureaucracy plays in separating authority (those giving orders) from those individuals just doing their jobs (putting those orders into action). I thought Andor did a masterful job of creating a story where "good guys" and "bad guys" aren't simplistic to the point of wearing white hats and black hats respectively.

Thank you for always posting such amazing content. This is one my favorite UKposts channels! Keep up the excellent work!

Didn't expect Star Wars to be discussed here. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

What I love the most about Andor is that it's so realistic, even though they have space ships and shoot lasers. What's most important is that the characters act like real people and this is something I VERY rarely see in movies/shows nowadays. People are rarely "pure evil" like movie baddies, who very often want to rule or destroy the world. In Andor they have real motivations and struggles, just like in real life.

Ironic, for the benal evil I saw, is a man who not hesitated for a second to kill to cover his crime - a surrendered, scare and begging man from the first episode. If anything, I think Andor actually shows that you don't have to be with the authority to be evil. Their are honest and dedicated men who served the Empire (who never commit any direct act of evil through and through), and there are Rebels whose lied, cheated and murder all in the name of the revolution. And that was a great display of the dichotomy of evil.

My favorite lines in this show was when Mon-Mothra was voicing her concerns that the government was getting to power at the party. And her fellow senator said there is nothing to worry about if you’ve done nothing wrong. And in the next scene, Cassian is hiding out on that beach planet, and gets picked up by the robot and he keep saying “I’ve done nothing wrong! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

I remember reading Hannah Arendt when I was younger. I am from Germany and my father told me what his father told him about the times when the SA came to his Jewish neighbors and wanted to burn their house. I told that ordinary people tried to help them and that they stole from the house gods. And the very same people sat in the church the following Sunday, thinking of themselves as good Christians. My grandfather lost his faith in humans in this time and never trusted "good Christians" again. Ordinary people were the pillar of the Nazis. Beware of them.

R1 and Andor made a fantastic job on this area,as well as rebelds,where the constant competition inside the empire shows too

Syril isn't evil... He just loves cereal.

Thank you - this is the phrase I was searching for just today in trying to explain to my son what I thought this show had done so well. Andor is some of the best television I’ve seen in a while. I keep rewatching Luthen’s speech, I keep thinking about that prison factory. The entire season breaks my heart. How many unsung heroes are forgotten all the time…? Would I ever have the courage to do what is right when the stakes are that high? At what point does “for the greater good” turn you into that which you fight against?

This is very relatable to some of what I've been feeling about my own country's regime recently. It's like I know what's happening and how people feel, but you put it into words in a way I couldn't quite pin down. Bravo sir, subscribed.

Thanks to deal with such a low-key but intersting show! The vibe through the story his also enhanced by outstanding and various color palette.

I think there's more to both these two characters' motivations than just banal duty to their society. There's something deeper in them that's driving that sense of duty. For Karn, it goes beyond dedication. He wants to be a "hero," not just a cog in the machine. Sure, he wants to avenge his fallen colleagues, but this isn't out of loyalty to them. He couldn't care less about them. It's pure vanity. He wants to matter. That's why he clings on to Meero. In his eyes, she is in a position to bestow on him the approval he's looking for, approval his family life has clearly withheld. He doesn't actually care if what he's doing is right. That sad, empty he gives to his followers speech tells you everything. He knows what a hero is supposed to look like, and is supposed to say. But when he says it, it's empty, and everyone knows it, including him. There's no place in the Empire for heroics. He will never matter. No one in the Empire matters except the Emperor. My money is that he may defect to the rebellion, not because he wants to be a better person, but because the Empire just isn't built to give him what he craves. Meero's motivation is obviously ambition. She's no different from the colleagues she criticizes. Everything she does is to climb the ladder. But what the story goes on to reveal is that her craving for authority comes with a side-dish of cruelty. She doesn't just torture people as a necessity of her work. She loves doing it. In a fascist society, power is built on fear. And since power is the only currency, causing fear is synonymous with wealth. So cruelty is an expression of her ambition, not just a necessary tool. Power is what she wants, because it's the only thing worth having in the Empire. So cruelty becomes her way not just of claiming power, but of enjoying it. All this is to say that there's always something deeper beneath the banality of evil. It's never as simple as following orders, doing one's job. At least, that's my opinion.

Man, good essay. Very well thought out, calm execution, no real beating around the bush, really good. You know it’s good when you get disappointed it’s over. Amazing work.

Humans are still free agents, even in bureaucracies. They can make moral judgements. Refusing to obey, resigning ones position, being a whistleblower, contacting the press, or even working from the inside to sabotage or spy are available options. Since the Nuremberg trials, “just following orders” is not a legal defense for violating the law - even from soldiers. What makes evil banal is the failure to ethically connect actions with principles, and instead assume ethics is obeying rules. Personally, I find nothing more inspiring than when people with power and status say no to a plan or initiative. By refusing to obey they are preserving their own humanity instead of being a tool of evil

Star Wars as science fiction. In the same vein as the video it should be pointed out that much like Hitler and Putin, Palpatine was legally elevated through a republican process to become a dictator following the Mussolini model. It should also be pointed out that by this time in the Star Wars chronology the galactic citizens, soldiers and bureaucrats would have been subject to 14 years of Imperial propaganda extolling the virtues of the empire under Palpatine, and how he is the only one who can save the old Republic from dissolution (this last part sound familiar?).

People often say "Oh, this is how Star Wars is supposed to be" and such. I am just hoping we will see the world of Andor and the world of Tales of the Jedis intertwine. Star Wars' galaxy is so big, it would be unfair to tell its story in just one way.

Great video essay. You articulated exactly what I have been trying to do since watching the series. The approach to the series was to allow viewers to see normal people, doing normal things that can lead to dire and potential catastrophic ends. The lack of understanding or unwilling desire to think beyond their immediate concerns and/or roles ultimately drives the collective 'hive' minded system to behave in ways that individually they wouldn't necessarily do or agree with, but as part of the machine, it is not only tolerated but advocated and then rewarded for doing so. While demonstrating what normal people from all walks of life are compelled to rebel against the regime/ machine/ the banality and subsequently willing to sacrifice in order and service to the greater good. One side accepting that this is normal and 'I'm only doing my job' combined with the inherent human desire to compete and dominate. The other, unwilling to accept the status quo whilst risking everything for the sake of the cause, however nebulous that may be. It's great writing, story telling and film making.

This is my favorite channel and I’m glad it seems that the channel is growing

'Just following orders', or 'just doing my job' is not, and never has been, an acceptable defense. But, an authoritarian society enables otherwise 'normal' people to do terrible things - or, to facilitate and promote policies intolerant of dissent. 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely', as is said, and authoritarian systems help feed ambitions to hold some of that power, and to be seen as an asset to the system. Questions of morality can be pushed aside, in favor of laws or rules which seek to silence or quell dissent, and to oppress the 'outsider' or the 'other'. I don't know much about 'Star Wars', but there have been, and still are, many authoritarian societies right here on Earth, and plenty of 'normal' people working within those societies to promote and 'protect' the State. Hannah Arendt was right about the 'banality of evil' - if those who commit, or promote policies which allow for the harm to innocents were monsters, it would be easy to dismiss their actions as though they were some natural disaster, outside of human control. But, those who work within these systems are just people - and normal people are capable of extraordinary good, or extraordinary evil.

Thanks for this. This is great. The nuance of characters in this show makes it sing. I find pieces of myself in Syril, Andor, Vel and Kleya. Everyone is grey but is backed by some form of code. Family, honor, order, religion, rank, justice. Everyone seems invested in a belief system that conflicts with other factions in this show. That speaks to the humanity in the writing. The way you speak about the banality of evil makes the bad guys accessible in a way that you don't see in the pure evil of Tarkin or Sheev Palpatine. It's really hard to believe this made it out of the studio so tightly made with other SW shows floundering.

Can't believe my favorite UKposts Art channel is taking about my favorite show of the year. This was a great watch for several reasons

Great video. The narrative so well put together. Described greatly of what I’ve notice at the show.

the first and overwhelming commitment is to one's paycheck

It's like in high school, when I worked at a call center for a debt collections office. My morality versus my seeking for minimum wage were put at odds against each other when I had to call to collect debt from those who had just returned from cancer treatment. (Note: debt collection is not inherently evil, it just provides a good example of how it's easy to sacrifice morals for duty and money.)

The commentary in this video is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Bravo to the creator of this channel.

The world of Andor springs directly from the prologue to the 1976 novelization of A New Hope, which are the very first words we ever get from anything Star Wars (which by the way also gives us the essential story of the Prequels and Clone Wars). Here are a few paragraphs : "Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic. Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears. Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions."

I live in Iran which currently if you noticed we're running a brand-new revolution here, and we passed that point which people who work in governmental offices, justify their actions by just saying "I'm just doing my work" or "if I don't do it someone else will surely do". we started to identify each and every person who participate in massacres, death sentences for protesters in jail and try to ridicule, attack or by any means show them their action is not just a 'daily routine work'. whether they will understand what they're doing and resign from their jobs, or we show them it's consequences. we are at some point which police officers try to draw a line between themselves and those who brutally oppress protesters by saying "those are not us, they are paid mercenaries funded by 'Sepah' (IRGC) and their agents".

As an engineering student, who gets really dedicated to her work and lose sight of her role in Justice and equity when she's getting paid, I think about this a lot. 😬 This plus PhilosophyTube's video on the collapsing British Healthcare system really show me how much evil is done by millions of people just by trying to make it through the day.

really appreciate the editing and blending in the key words so clean

Nicely handled analysis for someone who isn’t a SW fan. For the layers and depth of this show to even be considered by what I view to be one of the most intellectual channels I follow is a testament to how terrific Andor is.

So glad to see that so many people are thinking about institutional evil, committed by ordinary people. Vaclav Havel showed us the way out. Just tell the truth. Tell it always. Once you agree with a lie it becomes harder to tell the difference and suddenly one day you can't tell the difference any more. Keep telling us truth, Canvas, and thank you.

Never has a Star Wars show so thoroughly explored Totalitarianism in power, along with its peculiar ideology of total domination from within through the mass atomization of the whole people, brought about from isolation and erosion of the public trust, and the total elimination of spontaneity in peoples lives. These are the preconditions for turning the actions of every person into reactions so one person cannot be defined separately from all the others. Under such conditions resistance becomes near impossible as not 1o people can come together and form bonds of trust as any semblance of common humanity becomes harder and harder to identify as thinking is replaced by conditioned responses. Totalitarian power, in the views of it’s leaders, is basically created through the organization of isolated people who are atomized into individual units whose coming together, essentially, draw power similarly to how friction or galvanic currents generates electricity. As a result these movements tend to openly defy rationality by adhering to an endless and structureless momentum that must always remain in motion. The only way to enforce this kind of continuous mass momentum is through constant terror and constant purges. Violence, intolerance, and hatred is not based in any constitutionalized set of principles, it’s simply what allows an atomized group of people to remain organized and provides the momentum so necessary for Totalitarian organizations to carry out their murdurous and dominating objectives for dominations sake alone. And never has a show more embodies that the best defense against such an ideology is spontaneity and love, because the only thing that holds it together is hate and terror.

An outstanding video! This show is just keeps getting better as I watch more of these videos

What I like about syrils character is that he's so close to being a genuinely good person, he wants to investigate a double murder, that's something a good honest policeman would do, he believes in the work they do, he really does think its for the greater good - had he had a more compassionate upbringing, he might have gone down a different path.

This evil is within all of us. Thanks for reminder to look out for it.

Boi! Is this good! Thank you very very much for making this. Especially the connections to Eichmann or the Riot Police in the beginning are so on point! My professor took 90 minutes to visualise the "Banality of Evil". You needed less than 10min. Did you study any social/psychological sciences?

Just found this channel and couldn’t be happier, incredible content

I really miss the times when youtube was full of these simple and calm analysis videos

The flip side of this is if we all stood by our values a little more and refused to engage with companies, employers etc who are commiting or enabling harm, we would very quickly create a far nicer world to live in.

this video convinced me to continue watching the show, since the first 3 episodes didn't compel me enough

Something I love as well is that in Mandi season 3, they show the people who used to be imperials. They all thought they where doing the right thing, they all where told the rebels where bad, that they need to uphold peace, many imperials also defected and helped the rebels once they found out that their job wasn’t what they signed up for. You can see that there simply normal people who where fighting for what they believe was right. It’s not them whose evil, it’s the empire who are using their good intentions to do bad, who are tricking them into going against their values and hurting others.

Hey, thanks for making such a great video! I agree strongly with this.

I couldn't even finish the show about Kenobi. I think there were too many plot holes, it was predictable and boring. It felt like the creators were being lazy and just doing it for money. So, when Andor came out I didn't even care about. Two days ago I started watching because I had nothing else to do. And in two days I binge watched the whole thing. It was brilliant! I really think this is the kind of series I want to see coming from Star Wars. I think the main aspect of this show being so good is (like you are saying in your vid) the portrait of evil. It's pretty similar to real life, I mean we have all these kind of characters and situations in our world happening right now. I have lived under dictatorial regimes and I now live in USA. I have protested against a dictatorial regime on the streets and people have been shot to dead and oppressed many times. In USA I've protested against police brutality and I have seen how they also oppress people here. Also, I have read a bunch of books about the holocaust and this empire in the show feels very close to the Nazis. I feel like some sort of empathy because they are showing an evil that is real! I mean, there are neo nazis, proud boys and all sort of evil people in our world. The craziest part of all of this to me is that I consider Disney as part of the "empire" in real life. They are giving us this show, but at the same time they are one of the biggest companies in the world. One of the most capitalistic franchises that for sure has lots of power and influence. If anything Disney is closer to the evil side from my perspective.

One should also mention that in the first couple of episodes (obviously before the torture) it wasn't even obvious that the two highlighted characters would be evil throughout the whole season. They both were kinds of "underdogs" in their environment, which actually made you root for them in some instances. And they both could have made completely different choices and end up in different places.

The deconstruction of ‘evil’ is at its most impactful when you’re close enough to see your own reflection in it: there was never an evil to begin with. Star Wars was one of the popularisers of the ‘good vs evil’ narrative. It certainly has the right, in our new globalised world, to lead a new nuanced conversation on it.

This video essay perfectly explains why I need to show "Andor" to my kids as soon as they are of suitable age.

Syril's motivation was to invastigate the murder of two company employees. His superior discouraged him, something law enforcement is sometimes accused of, looking the other way. I really struggle to see if there is actuall evil in his doings, to be unlikeable is not evil, investigating a double murder is not evil, having personal issus with a controlling mother isnt evil, wanting to be a low-budget law enforcer isnt evil. I even think he his the only protagonist in this whole show that actually never murderd or physically attacked some one?

A video on the morality of the actions of the rebels in the series Andor cold be really good also.

Thank I totally missed this show and now I think Ill give it a shot and I totally agree with your analisys of ordinary evil btw, great video

Great video. Thanks for the thorough and profound analysis.

3:00 Hannah Arendt wasn't, in the strictest sense a 'survivor', in that she escaped just in time. Then spending the majority of the war in New York. Sure this looks like appalling pedantry, but. Her work on the trial caused serious friction between her and those that were actual 'survivors'.

Hi the canvas

What I really like about Karn, if you think about the things he does are really relatable in the beginning; Two of His colleges were murdered and he wants to find the murderer really badly, in alsmot any setting he would be the protagonist.

Great analysis. This was what I also found most enjoyable about Andor; how plausibly it portrayed a society that found itself transformed into fascism. I think it's also worth noting that the values of the institutions flow from the top, i.e. from the Emperor. Keeping him out of sight was another great part of the show's appeal. His presence is felt like a shadow over everything and is made all the more menacing by its absence. It adds a mystery to evil and somehow amplifies the lengths that administrators are willing to go in order to please such a reclusive figure who hovers over everything. Even if he's not known personally, his power is and his values filter through the bureaucracy. The fish rots from the head down. And of course his true nature is hidden from public view, which adds a layer of plausible deniability to the fact that those in his service are in service to evil. This absence seems to me almost necessary for a truly evil leader to succeed. The show is a great reminder of the personal courage and cost required to stand against institutional evil. It's very easy to assume that our institutions are naturally for the public good, but we know from history how relatively easy they can become tools of great evil. The pressure to go along with such a tide is immense. The decision to stand against the current... who can say for sure that they'd do the right thing?

Went to a bar in Texas the other day and a group of border patrol workers were drinking and talking about work. They weren't the boots on the border, though, they were doing data and taking care of the tech side. The way they talked about people, incarceration, and monitoring individuals, really got under my skin, and maybe it was because I've been watching ANDOR. I've tried to not make instant Nazi comparisons when unpacking those experiences, but seeing the bureaucratic side of an anti-human enterprise being chatted about as if they were in a competition to build the most go-carts or stack the most boxes for a promotion was not only dehumanizing for those people whose lives they affect, but also themselves. And they all looked, acted, and live such boring lives, that they'll never understand the suffering they create just to feel at home in the rat race. Excellent video, by the way. Just wanted to share that story, I guess.

Syril doesn't work directly for the Empire during those early episodes. He was Deputy Inspector for Pre-Mor Enforcement, a private task force. He is basically a space mall cop. Pre-Mor do report to the Empire who in the end decide to take over Ferrix's jurisdiction. But Syril is discharged for disobeying. He is in a sense a rebel within his administration. Tony Gilroy stated he is unformed at that point with no specific ideology. I wouldn't call him evil just yet. It is only once his life is ruined that he holds Cassian personally responsible and goes on a rogue crusade to hunt him down. It is personal not ideological. Obviously he admires the Empire but has no idea what's really going on there. Dedra is a whole other type of character, she's an ISB Supervisor (think CIA agent). She's brainwashed to the ideology and thinks she's a hero saving the Galaxy. She does do evil things like use torture methods although doesn't like to get her hands dirty. She's an end justifies the means type person. So banality of evil certainly but not to the level of an Adolf Eichmann. Still many things she ignores about the Empires darkest deeds.

Thanks, brillant. This is exactly one of the things in the brillant writing of character and the world of Andor, what makes this show so brillant and masterful.

Much as I enjoy this take, there's something darkly funny that this empire of realistic, historically familiar evil is being led by Space Satan-Hitler who's trying to become a god with supernatural powers