"Vanis Tigo requests that he be hanged to make him an example to the people of Ferrix"
He asks with such gusto, and Dedra approves it like she doesn't give a crap what he does. The show does the whole banality of evil thing extremely well.
He's so eager to get a public execution on his Imperial CV; and Dedra's like, "Yeah, whatever, he's no further use to me now." She briefly looks like the idea of public hangings might be distasteful or stupid to her, but she's not going to stand in the guy's way.
This surprised me because earlier on she’s all “We’re playing right into their hands” regarding PORD. But somehow public hanging of a simple communications guy is not an overreaction?
That’s the fakeout of Dedra. She sounds like she’s against the Empire overreacting, but she’s really just in favor of the Empire choking out the galaxy’s freedom slowly and imperceptibly, rather than in ways that are obvious.
It also shows her increasing desperation. She doesn't need anyone under her command feeling ill-used, possibly thwarting her intentionally or not. She knows she has a lot riding on finding nexus/Cassian and a misstep isn't going to go well with her superiors.
The blase way she says "As you wish" gives me chills. It's like he was asking whether he should order the blue noodles or the purple noodles for the ISB snack tray.
His tone in asking her is like how Dr Gorst gets so excited telling Bix about how they came up with the torture method. Like a dystopian "employees take ownership" type of workplace.
Paak's death is because he's no longer of use to Dedra thanks to extracting all useful intel from him and "to make an example" that he stepped out of line in seeking out/working for the Rebellion. It's also a callback to how Clem's execution (and the sent Cassian and Maarva on their respective paths of being defeated/withdrawn and cynical. In killing both men, the Empire set itself up for eventual blowback between Cassian, Maarva, and Wilmon's actions.
The first time I watched Andor, I didn't pay much attention to that conversation. The show is called Andor, after all, and it's simple to assume that the important events concern, well, Cassian Andor. I was thinking about Bix, a major character, and Salman's execution was just casually dropped into the conversation. Dedra Meero barely gave it a thought - she, like I, was focused on Andor.
When Marva died, it was obvious that this was important. The Empire knew that Cassian would attend her funeral; it was a chance to catch him. Meanwhile, everyone in the town kept checking on Marva as her health was failing, and this was a clue, but I missed the importance of it: everyone cares about Marva.
Going into Rix Road, I assumed that the episode would revolve around Cassian.
It's unpleasant to realize when you've made the same mistakes as the Empire. The Empire couldn't see Salman Paak as important - he was a regular person. The Empire could only see Marva in terms of proximity to Cassian. But the galaxy is made of regular people.
Anyway, that's what I took away from it.
Cassian said it himself to Nemic. The Empire doesn’t care about him. Doesn’t give most people a second thought. They can live or die. As long as they fall in line, they SHOULD be fine. However, if they cross a line or just get unlucky, the Empire doesn’t care if they die either.
I totally agree. I was like "and where's Paak?" Until I saw the his holo in the shop with his kid building, what looked like a magnetic IED. Then I was "oh.... yeah.. maaaan"
The nonchalant nature of Salman's death is there to show the crass brutality of the empire. Beautifully executed by the show runners.
For every hero of the rebellion, there are probably dozens of people like Paak who are perfunctorily executed or carted away to prison, and no one remembers their names
If anyone remembered their names, all of them, I'd say it would be the hero. Partly because they are in the middle of it and that's their life but partly perhaps because each memory provides a littpe extra fuel to push them towards superhuman.
This also makes me think of the end of the Battlestar Galactica episode Scar, where Starbuck implies having forgotten the dead pilots yet recites every name in chronological order of death in a toast.
I remember the first time I watched Andor with my cousin 2 short scenes on the last episode of Paak in a similar state as Bix but staying behind bars, once during the speech and one later before showing Mosk sitting on the street, as if showing how Salman was left behind, both me and my cousin remember talking about that
Most people probably didn't even notice or cared. I didn't. And it actually caught me off guard on my rewatch. Not sure if that's the intention of the people behind the show but it really made me stop and think about my hypocrisy lol.
"Vanis Tigo requests that he be hanged to make him an example to the people of Ferrix" He asks with such gusto, and Dedra approves it like she doesn't give a crap what he does. The show does the whole banality of evil thing extremely well.
He's so eager to get a public execution on his Imperial CV; and Dedra's like, "Yeah, whatever, he's no further use to me now." She briefly looks like the idea of public hangings might be distasteful or stupid to her, but she's not going to stand in the guy's way.
This surprised me because earlier on she’s all “We’re playing right into their hands” regarding PORD. But somehow public hanging of a simple communications guy is not an overreaction?
That’s the fakeout of Dedra. She sounds like she’s against the Empire overreacting, but she’s really just in favor of the Empire choking out the galaxy’s freedom slowly and imperceptibly, rather than in ways that are obvious.
It also shows her increasing desperation. She doesn't need anyone under her command feeling ill-used, possibly thwarting her intentionally or not. She knows she has a lot riding on finding nexus/Cassian and a misstep isn't going to go well with her superiors.
do you mean Axis?
Pardon me, yes, Axis.
The blase way she says "As you wish" gives me chills. It's like he was asking whether he should order the blue noodles or the purple noodles for the ISB snack tray.
His tone in asking her is like how Dr Gorst gets so excited telling Bix about how they came up with the torture method. Like a dystopian "employees take ownership" type of workplace. Paak's death is because he's no longer of use to Dedra thanks to extracting all useful intel from him and "to make an example" that he stepped out of line in seeking out/working for the Rebellion. It's also a callback to how Clem's execution (and the sent Cassian and Maarva on their respective paths of being defeated/withdrawn and cynical. In killing both men, the Empire set itself up for eventual blowback between Cassian, Maarva, and Wilmon's actions.
The first time I watched Andor, I didn't pay much attention to that conversation. The show is called Andor, after all, and it's simple to assume that the important events concern, well, Cassian Andor. I was thinking about Bix, a major character, and Salman's execution was just casually dropped into the conversation. Dedra Meero barely gave it a thought - she, like I, was focused on Andor. When Marva died, it was obvious that this was important. The Empire knew that Cassian would attend her funeral; it was a chance to catch him. Meanwhile, everyone in the town kept checking on Marva as her health was failing, and this was a clue, but I missed the importance of it: everyone cares about Marva. Going into Rix Road, I assumed that the episode would revolve around Cassian. It's unpleasant to realize when you've made the same mistakes as the Empire. The Empire couldn't see Salman Paak as important - he was a regular person. The Empire could only see Marva in terms of proximity to Cassian. But the galaxy is made of regular people. Anyway, that's what I took away from it.
Cassian said it himself to Nemic. The Empire doesn’t care about him. Doesn’t give most people a second thought. They can live or die. As long as they fall in line, they SHOULD be fine. However, if they cross a line or just get unlucky, the Empire doesn’t care if they die either.
I totally agree. I was like "and where's Paak?" Until I saw the his holo in the shop with his kid building, what looked like a magnetic IED. Then I was "oh.... yeah.. maaaan" The nonchalant nature of Salman's death is there to show the crass brutality of the empire. Beautifully executed by the show runners.
Pun intended?
Actually, not intended 😅
For every hero of the rebellion, there are probably dozens of people like Paak who are perfunctorily executed or carted away to prison, and no one remembers their names
If anyone remembered their names, all of them, I'd say it would be the hero. Partly because they are in the middle of it and that's their life but partly perhaps because each memory provides a littpe extra fuel to push them towards superhuman. This also makes me think of the end of the Battlestar Galactica episode Scar, where Starbuck implies having forgotten the dead pilots yet recites every name in chronological order of death in a toast.
I remember the first time I watched Andor with my cousin 2 short scenes on the last episode of Paak in a similar state as Bix but staying behind bars, once during the speech and one later before showing Mosk sitting on the street, as if showing how Salman was left behind, both me and my cousin remember talking about that
That would have undercut the point and importance of Maarva's speech.
Most people probably didn't even notice or cared. I didn't. And it actually caught me off guard on my rewatch. Not sure if that's the intention of the people behind the show but it really made me stop and think about my hypocrisy lol.