I really love the actress playing the ISB agent. Just had the perfect face for that role.
Man, the two best scenes this episode have to be between Mon Mothma and her friend, and Cassian and his mom. Wow, the performances we’re getting out of this show are pretty stellar. Really liked the brief, stream of consciousness flashbacks we got of Cassian’s adoptive father. Will be interested to see more of that. Did it seem like to you guys that the young kid running toward the clones was a young Cass, which means Diego Luna as Cass with his father may have been an expression of the memory? Like, Cass was actually younger during that event, but we’re seeing it through the mind of Cass, so in that moment we are seeing him as he is in the present? Don’t know if that makes sense.
The scene between Mothma and Luthen was nice, too. I really liked the the final shot of Luthen as he is thinking while Mothma leaves. A lot of thoughts seem to flicker in his mind. Like he is fluctuating between being confident in his actions and anxious about what’s to come. Getting Skargard for this show was such a win.
I have to say I was a bit surprised by how quickly Cassian’s peace evaporated. Cassian’s arrest felt slightly contrived, but I imagine his contrived arrest may be reminiscent for people who actually have been accosted by the police while trying to mind their own business. “Why do you look nervous?” “Because you’re making me nervous!”
EDIT: Thought I would share this comment I found on reddit related to this thought, “As a Hongkonger this episode ending hit me so hard. It’s just like the real HK police right now, a police state where they can accuse you of whatever they want and arrest you. Also, the Judge only listens to the government and the police, even charging what they want without evidence.”
In this case, Cassian was paranoid because he was guilty of something even if it was unrelated, so it does make sense why this trooper suspected Cassian was hiding something. I kind of wonder if troopers are now incentivized to arrest people who display any inkling of anti-Imperial sentiment in the wake of the robbery. At this point arguing with a trooper might be seen as an act of civil unrest. It would add to the irony of why the trooper seems so eager to arrest Cassian. And now this overreaction from the Empire will create more rebels everyday, just like Dedra and Luthen both talked about.
The six year sentence also seems drastic, but the line from the judge about it used to be six months makes me think sentencing has become more severe as a consequence to the robbery. So there already is some irony in the fact Cassian’s arrest and sentencing may have come about due to his involvement in the robbery, even though him being in his current predicament is relatively unrelated to that.
Also, ending on the brief moment of Syril working at his desk felt like a weird place to end it on first watch. But maybe they were trying to draw a parallel Cassian’s prison sentence with what probably feels like is a prison sentence to Syril.
With just how many interesting characters and world building we’re getting beyond Cassian’s own story, it makes me wish they would’ve abandoned the Disney+ titular character naming convention for their shows and called this series something like Shadows of the Empire. Would’ve been a lot more fitting.