Why Do I Love Cassian Andor?

I said in my post yesterday about Han Solo that the main reason I love Han is that he needs to be loved.  This is also true for why I love Cassian Andor (Diego Luna).  In fact, I think he needs to be loved even MORE than Han Solo does.  I mean, Han has Chewie for a best friend, so he's not alone in the world.  But Cassian?  He's got nobody.  Well, except saucy droid K-2SO.  And yes, droids can be good friends in the Star Wars world, but... Cassian is still very much alone.

Oh, he's got co-workers.  He's part of the Rebel Alliance.  He has fellow spies, and he's got a cause he's working for, but emotionally, he's alone.

Very alone.

And I think he's miserable.  He has dedicated his life to fighting the Galactic Empire, sacrificing everything to the effort: his own self-respect, his own moral compass, his own needs and desires and comfort and happiness.  Cassian Andor has laid everything about himself down at the feet of the cause.  He's dedicated, he's determined, he's an incredibly effective spy and warrior... and he's miserable.

When we first meet him, Cassian has to kill an informant to keep him from getting captured and spilling information to Imperial troops.  Then he rescues Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) just so he can use her to get to her father, and then carry out his orders to kill her father.  Cassian is ruthless, that's for sure.  And he doesn't appear to like himself better for what he's had to become.  But he considers the Rebel Alliance to be worth more than himself.  He's been fighting for the cause since he was six years old.  It's all he knows.  It's all he has in his life to care about.  

Well, aside from his snarky robot, K-2SO.  But you can only care about a robot in a limited way.  And they can't really care about you, not like a person can.  Don't get me wrong -- I love K-2 and think he's one of the best robot sidekicks ever.  But it's not the same.

And then... Jyn.  She befriends him, sorta.  He befriends her, sorta.  She's as friendless and ruthless and lonely as he is.  And, by the end of their story, they've both found someone who will care about them, and that they can care about.  They've made a connection with someone human, someone to fight for.  Not just a faceless cause, not just a monetary reward or their own survival, but a friend.

Sooooooooooooo... this was another rambly post.  But yeah, I love Cassian because he's broken and miserable and wonderful.  Mmmmmmmm, so much salty goodness there to love!

This has been my second post for the Everything Star Wars Blogathon hosted by I'm Charles Baker Harris (And I Can Read) and Coffee, Classics, and Craziness.  Come back tomorrow for one more post, this time about why I love Din Djarin!

The Simple Questions Tag

Rachel at A Girl's Place recently created this tag and tagged me with it.  Thanks, Rachel!  Here are my answers to her questions:

1. How does your morning start? 

Generally with a little person crawling in my bed sometime around 7am and snuggling up to me :-)  Though I've noticed this is only happening about every-other-day lately -- quite often now, my kids wake up and play with each other in their rooms instead of coming to wake me up.  Then I just wake up on my own, see it's time to get up, and off we go.

2. What's your favorite color? 

Purple.

(Violets make me happy.  I did not take this photo, btw, I found it on Pinterest.)

3. What book are you reading right now?

Right now, I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, Rogue One by Alexander Freed, and Montana Rides! by Max Brand writing as Evan Evans.  I pretty much always have at least two books going, sometimes three.  One upstairs in my bathroom to read while brushing my hair and teeth, one on the main floor to read at random moments, and sometimes another that I couldn't bear to wait to start.

4. What is your opinion about having a mobile phone? 

I like always being able to call for help if I need it, and I must admit I love being able to check my email just about anywhere.

5. Your favorite actresses? (Pick at least two)

Maureen O'Hara and Emma Thompson are at the head of my list.  I also love Myrna Loy, Lauren Bacall, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, and Doris Day.

(Maureen as a Musketeer!  Yesssssss!)

(Emma Thompson.  I didn't take this picture either.)

6. What's your favorite movie right now? 

My favorite movie has been The Man from Snowy River (1982) since I was two years old.

7. Snow or rain? 

SNOW!  I am a snowphile.  Though I do enjoy rain as well.

8. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? 

Mint-chocolate-chip :-9

(Now I'm hungry.)

9. To which countries have you been? 

Obviously the USA, as I live here, but also Canada, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine, and some islands in the Bahamas.

10. What are you doing mostly in the evening? 

Once the kids go to bed, I'm either watching a movie, writing, or spending time with my husband.  Sometimes a combination of those, like watching a movie with Cowboy.

11. How old are you? 

Thirty-six.

12. Which countries do you really want to visit? 

Great Britain and Germany.  I want to go on one of those literary tours of Britain and see all kinds of Sherlock Holmes/Jane Austen/Shakespeare/Tolkien stuff.  And I want to go to Germany and see all the Luther sites.

13. What's your dream career? 

Writing westerns that are so beloved and successful, they get turned into movies.  But I'll settle for just getting paid to write westerns.  Working on that.

(There's no actual reason for this picture to be here except that it has Alan Ladd in it.)
(Also, Olivia de Havilland.  And it's from The Proud Rebel, which was a good movie.)
(Also, puppies are cute.  I like that Alan looks cheerful here.  He doesn't in the movie.)

14. If you were cast in a movie, which character would you love to play?

How about Emma Thompson's daughter?  One of us would have to fake our accent, but it would be great fun to play, like, mother-and-daughter writers who are somewhat competitive, but also very supportive, and decide to co-write a story and then drive each other kinda nuts in the process.  It could be like Alex & Emma where we show the story that's being written too, but like show the same scenes it two very different styles as we try to work out HOW the story will go.  Maybe she writes historical romances, but I write YA westerns (boy, that's a stretch), and trying to meld the two is just awkward and funny at first, but eventually turns out something awesome.

Okay, I like that idea.  Somebody pitch it to Emma Thompson!  And then you can replace me with someone who can actually act, and I'll just write the screenplay instead.  Also, the western our characters co-write must star Armie Hammer, Henry Cavill, Michael Fassbender, Diego Luna, and Ben Mendelsohn because of reasons.

(Look!  Diego has a horse already!)

I'm going to be lame and not tag anyone specifically because my brain is tired.  If you like Rachel's questions, feel free to answer them yourself and say that I tagged you :-)

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016)

A long time ago, in a galaxy not far, far away... this movie came out in theaters.  And I finally saw it on New Year's Eve for the first time, and again last weekend.  I have a ton of things to say about it, and I don't know if I'll find the words for them all.  (I've been writing this post for four days more than a week now, ever since my brain started reviving after the flu).  But know this:  I am not marking spoilers.  And there are lots.

::Takes a deep breath::

So... I was not expecting to like this movie so much.  (I was also not expecting to fall in love with any of the characters, but we'll get to that.)  From the trailers, I knew it was going to be about a woman who led the mission to acquire the Death Star plans that let the Rebel Alliance blow the Death Star at the end of A New Hope.  And that she was played by Felicity Jones, who I already like a lot as Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey (2007).  And I'd heard that Darth Vader would be in it.  That's really all I knew.  The only thing that said to me, "You might love this movie!" was the fact that it took place in the Star Wars universe.

I didn't know Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) was going to be the daughter of the guy (Mads Mikkelson, looking more handsome than I'd have imagined possible) who designed the Death Star.  I didn't know she'd team up with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a Rebel intelligence officer, to get the plans.  I didn't know he'd have a snarky droid named K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) who would make me both laugh and cry.  I definitely didn't know about all the crying.

Actually, I didn't cry much the first time.  I teared up a little bit in a few spots (especially over K-2SO's demise, and Cassian and Jyn's final moments on the beach, as I realized they Were Not Going to Survive), but mostly I just sat there in shock, overwhelmed by so many strong, conflicting emotions.  I was kind of numb for the rest of the day, and into the next.  Like I said earlier, I had a movie-hangover.  I went to see it the first time with Cowboy's brother, Noumenon, and he asked me what I thought once the credits were done scrolling.  I said, "Well, I fell in love with Cassian Andor, and then he died."  And then I may or may not have given the seat ahead of me a savage kick or two.  (I promise no one was sitting in it anymore.)

And that pretty well summed up my feelings about it after the first viewing:  I fell in love, and he died, and I can't think past that.  Which meant I definitely had to go see it again.

When I did go for a second viewing, I took along two pocket packs of tissues because I knew it was going to be a rough ride.  I knew Cassian was going to get mortally wounded.  I knew he and Jyn and all their compatriots were going to die on that accursed beach.  There would be many tears at those spots, but I didn't know I would cry over Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) too, not to mention Galen Erso.  Well, no, I guess I knew I was going to cry over Galen dying, because of how it hurt Jyn.  And I definitely had become a Jyn fan by the end of the first viewing.

Wow, this chick, huh?  Loses her parents at such a young age, becomes self-sufficient, only learns to trust others again at the very end of her lamentably short life.

And pardon me while I rant about Lyra Erso (Valene Kane) a minute.  Bad, bad mothering there, Lyra.  Your job?  Protect your child.  Your husband's job?  Protect both of you.  Galen goes straight out to face off with Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), even drawing him away from the house, giving you and your daughter time to get away.  Sacrificing his freedom to keep you both safe.  Most perfect job of protecting.  But what do you do, Lyra?  Abandon your daughter.  You don't even bother making sure she gets all the way to the special, secret hiding space.  And it's not because you're being followed and want to draw pursuers away from her, or because you're injured and will slow her down, or any other acceptable reason for this.  Nope, you send her on her merry, helpless way and hustle back to Galen because you're basically the biggest dope I've seen on screen in a long time.  Your words say you love her, but your actions say, "Sorry, kid, I can't stand not being there to see what happens, and I don't trust my husband to take care of both himself and us."  Badly done, Lyra.  I shed no tears and feel no remorse for your demise, except for how it hurts Galen and Jyn.  That's basically the worst mothering I've seen since Mrs. Bennet.

But let's get back to Jyn.  Who, despite seeing her loser mom killed and her heroic dad captured, manages to run and hide so effectively that she keeps running and hiding on into adulthood, both literally and figuratively.  When we meet up with her again, she's a nameless prisoner working on what amounts to a chain gang for the Empire.  What crime did she commit?  I don't know. (NOTE:  I guess they do list off her crimes during the movie, but I didn't catch it.  Next viewing!)  Not something big enough to warrant a death sentence, and not something Rebellion-related.  Although she was raised by anti-Empire militant Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), she has turned her back on all things Rebellion.  She's decided she's too busy running and hiding to have time for political views.  Until, of course, Cassian and K-2SO drag her back into the Rebellion because they need her to introduce them to Saw Gerrera (and let's pause a minute to appreciate how his last name sounds a bit like both "guerrilla" and "Guevara," because I love that).

And I think that's some cool story-telling right there, because it's not what I expect.  They don't come get her because she's Galen Erso's daughter and they want her to help them rescue him from the Empire's clutches.  They don't want her to help them destroy the Death Star.  They don't want any BIG thing from Jyn.  They just need her to introduce them to Saw in a friendly way that will help them contact the pilot he's holding.  Just a small thing, just a favor in return for busting her out of prison, and she can go her merry, aimless way again.

It's a great move on the part of the Rebellion, too.  I like to think it's Cassian's idea.  "Let's bring her in slowly, keep it mysterious, keep her interested.  Watch her to see if she'd be helpful farther on, if she's sympathetic.  Let her decide to get more involved, because it will make her more committed."  Cassian is a captain in the intelligence branch of the Rebellion, and it feels like exactly what he'd come up with.  He's perfect for that kind of work, being close-mouthed, sneaky, quiet, watchful, a good judge of character.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, like I said, it's love.  I am nutty about nearly everything involving Cassian, from the fact that his clothes look veryveryvery much like Han Solo's, to the way he "carries his prison with him,' to how he's simultaneously ruthless and remorseful, to the fact that he's played by the scrumptious Diego Luna.  He's incredibly loyal, but also willing to sacrifice personal interests for the greater good.  I'm entranced.

Okay, but besides Cassian Andor, I love many other things from this movie, like the way they made it intersect over and over with A New Hope.  The two wanted-in-twelve-starsystems dudes bump into them, blue milk, that moment when Bail Organa calls out Captain Antilles' name, and so on and so forth.  Those make me bounce with glee.  That moment at the end with Princess Leia -- beautiful (though, because I saw it after we lost Carrie Fisher, it made me cry both times).  Darth Vader igniting his red lightsaber and stalking toward the hapless Rebel troops was majestic and fearsome and horrible all at once.

Of course, I love stories where a disparate group of strangers has to band together to take on some great enemy.  From The Magnificent Seven to Firefly to The Avengers, that has always been a favorite storytelling device for me.  So I was probably bound to dig Rogue One just from that angle alone.  But add in a strong female lead character and a male character with a sad/tragic/mysterious backstory, and yup... I can't help falling in love with it.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016) -- Initial Thoughts

1.  I'm almost the last Star Wars fan in the universe to see this, but I did finally see it today.

2.  I fell in love with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna).  Quickly, unexpectedly, quietly, terribly.

3.  I have movie hangover.

4.  I'm probably going to see it again tomorrow, with Cowboy along this time.