Who Are You?

Now I get why the rest of this season was almost entirely buildup. I swear my heart rate was over 100 BPM the whole time.

This episode expertly weaves character moments into an unthinkably tragic event. Star Wars has never explored this territory in this depth and I'm amazed at how well they pull it off in this episode. I had to remind myself as I was writing this review that I just watched an episode of a Star Wars show. Star Wars. Like, you know, Baby Yoda and company.

This episode feels like it was what Andor was for. Getting at the true evil of the Empire, and reminding us that these ideas come from real life. Real people can be this cruel.

Genuinely one of the greatest episodes of television to ever exist hands down period. You know exactly what is going to happen, every character knows what's going to happen, and yet there is truly nothing anyone can do to stop it. This episode truly embodies the evil of imperialism and totalitarianism. There is no one that can save you, no one trying to keep you safe, and there is nothing you are anyone can do. By the end of the episode, everyone is left devastated. I really appreciated how they choose to portray Dedra specifically, some point during the middle she says "this is happening with or without us" and I think that perfectly represents the true power of the empire. Everyone is a cog in the great machine, and no one can stop it. And Dedra isn't cold or heartless which is probably the most sadistic part of the whole thing. She is essentially forced to commit genocide and by the end of the episode she struggles not to breakdown, even in private she can't help but try to hold her self together because that is what fascism does. It forces you to be complicit, it forces you to strip yourself of your humanity. You can't feel guilt or pain. Horrifying stuff.

No words to describe the feeling of watching this episode, but this is peak everything, while writing this I am still processing everything that I witnessed, what a show, what a feeling, simply marvelous.

The brilliance of this resides on the fact that I can't wait to finish this show and rewatch Rogue One and episodes IV through VI, the absolute disgust that the empire representa and ironically the parallels that we actually see in your daily news is just baffling, absolutely frightening yet inspiring.

Tony Gilroy you absolute genius this show is brilliance, it might not feel formulaic but in its very core THIS IS STAR WARS.

With everything we have been witnessing around the world, where we are all headed as humanity. The silence, the fear, the peaceful protests, the resistance, all of it. Our paths heading towards more restrictions, our path to using AI and droids to fight wars. The destruction, all of it. All of it broken down in such a way that anyone can understand the message, clear vision and warning this episode is sending out to the world. It is written to perfection. And yet we know where this story goes, and why there always needs to be hope at the end of the road. No empire will last forever. Fascism must end before it ends all of us. Power to all the resistance in the world <3.

One of the best episodes of television I have personally ever seen. The stakes, the tension, the emotion this whole episode were unlike anything I've seen before in Star Wars media. Hours and hours have gone in to building various character arcs for this moment, and safe to say it did not disappoint. You feel the weight of every decision made and so do the characters. I for one am glad to have been here since day one to see this marvel of show become what it is now! 10/10 for me, and I fear Star Wars may never see anything like this again. This is Star Wars at its best, at its peak, and like never before.