LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� The complex effects of personal trauma have not traditionally been the stuff of sci-fi and fantasy. They tend to get in the way of the quest.
鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� made a meal of it. 鈥淏attlestar Galactica鈥� tried to consider the effect on survivors of losing a planet of people. But it hasn't fit in the swashbuckling world of How could the mission to destroy the Death Star have quickly concluded if Princess Leia needed to mourn the loss of nearly all her loved ones on Alderaan?
changed all that. Coping with inner pain has been a theme throughout its two-season run, which comes to a close Tuesday when Disney+ releases a series-finale trilogy of episodes. It starts with its title character, who is left rootless by the deaths and destruction around him.
鈥淓verything has been taken away from him since day one,鈥� said in an interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淎nd he has to understand that home is inside. That he can be home. That home can be there. And therefore there鈥檚 a reason to fight."
Trauma runs through everything on 鈥淎苍诲辞谤,鈥� even dancing
The three final episodes take Andor and the rest of the characters up to the events of 鈥淩ogue One,鈥� the 2016 film that spawned the streaming prequel series. Tony Gilroy, who wrote 鈥淩ogue One鈥� and is the show runner for has loved playing in the Star Wars galaxy, but he鈥檚 made it clear his real mission is to tell universal stories of the effects of war, revolution and colonization on human (and occasionally non-human) souls.
Nearly every character he鈥檚 created is ravaged in one way or another, and even the lighthearted moments of the series are fraught with emotional pain. (Spoilers ahead for episodes 1-9 of Season 2.)
When Andor goes undercover as a moussed-and-mulleted fashion designer named Varian Skye and makes small talk with a hotel staffer, he learns the man's family was killed in a notorious massacre by Grand Moff Tarkin, the imperial leader who would later order the destruction of Leia's world.
And in a widely-memed moment of drunken techno at her daughter's wedding, she is, as , "dancing to stop herself from screaming" after tacitly agreeing to have an old friend murdered for the cause.
Bix Caleen's struggles 鈥� and her the end of her arc
No one on 鈥淎苍诲辞谤鈥� undergoes more trauma than Bix Caleen, . While still dealing with the fallout of being tortured by an imperial doctor in the first season, she is nearly raped early in the second and has been surrounded by death. Arjona said seeing the script was daunting.
鈥淪he has to go from PTSD to sort of being addicted to droppers, which help her sleep and get over the nightmares, to then her last final decision,鈥� Arjona told the AP. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot. And reading it was incredibly scary.鈥�
An utterly new for 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� set of scenes between Cassian and Bix explore both the explicit and subtle difficulties of intimate relationships amid trauma. Cassian must comfort Bix, but she doesn't want her pain to define her.
The two try to take a trip to the neighborhood bodega, but even that is subsumed by his fear for her.
Cassian and Bix also must deal with the difficulty of the lives they take for the cause.
Han Solo never mourned the stormtroopers he blasted, but the 鈥淎苍诲辞谤鈥� duo killed a young imperial soldier during a mission and it haunts the home life they鈥檙e trying to build.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 stop seeing his face,鈥� Bix says.
鈥淚t fades,鈥� Cassian replies. 鈥淚 want to tell you it goes away forever, but I鈥檇 be lying.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a war,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 wonder if he knew,鈥� she says.
鈥淗e knows now,鈥� Cassian says.
Bix is among the major characters who won鈥檛 go on to 鈥淩ogue One鈥� or other existing 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� stories. 鈥淎苍诲辞谤鈥� lets her complete her emotional arc with a tear-jerking but well-earned set of scenes.
鈥淭he last speech, I still haven鈥檛 been able to watch it,鈥� she told the AP. 鈥淚 was a mess! It took me takes and takes of me absolutely just bawling through that scene until finally it gets to what I believe they used.鈥�
Turning trauma into fuel
The show's revolutionary leaders, just as those in history have done, try to take their followers' trauma, and their own, and use it to drive the movement.
Saw Gerrera, the radical rebel played by Forest Whittaker who has a key role (and one less leg) in 鈥淩ogue One,鈥� gave a call-to-arms in a recent episode that is already being celebrated among fans as the 鈥渞evolution is not for the sane鈥� speech. The theme: pain as power.
He tells a young prospective follower about his youthful enslavement in a brutal imperial work camp, and the toxic leak there of a fuel called rhydo.
鈥淭hey worked us naked. Two, three hundred men. Boys really. Back and forth until the only thing you could remember was back and forth. Then one day, everyone started to itch. Everyone, all at once. Even the guards. You could feel your skin coming alive," Saw says, his raspy voice rising. 鈥淚t was the rhydo. They had a leak.鈥�
He tells the young man, "We鈥檙e the rhydo, kid. We鈥檙e the fuel. We鈥檙e the thing that explodes when there鈥檚 too much friction in the air. Let it in, boy! That鈥檚 freedom calling! Let it in! Let it run! Let it run wild!鈥�
Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press
