Yes that was intentional. Not only to showcase that the toxic fash ideology that colors the air within the empire causes to syril to assault his gf, once his whole world shatters, but also as a cruel irony to dedra who was always in control, saw fascism as her comfort and family and now her first human connection causes her to be not in control, to be not safe.
I mean she actually lost at Ferrix and with not finding Axis. But yeah Syril was like the first non-fascism/work related relationship she had. Her apartment is sterile, empty and just exist too keep her alive until she can go to work again. She is completely devoid of personhood.
The dinner scene also shows, that she integrated syril neatly into her world (they both wear black & white), while syril’s mom is a disruptive force in her world, symbolized by her garish hérmes-bag inspired orange clothes.
I mean she actually lost at Ferrix and with not finding Axis.
Hmmm… I guess so, but the “loss” of Axis didn’t hurt her in any way. I think, technically, it was enough for the empire big wigs that she figured out there was an Axis and the theft of imperial hardware. She got a promotion, made everybody else look silly for trying to maintain their little silo’d intergalactic feifdoms, got taken on to a super top secret special project, and even got herself boy-toy.
My read is that she’s been the “smartest bad guy in the room” for most of the series up to this point.
he dinner scene also shows, that she integrated syril neatly into her world
OOhhhhhh… Didn’t clock the color themes. I got focused on Syril just changing hands between two domineering women. Syril’s mom, whose vision was small (treating Syril like a punching bag) and Dedra whose vision was much grander (using Syril as an intelligence asset).
Hmmm… I guess so, but the “loss” of Axis didn’t hurt her in any way. I think, technically, it was enough for the empire big wigs that she figured out there was an Axis and the theft of imperial hardware. She got a promotion, made everybody else look silly for trying to maintain their little silo’d intergalactic feifdoms, got taken on to a super top secret special project, and even got herself boy-toy.
Tbh I suspect it was mostly skipped over due to season 2 being the last season. Blevin took her fall somehow and thats why he vanishes despite him being set up as a future confrontation in the future. And I think it was more of Partagaz taking a mentor role to her (In Rise and Fall of the empire, there is a passage about Partagaz warning female imperials that they have to work twice as hard).
My read is that she’s been the “smartest bad guy in the room” for most of the series up to this point.
Is she the smartest? Or is she the only one who doesn’t extend outside her job? We see all other ISB members having something else, values, a social life, a family, etc… Only Dedra is never seen outside her work, even syril’s relationship is another extension of it. This can be seen once again at the dinner scene. She uses imperial integrations tactics to deal with syril’s mom. Fascism even inside her “home”. There is a reason why the writers included the fact that she was raised in an “imperial kinderblock”, the word kinderblock originates with the holocaust. The Kinderblock was a section of the Buchenwald concentration camp, established on the pleading of communist prisoners to give children a better chance for survival, it was a place of socialist humanity and hope (huh seems like A THEME) in face of nazi oppression and genocide. Of course I doubt that is the imagery what that word wanted to evoke, its more likely that its to symbolize that she was raised “in a prison” so to speak, unaware of anything else but fascism. I once again repeat, The tragedy Dedra’s character and the “evil” done to her, is that she is denied a personhood and basic humanity by the empire. She can not fathom that she doesn’t “need” to be that way. Syril was the first disruption of that worldview and when he dies, she takes comfort again in fascism -> her straightening her uniform.
In general we focus on Syril & Dedra because they are NOT the standard imperials, like Partagaz, Lagret, Heert, Bloy or Kaido. Andor is still a story in the end. One of the laziest and uncreative methods for story crafting is just simply ripping off the real world, thats why I am so annoyed with the billions of recent iterations “get it, its just like the goddamn cheeto man!!!” -like what daredevil born again did to fisk, for example.
Didn’t have a better way to describe it so I used quotation marks around “smartest bad guy in the room” for a reason. Wasn’t trying to say that she’s the actual smartest person but she might look like a genius when pointing out the information sharing that was hindered by the other bad guys not wanting to look bad at the table. It would make sense that Partagaz and higher ups would be able to see their immediate underlings locking down there territories more from each other than from rebels but also refusing to crack down on it because, up to that point, the situation was stable and yielded acceptible results. Once the situation progressed to the point that things were becoming unstable, somebody like Syril and Dedre, would be allowed to shake things up a bit.
For some reason I have it in my head that Dedre is a younger officer than her peers so I didn’t make anything of her not yet having a life outside of work. She hadn’t build up her fiefdom like the other officers had.
…“imperial kinderblock”…
Damn… didn’t think about that way. I didn’t think Dedre and Syril’s mothers dinner scenes was any deeper than, “I’m an orphan, I was raised by the state/system, I’ve become quite self sufficient on my own, I’m not looking for a parent, I see what you’re doing to Syril and I’m not going to allow it anymore.”
Oh I wasnt really coming for you for that smartest in the room thing. It was more pointing out that she like almost a nerd when it comes to her obsession with her work -
spoiler
and thats the root of her downfall
Dedra is still younger but she isn’t really older than Lonni Jung, her foil in a way. Lonni has a life outside of work, in comparison to her lack of. Its deliberate.
That reading of the dinner is a valid one. Just there are multiple layers and meta-themes present. When Dedra says “We didnt know what we were missing”, thats not just a cheeky insult at syril’s narc mom, but its also an admission. The empire took her chance of having personal connections and a life beyond fascism.
spoiler
Luthen tells her exactly that she is disgusted by “freedom”, because she never had it and doesnt know what its like, she never had and cant understand. Her life starts in a prison and it ends in a prison.
Yes that was intentional. Not only to showcase that the toxic fash ideology that colors the air within the empire causes to syril to assault his gf, once his whole world shatters, but also as a cruel irony to dedra who was always in control, saw fascism as her comfort and family and now her first human connection causes her to be not in control, to be not safe.
“I never thought that my pet dog would bite me!”
She didnt expect that Syril would have any other reaction to the ghorman genocide than submission.
I find myself thinking that this situation is the first time she actually “lost”.
I mean she actually lost at Ferrix and with not finding Axis. But yeah Syril was like the first non-fascism/work related relationship she had. Her apartment is sterile, empty and just exist too keep her alive until she can go to work again. She is completely devoid of personhood.
The dinner scene also shows, that she integrated syril neatly into her world (they both wear black & white), while syril’s mom is a disruptive force in her world, symbolized by her garish hérmes-bag inspired orange clothes.
Hmmm… I guess so, but the “loss” of Axis didn’t hurt her in any way. I think, technically, it was enough for the empire big wigs that she figured out there was an Axis and the theft of imperial hardware. She got a promotion, made everybody else look silly for trying to maintain their little silo’d intergalactic feifdoms, got taken on to a super top secret special project, and even got herself boy-toy.
My read is that she’s been the “smartest bad guy in the room” for most of the series up to this point.
OOhhhhhh… Didn’t clock the color themes. I got focused on Syril just changing hands between two domineering women. Syril’s mom, whose vision was small (treating Syril like a punching bag) and Dedra whose vision was much grander (using Syril as an intelligence asset).
Tbh I suspect it was mostly skipped over due to season 2 being the last season. Blevin took her fall somehow and thats why he vanishes despite him being set up as a future confrontation in the future. And I think it was more of Partagaz taking a mentor role to her (In Rise and Fall of the empire, there is a passage about Partagaz warning female imperials that they have to work twice as hard).
Is she the smartest? Or is she the only one who doesn’t extend outside her job? We see all other ISB members having something else, values, a social life, a family, etc… Only Dedra is never seen outside her work, even syril’s relationship is another extension of it. This can be seen once again at the dinner scene. She uses imperial integrations tactics to deal with syril’s mom. Fascism even inside her “home”. There is a reason why the writers included the fact that she was raised in an “imperial kinderblock”, the word kinderblock originates with the holocaust. The Kinderblock was a section of the Buchenwald concentration camp, established on the pleading of communist prisoners to give children a better chance for survival, it was a place of socialist humanity and hope (huh seems like A THEME) in face of nazi oppression and genocide. Of course I doubt that is the imagery what that word wanted to evoke, its more likely that its to symbolize that she was raised “in a prison” so to speak, unaware of anything else but fascism. I once again repeat, The tragedy Dedra’s character and the “evil” done to her, is that she is denied a personhood and basic humanity by the empire. She can not fathom that she doesn’t “need” to be that way. Syril was the first disruption of that worldview and when he dies, she takes comfort again in fascism -> her straightening her uniform.
In general we focus on Syril & Dedra because they are NOT the standard imperials, like Partagaz, Lagret, Heert, Bloy or Kaido. Andor is still a story in the end. One of the laziest and uncreative methods for story crafting is just simply ripping off the real world, thats why I am so annoyed with the billions of recent iterations “get it, its just like the goddamn cheeto man!!!” -like what daredevil born again did to fisk, for example.
Didn’t have a better way to describe it so I used quotation marks around “smartest bad guy in the room” for a reason. Wasn’t trying to say that she’s the actual smartest person but she might look like a genius when pointing out the information sharing that was hindered by the other bad guys not wanting to look bad at the table. It would make sense that Partagaz and higher ups would be able to see their immediate underlings locking down there territories more from each other than from rebels but also refusing to crack down on it because, up to that point, the situation was stable and yielded acceptible results. Once the situation progressed to the point that things were becoming unstable, somebody like Syril and Dedre, would be allowed to shake things up a bit.
For some reason I have it in my head that Dedre is a younger officer than her peers so I didn’t make anything of her not yet having a life outside of work. She hadn’t build up her fiefdom like the other officers had.
Damn… didn’t think about that way. I didn’t think Dedre and Syril’s mothers dinner scenes was any deeper than, “I’m an orphan, I was raised by the state/system, I’ve become quite self sufficient on my own, I’m not looking for a parent, I see what you’re doing to Syril and I’m not going to allow it anymore.”
Oh I wasnt really coming for you for that smartest in the room thing. It was more pointing out that she like almost a nerd when it comes to her obsession with her work -
spoiler
and thats the root of her downfall
Dedra is still younger but she isn’t really older than Lonni Jung, her foil in a way. Lonni has a life outside of work, in comparison to her lack of. Its deliberate.
That reading of the dinner is a valid one. Just there are multiple layers and meta-themes present. When Dedra says “We didnt know what we were missing”, thats not just a cheeky insult at syril’s narc mom, but its also an admission. The empire took her chance of having personal connections and a life beyond fascism.
spoiler
Luthen tells her exactly that she is disgusted by “freedom”, because she never had it and doesnt know what its like, she never had and cant understand. Her life starts in a prison and it ends in a prison.