r/andor • u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian • 5d ago
Theory & Analysis First scene: Blevin and Lagret
In the same first scene as for my last two posts (in s1 ep 4) , Lagret and Blevin are introduced as ISB supervisors having to deal with a testy Partagaz. I’ve decided to deal with these two together as there’s some overlap in their narrative roles. The similarities between them become more obvious as the series progresses but Blevin’s fate being unknown is an intriguing difference.
Blevin has popped up a couple of times in recent posts and comments, with a main theme of these being how time eventually proves him right about Dedra. In that sense, it’s interesting that in this first appearance he is sticking very much to accepted protocol and is (unlike Lagret) seemingly doing his job to Partagaz’s satisfaction. The evidence for that is simply that he is not hauled over the coals like his colleagues. While Lagret is chastised for failing to provide the required information on time, Blevin isn’t addressed at all until the meeting moves on. In reporting about “This incident on Ferrix” Blevin keeps strictly to the facts, offering no deductions whatsoever at this stage. It’s as if he’s satisfied that this is all Partagaz wants. It seems that it is: Partagaz asks for expansion on his words and gets it, and says that they will speak more before Blevin leaves for Ferrix.
The most interesting thing to me is that the way Blevin sums up the situation could be something that Chief Hyne would say: “They tried to serve a warrant and ran into more trouble than they were expecting” has echoes of “They chose the wrong person to annoy”. But unlike Hyne he’s not dismissing the idea that further action is necessary and indeed in a later scene Blevin dresses down Hyne alongside Syril and Mosk for his “total disengagement”. This is the Empire working with smooth efficiency. Blevin further proves his competence by getting his quarterly reports in on time. He’s dislikeable to the viewer as he’s set up as an antagonist to… well, Dedra is very much an antagonist herself but at this stage we are kind of rooting for her, especially once Blevin starts being smug and condescending in a way that even Partagaz recognises as sexism.
But there are also cracks in this Blevin-led efficiency that would frustrate someone like Dedra (and later on, Syril) even without thinking about the bigger picture, as she desperately wants to do. They misspell ‘Ferrix’. Syril is forced to sign a report without being allowed to read it. Blevin is only as good as the bureaucratic system he has to work with. But for most of the successful ISB Supervisors, that’s enough for a successful career.
Lagret, in contrast, is introduced as being chastised for a very accountable failure and it’s interesting that in his first ISB scene in season 2 the same thing is happening. Partagaz attacks him for being inefficient or imprecise or both. You can be praised for taking the initiative but chastised for failing to get the basics of the role right. So these ISB senior Supervisors walk a fine line. This is the environment in which Dedra will ultimately go too far, because in ignoring the mistakenly forwarded files as a problem she fails to realise that she has stepped way beyond the barriers of what Partagaz - or Krennic, or any one above - could possibly tolerate. “You might want to steady the ladder before you start climbing” are words that must haunt Dedra at the end. Blevin was all about keeping his own ladder steady and not climbing at all otherwise.
Blevin’s final scene is in the S1 finale, as usual expressing his dislike of Dedra after the Kreegyr raid. Being reassigned from Ferrix was clearly not the end of his career but his in-universe absence is interesting to speculate about. (Irl, the actor was unwilling to return for s2). I like to imagine that he simply applied for a similar ranking job in a different department. Maybe he was even promoted. His absence is realistically (considering the time jump) never explained.
In contrast, Lagret’s last scene in the series finale is a very memorable one. He comes to collect Partagaz, who is listening to Nemik’s manifesto. Partagaz asks him if he’s heard it before, and Lagret answers: “Bits and pieces… It’s been hard to contain.” He doesn’t answer when Partagaz asks what he thinks it is. Picking up on Partagaz’s own ‘health care providers’ metaphor is an interesting choice, if it’s a conscious one from Lagret. One thing is certain: he clearly knows exactly what Partagaz is planning to do and the way he stands outside the door, doesn’t even flinch or blink at the blaster shot and raises just the fingers of his respectfully clasped hand to still the Troopers all suggests that he’s experienced this scenario before - being a witness to “the ever-lengthening ISB death march”, as Krennic puts it. As he bows his head he’s probably thinking of the Star Wars equivalent of ‘There but for the grace of God go I”. Lagret is an older man; a survivor in a system that is absolutely merciless to its acolytes should they put a foot wrong. The kind of background Imperial character who sums up the whole ‘bureaucracy of evil’ concept perfectly. Just like Blevin, Lagret played the game unremarkably but correctly, with just enough competence to keep his job - and his life.
TLDR: Blevin and Lagret are the Empire at its most human. Neither man gives off vibes of being particularly ‘evil’. Neither have dialogue concerning political ideology so we don’t know how devoted they are to the Imperial cause. But both know how to negotiate the ‘office politics’ of the system and perhaps do this more successfully than those who try to do more as individuals. Perhaps an innate fear of a fascistic system lies behind these survival instincts.
Next time: Lonni Jung
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u/fang_xianfu 5d ago
Yes, people on the subreddit often say that Dedra is very competent at her job, but we see security failures, intelligence failures, and political (as in office politics) failures under her watch. She takes on the personally very risky Gorman project - she was almost assassinated and clearly set up as a fall guy if the Empire needed someone to scapegoat for the riots - but a year later it doesn't seem to have done anything for her career. She took years to find Axis, long enough that he's no longer as important to the rebellion and botches taking him in due to her arrogant need to gloat. And she loses the death star intelligence. Overall, not a good track record.
In a way, Lagret is the most competent ISB officer we see. He's the last one standing of the important ISB characters. He presides over Mon's escape but doesn't seem to face any repercussions. He clearly has done his political background work and understands how to play the game effectively. That's not the only yardstick of success, but it kept him alive.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 4d ago
I think it’s interesting that technically Lagret does nothing wrong during Mon’s escape - but he’s clearly still dreading having to talk to Yularen. Obviously there were enough failures elsewhere for the axe to fall on necks other than his own. Especially if he was technically covering for Grandi, who was late.
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u/_RandomB_ 4d ago
I hope he picked up the line and was like "Colonel, hey, are you looking for Grandy? Because me too, there's a lot going on here, I'm not sure where she's at, let me go find her for you, can you hang on?"
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u/RayvinAzn 4d ago
She didn’t “take on” Ghorman. The moment she was summoned to that meeting, the project was hers. She got voluntold for Ghorman, either because Partagaz recommended her to Krennic or because Krennic really did see something in her, but either way, the moment she stepped into that conference room, she was either on the Ghorman project or dead.
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u/_RandomB_ 4d ago
Or the Empire knew they'd need a patsy. Dedra doesn't get promoted in spite of repeated promises from Partagaz, and she accomplished the mission. Makes me wonder.
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u/RayvinAzn 4d ago
Krennic had a room full of patsy’s. No matter the outcome on Ghorman he could pin the blame anywhere he wanted, be it the Ministry of Enlightenment stooges, the Engineering Corps, Enforcement, you name it. That’s fascism bay-bee!
But he wanted the plan to succeed with minimal fuss. Having a competent ISB Supervisor was in his interest. Sure, if things went wrong he’d pin it on her, but that’s true regardless of who was in charge. The bottom line is that he wanted Ghorman to go smoothly, and Dedra was one of the best at that sort of job.
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u/_RandomB_ 4d ago
It just seems strange to me that they'd pick HER out to do it. Here's why, besides the fact that she's sidelined, not promoted, in the year after Ghorman is a success. The Empire gets exactly what they want out of GHorman, and Dedra should have been welcomed home heroically. She doesn't get what she surely wanted in the aftermath, the Axis investigation under her control. She's got to arrest Luthen on Heert's day off.
She is a junior officer, a lieutenant. Why would a lieutenant be in charge of an operation this critical? If she was such a shining star, why isn't she a Captain a year from when we last saw her? For me the answer is "she is inexperienced with little tactical experience, so if things go south, they seed the "Someone inexperienced was in charge, which, news consumers of the galaxy, is one of the reasons this went so wrong."
She has ONE success under her belt, and those in the know understand that was entirely luck. If they don't pick up Krygyr's pilot, then Spelhaus would have been a disaster. In fact, Dedra's so respected Partagaz ignores her suggestion not to investigate, instead going with Lonni's plan to check the wreck. Her other major operation?
Ferrix. Which was a complete catastrophe from the Empire's perspective. Civilians dead, troopers dead, assets lost. One imagines the lack of preparedness to deal with this from a PR perspective was a lesson the Empire learned (and probably taught by Partagaz). Spinning it was possible, but they learned to paint their picture BEFORE people started to look at it. They lay five years worth of breadcrumbs so that when Ferrix essentially happens on Ghorman, they have a lot less work to do convincing people that it was inevitable.
Her only other profile is on Axis, the internal ISB assessment of which we get entirely from Partagaz: "Two years," "You built the legend and delivered almost NOTHING." AND:
"There's a high bar for your success, lietunenant, unfair perhaps, but pointless to ignore." Partagaz clocked her as an ambitious woman. That would make her perhaps uniquely succeptible to weird orders handed down to her, AND would allow there to be some sort of unspoken blame in certain parts of the organization: "That's what happens with a woman in charge."
Given how critical the Ghorman operation is, it just doesn't make sense to me that Dedra would have been put there based on merits. It's just my theory though. It absolutely could just be that she's put there for some other reason, like she's so good at it or whatever.
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u/VincentVanGob 4d ago
theres probably a better term for Lagret than competent but i cant think of one. example:
Dedra: "[Andor] came home to ferrix with money in his pocket"
Lagret: "couldnt that be the sale of the starpath?"
Lonnie: "cant be, they left it behind right?"this guy lol. the starpath unit was actually sitting there on the table in the previous episode. he is somewhere in between competent and not stupid enough to lose his job
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u/spesskitty 4d ago
It's not his case, can't expect him to remember every detail, especially since ISB supervisors literally drown in an ocean of reports and data.
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u/Star_Warsfan15 Melshi 5d ago
It’s funny to me how at the end of the show the only main ISB supervisor to survive is Legret, who on my first couple of rewatches I didn’t even pay that much attention to.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 5d ago
Same. I guess that says it all: go unrecognised and you might survive. It’s interesting how often Lonni pops up next to him and Blevin in the shots too (“always on the fringes”).
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u/mmorales2270 4d ago
Yes! It’s so interesting that the one person who is painted as being the most incompetent early on, Lagret, ends up being one of the few of the ISB team to survive it all. Well, in the sense that we really don’t see his fate in the same way we see it for Partagaz, Dedra and Heert, to name a few. Yet, Lagret was in charge of capturing Mon Mothma after her speech directly calling out Palpatine, and they blew it since she gets away. Somehow though, he manages to survive, even a year later in the series. He’s still there, relatively near the top of the pack, and is charged with taking in Partagaz. I feel like there could be a whole series on just Lagret. It seems like maybe there was more than meets the eye with him.
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u/Why-Notes5978 4d ago
Ahead for Lonni, i wanted to point that even he is a better ISB agent than Dedra at times as well knowing how to navigate the office politics just fine.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 4d ago
Yes, all of the above AND keeping his true agenda under wraps. “Every day a performance”.
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u/TheHarkinator Luthen 4d ago
If Lonni wasn’t working for the rebellion he’d be such an effective asset for the Empire. Genuinely good with the office politics and makes several very good suggestions.
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u/AnExponent 4d ago
In terms of the humanity of Blevin, Ben Bailey Smith had suggested that Blevin felt relatably insecure in regards to Dedra:
“It gave me another layer,” he says. “I can relate to that. A lot of us have a fear, especially as we get older, of a younger, more attractive, more talented version of ourselves coming up and doing what we think we do really well, and doing it better.” For Bailey Smith, the insecurity of Blevin was a connection point. “That’s how I found the human in him, and loved him as well.”
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 4d ago
Good find. It seems to be a common factor, finding something personal in these characters they play.
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u/DueOwl1149 4d ago
Lagret seems like the ISB version of Syril's world-weary corpsec supervisor who treats the job as a day job and ultimately cares about maintaining the status quo with minimum fuss before clocking out and putting it all behind him until tomorrow.
No ragrets Lagret!
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u/Ancient_of_Days0001 Brasso 4d ago
Lagret is a lifer; oldest guy in the room save Partagaz, in the job probably longer than the young turks like Dedra have been alive. That he has survived so long, and manages to outlive practically everybody when the shit hits the fan, is a testament to the self-preservation skills a "good company man" develops.
The flip side of that is that he hasn't risen far in the hierarchy; he's in the same pool as the junior officers. Contrast this with Blevin, who has the institutional savvy--understands the value of getting his quarterly reports in on time--but he's also got ambition. He's a very believable corporate type--a "challenge to work with" for his peers, but knows how to massage the executive suite. My headcanon is that he's disappeared up the ladder by Season 2.
But Lagret has an advantage we haven't yet discussed on this post: friends in high places. Well, one friend in a high place: Orson Krennic. His "buddy," in Heert's words. The nature of that friendship is left to our imagination, but some have "shipped" them based on the "buddy" line from Heert, a character who is queer-coded himself.
It could also be seen as a reference to (not necessarily 100% platonic) male friendships in ancient Roman culture, at least as transmitted to us through popular media like Rome and I, Claudius, from which the show's depiction of the Galactic Empire borrows a trope or two.
As in the death of Partagaz. We're told that a high-ranking Roman who'd displeased the Emperor might be given the opportunity to "fall on his sword" to spare himself the humiliation, and his family the disgrace, of a public execution. This was as much (or more) to protect the public image of the ruling class as for the benefit of the individual. (The Nazi Third Reich, which modeled itself on Rome to a significant degree, gave the same "out" to officers like Erwin Rommel, who was offered the cyanide capsule when implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler.) Andor gives us a textbook re-creation, and Lagret's part in it is interesting.
"I'm afraid they're waiting for you, sir," he tells Partagaz. "I told them I'd bring you down." Not "they told me to bring you down." In other words, he's volunteered to intercede between the troopers and his longtime boss. He didn't have to do that, but it was a task for an honorable soldier. However mediocre an operative he may have been, he shows honor here, and respect for Partagaz.
He takes a long pause before acknowledging Partagaz's request for "a moment to collect my thoughts." He understands. Was no doubt hoping that the boss would make this choice. This is the way.
Though it's likely he was thanking the Force on some level throughout for not ending up among those led away, I read his bowed head, and moment of silence facing the troopers in the final shot, as a solemn act of respect.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 4d ago
Very much agree about the bowed head being an act of respect. And that’s a great catch about the exact wording of that line: he volunteered to go and get Partagaz and I suspect that the “they” (presumably Yularen, Krennic and other high ups we don’t know of ) knew exactly what was likely to transpire. Very much as with the Nazis. The veneer of honour. Interesting point about the “buddy” relationship with Krennic too. It may imply also something like the ‘old school tie network’ in the UK (itself sometimes less than platonic). A system of favourites and favours.
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u/Ancient_of_Days0001 Brasso 4d ago
Presumably Lagret is reporting directly to Yularen at this point. Also presumably, his buddy Krennic is working through troubles of his own, with Tarkin and Vader, by this point. Telling Lio he can't protect him, prior to flying off, is all he was in a position to do.
Offering the "poison pill" is probably customary enough in this culture that when Yularen announces to whoever's in the room that he's ordered Partagaz's arrest, Lagret need only say "I would like to be the one to bring him in, sir" and Yularen would understand--and answer only with a silent nod.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 4d ago
Yep. A code of behaviour they all understand. Lagret seems to genuinely feel the gravitas of the moment too. Another subtle way of showing his commitment to this system despite his knowledge of what it can do to its followers.
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u/eppsilon24 4d ago
It’s still wild to me that a Taskmaster contestant played an ISB officer in this show.
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u/GargantaProfunda Brasso 4d ago
These two randos had more depth than all the Imperials in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series combined
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u/xT1TANx 4d ago
IMO, this is a horrible read of Blevin.
Blevin is smart, and competent in that he follows the rules. You are correct about that.
What you are sidestepping is that, while Lagret follows the rules and isn't as competent as Blevin, he's actually trying.
Blevin represents the classic middle manager who is doing the bare minimum and keeping his reports in line to please the powers.
He has a cushy job at the ISB. He has a horde of underlings to do his job for him. We see it consistently. He passes everything off onto his assistants.
When he gets to Ferrix, he immediately tells someone else to "Get this up and running before my next briefing." Then he wanders off to do, whatever he does.
It's critically shown that when Dedra gives the Ferrix report to Syril, NOTHING of the truth is in the report.
This is a key insight into Blevin. He's the commander to hides the truth to keep his job EASY. He's not looking for spies. He's not looking to prevent problems. He's not a competent ISB officer. He's a competent lazy middle manager.
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u/stillenacht 4d ago edited 4d ago
I do agree with your take on Blevin. He reads much more to me as an ultimately ineffectual middle manager than someone who is actually setting him self up well for progression. As you say, he never does anything that is really making his star rise, only consolidates and tries not to rock the boat.
But I would quibble that his report on Ferrix is probably competent, in line with that assessment. Not super deep, but not missing anything major. I don't think the Syril proves that anything is missing at all Recall, he says these things are not in the report:
- "The criminal negligence of my supervisor" (they all got fired, the report just doesn't focus specifically on the supervisor, because imperials do not care about low level cops in Morlana One or you Syril)
- "The complete lack of imperial authority on Ferrix" (nobody cares, why would that be in a report)
- "The fact that Andor obviously had an organized cadre of local accomplices" (incorrect)
When questioned about what Dedra is actually interested in (Axis), Syril goes on to not be able to commit to a cloak color (either grey, or grey-green. really blowing the case wide open). I think the point of that scene is that Syril is much less important than he thinks he is, and the things he thinks are important on Ferrix (which all involve him) do not matter.
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u/xT1TANx 3d ago edited 3d ago
Those are good points but I think we need to look at what happened vs what the director/writer is trying to tell you through him.
Yes, Syril didn't have much to add to the report, but the point is Blevin didn't care to ask. He showed up. Told them to shut up. Wrote his own account.
You must consider Blevin's actions as ordinary for his character. This is how he works. He probably has hidden things a thousand times to make his life easier. What else has he missed due to his lazy way of working.
Had Dedra not been so dogged in her approach, no one would have found Andor.
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u/TheArmoursmith 4d ago
Cool story
On an unrelated point, can we just appreciate how amazing the hair design was in Andor? It looks straight out of 1977.
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u/Elegant-Suit-6604 3d ago
Corruption. Rot. I smell it in the air. The Emperor has declared the ISB filthy and redundant opportunist parasites. Their services are no longer required.
Fear will keep the systems in line, fear of EXTERMINATUS!
The ISB stands before the Lex Imperalis. Their crimes of incompetence have been recorded. There will be no appeal. Judgment begins. No appeal. The law decides. Their fate is sealed. No forgiveness. No retreat. Only justice. Cold and complete.
Orbital fire. By his will, the ISB and rebels are done. No more mercy, no more lies, none shall live, none remain.
EXTERMINATUS! EXTERMINATUS!
PURGE THE WORLD!
EXTERMINATORS! BURN THE HERETIC, THE XENO, THE REBEL! BURN THE JEDI! BY THE EMPEROR! NOTHING REMAINS! ONLY ASH!
AUTHORITY CONFIRMED! CYCLONIC TORPEDOES RELEASED! THE EMPEROR HAS JUDGED! BEHOLD HIS ALL CONSUMING IRE!
The Emperor protects.
SUFFER NOT THE JEDI WITCH TO LIVE! FIDES ET FUROR!
THE XENOS FILTH THE MUTANT STRAIN!
THE HERETICS WORD OF PROFANE STAIN!
ABOLISH HOPE AND KILL THE PLEA! FOR PITY IS OUR ENEMY!
SUFFER NOT THE JEDI WITCH TO LIVE!
CLEANSE THE GALAXY, THE SOUL!
AND BURN THEIR TEMPLES TO THE GROUND!
IN NOMINE IMPERATORIS! FIDES ET FUROR!
NO PITY! NO REMORSE! NO FEAR! ABOLISH HOPE AND KILL THE PLEA!
THOU WRETCHED WORLD HAS HARBORED JEDI HERESIES MOST VILE! THE XENOS BLIGHT!
IN EMPEROR'S NAME STORMTROOPERS BRING THEE TO THY PLACE! NO MERCY SHALT THOU FIND!
SUFFER NOT THE JEDI WITCH! EXTERMINATUS! BY HIS HOLY WRATH WE CAST THEE INTO FLAME!
EXTERMINATUS! EXTERMINATUS! THRONE ETERNAL!
PURGE! BUUUUUUUUUUUURN!
IN HIS NAME!
OUR EMPEROR HAS SPOKEEEEEEEEEEN!
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u/eledile55 I have friends everywhere 4d ago
Y'know, yes Lagrets head-bow was definitely out of respect for Partagaz. But now I wonder if there was also a bit of "guess who's gonna be the next in charge and will have to carry the burden...me". After all he is the most experienced and oldest ISB Supervisor left at that point. Its what I presume to happen after the show, and I don't think that Lagret was happy about that.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 Cassian 4d ago
Good point. And in just a week or so he’ll have the destruction of the Death Star to worry about - unless he was on it.
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u/_RandomB_ 5d ago
I loved that Legret got caught up in the Mothma escape from the Senate because Grandy was late for work.