which is a shame, because the actual best content is in Gough’s own analysic of Dedra, which is deep and fascinating. Take, for example, the way she compares Dedra as an opposing force to Luthen:
That level of absolute conviction, Gough argues, pitches Dedra as more the antithesis of Stellan Skarsgard’s shadowy Rebel organiser Luthen Rael – who, by his own admission in a scorching standout monologue, declares: “I burn my life to make a sunrise I know I’ll never see” – than that of Andor’s title character. “She’s sacrificed everything,” she explains. “She doesn’t have friends. She doesn’t have a life. She’s prepared to be despised.” It’s less that her life is burned, Empire argues, than it is simply… neglected. “She ices her life,” agrees Gough. “Everything is iced out. Everything. Luthen burns it – there’s an energy to that. But Dedra’s is just as painful. **She’s frozen everything.” **
Holy shit, right? But that’s nothing compared to her reaction— and realization after viewing— of Dedra and Syril’s relationship:
Perhaps, she reasons, that’s another layer to Dedra’s rejection of Karn outside the ISB building. “When we were playing that [scene] I was fucking furious. ‘How dare he touch me?’,” Gough recalls. “But when I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my god, she’s never been touched. Never. Yes, this guy can be construed as creepy and weird. But what does that do to a woman who’s never been with anyone? Ever? That’s Tony, and Beau [Willimon] and Dan [Gilroy], the writers. ‘Dedra is a dominatrix’ isn’t as interesting to me as Dedra as somebody who has serious issues with intimacy, and is way overwhelmed by this person’s energy for her.”
Holy shit. Only Andor could take the bleak scenario “what if a loser stalked you at your job” and twist the knife with “and what if that was the closest you had ever come to intimacy with another human being”.