hope is like the sun

VELCINTA APPRECIATION WEEK 2025 Day 03 ♡ Prompt: Here / Absent

don't tell me you're not the same person you're always my wife and I've been waiting, waiting

Andor

of course i'm upset that cinta is dead, and i would like more than anything for her to be alive. i wasn't necessarily surprised by her death (the distinct lack of footage in the trailers was a clue, and then the very obvious foreshadowing dialogue in 2x06 sealed the deal). but i would be a lot less angry about her death if it had been given the proper time and consideration to fully play out and actually meant something for her character.

which, the way it was done - a stray friendly fire blaster bolt - is such a pointless death that that is the point. it was a meaningless death; it didn't have to happen that way. but because the ghorman rebel didn't listen to her and vel, because he thought he knew better than them, his carelessness got her killed. i completely understand what they were going for, and i don't necessarily hate the way she died. especially as this show has continually put emphasis this season on how hard it is to build a rebellion, and the rebel alliance we know.

so i get what they were going for; but to give her 30 seconds of footage where she didn't even speak in the first arc, and then only bring her back for ONE episode in the second arc, just to kill her off in the same one??? it's so disrespectful and unfair and just sloppy writing.

cinta's entire arc over the last two years now has been off-screen. we know nothing about how she hurt vel that caused them to split up in the first place; we know nothing about why luthen was so intent on keeping them apart, aside from personal feelings, even though they clearly work really well together?? (luthen also lets bix and cassian stay together; no shade to bix and cass themselves, but the writing choice to keep the straight couple together and the lesbian couple apart is hm. feels bad.) cinta tells us that she had a terrible injury that kept her down for a "long time," but we get no details other than that, and now we never will. (don't even get me started on the "i'll tell you about it someday" dialogue. anyone who's watched any bit of television knows that that's a dead giveaway for something bad is going to happen. and in a show that historically does subtlety very well, this was not that. it just felt a bit lazy.)

i, personally, am struggling a bit with the pacing this season (namely with the huge time jumps), and i don't think it did cinta (and velcinta) any favors at all. bringing her back, giving her some lovely heartfelt scenes, finally starting to break down her walls a bit and have her reunite with vel, only to kill her off right away just felt so sloppy and lazy. if it was always going to end with her death, it should've been spread out over the ghorman arc. she should've been in more than one episode, she and vel should've gotten the chance to start to really grow back together. and as much as i understand the friendly fire angle, a pointless death has been done before. i felt like i've watched this very plot play out a million times before, which makes me so fucking irritated because i know andor writing is better than this! i've seen it!

vel's speech at the end was absolutely beautiful (faye and varada did an absolutely incredible job this episode), but i can't help but wish that a rebellion hero like cinta got more of a heroic death. a more meaningful death. if it had to be done, it should've been done with more respect and weight and not like it was just shoved on at the end to make some point about "rebellion requires sacrifice." both cinta and vel already know the rebellion requires sacrifice! cinta's whole family was murdered. and if this was supposed to be some lesson for vel about how she has to lose people to become a leader, 1) she's already a leader! and 2) she HAS lost people. she lost almost the whole aldhani crew! and you could already tell in this episode that her leadership skills had grown stronger; she was confident and taking no bullshit from the ghormans when talking to them. she didn't need the "lesson" of cinta dying to make her a better rebel. she's already a rebel.

GENEVIEVE O'REILLY as MON MOTHMA