Did Marvel go too far with its ‘Thunderbolts*’ spoiler?

Welcome to the Friday edition of Popeology. Wait. No. That’s a different newsletter. (Do we think Pope Leo XIV has seen the latest episodes of Andor?) Welcome to the Friday edition of Popculturology.

Before we jump into the pop culture news of the week, I gotta ask if it’s stealing from yourself if you’re paying tuition to go to college but then having generative AI do all your work?

“The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil”

In the almost half century of Star Wars storytelling, there’s Andor and then there’s everything else.

The third and penultimate arc of Andor’s finale season premiered on Disney+ this week, delivering a stunning and harrowing story of the Ghorman massacre and how the Empire used its control of the media to tighten its iron grip on the galaxy.

“The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil,” Mon Mothma told the Senate in a desperate speech before fleeing to Yavin. “When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest. This chamber’s hold on the truth was finally lost on the Ghorman plaza. What took place yesterday, what happened yesterday on Ghorman was unprovoked genocide. Yes, genocide. And that truth has been exiled from this chamber. And the monster screaming the loudest, the monster we helped create, the monster who will come for us all soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine.”

I said this when the first season of Andor was running, but it’s wild to me that this kind of dialogue exists in the same franchise that gave us “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” Also, I want to see Genevieve O’Reilly get an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Mon Mothma. She, along with Tony Gilroy, took a character with almost zero screen time from Return of the Jedi and turned her Mon Mothma into one of the most critical characters in all of Star Wars.

Star Wars has long been important in pop culture. But it’s never been important like Andor is now.

• Where to now? I don’t know how Andor tops this batch of episodes. Pop culture writer Mike Ryan thinks that Episode 10 is the season’s best episode.

• “Tear the shit out of this place”: OK, I get why Andor needed to have Bail Organa in this season, even if it meant recasting Jimmy Smits with Benjamin Bratt.
• Heartbreaking: While I think Andor hasn’t done the greatest job in building Bix out into a fully three-dimensional character, watching her say goodbye to Cassian — in order to force him to stick with the Rebellion — made me choke up, especially when she told him that they’d see each other once it was all over. Do we think she learned what Cassian sacrificed?
• “He’s a messenger”: Whoa, a potential Force user in Andor. And she called Cassian a “messenger,” which absolutely fits his role in stealing the Death Star plans in Rogue One.
• “Rebellions are built in hope”: Thanks, Ghorman hotel guy, for giving Rogue One its catchphrase.
• 📖 Andor star Genevieve O’Reilly and creator break down Mon Mothma’s epic Senate speech, diverging from canon (Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly): “For O’Reilly, it was the realization of two decades of work portraying this character. ‘It was everything I was hoping for,’ she says. ‘That’s like the best gift you can get as an actor. She speaks to how important the Senate is to her. You can see that it’s like her church. She reveals so much and then she calls out some really brutal truths.’”
• 📖 Andor Let Saw Gerrera Be Right Again (James Whitbrook, io9): “In the face of that evil, what alternative is there for him than to lose his mind, to burn from the inside out, knowing his days in this fight are numbered whether he wants them to be or not?”
• 📖 The Worldbuilding of Andor’s Ghorman Speaks Volumes (Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, Reactor): “Fighting an occupation from the famously Nazi-inspired Galactic Empire, the Ghorman Front invites comparisons with the French Resistance during World War II — a direct source of inspiration for the look of characters like Enza Rylanz. The asymmetrical Ghorman hats are basically berets, and the planet’s fashion industry reflects France’s reputation for producing luxury goods.”

The most Righteous Gemstones

The Righteous Gemstones wrapped up its epic run last weekend with what had to be the most successful pairing of the song “Red Red Wine” and a wannabe assassin dressed up as Michael Jackson.

Here’s hoping this isn’t the final time we’ll see Danny McBride in an HBO comedy.

The Studio is a go

We’re late to catching up on Seth Rogen’s The Studio, but I was really impressed with the first three episodes. “The Oner” was an especially impressive bit of camerawork and planning from a show that clearly prides itself on that kind of work.

• ♻️ Two shot: Apple announced this week that it’s renewed The Studio for a second season. (Apple TV+)
• A Tim Apple a day: Rogen revealed that Apple wanted The Studio to feature a cameo from Tim Cook, its own CEO, instead of Ted Sarandos, the boss of streaming rival Netflix. Rogen and company told Apple no. (Business Insider)

NEWS, NOTES & TRAILERS

Spoiler sport

OK, we’re discussing whether or not Marvel Studios revealing what the asterisk in Thunderbolts* was a spoilers, so, um, spoilers for Thunderbolts* ahead ...

Ever since Marvel added that asterisk to the Thunderbolts* title, we’ve been speculating what it meant. I believed for a long time that the film’s real title was Dark Avengers — and I wasn’t far off.