Character Highlight: Dedra Meero (Andor)

*Dedra-related spoilers.*

I’m not doing a Favorite Characters post for Dedra Meero, because I can’t say I like her, but she definitely fascinates me, and I love what the show does with her character. It’s so interesting to watch how she functions within the series.

Dedra works for the ISB, adn she’s an imperial through and through. Early in the series, we see that she’s a solemn and determined go-getter. Like many imperials, she has big ambitions and is prepared to do anything to get ahead, but she’s not nearly as far in her career as she’d like to be. Sexism has been stifling her opportunities, and until Major Partagaz takes an interest in her, no one is really taking her seriously.

At this point, the Empire is basically at its peak, and it views every individual instance of rebellion as just that: individual. The regime is supremely confident in its control over the galaxy, self-assured in its continued dominance. But Dedra, who’s intensely focused and has a sharp eye for patterns, suspects that the seemingly scattered acts of rebellion cropping up across the galaxy are actually the beginnings of an organized movement. She pours hours into researching her theories, trying to get someone with decision-making power to listen. Later in the season, she also starts to connect the dots between Cassian Andor, the heist of the imperial garrison on Aldhani, and the larger rebel organization.

Along with Syril Karn, Dedra is one of our major viewpoint characters on the imperial side of the storyline, but while Syril is quite the officious little would-be tyrant you love to root against, Dedra’s arc almost draws your sympathy at times. Her story is constructed in a relatable way—the smart, capable woman who keeps getting talked over by less competent male colleagues. And yes, those things are true of Dedra. But her workplace is the frickin’ Empire. Those career     opportunities she misses out on are more senior positions in the job of oppressing people on numerous worlds.

That’s what I really find interesting how Dedra’s story, how she’s so terrible but her struggles are so relatable. The way you sort of want to go, “Ha!” when she gets one over on an A-hole male colleague, even though you very much do not want her to succeed in what she’s doing. The story better allows you to reckon with this villain as a person. Dedra isn’t a soulless monster. She’s an overlooked woman busting her ass to do the best job she can, but that job is fascism, so regardless of what she’s going through, she still sucks.

To the end, Dedra isn’t the type of villain who relishes in all the evil stuff she takes part in, but nor is she a sympathetic villain who feels conflicted about her despicable actions. Instead, the worst things she does are an afterthought. When the ISB is trying to figure out how to keep the rebels from learning their mission has been compromised by a captured pilot, Dedra solves that “puzzle” like a brainteaser, coming up with a solution that guarantees the pilot’s death won’t be traced back to the imperials. And when she’s overseeing interrogations on Ferrix, trying to discover Cassian’s whereabouts, she gives indifferent approval to a subordinate who wants to kill one of their detainees. She doesn’t do Mr. Burns hands as she gleefully murders people, and she doesn’t struggle to swallow the horror of having to kill for the Empire. It’s simply a part of her day, and she doesn’t have thoughts on it one way or another.

One place where Dedra really does have my sympathy is in her dealings with Syril. When she first questions him about Cassian’s escape from Ferrix, he’s in a low spot. His life has taken a downward turn, and he blames Cassian for everything that’s gone wrong. No one else seems to care about Cassian, but this stern ISB officer? She cares. She’s just like him! He gloms onto her hard, getting majorly overzealous about Cassian while simultaneously fishing for second chances at career advancement. Dedra throws her weight around in their first meeting, shutting him down handily, but Syril’s vengeful obsession with Cassian quasi-morphs into a creepy obsession with Dedra, to the point that he stalks her. And this is where I feel for her; no matter how evil she is, she shouldn’t have to deal with that. (I think of it like Thomas on the early seasons of Downton Abbey: I want him to get punished for being a spiteful, scheming little shit, not for being gay.)

When it comes to characters, Andor basically delivers banger after banger. I don’t like Dedra, but she’s endlessly watchable, and she kept my attention all through the first season as I waited to see what she’d do next. We’ll see where season 2 takes her!