History Recap / AndorS1E9NobodysListening

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kino has spent previous episodes as TheQuisling, keeping other prisoners in line. However, after Ulaf suffers his stroke, we see that he ''does'' genuinely care about the men under his care and wants to keep them motivated to work until they get to go home. When he realizes that prisoners aren't being released, just reassigned to other floors, his faith in the Empire shatters, and he helps Cassian plan his escape.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kino has spent previous episodes as TheQuisling, keeping other prisoners in line. However, after Ulaf suffers his stroke, we see that he ''does'' genuinely care about the men under his care and wants to kepe them motivated to work until they get to go home. When he realizes that prisoners aren't being released, just reassigned to other floors, his faith in the Empire shatters, and he helps Cassian plan his escape.

* AwfulTruth: No one gets released from Narkina 5. Prisoners that are let go from a floor are simply shuffled into a work crew in a different facility, to live out the rest of their days among the population (and likely get worked to death on projects requiring less precision than the Narkina 5 work). Learning this is what leads to everyone on Level 2 being killed off. When Kino is informed by a reliable source, he immediately begins collaborating with Cassian to plan an escape.

* BookEnds: The prison segment of the episode first begins with Cassian asking Kino about the amount of Imperials on each floor. The very last scene of the episode has Kino relaying that information to Cassian after reaching his [[RageBreakingPoint limit]].

* CallForward: When Dr. Gorst is torturing Bix, there is a shot of the door shutting and an Imperial officer walking away, with the camera focusing on the officer's boots. It is almost the same as the scene in Film/ANewHope when Darth Vader tortures Princess Leia.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: The episode’s title, while referring to Cassian’s TitleDrop within the prison, also refers to Mon Mothma’s attempt to call out the Empire on their overreach.
* DramaticIrony: Perrin asks whether Vel will be looking for a husband when she returns to Chandrila, and praises the fact that she "hasn't gone political", unaware that Vel is a. already in a relationship with another woman and b. deeply entangled with the Rebellion up to an including physical violence against the Imperial military. Mon even smirks a little at Perrin's remark about marriage.

* ForensicAccounting: Even with an allied banker, moving credits to the Rebellion is still dangerous for Mon Mothma, and there's now a 400,000-credit withdrawal in her accounts that she won't be able to explain if and when it gets detected. To cover it up, she's forced to consider a loan from a Chandrilan gangster; as much as she disapproves of Luthen's more brutal activities she knows his goals are aligned with hers, while Tay Kolma is, in her words, a "thug" (Tay Kolma pointing out he's "the wealthiest thug of them all").

* HeKnowsTooMuch: When the prison staff realizes that the prisoners in Level 2 have learned that no one is ever released and either dies or is moved to a different level, they murder the entire level.

* InnOfNoReturn: In a way. Narkina 5 shows prisoners how many days they have left before their release, but that is a lie. Prisoners are either moved into a different section, one designated for those who have been "released" from their prior sentence, or they die, either via euthanasia, overwork, or electrocution (for any of a number of reasons, from punishment to suicide). When a prisoner who was "released" from Level 4 was accidentally placed into Level 2 of the same building rather than moved to one of the other facilities, people started asking the wrong questions and the whole level was fried to eliminate witnesses. (Even the most generous interpretation would be that the mass slaughter response was to prevent anyone finding out that the prison operators had made a mistake in putting a man back in who'd just been released, rather than just...actually releasing the man they'd accidentally imprisoned again, ''and then'' made it policy that, to ensure no one would ever learn of it, no prisoner would get out alive again.) Unfortunately, they didn't account for a medic-prisoner who might pass the knowledge along.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: The Empire makes an administrative error, placing a "released" prisoner from Level Four back onto Level Two the next day. When those on Level Two learn what happened, they are all killed.

* RageBreakingPoint: Kino reaches his in this episode upon learning that no one on Narkina 5 is actually getting released upon completing their sentences -- to the point where he willingly divulges vital information on the prison to Cassian.

** The prisoners on Narkina 5 never actually get out - they just get transferred to different facilities, likely full of others who already know the truth, to be worked to death. A clerical error caused someone from Floor 4 to end up on Floor 2, and when he told the others, the prison admins fried the whole level to cover it up.
* RewatchBonus: Upon rewatching the episode you can see when Ulaf has his stroke - it's during the scene where he says he's having issues with one of his hands[[note]]one of the F.A.S.T warning signs to diagnose a stroke is "Arm Weakness", and Ulaf soon shows signs of the other symptoms - confusion, slurred speech, etc - as the episode goes on[[/note]].

* StalkerWithoutACrush: [[ImpliedTrope Implied]]. Syril Karn stalks Dedra Meero by regularly hanging out in front of the ISB headquarters and seeing if she walks by, and she at first assumes he's making advances of a romantic nature to her--but Syril's dialogue more or less indicates that he stalks her because he sees her as possessing the tightfisted and authoritarian values of the Empire, and wishes to be given a larger role in the Ferrix investigation. This does not make her any more comfortable about it.

* AwfulTruth: No one gets released from Narkina 5. Prisoners that are let go from a floor are simply shuffled into a work crew in a different facility, to live out the rest of their days among the population. Learning this is what leads to everyone on Level 2 being killed off. When Kino is informed by a reliable source, he immediately begins collaborating with Cassian to plan an escape.
* BeneathNotice: As Cassian says in his TitleDrop: "Nobody's listening". The Empire cares so little for their laborers as long as they meet their quotas, they don't even bother with SinisterSurveillance. At the end of the episode, Cassian and Kino find out the other reason the Empire doesn't bother watching them; [[ReleasedToElsewhere "released" prisoners are simply returned to the labor pool in a different facility]], so there's no escape or release. Everyone in the Narkina facilities will either be worked to death, commit suicide from despair, or be executed.

* BrownNote: In the past, TheEmpire implemented a FinalSolution against the Dizonites, a unique species that inhabited the planet Dizon Frey. The Empire had wanted to set up a refueling center there, which the Dizonites had taken opposition to. As they were all slaughtered by the Imperials, they gave out a unique screech that sounded like a "choral, agonized pleading". When Imperial officers were monitoring the recordings remotely, they were all later found huddled underneath their ship's bridge. Due to its value as a torture device, the Empire modified it a little and made sure to have the section with the children be the one they used in torture. Dedra claims repeated exposure can cause permanent damage.

* CoolAunt: Vel brings her niece Leida gifts whenever she comes and visits.

* DontYouDarePityMe: Ulaf gets angry at Cassian and the other workers at his table when they try to help and cover for him, as he is very close to the end of his sentence but is losing his physical and mental faculties due to old age.

* DramaticIrony: Perrin asks whether Vel will be looking for a husband when she returns to Chandrila, and praises the fact that she "hasn't gone political", unaware that Vel is already in a relationship with another woman, and deeply entangled with the Rebellion. Mon even smirks a little at Perrin's remark about marriage.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Try as he might to keep his doubts at bay, [[DrillSergeantNasty Kino]] is deeply unsettled by the strange events on Level 2, and when the truth is revealed about what happened, he's visibly ''seething'' with cold fury and doesn't hesitate to provide Cassian with info on the guard population that he'd previously hesitated to divulge.

** Dr. Gorst, the ISB's resident TortureTechnician, seems a rather personable fellow despite the unpleasant nature of his work and even gives Bix a friendly wave when Dedra introduces him. But he never shows any empathy for any of the suffering he causes his victims and seems to enjoy what he does. He smirks as he describes the FinalSolution against the Dizonites and leaves Paak and Bix speechless and with a ThousandYardStare.
** Dedra begins to show this side of herself, adopting an interrogator's false sense of charm and persuasion when talking to Bix and trying to get her to confess. But the reality is that she's about as much of a saint as your average Imperial, having no moral objections to hanging Paak or putting Bix through her BrownNote torture.
* ForensicAccounting: Even with an allied banker, moving credits to the Rebellion is still dangerous for Mon Mothma, and there's now a 400,000-credit withdrawal in her accounts that she won't be able to explain if and when it gets detected. To cover it up, she's forced to take out a loan from a Chandrilan Tay Kolma describes as "the wealthiest thug of them all", which she fears will damage her reputation.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: During a shift change, the lights flicker, and the workers are delayed for an unspecified reason. At the end of the episode, Kino and Cassian find out what happened: the guards electrocuted an entire level's worth of prisoners after they learned there was no release from the facility.

* InnOfNoReturn: In a way. Narkina 5 shows prisoners how many days they have left before their release, but that is a lie. Prisoners are either moved into a different section, one designated for those who have been "released" from their prior sentence, or they die, either via euthanasia or having their section executed by electrocution. When a prisoner who was "released" from Level 4 was accidentally placed into Level 2 with others still serving their first sentence, people started asking the wrong questions and the whole level was fried to eliminate witnesses. Unfortunately, they didn't account for a medic-prisoner who might pass the knowledge along.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kino has spent previous episodes as TheQuisling, keeping other prisoners in line. However, after Ulaf suffers his stroke, we see that he genuinely cares about the men under his care and wants them to be released. When he realizes that prisoners aren't being released, just reassigned to other floors, he loses hope and helps Cassian plan his escape.

* MercyKill: The med tech gives this to Ulaf in anticipation of his entire level being "fried" very soon.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: {{Discussed}} by the ISB leadership after they capture a Rebel pilot. Knowing his absence would be noted soon and tip off his cell, they decide to make his death look like it's accidental after getting good intel from him. They have his ship left with his body for them to later find him so that won't happen.

* {{Retirony}}: Ulaf has the fewest amount of days left on his sentence out of anyone else on the level and he and Kino both seem quite happy about it. Naturally, Ulaf's health begins deteriorating rather quickly, eventually resulting in a massive stroke. Played with in that he survives the stroke, but is given a MercyKill by the prison doctor when it's revealed he can't be saved. Ultimately subverted with TheReveal that the Empire isn't letting any prisoners out.

** The prisoners on Narkina 5 never actually get out - they just get transferred to different floors, far enough away that they are likely worked to death before anyone notices. A clerical error caused someone from Floor 4 to end up on Floor 2, with people who recognized them and the whole floor was killed to cover it up.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: [[ImpliedTrope Implied]]. Syril Karn stalks Dedra Meero by regularly hanging out in front of the ISB headquarters and seeing if she walks by, and she at first assumes he's making advances of a romantic nature to her - but Syril's dialogue more or less indicates that he stalks her because he sees her as possessing the tightfisted and authoritarian values of the Empire, and wishes to be given a larger role in the Ferrix investigation. This does not make her any more comfortable about it.

* TortureTechnician: Dr. Gorst has particularly cruel methods of torturing his prisoners to get them to talk. He's very good at his job and disturbingly upbeat about it.
* TranquilFury: At the end of the episode, Kino tells Cassian that there are "never more than twelve" Imperials on each floor at a given time with silent, yet fierce rage in his voice.
* WeHaveReserves: The prisoners are very expendable. If any of the floors start to become troublesome, they will all be exterminated by electrocution and (presumably) replaced by a more compliant and ignorant workforce.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Lampshaded by Cassian, who points out to Kino that prisoners are cheaper and easier for the Empire to replace than droids.

* {{Irony}}: Perrin assumes that Vel will be looking for a husband when she returns to Chandrila, unaware that Vel is already in a relationship with Cinta, another woman. Mon even smirks a little at Perrin's remark.

* ChangedMyMindKid: Kino spends most of the episode berating Cassian for not only entertaining the notion of a breakout but also encouraging others to have similar thoughts. A lot of his resistance is based on the fact that his sentence is getting short and he doesn't want anything to risk his chance at release. At the end of the episode, after learning that the Empire plans to keep everyone imprisoned indefinitely, he begins providing Cassian with the information he can use to plan their escape.

* DoubleMeaning: The episode’s title, while referring to Cassian’s TitleDrop within the prison, also refers to Mon Mothma’s attempt to call out the Empire on their overreach.

* OffTheShelfFX: [[https://redd.it/ylbpii There's a Pelican case tucked inside the cart of machine parts that Cassian pushes through a door, secured to the cart with zip ties]]. It's dark and shadowed in the spot where the case is, and the case is also dark-colored, making it very hard to see unless you know what you're looking for.

* MyBelovedSmother: Karn's mother continues to be unpleasant to live with. In this episode she nags him about showing more gratitude about what she does for him, shortly before Karn reveals she's been snooping around his room while he's out under the guise of "cleaning", even going so far as to dig through his personal belongings.

* MyBelovedSmother: Karn's mother continues to be unpleasant to live with. In this episode she nags him about showing more gratitude about what she does for him, shortly before Karn reveals she's been rifling through his room under the guise of "cleaning" and going so far as to snoop into his personal belongings.