'Andor' Is Great, But I Simply Can't Get Past Clem
Cassian Andor, the latest Star Wars hero to land his own prequel series, is a jack of all trades. He not only walks the line between paranoid outlaw and highly trained super-spy, but he also comes with arguably the coolest Star Wars name since Kit Fisto.
Like any fantasy series, Star Wars is full of interesting choices for what passes as a name. You're not going to find any John Smiths here, OK? (No offense to the John Smiths out there!) You're going to be flying around the galaxy with guys named Nute Gunray and Mace Windu. Cassian Andor has a nice ring to it, too, so it caught me by surprise when he inexplicably changed it during an undercover mission.
Forced to choose a new alibi in Episode Three of Andor for an upcoming Imperial heist, Cassian quickly decides on... Clem. I've now had to hear it for two more episodes since, and it just doesn't feel Star Wars-y enough. Clem?! Not as cool, man. You're competing with dynamite Star Wars names like Jango Fett and Lando Calrissian. Clem sounds like a combo of clammy and phlegm. It's also a real word, meaning "to starve." And yet, it worked for Stellan Skarsgard's Luthen Rael. He accepted Clem as a normal name so quickly, that I half-expected him to respond, "Of course! Good choice. I was going to suggest Clem myself!" In comparison to some of the other names in Andor's heist gang, I guess Clem isn't all that strange. After all, we're palling around with Nemik, Gorn, and Skeen over here. Skeen?! Something tells me I shouldn't trust a guy named Skeen.
However, Cassian apparently didn't choose Clem out of thin air. It's the name of his adoptive father, Clem Andor, who stole him from his home planet of Kenari. Mentioned in passing back in Episode Three, we learned that Clem Sr. was hung in the town square by the Empire for reasons unknown. Andor also wields his late adoptive father's pistol, going on to honor him by using his name as his alibi for the mission. Still, it's a shame he's Clem and not Cassian. It's like if James Bond went on a mission and told people his name was Glerb. Hell, most of the time Bond will even flat-out tell people that he's James Bond. It's a big power play, and it's cool! Bix Caleen, Syril Karn, Mon Mothma—these are top-tier new Star Wars names. But Clem? I don't know how long I can keep hearing it.
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