Episode 1×09 Is A Really Clear Demonstration Of Cassian’s Character Growth This Season. Prior To The

Episode 1×09 is a really clear demonstration of Cassian’s character growth this season. Prior to the show, (as explained in 1x03) Cassian stole an Imperial starpath unit, an evidently expensive piece of equipment he was planning on selling to Luthen on a rainy day. When Luthen asks him how he got his hands on it, Cassian says,

“You just walk in like you belong […] They’re so proud of themselves, they don’t even care. They’re so fat and satisfied, they can’t imagine it. That someone like me would ever get inside their house, walk their floors, spit in their food, take their gear”

Cassian’s always understood the arrogance of the Empire, and how to weaponize it into a sense of invisibility, and he comfortably wields this for his own personal gain. Crucially, it’s his success, that indicates the power of the Empire, and causes his disillusionment with the idea of the Rebel Alliance. He believed that the Empire, so powerful that it is blind without consequence to somebody walking right in, stealing from them, and walking right back out, is untouchable in any real capacity.

During the Aldehani arc, Cassian engages with the Aldehani rebels in a sort of hopeless apathetic manner. He’s only participating in the heist because Luthen’s paying him. In a very real sense, he feels he doesn’t have much alternative. He wasn’t very liquid because Luthen never paid him for the Imperial starpath unit and he needed to get away from Ferrix until the imperials looking for him turned their attention elsewhere. When Nemik tries to rationalize the usefulness of rebel mercenaries with his idealistic viewpoint around the Rebellion in 1x06, Cassian says the following:

“The Empire doesn’t play by the rules. They don’t care enough to learn. They don’t have to. You mean nothing to them.”

It’s clear from the context of the scene, and Cassian’s reluctance to begin working with the Aldehani rebels, that he believes the Aldehani heist might be doable, but will not lead to any real success for the Rebellion. This is because he still believes the Rebellion will never be able to strike a decisive blow due to their insignificance compared to the power of the Empire.

But during the Narkina-5 arc, Cassian has truly lost everything. He was arrested, far from Ferrix and his family, under an assumed name and sentenced to 6 years on Narkina-5. But he becomes a much less passive character in spite of his circumstances. He understands that the insignificance of the Rebellion, or of himself, or of his fellow prisoners, is an advantage that can be used for more than just survival. That arrogance of a prison structure, or of an Imperial base, or of the Empire itself, can be a protective cover for more than just talking with your fellow inmates or stealing an Imperial starpath unit. So when Cassian says to Kino

“You think they’re listening? You think they care enough to make an effort? I know this. They don’t need to care […] Why bother listening to us? We are nothing to them.”

It’s no longer a hopeless speech about the pointlessness of action, it’s a call to arms that demonstrate his newfound belief in the possibility of something larger than himself