Okay I new I was gonna want to make this post last time I ran through smuggler, so here it is. Corso Vs Rona, and why I dont like Corso
Okay so Corso and Rona’s interactions always pissed me off. We already know Corso is weird about women and contextualizes them as defenseless and in need of protection (compare his reaction to female smuggler rejecting his gun and male smugglers - female it’s “it doesn’t feel right to let a lady go into danger” male its “your gun is trash no offense” and female smuggler asking if she wants something more aka marriage he says “someone to protect you” in addition to all the other things he does)
but i think his patronizingness comes into play most here so lets get started (i’ll be posting all images in addition to image transcriptioning, in case for some reason is like “you just made that up”
[image: dialogue from Corso Reading “Rona was kind of our family rebel. We used to have a blast together. She liked me to run interference so her father never caught her on dates with offworlders.” end image]
Okay so here we have Corso just talking about Rona. He likes her. My hypothesis is he likes the idea of her and that she needed him. This is important because Corso never tells Rona he doesn’t like her being in the black sun because it’s a criminal organization and he’s worried about her hurting people. instead it seems like he likes rona when she benefits from his help and dislikes her when she doesn’t need him
[image: dialogue from Corso. He says “he’s a street doctor in Coruscant. Kind of a shady character, but that’s who Rona always drifted to. .... If it was you all alone out there, wouldn’t you want to know your only family was looking for you?”
Then “Doctor Hope” (his name is actually in quotation marks) says “I’m Doctor Hope. I like to think of myself as a messenger of mercy, caring for the por, forsaken citizens of the underlevels. ... Right. So I’ve got some, ah, life-saving medicaitons that need delivering.”
Corso says “This was always Rona’s kind of thing. Breaking hte law to do good uner the nose of a corrupt authority.” end image]
I just posted these so people who haven’t played smuggler in a while or ever can know the context: Rona is Corso’s cousin, she’s in cahoots with Dr Hope, he thinks its for good, and he wants to help.
He and Oriah (my smuggler) go to coruscant to get some “life saving medicine” (spice) surgically implanted in him to smuggle it across republic security. When they get it out and they finally figure out it’s spice Corso gets upset
[image: Corso says “Did she say... “spice”? Oriah asks “YOu thought we were smuggling cough syrup?” end image]
I guess Oriah has the same thought as I did (link).
I seriously have no idea why Corso joins up with smuggler but has an objection to smuggling, but okay
[image: Corso says “You used us. If you weren’t a lady, you’d -- I gotta go have a word with your boss.” end image]
I find this line very creepy. Talking about how you’d totally beat someone up but just their Weak Feeble Lady Gender stops you isn’t chivarlous, or whatever Corso thinks it is. It’s a threat to beat someone up.
anyway, so now that Corso knows the truth we see Rona
[image: dialogue between Corso and Rona. Rona says “Course, I’m a little more bit-time now than ma and pa ever would have allowed.”
Corso says “Rona, what... what happened to you? What are you doing here?”
Rona says “I’m the underboss for the black Suns on this part of Coruscant! NOt bad considering five years ago, I was shoveling ronto dung.”
Corso says “Captain! what are you doing? We can’t just leave her here like this! We obviously came just in time. Come on, Rona. We’re getting you out of here.”
Rona says “Poor, chivalrous little Corso... don’t you get it? I don’t need to be rescued. I chose this life.” end image]
Beginning of commentary again:
okay, so here is the issue
Corso talks to his adult cousin like she’s a child.
He doesn’t even care what she wants, he acts like it was some big bad guy that got her in here and now he’s got to rescue her.
I mean, he ignores everything she says and talks about her (we can’t leave her likes this) and only responds to her out of context, in response to his idealized version of rona (amusing she needs his protection and rescuing)
furthermore, given that corso has been involved in smuggling before, so part of me Conant help but wonder if this isn’t a “Don’t do crime” but a “ladies shouldn’t do crime”
which is what i was saying earlier, at the top of this post, about my idea on why corso liked rona earlier, that he liked the idea of taking care of her.
now that she doesn’t need him, he’s mad at her.
corso disapproves of spice and probably the black sun but his reasoning for wanting rona out of the black suns isn’t moral at all. it ties into his perceptions about female helplessness and his “chivalrous” protection.
and that’s just... not cute. it’s gross. it’s why i can’t stand him.
