Andor

At times a slow moving political and personal drama with great world- and character-building. Best SW material I have seen which beautifully and seamlessly connects into Rogue One

Gilroy and crew nail the landing and firmly establish Andor as one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm by no means a Star Wars fan, in fact, I haven't even seen all the main-line films and even the ones I did see mostly left me feeling confused as to why this series is so unfathomably popular. I watched Rogue One in cinemas when it released and was mostly disappointed. As a big fan of Edwards's Godzilla (2014), combined with the frankly soulless and uninteresting then recent Star Wars films I had moderate expectations, and while I cannot recall why I didn't enjoy the film I do remember not liking it. When I had heard that Disney was making a Disney+ spin off show about a character in Rogue One I couldn't roll my eyes further into the back of my head. Another pathetic Disney cash grab, an excuse to market toys of some droid, or baby version of an existing character to gullible adults and children. A couple of years went by and I had completely forgotten about this announcement, some reviews and word of mouth about Andor reached me and I thought I would give it a shot, after all I had respect for Stellan Skarsgard and Diego Luna and, you never know, it might be watchable. My expectations were low, but I was completely blown away. The first three episodes are probably the weakest in the entire show, but they were compelling enough to keep me watching. The rest of the entire show is simply incredible. Andor's tone is starkly different to anything else Star Wars from the get go, the first scene features our "hero" killing a couple of cops in front of a brothel. It feels a lot more cyberpunk than space fantasy. The empire is legitimately intimidating and oppressive. While Star Wars media has become almost self-aware of how silly the storm troopers are, never hitting their shots, clumsily marching around in their funny white armor, Andor does the complete opposite. By placing some of our lead characters in the roles of Empire bureaucrats, climbing their respective career ladders, we're able to familiarize ourselves with the inner workings of the FSB (essentially a Star Wars analogue for the FBI or KGB). You might even find yourself empathizing or rooting for some of them, their ruthless efficiency and pompousness is alluring, tempting, maybe even sexy. Andor, however, doesn't allow us to get too comfortable. Whenever a viewer might find comfort in the FSB board room scenes, or getting relatable glimpses of our antagonists daily lives, the show swiftly reminds us that The Empire is a totalitarian fascist police state. Citizens are arrested and jailed without due process, insurgents are executed in public squares to intimidate others, propaganda is manufactured and spread to sow dissent to justify genocides and so on and so on. It's a fantastic representation of a fascist regime, how it works, why it's effective but why it ultimately fails. "Remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear." Andor is grounded, it's realistic. In a universe where radio signals travel instantaneously light-years across galaxies it's realism is only second to shows such as "The Wire". It's character driven, every decision makes perfect sense, every character is compelling and deep, driving the plot forward with their actions, instead of the other way around. Battles and wars are won using intel and decisiveness, not blasters or lightsabers. The rebels are not just imperfect, but sometimes as corrupt as their enemy, and this is one of the focal points of the show which drew me in so much, especially through Skardsgard's character Luthen. "I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude." Everything tells a story in Andor and there's a maximum attention to detail in every shot. It's evident that everyone involved on the production and set, from the actors to the costume department, is completely inspired and motivated to do their best. It's extremely rare to have a show where it's so clear that it's made with love and care that only a person who's completely invested into their work can achieve. My only concern, having finished the show today, is that it's end moments before Rogue One starts and I'm afraid re-watching that will tarnish what Andor was able to achieve, but that will be covered in it's own review. Andor will be show I plan to re-watch many times throughout my life, and I'm supposed to be ashamed that I'm saying this about a Star Wars show, but it's genuinely so impressively good that I cannot help myself. "And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empires’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this: Try."

Batches 2 and 3 of season 2 are peak TV. I love that every week we get to see essentially a new Star Wars movie, but this time it's about fascist think tank meetings, senate politicians attending fundraising banquets and the gritty parts of building a rebellion that itself is a far cry from perfect. I'll probably write a detailed review of the entire series when it's completed but currently I just want to gush about it and draw as much attention to it as possible. Everyone who appreciates smart writing that demands, but also awards your attention, check Andor out.

Season 2 Batch 1 review: Solid start to a season, the time skip is a bit jarring, just throwing our "heroes" into completely new situations and environments feels weird but I understand that season 2 has a lot of ground to cover and needs to move quickly. The wedding and the fascist think tank scenes were fantastic and classic Andor and I hope we get to see some more great politicking and fascist brainstorming scenes, that's Andor at it's best for me. However, everything involving the titular character, aside from the fantastic opening scene, left a bit to be desired. I appreciate that the show is conveying to us how disorganized the rebellion is and I love the idea, but the execution is lacking. The whole ordeal drags on too long in order to synchronize with the other plot lines and the characters are a bit too goofy and stupid to be in this show. All in all almost everything was great and I'm super excited for the rest of the show, I'm confident the silly forest rebel infighting arc is a rare misfire and it'll be barely worth mentioning by the time the series wraps up. Onto batch 2!

Final season let's fucking go, season one was peak. I don't like Star Wars but Andor, so far, is a must watch. Hopefully they can nail the landing.