Star Wars: Andor (September 21st, 2022)

[Johnny Utah]

Incredible episode. Here's the epic end titles music.

 

[choombaz]

Throughout I found myself wondering is this to dark, what would Lucas think? Though this show gets it right both ways, all the gritty somber sacrifice, paired with the hopeful survivors. Absolute gripping finally.

Well he always said that SW was for kids so he must absolutely hate it. BUT it is some of the best drama I have ever seen since the heady days of American cinema pre SW77 so he must be giddy with pride. I have no idea.

 

[choombaz]

I'd rate this below The Mandalorian though as it does unnecessarily drag it's feet over the 10 episode run, though it's light years ahead of The Book Of Boba and the utterly risible Obi Wan.

I would probably rate it above Mando simply because the quality of that show kept zig zagging up and down noticeably because there were good writers and directors and bad ones, whereas the quality of this show has been razor sharp perfect from the get go. It’s basically an HBO show, for some that’s a dragging pace, for others it’s slow but sure pacing.

Spoiler:

Everything that Gilroy says just has me and the year plus long wait is going to kill me:
"We're going to be covering four years. Every time we do three episodes in the second half, we jump ahead a year. When we come back to the show for part two, it'll be a year later. We'll do three episodes, and then we'll jump a year. Then we'll do three episodes, and then we'll jump a year on that. That last year will be the year that takes us into "Rogue [One]." We have some pretty interesting storytelling opportunities."

"Well, where is [Cassian] going? By the end, the first scene of "Rogue [One]" is him going off to go to the Rings of Kafrene to try to chase down the rumor about this thing. What does Tivik say to him, man? 'There's a weapon.' They're building a weapon. What kind of weapon? A planet killer. All roads lead to that scene. Now, that's not entirely what our show is going to be about. People don't know the existence of it, do they? Some people do. Krennic does. The people in the ISB. Very few of them might. But all roads are ultimately leading to 'Rogue One.'"

"It's the gravel on which the road is built. Every movement is like that in history. You saw in Luthen's speechand himself, he called himself on it. 'I'm trying to build a sunrise that I may never see.' People caught up in events that inspire them and push them beyond their own conceivable aspirations of what they might do. That's true heroism in a way, isn't it? That's what we're interested in. The show is in the kitchen and not in the restaurant. These are all the people behind the scenes."

 

[goatchumby]

IMO the show was a success as it brought actual competent villains to the table. It reminds me of some of the more pragmatic villain moments in SW:

• General Tagge - "They're more dangerous than you realize."
• Vader's homing beacon in ANH
• Boba Fett predicting the Falcon's escape in ESB
• Palpatine's legion of troops on Endor (JK, he dropped the ball big time by not bringing 10 legions of Sardaukar)

 

[Warthog81]

For me it is the best Star Wars content since the OT. If only we could have about 5 seasons of it!

 

[Wor-Gar]

Andor goes network tonight on ABC.

Guess Disney is getting its mileage out of it. First time for a Disney streaming show to network, isn't it? Must have been the deal with Gilroy.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Watch everyone else sign up for Disney Plus to see the rest.

Very smart doing this Thanksgiving week.

 

[BagginsOfBagEnd]

For me it is the best Star Wars content since the OT. If only we could have about 5 seasons of it!

This show has been fantastic, will definitely be re-watching it. Wish we were getting more than 2 seasons of it though.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Gilroy was asked about staying on after season 2, and said he doesn't know.

Disney would be morons to let him go.

 

[jye4ever]

Well….

We almost almost ALMOST made it thru the entire season without any stormtroopers being emasculated BUT they just couldn’t resist could they.

They had to show just one of them getting knocked out by a freaking silly headbutt right back to that ridiculous OW slap

I thought her large hologram was spectacular such great use of that although i’m not certain that the empire would’ve let it go on for as long as it did.

I’m also not certain that Deedra would’ve left Bix unguarded like she did.

The whole kill Andor plan by Luthen was kind of ignored in this until the very end.

I did love the stabbing by Cinta that was pretty brutal by SW standards.

That droid is absolutely endearing I love him lol

The Mon and husband argument interaction was an excellent scene and a great decoy.

Damn they had to show that trooper being knocked out didn’t they!

 

[ScoutingForToys]

I love how this series made the Empire a real, identifiable, grounded evil.
The kind of authoritarian evil that pulls you off the street for looking at them funny, or for the tiniest infraction. Then you're interrogated/tortured and thrown into a prison/labour camp, worked to death building weapons to keep that same evil authority in power.
Empire in the OT was the bad guys because we were told they were. They wore black and had an evil theme tune.
They blew up a planet. A completely unrelatable, over top, mustache twirling villainy.
All very much what George intended but still, this series really develops the Empire as a realistic grounded evil. A terrifying evil, that treads familiar ground to us. We've seen these regimes in real life.
This is a horror we can understand. People being dragged off to die in a gulag is in living memory for some.
Definitely a more subtle villain than "oh my god they blew up Alderaan!"

I will say though.....
Although I'm pleased the stormies in this were competent (they really needed to be for this series) in a horrific, brutal way, I have to point out, what the hell was the point of the Deathtroopers? Why even have them there if they're going to be so pathetically ineffectual? Only criticism I have of this episode.

Season 2 is going to be a long wait. Back to silly green babies, comedy droids, comedy troopers, clumsy dialogue, stupid fake sets filmed using those screen things, Filoni character cameo of the week, "this is the way" (I've really grown to hate that little catch phrase), colourful mobility scooters, "quirky" street gangs, and a thousand other things that we've had to sit through over the last few years.

 

[Venzhe]

My season 2 prediction:

Spoiler:

Cassian will use B2EMO as the personality basis for reprograming the imperial KX droid that becomes K2-SO. In a couple years everyone will be losing their mind that K2 was right in front of us in S1 all along.

 

[Johnny Utah]

https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/23475574/andor-luthen-stellan-skarsgard-finale-star-wars-character

 

[ZE_501]

This show has been fantastic, will definitely be re-watching it. Wish we were getting more than 2 seasons of it though.

That's the bitter-sweetness of it. We all know by now to be careful what we wish for. Maybe Gilroy does too.

I've just finished the last episode and I'm very satisified.

Spoiler:

Stormtroopers being head-butted and Death Troopers being easily whacked

aside, this was a good illustration of a very ugly riot and authoritarian power. Stormtroopers haven't been this evil since they boarded the Tantive IV.

Cinta is a cold-blooded, vengeance-driven killer. I'm now even more sure she smoked all those prisoners -- wives and children and all.

Spoiler:

The guy she gutted was her regular at the bar. Her victim had a face and a personality and she took clear satisfaction in doing him.

I was wondering what it would take to make Andor trustworthy for Luthen, I guess now I know. He went all in on that one.

Watching the Empire "kettle" the rioters ... Gilroy's team clearly did their homework on police crowd control tactics.

 

[Dave_W]

Was anyone else dying to see Dedra and Syril start full on making out in the storeroom for like...a good solid 10 minutes? Or was that just me?

 

[Prime Clone]

My season 2 prediction:

Spoiler:

Cassian will use B2EMO as the personality basis for reprograming the imperial KX droid that becomes K2-SO. In a couple years everyone will be losing their mind that K2 was right in front of us in S1 all along.

Spoiler:

I certainly lost my mind over Solo's L3/Falcon reveal!

 

[ajp4mgs]

Season 2 is going to be a long wait. Back to silly green babies, comedy droids, comedy troopers, clumsy dialogue, stupid fake sets filmed using those screen things, Filoni character cameo of the week, "this is the way" (I've really grown to hate that little catch phrase), colourful mobility scooters, "quirky" street gangs, and a thousand other things that we've had to sit through over the last few years.

Having grown up with SW being absent on screen for 16 years, re-watching these Andor episodes is all I'll need until the second season. That's more than enough Disney+ SW for my personal canon; gotta be at least 8 to 10 hours there. And all of it elevating the OT! The other shows do the opposite for me by ratcheting up the cartoonishness (and outright stupidity at times). And I just can't reconcile Andor as existing in the same reality with those other stories, so I don't need 'em at all.

My version of SW works just fine without a Boba Fett who recruits a scooter gang, gets flummoxed by a locked door, opts to ride a Rancor as his best battle plan, and has a life-altering epiphany from snorting a lizard.

My SW doesn't work as well with an Obi-Wan Kenobi who plays speedball with giant boulders yet fancies himself useless in the struggle against the Empire unless he's hidden away to watch over a boy savior who won't be able to do anything remotely similar to that for decades.

My Darth Vader isn't a credible threat if he's some halfwit who loses his composure at the drop of a hat and acts more like a Jason Voorhies wannabe than a cerebral figure with some emotional control. And he doesn't rip starships down from the sky one day, only to just forget how powerful he is years later for some unknown reason.

The Force as I prefer it isn't mastered by babies who haven't yet learned to speak, to the point of lifting charging rhinos and doing "Force healing." And there's also no series of time-traveling portals housed in mystical caves, nor "spirit animals," nor hyperspace-capable whales, or whatever other Filoniisms will be brought over into Ahsoka and/or other Rebels live-action shows that get made.

The Andor finale was more rewarding than I hoped for, and made the whole season even better as a result. The show may not be for every fan, but it certainly is for me. That other stuff probably works better for some, and that's fine. There's something for everyone now. And for that, I genuinely thank Tony Gilroy and his crew. They provided an alternative that can be embraced by a portion of the audience woefully underserved by the rest.

My ultimate satisfaction from this show is that it seemed to understand that human drama elements of preserving freedom by overcoming tyranny, helping family members find their path to virtue, and forging one's own destiny in life are all universally relatable and compelling parts of SW which can be the focus (and without retreading any old ground either). Superficial spectacle makes for short-lived fads, but it's substance that lasts. Andor will last. Couldn't be more proud as a SW fan, or more grateful. What an incredible payoff to such finely-constructed storytelling throughout! Outstanding on every level that matters.

 

[a-dev]

I felt the show was too much of a departure in tone from even the more serious movies like Empire and Rogue One - and therefore I have trouble reconciling it with anything that came before.

It certainly wasn't an embarrassment like so much of the PT, the ST, BOBF and Obi-Wan but for different reasons I equally would not be in a hurry to watch it again. That's just me.

 

[ArtDamage]

Yeah I thought it was fantastic throughout, but I also have no need for all star wars content to just be this now.

This show was exactly the right gritty spy drama lense that I've been hoping to see more of the Rebellion and Empire through, but im still looking forward to seeing more Mandalorian this next season.

Andor (for good reason) still doesn't have that sense of hopeful adventure that nothing since Mandalorian has really balanced well. I could use a little more of the spaghetti western vibe of season 1, but otherwise I'm very happy to have both.

 

[Warthog81]

I love the adult feel of the show. I found myself really hating the Empire for its evil. Trouble is after seeing this amazing show most Star Wars content besides the OT feels rather weak. I tried to watch The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones last night, I could not get through them and gave up. Even Mando, BOBF and Kenobi were not as good as this by far for me.