Star Wars: Andor (September 21st, 2022)

[a-dev]

I can’t believe this is Star Wars.

See that's the thing....

 

[Johnny Utah]

Don't turn into one of the naysayers a-dev.

 

[punisher1974]

To me each episode makes the show better with all of the layers they are doing. Each of the main characters is not what they seem at first and that makes the show more believable. The cast are great and the writing is really good. This episode is great showing what Luthen is willing to sacrifice for the long haul. He is looking at least 5 moves ahead and what has to be done to get there. Mon Mothma has now been given a choice and it will be interesting to see what she does now with her daughter.

 

[Bravomite]

See that's the thing....

I think someone must have removed a-dev's CPU chip because it looks suspiciously like he is thinking for himself... the hive mind like this one a-dev, join us.

 

[jye4ever]

Don't turn into one of the naysayers a-dev.

Don't turn into one of the naysayers a-dev.

a-devmofon

a-devkostis

 

[Khev]

As great as he was and HE WAS…But Luthen was my jam…..

Luthen was a freaking masterpiece!

My jaw was on the ground.

I got chills.

I can’t believe this is Star Wars.

I can’t believe it’s not butter.

Luthen gives the entire OT Rebellion a profoundly enhanced sense of legitimacy and gravitas. And the writing and performance of the ISB Rebel spy was off the charts as well for his one short scene.

 

[Khev]

I'm also glad that they finally explained why Snoke will fall madly in love with Rey.

It's because he can't swim! He's from Jakku!!

 

[jye4ever]

I'm also glad that they finally explained why Snoke will fall madly in love with Rey.

It's because he can't swim! He's from Jakku!!

This isn’t your grandfather’s Rogue One.

If you would’ve told me opening night of RO while I was watching Darth Vader being a super bad ass that 6 years later there would be a RO related story where an old man is just as bad ass and compelling with a monologue as Vader is with his saber I would’ve laughed at you like this…

 

[Khev]

And I'm not gonna lie, up until this week's episode I felt that Cassian himself was the weak link of the entire show but now I finally feel like he's truly come into his own as someone to root for.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Luthen gives the entire OT Rebellion a profoundly enhanced sense of legitimacy and gravitas. And the writing and performance of the ISB Rebel spy was off the charts as well for his one short scene.

I LOVE that elevator scene. Luthen's speech -- Gilroy's soliloquy -- was brilliant. Had to watch it twice.

 

[ajp4mgs]

See that's the thing....

Well played.

After this latest episode, I gave some thought to that question of "is this Star Wars?" What I came away believing is that the answer is dramatically different in November of 2022 than it would've been in November of 1977. For three full years, the entirety of Star Wars was mostly about a plucky rebellion standing up to a tyrannical empire and going against the very long odds that came with that. That's Andor. Sure, there was the fantasy space wizard element, but this show is set at the point in time where that stuff hadn't yet resurfaced. The war was the issue.

So, is Andor actually Star Wars? Yes. But maybe admittedly much moreso for people old enough to remember Star Wars existing before it expanded and changed so dramatically. In terms of being more like the ANH version:

• The focus is again on standing up in rebellion.
• There's again a selfish rogue who becomes a selfless rebel.
• There's again unscrupulous interigation tactics where the door slams shut before we can witness the full horror.
• Again a breaking out of imprisonment in a seemingly impossible setting.
• Again a young man is seen staring out toward a sunrise while frustrated about his life being stuck in place. Heck, that was even followed (again) by a breakfast table scene where the parental figure pours him some blue milk.

SW is now associated with so much more, and those associations are largely generational. But SW was a cultural phenomenon before Jedi/Sith, fallen Jedi, clones, Mandalorians, midichlorians, twirling lightsaber dance-offs, Force gods on some mystical planet, space whales, and every new story being a variation on youngster-with-older-guardian learning from one another. Andor would have seemed much less of a departure if it had been released, say... in place of the Holiday Special.

 

[Wor-Gar]

"Calm.. Kindness.. Kinship.. Love..
I've given up all chance at inner peace, I've made my mind a sunless space.
I share my dreams with ghosts, I wake up everyday to an equation I wrote fifteen years ago from which there's only one conclusion...

I'm damned for what I do! My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield. My eagerness to fight...

They've set me on a path from which there's no escape.. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. 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 will never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror, or an audience, or the light of gratitude.. So what is my sacrifice?"


HOLY ****

Yep. Sheer brilliance. The Rebellion -- its necessity and its dangers -- and how it is tearing one man apart, all honed into a few striking paragraphs, expertly delivered.

 

[Khev]

Andor would have seemed much less of a departure if it had been released, say... in place of the Holiday Special.

So true. If you imagine a world where instead of the Holiday Special and ROTJ we got THX-1138, SW, Andor, then ESB it all fits perfectly IMO. Yes I know that THX-1138 isn't SW but as a collection of Lucas works I think the latter grouping fits together wonderfully.

 

[Khev]

I loved the wherewithal of the newbie prisoner to instantly join the uprising and take the guard down with his own baton...before immediately getting blown away. Every moment was so hard fought and earned.

 

[punisher1974]

I think someone must have removed a-dev's CPU chip because it looks suspiciously like he is thinking for himself... the hive mind like this one a-dev, join us.

Yes A-Dev become one of us. Be A-Dev Khev

 

[Rotfish]

See that's the thing....

Unironically a good thing. This is such a massive universe, full of potential, and for half a century we've focused on the pew-pews and vrrrr-vrrrrs surrounding a single family.

First time I watched Rogue One, I knew I was in for something special when they nixed the title crawl.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I must be getting old -- because I prefer thoughtful speeches to bang-bang gunfire.

After a full life, words like Luthen's have so much impact... I still haven't fired many guns in my life, but I have had my own little battles against common bureaucracy and petty authoritarianism from time to time.

 

[Darthrazz]

Did anyone else think, that during the elevator scene for a brief second

Spoiler:

Lonni was Luthen's son? I got that feeling for a second from the way the conversation was going at the beginning. The ultimate sacrifice?

 

[Sassafras]

Did anyone else think, that during the elevator scene for a brief second

Spoiler:

Lonni was Luthen's son? I got that feeling for a second from the way the conversation was going at the beginning. The ultimate sacrifice?

No. TBH thought Luthen might take him out. No weak links.

 

[jye4ever]

No. TBH thought Luthen might take him out. No weak links.

/\THIS/\