We’ve been waiting a very long time for high quality Star Wars content out of Lucasfilm. The audience may be diminished and the material niche, but this is it.
Last week we were introduced to an Imperial Prison/Factory Labor Camp that I believed was ingenius in how it pitted the convicts against one another while increasing production for the imperial war machine. It was horrific and dystopian and reminded me of THX-1138 in a number of ways. I felt that surely we had seen the ultimate in cruelty from the Empire.
I was very, very wrong.
Last week was a prison movie. This week it became a horror flick. This will not be to everyone’s taste. The show already seems consigned to a niche audience, and I wonder if this episode won’t stretch the patience or the stomach of still more. In that sense, I’m a little depressed about the title of the episode. While the beginning of this series very much tested my patience, I have come to love this show. I don’t feel it has any particular strong focus character, but it does much of what made the original Star Wars movies and EU so indelible in our memory – it builds a WORLD.
Andor isn’t “fun”. I mentioned that as a complaint in my first episode review. At the beginning of this series, I decried the lack of that Star Wars “feeling.” For some people, that means Jedi, classical music, pulpy escapism, and daring heroics. (And don’t get me wrong, that is FUN.) But I don’t think that Star Wars HAS to have those things to work. Andor does a few things that I think are very, VERY important:
1. It shows what the galaxy looks like from the perspective of somebody who DOESN’T have space-wizardy powers that can make atrocities look like “fun.” Part of the reason that this is important is that in the timeframe of Andor, the Jedi are all but extinct – but technically, even during the time of the prequels, to the rest of the galaxy things wouldn’t have looked that different. During the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy, there were only 10,000 surviving Jedi to police an entire galaxy. It’s likely that most planets never saw a single one during that timeframe – to them, the only big change is the galactic government, and things probably getting more efficient – at least, that’s how the Core Worlds would see it.
2. Because the characters of this show (generally) aren’t legacy characters, their fates are at least in question. Sure, we know Andor, Melshi, and Taga will make it through to Rogue One, and Mon Mothma will survive through Return of the Jedi – but the fates of everyone else are up for grabs. The tension in each episode keeps ratcheting higher and higher, which makes the inevitable release all the sweeter when it comes.
3. Andor continues to make the Empire as evil as it should be. This is not the cartoonish villainy we are used to. This is intellect twisted to the most cruel ends you can imagine. As suggestive as torture droids may be, as evil as killing a room full of younglings can make a Sith, as ridiculous as blowing up entire planets could be – nothing prepared me for the pyschological torture inflicted in this episode. An empire this vast, this powerful, and with this amount of limitless power found new levels of depravity in their lust for power. Your heroes are only as good as your villains, and this show makes you HATE the Empire.
There’s so much I actually want to talk about in this review, but I feel like I can’t. I don’t want to spoil this episode. Not a bit. I truly loved it. I’ll only say that there are two types of torture in this episode, both pyshcological, and both horrible. There are scenes with Mon Mothma both at home and in the Senate – and some revelations that genuinely startled me.
To me, Andor feels a bit like an old EU novel. It has loads of time to flesh out much more of the galaxy, and it does require patience. For those who weren’t fans of the EU, I can understand why this show might not be to your taste. I do hope you’ll continue to give it a chance though. I have a hunch that before this season is over, the Emperor will make an appearance – and if he does, I think some of that feeling will be restored. Just my two cents – what did you all think?
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