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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I understand other people’s criticisms of this show, but looking at the whole of George Lucas’s work it fits in as you said under THX1138. The Empire needs to be a capable evil. The cartoony villainy and incompetence, seen in some of the other shows and the sequel trilogy, really was pretty disappointing. The audience needs to believe that the Empire is a threat, to have stakes. Andor makes the Empire horrific, and not a joke. I can appreciate that.
That said, Andor needs to move on and not dwell in the despair. That’d be my biggest complaint. People will only sit through so much hopelessness before they just give up and do something else with their time.
Andor: Episode 9 – Nobody’s watching
I’d decided to read reviews of the whole series before committing whether or not to watch with my family. You almost had me convinced this was a worthwhile show with your reviews, but then they slipped a lesbian relationship in two weeks ago.
That’s it. I’m done with Disney. They can just keep their woke poison to themselves. No more cruises (Carnival can have our money instead), no more theme park trips (Universal looks better every day), and no more movies until god know when.
If Andor is Disney / Lucasfilm asking the audience for patience then they don’t understand that they’ve already spent their chances.
Andor is nothing more than an expensive lesson for Disney and time will tell if the stockholders have learned anything.
If Disney wants Star Wars to have a heartbeat then I have the stories to serve as the defibrillator and Disney need only hire me to get Lucasfilm back on track. The cinema is where Star Wars belongs and then branches elsewhere.
P.S. If Chapek hires me it will be his success for his risk. If Kennedy hires me while people will say plenty about her on the way out they will say at the end at least she hired me to bring Star Wars back. I call Kennedy a Jonah but even Jonah came around in the end.
Why hire me Disney easy you have been drawing from a poison well, so hiring a no body who would rather remain obscure is a good thing it shouldn’t draw too much attention.
Second we keep our mouths shut until fans are ambushed by an announcement of a film in production quietly and a few months from release. Because Star Wars films should build hype over a shorter time span and be paid off to fans in short order.
Third keep the budget between 75 to 150 million without p and a included for a 90 to less than 120 minute film.
What is it with you and this “Disney should hire me” thing? Are you actually serious?
If Andor is Disney / Lucasfilm asking the audience for patience then they don’t understand that they’ve already spent their chances.
Andor is nothing more than an expensive lesson for Disney and time will tell if the stockholders have learned anything.
If Disney wants Star Wars to have a heartbeat then I have the stories to serve as the defibrillator and Disney need only hire me to get Lucasfilm back on track. The cinema is where Star Wars belongs and then branches elsewhere.
I have to admit begrudgingly and to my utmost surprise that Andor has won me over for the most part. I like the way the show has been building tension and depicting the Empire as a totalitarian state. I find it largely devoid of wokeism despite the virtue signalling from the members of the production. The Imperials have actual menace rather than the almost Kolonel Klink style buffonery depicted in the films. Production style, cinematography and acting – are at the very least above average. It’s a shame a serious slightly more adult take on Star Wars took such a long time coming.
Honestly, I couldn’t stand watching the first 5 episodes. I didn’t want to watch the first one, because Disney effectively killed Star Wars for me with Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan, being the nail in the coffin, but of course I dragged my feet and begrudgingly watched the first episode.
Honestly, I was surprised by the really good production value, but that’s all it had… It looked like a modern-day movie. Oooh…. aaaah. But it did nothing to draw me in. It took me another few days to drag my feet to watch the next two, thinking “it’s gotta’ get better, right?”
Nope… it didn’t get better. It was still a slow drag of a show that effectively led nowhere. It was a snooze fest.
Rinse and repeat for two more episodes… It was at that point that I wrote a long-winded mostly neutral review of Andor’s first 5 episodes. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it, but I couldn’t find much about the show to bring me back and get me excited for what happens next… because nothing was happening. Even the relationship building was cheap, and nothing connected.
Then episode 6 happened…
FINALLY! They finally gave me something to get excited about. They finally pushed the story forward. They finally made me care, and honestly, it’s been a relatively fun ride since. Episodes 6-9 have generally been good, and I’ve really enjoyed the episodes inside the prison.
These aren’t perfect episodes, but they’re very good, and unfortunately for Disney, it’s certainly not enough to make me want to keep my Disney+ subscription. I’m still allowing it to lapse this month. Bye Disney… it’s been a less-than fun 3yrs.
I’ve had the epiphany that Andor just totally lacks any contrast, its too bleak for its own good. I think I’ve come around to the idea its “good”, as in the show is effective and accomplishes what it sets out to do, the depictions of the Empire as an enormous bureaucratic nightmare is fitting and it seems disparate parts of the rebellion are coming together, and thats all compelling! The problem is that the bleak world the series creates does not feel like Star Wars because Star Wars has always had tremendous contrast between bleak moments and depictions of evil with moments of uplift and plucky heroes who can endure and even overcome, all while maintaining some levity. Tony Gilroy is on record as not being a Star Wars fan, its pretty clear that “Star Wars” wasn’t his model for well, Star Wars. The torture scene in this episode is especially egregious, not because Star Wars hasn’t ever depicted torture. Han is tortured, and screams (off camera). The audience already loved Han at that point and is followed by a tender moment between Han and Leia. I’m not sure why I’m supposed to be invested in Bix beyond the fact she’s pretty? If you were considering rewatching with your children, I think this episode proves the definitively they have forsaken the co-viewing experience.
I think they’ve clearly hired talented people to write and make this series, but my sneaking suspicion is rather than make compelling Star Wars the goal was to make prestige TV for awards season. I can tell you from first hand experience writers and producers love nothing more than accolades from their peers, audience numbers are secondary. I’m genuinely surprised at this point a second season is even making it in to production given what we know and may only because at this point filling in the void it would leave in Disney’s streaming plans all the way in 2025 is more difficult than moving the budget elsewhere.