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Note: This will cover both seasons
Never thought I’d be covering Star Wars of all things, in part due to being so famous and talked about there’s close to nothing to add to the discussion about it, and part due to not having much material to work with, the original trilogy is a fine action adventure space opera and that’s pretty much it. Plus I’m mostly unfamiliar with this universe, I did watch the prequel trilogy, some episodes of the 2000s cartoon, Rogue One, and Visions, if that counts, but that’s about it.
Speaking of Rogue One, it was a fine movie, definitely more serious and slower and kinda more boring than its chronological sequels, at least on its first half, but by fleshing its cast slowly, bothering to give an explanation to one of the weakest aspects of the movie that started it all, and literally going out with a bang, made it a worth watching experience on its second half.
So, for whatever reason they came out with a prequel about one of the protagonists from Rogue One, years later, and after the character’s role in the franchise was over, which doesn’t sound like a good idea in the least, but since the reception about it was largely positive and the series was considered to be the best Star Wars thing in a long time, eventually I was curious about it, and although I did not enjoy the first season, knowing that the show ended on its second season without dragging unnecessarily made it worth to watch the second season. As it turns out, Andor is the best Star Wars thing that I watched in my life.
The premise explores a part of this universe regarding the Rebellion, yet nothing about the Jedis, the Siths, the force and anything like that. No space magic, no fancy lightsaber fights, just politics and occasionally some shots here and there. I’m sorry the focus is on politics? Half the reason why people didn’t like the prequels? What’s going on?
Well the answer is simple, it turns out that dealing with politics interests people as long as multiple perspectives from both sides, intense plotlines and characters whose drama you care about are happening at the same time.
The series does not start that strongly though, and its pacing is definitely slow, even more so for what one would expect from Star Wars. Initially we see Andor as a wanted man with just enough information, but a lot of it is missing, and it takes a little while for him to connect with the actual plot and join the Rebellion. Once he does, it’s interesting to see how everyone distrust him for possibly being an enemy spy or something, and when he finally takes an active part on the strikes against the Empire, is actually caught, and his actions end up harming his close ones and town, every action leads to consequences.
The series slows down a little once again in the middle while he is imprisoned, and it has some silly bits here and there, but exploring that setting and coming up with believable ways for him to escape, while taking its time for the characters to be convinced, plan the escape and actually set it in motion, made it overall well written and thus was worth stopping the plot for it. The finale ends up with him actually joining the Rebellion for real, and shit getting real, though it can’t be denied that things take a quick and abrupt turn on the last episode.
The second season also starts slowly with Cassian being stuck with a bunch of idiots, which translates to more silly bits here and there, but luckily unlike the first season, the rest of the cast actually tries to move the plot forward, partially thanks for all the buildup and following their lives a little on the previous entry. Once the series finds its pacing it becomes great, with permanent high tension and consequences everywhere and for everyone, as both sides have spies and double agents constantly watching the other, and lots of characters actually die with close to no plot armor to be found. The rebels die in battle or being captured or are removed from the plot, the people from the Empire die in battle or due to their own incompetence or as punishment for either messing up or failing to meet the expected results. I’m sorry, am I watching Star Wars, or Legend of the Galactic Heroes?
And throughout the season we see the Empire constantly watching several townsfolks in search for rebels, even infiltrating them, and mining the needed material to build the Death Star, a secret to even most of its staff. Meanwhile the rebels also infiltrate the Empire, killing their own members when they are about to get caught, finding the traitors amongst them, and also having differences among their own files. At the same time we follow another political aspect through the perspective of Senator Mon Mothma, such as a political marriage, and political deals with other congressmen, while being pressured and eventually chased by the Empire.
As for characters, I can’t say I remember everyone with their names at all, but the way everyone is cautious and their relationships with each other made them a very good cast. Mothma was more memorable here than in whatever movie I saw her in, Andor has a good arc of reluctantly joining the Rebellion by accident or not wanting any part of it and desiring peace instead, to becoming such an active member of it, even going as far as risking his own life to save key members of it. Then we have Kleya with probably the best backdrop in the whole series, Dedra trying to manage her position on the Empire and her personal relationships simultaneously, Syril going through the same things yet also being a spy, and dealing with his overprotective and meddlesome mother, and Luthern definitely being the best character of the show, being the brain behind the whole Rebellion and an infiltrator at the same time.
Production wise, the series is very good for a tv show, everything looks polished and although a bit repetitive, the backgrounds can be quite absorbing, and the special effects are good both when it comes to practical and CGI. Since a lot of time there isn’t any action, the series can be quite static to look at, and without very interesting camera angles, and there’s an overabundance of human looking characters compared to actual aliens, so the designs are the least inspired and worst aspect of the series.
The sound design is as good as you would expect from Star Wars, both for the returning iconic sound effects and for the newly introduced ones, the music is very good but perhaps not at the level one would expect from something out of this franchise. The acting is good, definitely better than any I’ve seen from the movies I’ve watched from this IP, but I didn’t find it impressive or anything, just quite good.
The finale sets up Rogue One very well, though not as much as to become repetitive about what it’s already shown in there, and gives another dimension to Andor as a character, making his dramatic outcome in the movie even a lot more tragic.
If I were to criticize something about it, there’s pacing issues and the beginning and some other episodes weren’t as good as I already said, there are some last moment saves here and there, and Bix was disregarded very dirtily from the plot. Showing a character struggling to take action due to trauma is fine, but completely removing them from the plot altogether in such a way that they don’t contribute anything to it is a completely different thing, the writers basically turned her into a housewife, and not even a very good one at that, as we are made to know that Cassian is a better cook than her.
Nevertheless, as a whole, I didn’t enjoy this series because of its pacing, comedy, and the universe it belongs to not interesting me much, but it was otherwise strong and much better than I hoped it would be, and one of the best series I’ve watched in a while. I’m nowhere near enough to notice if there’s any major plot hole regarding the continuity of this franchise, though I remember seeing Mothma on some movies so maybe there are some chronological incongruences around her, which would mean a writing issue, but for what it did as a whole, it was a great one. It kept things going, had permanent consequences without bad writing, fleshed out its cast, wasn’t rushed, didn’t mess up in its second season like quite some shows that I watched recently did, and it didn’t overstay its welcome. I score the first season with a 7/10 and the second with an 8/10, which would round the whole thing at a 7.5/10, pretty good stuff.
