it's honestly so wild that they actually made a good star wars show
Without lots of action, without much of the popular Star Wars lore like the Force, Jedi, Lightsabers, this show delivers with every new episode.
It was very interesting to see that Mon Mothma was reluctant to delve fully into engaging the Empire in open Rebellion. We've never seen that side. I also like that they adressed that people are and will be dying like Luthen told her. It's not much of romantisizing. It's war. And the Empire responds the only way it knows how. By asserting even more power. By being predictable, thus playing into the Rebels hands.
"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
Which at least some inside the Empire seem to understand while others still think of their position.
We also see the glimmer of hope from the people that things are about to change for the better when they hear off the attack on Aldhani. And althought Star Wars is not known for portraying contemporary problems within the story telling, I wonder if the similarities are just random.
I really interested how characters like Syril and Dedra will develop moving forward. Could they actually (well maybe one of them) end up with the Rebels ?
Oh, and the world building in this show is also great: Bureau of Standards. It's the Empire put in a single building and again something that reminds me of our present.
I really hope they'll keep this quality of storytelling and atmosphere.
Hot DANG I love this show so much. I had no expectations going into it, but every episode keeps impressing me. This week was a big change of pace from last week's, but still very much my speed.
I also keep catching myself half-rooting for people I shouldn't, which I guess is a testament to the writing/character quality? Meero handily smacked down Blevin and I was like "yeah get it!" and then I was like "oh no wait a second, I don't want you to actually do well!"
Very good even without a lot of flash and action.
But it seems very implausible that Andor would be able to sneak back onto Ferrix and sneak around his town so soon after the big battle in the town and with the Empire taking over. Surely they would be watching Maarva's and Bix's houses very closely. Not to mention the fact that presumably the Imperial presence would be monitoring every ship coming into Ferrix.
Mon Motham and Maarva scenes were really excellent
[7.5/10] This episode feels more like a mini-epilogue to the first six, and a brief kickoff to the back half of the episode, than its own part of the story. But as with the other flotsam and jetsam-filled installments of the series to date, all the individual scenes and sequences are good enough that I don’t mind.
My favorite scene in here is Mon Mothma confiding in her childhood friend turned banking expert at the dinner party. Her savvy and discretion at seeking help with her clandestine activities, is masterful. And I like the idea that she masquerades as a humanitarian irritant, so that nobody suspects the actual, more blockbuster work that she’s involved in. She plays the moment with her friend perfectly, and explains her ethos of blending in with the Coruscant elite so that she can undermine them from the inside.
At the same time I like the fact that this recognizes revolution is a dirty business. The events of A New Hope are pretty noble. Farmboy and Princess defeat the evil empire. Star Wars was not built to be much more complex than that at the time. But addressing the Rebellion in the modern age, I appreciate how Luthen shocks Mothma a bit by revealing they weren’t just building a network together -- they were starting a revolution. I appreciate his acknowledgement and her being aghast at the fact that this means the Empire will be cracking down, something Luthen sees as a necessary evil to make more people wake up and realize they’re being oppressed. I like his assistant talking with Vel and seeming entirely unsentimental about what was lost on Aldhani, giving Vel the mission to kill Cassisan and little else but a chiding for sending or receiving messages.
This is not the noble Rebellion, or the cuddly Rebellion (no offense, Ewoks). It’s the “by any means necessary” Rebellion. That’s a little bit concerning and a little bit scary, and it should be.
But I also like the ISB response we see. Meero makes her play to try to address the budding Rebel alliance. She goes outside her jurisdiction, using the Empire’s further emergency powers crackdown in the wake of Aldhani to access the intel she wants. But when called out by her rival in front of the boss, she lays out her evidence, questions the self-serving-ness of Blevin’s theatrics, and is even willing to question Major Partagaz’s sector system, noting that “systems either change or die.” the fact that she gets an attaboy, not an admonition, for her initiative is a great win for her, and I appreciate that there’s a formidable opponent working for the Empire. It heps make the challenges of Cassian and Mothma and Luthen more meaningful when there’s a real threat, and not just dunces, on the other side.
(As an aside, it’s a nice easter egg for The Clone Wars fans to see Admiral Yularen in the flesh, even if his characterization is a little different and more commanding here than in the animated shows.)
Speaking of dunces, there’s something rightly pathetic about seeing Karn reduced to working in the Star Wars equivalent of a government cubicle farm. In a weird way, he’s a good guy, or at least a knight templar-type. He believes in justice, or his conception of it anyway, and thinks it’s been miscarried in the case of Andor running free and him being blamed for it. Again, I don’t like the guy, but I sympathize with him, which is a sign of good characterization. If you can feel for someone, even if you’re rooting against their crusade, given how far they’ve fallen and how human they feel in their broken grace and over-parented stature, your story’s doing something right.
I’ll admit, I’m less interested in Andor’s return to Ferrix for whatever reason. It’s not bad or anything, and I’d go so far as to call it a necessary coda after how important it was to him launching into this line of work. But it didn’t move me in the same way, necessarily.
That said, I like the hints we have of his family life. I like him returning for Maarva. I like him still being haunted by his adoptive father’s death for being in the wrong place at the wrong time under the auspices of the Empire’s brutality. Granted, I don’t fully understand why Maarva can’t go with him. I get it theoretically. She still wants to fight the Empire and thinks they’ve bloodied its nose, whereas Andor just wants to run away. But it’s not clear to me what fighting she’s doing from some backwater mid-rim planet under Imperial control.
All that said, therein lies the magic of acting. If I stop and process it from a pure logic standpoint, I’m not sure I entirely follow. But by god, Fiona Shaw does her monologue with such conviction, such emotion, that you cannot help but buy it in the moment. Having talented performers goes a long way, and Andor is one of the best-cast shows I’ve seen in a long time. Almost every performer in every role, no matter how big or small, is delivering exactly what’s needed with a sense of layer and characterization. It’s a thing of beauty.
I’m not as enamored with Cssian’s scenes with Bix, ,but they’re fine. They serve their purpose. Despite his connection to this place, Cassian is persona non grata given the toes he’s stepped on and the trouble he’s caused. He clearly still cares for Bix and cares for Maarva, but has to leave both behind, with only the money he owes to make it up to everyone. There’s merit in that.
The glimpse we get of him in Space Miami isn’t bad either. Again, it’s mostly setup for what’s to come, but him living the life of a libertine and still getting caught up given the strictness and harshness of the Empire in the wake of Aldhani shows he can only run so far after the problems he himself had a hand in causing. Plus hey, it’s his first encounter with an Imperial security droid that we’ve seen, so that’s portentous given what we know from Rogue One.
Overall, this episode succeeds nicely as a digestif after the fireworks of the Adlhani heist, cleaning up the loose ends and setting up new ones.
This show gets better and better. It‘s dark and gritty, has really interesting characters and even without a lot of things happening, a really compelling story. I especially love the scenes with Mon Mothma on Coruscant.
I was already a huge fan of this show but this episode really drove home how good the writing on this show is.
Every episode has a quote you can take to the bank. "Security is an illusion", "Win and walk away", "The axe forgets, but the tree remembers", etc so i caught myself actually cheering at the TV for this week's gem.
This episode has nearly no action at all but I was either completely immersed in the world building, the dialogue or the scheming. I really can't understand why people label it as slow when the quality and pacing is on par with Breaking Bad, Ozarks or House of the Dragon. Heck compared to The Old Man this show is a race car.
I needed to rewind a couple of times just to catch everything and it is one of a few shows where I can see the episode again, just days later ( I think this will be an excellent show to binge ) Every time I catch something extra.
The moment they show the K-2S0 droids got me the same feeling I had when I first saw The Terminator in '86. This show is everything an adult fan could ever hope for. Even Mon Mothma is being fleshed out into a much more interesting character than the clone wars did. Fingers crossed we get a Gerrera Guerrilla arc, Forest Whitaker would be ideal in this show based on his recent work in Godfather of Harlem
From the writing ,the acting to the set builders, this is top quality Star Wars. Can you imagine the level this show could reach if they introduced an actual Jedi ( they kinda did though cough, wink, wink ) or fan favorites like Alan Tudyck ( K-2SO )
As a life long SW fan I would rather watch this than Kenobi again. This episode is a solid 8 for me.
Brilliant. Feels absolutely like STAR WARS. „Hello there“ to someone familiar from Rogue One ;)
For a second, I gasped and thought “K2!”
This is a bridging episode that succeeds in that in spades, expertly setting up the next plots, while being an engaging and tense episode in its own right. The cast shows up, the set design is immaculate, the soundtrack thumping, and the themes... you cannot escape the encroachment of fascism no matter how far you go, it is all around you. They will invent reasons and twist the story however they need to take you in. That scene with Andor and the stormtrooper is just harrowing and real and unlike any other Star Wars thing out there. Just fantastic.
This time I realize how great costumes are in this show
Supremely funny that Cassian gets got walking along a beach committing no crime after spending his entire life as a criminal evading the Empire by the skin of his teeth.
we're setting up the next arc so obviously, this wouldn't be as good as The Eye but damn so many of the moments HIT. I'm so glad we got back to Cassian's home planet and checked in on how that situation developed. and seeing Meerva be inspired to rebel after the garrison break-in and the dramatic ironies of that was so much. and the mon mothma scene where shes making moves at her house party ere also so good. just seeing exactly how carefully she played the game and actually make moves to fund the rebellion. that scene with Luthen where he talks about putting pressure on the empire so people feel less comfortable was also great. and figuring out his plan was to always kill Cassian just fits so cleanly with that world view, damn. I just genuinely like this show and care about the characters and am super invested in the plot. this is just so fun.
Talking – you know, the stuff that everybody nowadays finds deadly boring – is what drives this incredible STAR WARS series. And then the credits roll you know why: "written by Stephen Schiff". You know, the guy that gave us The Americans. After three episodes penned by Tony Gilroy and three by Dan Gilroy. I'm stunned. Give me more.
If the rest of the show took place in a shadowy political Coruscant I would be stoked. Mon Mothma has become the most intriguing part along with Luthen.
Loving the 3 episode arcs they’re choosing to do with this show. Like short stories with their own pacing and characters but still interconnected. Loved the emotional moments with Maarva and the irony and nuance of her getting inspired by Andor’s actions with the rebellion yet now knowing it was him, and Andor still wanting nothing to do with the rebellion despite all that. That’s just great writing!
This was a really interesting albeit slow episode with many intriguing threads. I really liked that Andor went back to Ferrix. I had almost expected that with these three-episode-arcs he wouldn't and we wouldn't see those characters and the established city anymore.
At times what is presented just doesn't feel like star wars very much. It just seems too earthly or too much like other fictional worlds which are a lot more Sci-Fi and a lot less fantastic. It was a step up that they finally included a few more aliens but still too few to make the world seem really alien.
I liked the depiction of everything happening inside the ISB although the leader is a bit too friendly and understanding for my taste (and understanding of how to acquire a high position within the empire).
I have one big question though: Was that female informant or spy supposed to be Leia? She looked a lot like Carrie Fisher back in the day to me but would be way too old since Leia should be around 15 at that time. And while we are at the topic of (possible) cameos: Yularen's character was a bit off when compared to his appearances in Clone Wars and Rebels.
I am however really excited were all this leads especially whats going to happen to Andor himself.
Honestly, I thought this episode dragged on quite a bit. The conversation between Cassian and Maarva was well done, also the stuff about Mon Mothma, as was the one leave no witnesses conversation... but everything else was, I don't know, pilot sequence-rinse-and-repeat... I hope this picks up speed again soon.
The last 10 minutes were a real downgrade considering how good everything had been up to that point. Not sure where Syrill's storyline is taking him. Starting to overtake Obi-Wan for me now.
Boring ass talky episode. Best thing is the synth heavy score.
WTF are they doing? This sux!
7.5/10 - A bit of a calmer episode with lots of interesting political developments though :)
talk to much remember too little
I really thought that was K2SO.
Hard to rate this 8/10 when the emotional pay-off is depression. Reminded me of Terry Gilliam's film, "Brazil."
Yes, I've watched it two times...No, I'm not drawn to depression (Behind fear, it's my least favorite set of emotions).
can't believe how well this show turned out. Having so much fun right now. hope they keep it up.
This is a great show. Unlike typical SW, everything is nuanced, it really looks realistic. But I had to comment on this episode because all of this came tumbling down. The prison part is just too far fetched, it’s a massive struck of unluckiness to be caught like that, and the sentence is like, WTF.
It jumped from realistic dystopia with an authoritarian government, to the well known SW Empire built from pure evil. The episode creates good tension, acting is great, but for me it deviates from the nuanced premise. And, well, it wasn’t just the episode, right? This was clearly planned as an arc. They could’ve thought of a better way to spark that rebellious fire in Andor.
“I’ll be worried about you all the time.”
“That’s just love.”
weak episode cooking from last week's masterpiece. I slept all through this one.
the first minute of the ending theme is such a gd banger
Too similar to the first episodes. Some Storytelling but nothing really happening.
Shout by GusaVIP 3BlockedParent2022-10-19T19:24:25Z
A good episode, but I really had trouble adjusting to the slow pace after the thrilling last two episodes. I didn't like the first few slow episodes and the show switches back to that now it seems.