GAT DAMN. No wonder they got 3 seasons for this shit. Epic.

Teaser trailer from Star Wars Celebration

https://youtu.be/j5UX1Adanis

As I’ve mentioned before, Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film of any era. This definitely looks to go further into that part of the universe…

https://youtu.be/cKOegEuCcfw

and I support anything Adria Arjona is in

I had no idea why he was getting a spin-off because I've never made it all the way through Rogue One without falling asleep. This latest trailer makes it a must-watch.

the mandalorian was dope but somewhat relatively small scale.

the other star wars stuff with well known characters has been pretty subpar and not really adding much benefit to those stories even being explored/exposed. maybe even subtracting a bit from esteem/reverence of those characters.

but this part of the universe *here* looks expansive and ripe for immersive story telling. this looks like star wars. it feels so much bigger than the previous fare.

imagine if we got a live action clone wars, bad batch, rebels, etc.

of a small scale show, because it’s a smaller scale story. Boba Fett I would have preferred be a bit bigger, but that was essentially Mandalorian season 2.5.

Kenobi was disappointing in terms of scale. If you’re gonna use huge legacy characters like Kenobi and Vader and Bail and Leia etc. then I’d expect something a bit more cinematic than that. Maybe they just thought the LED Volume could pull it off. But especially in terms of setting for the two Vader/Kenobi battles to have them take place on dark planets obviously looking like a sound stage felt like shots from an episode of Star Trek TNG instead of the epic battles they should have been.

But THIS???? At least from this trailer this truly looks to be cinematic. And a huge budget increase. Which is confusing to me that they’d spend $$$$ for Andor but not Kenobi?

along the lines of Solo. But it got scrapped after Solo flopped. Makes sense consider there was so much filler in the show. I'd imagine that six episode budget was meant for a two hour movie, making it look low budget when you have to spread it out over an entire series.

According to the link below, the budget was around 90 million. Less than either season of Mandalorian and less than Book of Boba Fett. Star Wars movies in the Disney era have had budgets in the 200-300 million range. So Kenobi’s low budget isn’t from stretching a 2 hour movie to 6 episodes.

https://epicstream.com/article/obi-wan-kenobis-shockingly-low-production-budget-reportedly-revealed

According to a report from Star Wars Garrison, the hit Disney+ series was only given a budget of $90 million which is $10 million lower than shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

For comparison, Marvel Studios’ Disney+ offerings like Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel were given $165+ million and $150+ million respectively.

holy hell

Let Tony Gilroy or Gareth Edwards make the next round of Star Wars sequels

and somehow ended up being the best Disney Star Wars film by far. To this day it still isn't clear who did what in terms of writing/directing...Tony Gilroy was brought on to handle direction of reshoots which were extensive enough that he also did a rewrite. But it's also rumored that Gilroy was a ghost writer all along during production of Rogue One...

Either way - the bottom line to me is that the Star Wars universe is best at this point when separated from the Skywalker saga. Fresh stories, no baggage, no expectation issues from fans...

>Let Tony Gilroy or Gareth Edwards make the next round of Star
>Wars sequels

>Either way - the bottom line to me is that the Star Wars
>universe is best at this point when separated from the
>Skywalker saga. Fresh stories, no baggage, no expectation
>issues from fans...

outside the original trilogy. Star Wars needs to stop making everything about the Skywalkers -- the story has been told and is done. I read something, maybe from Gilroy, that Andor is exciting because Star Wars keeps focusing on one royal family, but there is a universe of interesting characters that are *not* at the top of either hierarchy. time for their stories.

And helped redo the into scene of Andor. Even then Garreth Edwards was still involved with direction, it's his movie.

It was rumored that Edwards was essentially removed with Gilroy being over the final cut along with directing the reshoots. What is known is how extensive the reshoots were, because you can see from the trailers a TON of footage that didn’t make the movie. They completely rewrote and reshot the battle of Scariff scenes on land - originally as seen in the trailer Jen and Andor got the Death Star plans form one building and then to run across the beach to get to a second building to transmit the plans.

God damn I love this show so far and i love the Rogue One version of Star Wars. They need to just let this team do any sequels and help Star Wars get its movie-relate good name back.

Yea, this goes hard.

I fucks with Star Wars Wall-E too.

I hope we see more of Bee but we prob get K2SO next season

gets you invested from the first episode.

dang...i have no complaints. im LOVING this show so far. i dig it as much as Rogue One & Mando (and maybe even more). im into every single character, i love the time spent on the details of the world, social cultures etc. Excellently directed.

only 3 eps of course , but right now, this is my ish!

(special shout out to the score/music)

keep this shit coming, Star Wars hasn't been this good since...surprise, Rogue One

Honestly, after one i thought this is cool, the second one, thought this is really good... by the end of the 3rd i was blown away.

So fuckin good.

...into a mini-movie. Where eps one and two stopped seemed pretty arbitrary, and like you said, it got better as it progressed (though it was always good).

But, yes, the three eps established Andor's whole back-story and motives. Now we hopefully get to see him do cool shit with the fledgling Rebellion.

the 12 episodes were organized into four “arcs” which are three episodes each. So this may be a very similar feel going forward, where episodes 4 and 5 are a build up following him at a later point (not picking up right after episode 3), with episode 6 being a climactic end of the second story arc this season. The Clone Wars animated series was similar with 3-4 episode arcs. Allows better story telling and not just rushing to get to action. Honestly if you look at the three acts of Rogue One it’s very similar with the third act being amazing, because of the story build up in the first two acts.

If that’s the case, they handled this perfectly - dropping the first arc all at once to get us used to the idea of episodes building up, before the weekly episode cadence where we’ll need to be patient with one episode per week.

Seems like they are continuing the cadence started with the first three episodes of moving the story in 3 episode "arcs" with a couple episodes of buildup into an action filled story resolution in the third episode of the arc. It's a risky premise, but it's being done so well here.

There is SO much story telling going on in this show. It really feels like an HBO level drama. Just in episode 5 for example, you have the main story of the group planning the heist and learning to trust each other. But you also have the Mom Mothma family story, the scenes of Luthen Rael worrying about how the mission will go (and he also came to mind in the main story when they found the kyber crystal on Cassian - why would he give it to him knowing the situation? I'm sure it was purposeful - maybe another test where he WANTED Cassian to reveal the truth that he was being paid.)

Then on the Imperial side you have the lieutenant on the inside subtly arranging things to help the mission (also, we found out his backstory of falling in love with a local, damn this show is just giving us depth to characters in a way I've NEVER seen in Star Wars.) You have the interactions between Syril and his mother (the making me feel sorry for this jerk already, wow.) You have Dedra figuring out whats going on with these separate rebel sects, and her still working against her rival in secret.

ALL of this happened in an episode where "nothing really happened." The most action in the episode was that TIE Fighter flying over the crew (most terrifying TIE fighter I've ever seen/heard.) All of this is buildup to the action that I assume will happen in episode 6. Which means we'll actually care about the characters during that action. I guarantee at least one of that crew isn't making it out alive in the heist.

This is some great stuff. We have compelling characters who have motivation that makes sense on both sides, and not the typical Star Wars black and white good vs. evil type of story. I love it.

but 4 and 5 got me fully on board. This is what I've been hoping for from Star Wars since the OT.

Rogue One is clearly the closest we've come and that was far and away the best SW film since Empire.

The Gilroy brothers and the directing team have really crafted something that restores the grandeur, intelligence, and humanity to the franchise. This is what I've been holding out hope for since Disney snatched it up.

Between this and the work Tony did on Rogue One, I'd give the Gilroys the keys to the SW universe and all the money they could ever dream of and let them guide the SW universe.

..throughout this series.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Like throw the money at Fav and Filoni for Mando etc to have sets and cgi that feel this real lived in. Coruscant looks amazing.

The dialog, the story telling, the intensity, the action, the characters, all just AMAZING.

What the eff is the budget for this show??? That escape during the eye was better than most major films.

I’m not going as far as some saying that all Star Wars should be just like this - I think SW is huge enough to have different types of story telling that all work great. But this show is absolutely an example of how to do something smaller scale that still has stakes. It’s cliche to even say at this point, but there were more stakes in the small moments in this episode than anything in the sequel trilogy which was supposed to be galaxy wide impact. The MCU could also learn from this in terms of smaller stories they feel intense.

Also - I have to mention just how consistently they are making us care about the characters by showing us their families. It seems like common sense but it's so rarely done. Last week we saw Syril with his overbearing mother and that added context into why he'd be pushing so hard to advance his career. Also last week seeing Mom Mothma deal with challenges at home gives way more depth to her double life as an Imperial senator and a rebel leader. Same with Luthen and seeing him with his wife. Also on the heist you got the Imperial on the inside and him falling in love with the native.

Then in this episode we have the commanding officer from the Empire and meet his wife and son with some great dialogue before they are all held hostage. These are all three dimensional characters. Also if was interesting that last week we got to know the heist crew with the exception of Taramyn, and with one quick line in this episode "he was a stormtrooper" we got depth to his character.

Just REALLY well done.

There are so many freaking great lines in this show.

"You'll hang for this!"
"Seven years serving you? I deserve worse than that." That dude was just one of the best characters I've seen in Star Wars, with minimal screen time.

"What about your brother?"
"I don't have a brother" - I love this because we (and Cassian) don't even know what it means, my first take was literally that he made up the brother story and that's probably right. But it could also mean that his brother is dead just like he said in his story, and all that matters his him looking out for himself.

which can be average to banal for most shows like this, only saved by the charisma of the characters

or the current trend of sarcastic barbs mixed with overlong exposition (thanks, MCU)

the dialogue here is actually fun to listen to at every point

Another example - in the "they didn't tell you? He was a stormtrooper" scene we got Tamaryn's backstory with that one line. But then RIGHT after that we hear - "You shoulda seen when Cinta found out. They slaughtered her whole family."

We legit got backstory and motivation for two characters with four lines of dialogue and neither of those characters were even in the scene.

On another note - did Cinta kill those hostages? They all saw her face, and she just walked out of the base at the end of the episode. She was crying as she walked away (which could just be about being gone from Val, but could also be remorse for what she had to do - killing a mother and child.) That would be DARK for Star Wars but I'm expecting the Rebels to be doing all kinds of borderline things.

giving us a good bit of exposition while at the same time giving us insight into the Empire's colonial ambitions/attitude toward the people and culture they are systematically wiping out was just *chef's kiss*

Never gets bogged down. Doesn't get preachy or overly obvious. Text and subtext meld together perfectly. It's timeless and timely. All smack dab in the middle of an episode that is a taughtly plotted and thrilling piece of genre TV.

I'm heartened to see so many people responding to this show saying this is what they've been hoping and waiting for from the SW universe and reveling in the gold this show is.

Text and subtext just perfectly melded. In that scene there is SO much going on. We’re seeing what Cassian said earlier about the Empire being arrogant right in front of us. (We even saw the Empire LITERALLY being fat and satisfied with that officer.

Also during that conversation you have Gorn right there listening to it, knowing he had a past relationship with a native there. He responds to them in conversation with very careful wording - being truthful but not giving up his allegiance.

On top of that we get foreshadowing. Why is the engineer there? What is it he had planned for the planet in destroying the valley and putting the natives to work? We have no idea at this point.

This is episode 6 with HALF the season to go and I have no idea what will happen. It’s wonderful.

That brings me to another point about why this is so good, and also not fair to compare other Star Wars stories. We have ZERO expectations watching this. The only thing we know is thet Cassian makes it out alive until Rogue One. So they have all these completely new characters that can be explored, with unknown fates. Even the known characters like Mon Mothma are a blank canvas that they can explore - not like writing about Kenobi or Luke or Boba Fett or Anakin or Ahsoka where there’s all of this baggage and known history. That’s GOT to be easier as a writer/director, not having people think “that’s not what MY Luke would have done!” I hope this show is successful and encourages Lucasfilm to use the SW universe to tell completely NEW stories.

Thinking about this gives more context to what Kathleen Kennedy said about going away from Legacy characters in that interview a while back. She likely already knew how good Andor would be, along with anticipating some of the response to Kenobi and Boba Fett.

>Text and subtext just perfectly melded. In that scene there
>is SO much going on. We’re seeing what Cassian said earlier
>about the Empire being arrogant right in front of us. (We even
>saw the Empire LITERALLY being fat and satisfied with that
>officer.
>
>Also during that conversation you have Gorn right there
>listening to it, knowing he had a past relationship with a
>native there. He responds to them in conversation with very
>careful wording - being truthful but not giving up his
>allegiance.

Yeah man, this what happens when people who understand Star Wars AND filmmaking get to play in the sandbox. To clarify, understanding Star Wars has NOTHING to do with knowing what the name of the alien was standing next to the droid in the background of a Cantina scene. It's not encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae and it certainly isn't the Abrams-level understanding of "people love Star Wars because people yell, and run from one place, planet, plot point to the next"

It's a DEEP understanding of the simple, even elemental core themes and realizing THAT is what made Star Wars timeless.

Then, because Gilroy and Best understand filmmaking/storytelling and have assembled every. single. element. services the story and those themes.

>On top of that we get foreshadowing. Why is the engineer
>there? What is it he had planned for the planet in destroying
>the valley and putting the natives to work? We have no idea at
>this point.
>
>This is episode 6 with HALF the season to go and I have no
>idea what will happen. It’s wonderful.
>
>That brings me to another point about why this is so good, and
>also not fair to compare other Star Wars stories. We have ZERO
>expectations watching this. The only thing we know is thet
>Cassian makes it out alive until Rogue One. So they have all
>these completely new characters that can be explored, with
>unknown fates. Even the known characters like Mon Mothma are a
>blank canvas that they can explore - not like writing about
>Kenobi or Luke or Boba Fett or Anakin or Ahsoka where
>there’s all of this baggage and known history. That’s GOT
>to be easier as a writer/director, not having people think
>“that’s not what MY Luke would have done!” I hope this
>show is successful and encourages Lucasfilm to use the SW
>universe to tell completely NEW stories.

I'm gonna push back on this a bit. The sequels had a whole host of new characters and they squandered each and every one to a man/woman. It was just obvious they had no idea what to do with them and who they were and why they were important. Some of that is a virtue of how they went about the production process and also who they brought into that process. Playing "Pass the story" was a horrible idea. Kicking it off with JJ Abrams, a filmmaker who has never met a story he couldn't tell and tries to hide it behind mystery box bullshit and bombastic propulsion. He's not a magician. He's a pickpocket. He distract you with mystery box-this, macguffin-that and a lot of loud noise, before you're left with less than you walked in with. He can't tell the difference between situations and stories and he doesn't give a damn about characters. That's why everything he's made is as empty as his head.

For a non-Star Wars example, see what he contributed to Mission Impossible franchise, which is actually the perfect franchise for him, versus what McQuarrie (someone who understands story and character) has been able to do. But I digress.

My ultimate point is, all those new characters were blank canvasses the problem is they stayed blank. Which was really the problem. Contrast that with characters we meet in Rogue One. A movie that, because it's a "Men on a Mission" film has to introduce us to a whole slew of characters and make us care about them in 90 minutes, or the movie just doesn't work. The fact that, until Andor, it's the best SW property since Empire and looked on so fondly is a testament to that work and the fact is I cared for them more than any new characters (or OT characters or that matter) in any of the sequels.

While we might not have expectations about the specific characters, we will always have expectations tied to Star Wars itself. The height of those expectations is often tied to what SW films we grew up with and what we really respond to in them. For example, is it cool space shit or is it more than that?

The problems with Solo, Kenobi (what I saw of it) and Book of Bobba Fett (again, what I saw of it) weren't really the legacy characters themselves.


>Thinking about this gives more context to what Kathleen
>Kennedy said about going away from Legacy characters in that
>interview a while back. She likely already knew how good Andor
>would be, along with anticipating some of the response to
>Kenobi and Boba Fett.

I hope they'll continue to not only move toward new characters/stories but more than that move away on thinking they need names to sell/make Star Wars films. You don't need JJ Abrams, Colin Trevorrow (remember that?), or Taika Waititi's names to bring people in. If they think filmmakers like they are the hands that Star Wars belongs in they'll keep getting fair-to-mid outputs that are maybe liked but really only loved by people who'd love a snuff film of their family's murder if you put a droid in it.

Really enjoy your thoughts/posts on this show/SW. Between the show itself and your contributions here this is the most thought I've given to Star Wars in decades.

I'm not even going to talk about the sequels first - because those had SOOOOOOOOOO many problems that went beyond just the writing and the characters both new and old.

But for example if you look at Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett. Mandalorian is GREAT when using new characters and telling new stories. Even when it uses existing characters, it's great when they are using rarely seen smaller characters in stories. Where it started to go off track IMO is in the second season bringing in SO many legacy characters. Same thing in the entire premise of Book of Boba.

Going back to the sequels though - beyond the fact that they had no idea what they were doing with the overall story and wasted what should/could have been GREAT new characters (and going back to Force Awakens, they WERE great characters except for the mystery box crap) those films also had the issue of balancing time between the legacy characters and those new characters. They wanted to give enough time to get to know the new characters, and to do that felt they had to explain why the old characters weren't on screen as much. And that combined with not knowing where they were going with Rey, Finn, or Poe, it was disaster.

Contrast that with this - Tony Gilroy has already scripted the story of Andor covering 5 years leading right up to Rogue One. So everything is planned out - and there could be all kinds of foreshadowing going on now that isn't paid off until way down the line.

Absolutely agree regarding going away from "names". As soon as this was over I said out loud "who the EFF directed this?!?!?!?!?" the name Susana White popped up on the screen, I had no idea who she was. So then I looked up the rest of the directors:

https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2022/07/andor-season-one-writers-directors.html
Toby Haynes directed episodes 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10.
Susanna White directed episodes 4, 5, and 6.
Benjamin Caron directed episodes 7, 11, and 12.

As I mentioned several posts up - Gilroy has this show split into four three episode arcs. And there's a director handling eash of the three episodes in their arcs, with Toby Haynes doing two of the four arcs. Genius. And none of these directors are "names".

>I'm not even going to talk about the sequels first - because
>those had SOOOOOOOOOO many problems that went beyond just the
>writing and the characters both new and old.
>
>But for example if you look at Mandalorian and Book of Boba
>Fett. Mandalorian is GREAT when using new characters and
>telling new stories. Even when it uses existing characters,
>it's great when they are using rarely seen smaller characters
>in stories. Where it started to go off track IMO is in the
>second season bringing in SO many legacy characters. Same
>thing in the entire premise of Book of Boba.

Points well taken. I didn't have a ton of issues with the legacy characters in Mandalorian. I'm a little more forgiving of that show based on its ambitions and purpose. It's not really a show I give much thought to after it ends than say an episode of The Rifleman and I don't say that as a knock.

Where it does grind to a halt for me is when it tries to explore Mandalore culture and expand that. None of that shit is about as interesting as midichlorians to me.

I didn't watch much of BOB because what I did see was....not good on multiple levels.


>Going back to the sequels though - beyond the fact that they
>had no idea what they were doing with the overall story and
>wasted what should/could have been GREAT new characters (and
>going back to Force Awakens, they WERE great characters except
>for the mystery box crap) those films also had the issue of
>balancing time between the legacy characters and those new
>characters. They wanted to give enough time to get to know the
>new characters, and to do that felt they had to explain why
>the old characters weren't on screen as much. And that
>combined with not knowing where they were going with Rey,
>Finn, or Poe, it was disaster.

They really fucked that into a cocked at and did each one of those characters AND actors a great disservice. I appreciate Boyega being forthright with his thoughts on how his character was treated both by the creatives and by the fans.


>Contrast that with this - Tony Gilroy has already scripted the
>story of Andor covering 5 years leading right up to Rogue One.
>So everything is planned out - and there could be all kinds of
>foreshadowing going on now that isn't paid off until way down
>the line.



>Absolutely agree regarding going away from "names". As soon as
>this was over I said out loud "who the EFF directed
>this?!?!?!?!?" the name Susana White popped up on the screen,
>I had no idea who she was. So then I looked up the rest of the
>directors:

Which is precisely why I think he and his brother should be given major roles determining in the direction of SW properties moving forward. Granted, I know their work on Andor is more than enough to keep them busy. I hope the success of Andor will at least serve notice as to what is possible and where the focus should be.

Now, I'm not saying everything has to or should be like Andor in terms of tone/scope but as far as creative quality it should be a guiding light.


>https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2022/07/andor-season-one-writers-directors.html
>Toby Haynes directed episodes 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10.
>Susanna White directed episodes 4, 5, and 6.
>Benjamin Caron directed episodes 7, 11, and 12.
>
>As I mentioned several posts up - Gilroy has this show split
>into four three episode arcs. And there's a director handling
>eash of the three episodes in their arcs, with Toby Haynes
>doing two of the four arcs. Genius. And none of these
>directors are "names".


I did the same thing after her first episode. Sometimes you can just tell when a director's block starts because an episode or episodes will just stand out. Breaking Bad and GOT are two obvious examples of this.

That they went with British TV directors was smart. When you review their IMDBs you see they went and got some hitters too. Due to having shortened season orders, often more plot/dialogue-heavy shows and being used to doing more with less, they come out of a system that makes them well-prepared to take on something like Andor.

It'll be interesting to see how Haynes handles his second block because his eps didn't pull me in the way that White's did. But some of that may have been having to kick off a series which can often be the most difficult and thankless task.

>That they went with British TV directors was smart. When you
>review their IMDBs you see they went and got some hitters too.
>Due to having shortened season orders, often more
>plot/dialogue-heavy shows and being used to doing more with
>less, they come out of a system that makes them well-prepared
>to take on something like Andor.

This is a legit great point. These British directors know how to make a TV show. Not only that, Andor is being filmed/produced in the UK vs. the other SW shows which I believe are all filmed in either the San Francisco or L.A. LucasFilm Studio locations...

Damn i love this show. I hope this is a sign of things to come from Star Wars....letting legitimate film makers who take risks be in control. But i doubt they will do the same for movies.

efficient and dense, AND the action as well, that there’s all kinds of things missed on first watch.

I didn’t even see on my first watch when Goram got shot.

Plus there’s all kinds of foreshadowing like the kid telling Cassian about him writing when feeling stressed. That manifesto is going to have huge implications later. Might even be part of the code for the entire rebellion used by Mon Mothma and Bail Organa…

I have so many questions that I do hope get answered one way or the other.

All star wars movies or shows need to be this good. All. The shows cinematography, storytelling, dialogue, acting and casting are al superb. None of the other shows of movies have been executed this well.

And as I mentioned it’s clear how planned out all of this is - Gilroy originally planned on 5 seasons and had the entire story scripted out for it, then condensed down to 2-3. The simple act of knowing where you’re going just makes for so much better storytelling. The sequels just had too many cooks in the kitchen with no single person in charge guiding the story being told.

Mandalorian is GREAT, but I wish it wasn’t the center of the “Mando-verse” with multiple planned spin-off shows and such, because it doesn’t lend itself to tight storytelling.

SPOILER FOR MANDALORIAN AND BOOK OF BOBA FETT:








For example, you have two seasons of Manadalorian with Din trying to get Grogu back to his people. Climaxing with Luke Skywalker showing up to get Grogu. That’s great. Then in a freaking spin off show we see that undone and Grogu coming back? So season 3 will just pick up with them back together???

Meanwhile Andor is one tight story that is planned out, leading up to Rogue One. Yes it’s early - and I had zero issues with Mando until Book of Boba ended up being Mando season 2.5. But I really appreciate the care being put into Andor.

>RE: Episode 6. This show is legitimately AMAZING. >
>The dialog, the story telling, the intensity, the action, the
>characters, all just AMAZING.
>
>What the eff is the budget for this show??? That escape during
>the eye was better than most major films.
>
>I’m not going as far as some saying that all Star Wars
>should be just like this - I think SW is huge enough to have
>different types of story telling that all work great. But this
>show is absolutely an example of how to do something smaller
>scale that still has stakes. It’s cliche to even say at this
>point, but there were more stakes in the small moments in this
>episode than anything in the sequel trilogy which was supposed
>to be galaxy wide impact. The MCU could also learn from this
>in terms of smaller stories they feel intense.
>
>Also - I have to mention just how consistently they are making
>us care about the characters by showing us their families. It
>seems like common sense but it's so rarely done. Last week we
>saw Syril with his overbearing mother and that added context
>into why he'd be pushing so hard to advance his career. Also
>last week seeing Mom Mothma deal with challenges at home gives
>way more depth to her double life as an Imperial senator and a
>rebel leader. Same with Luthen and seeing him with his wife.
>Also on the heist you got the Imperial on the inside and him
>falling in love with the native.
>
>Then in this episode we have the commanding officer from the
>Empire and meet his wife and son with some great dialogue
>before they are all held hostage. These are all three
>dimensional characters. Also if was interesting that last week
>we got to know the heist crew with the exception of Taramyn,
>and with one quick line in this episode "he was a
>stormtrooper" we got depth to his character.
>
>Just REALLY well done.>

100% agreed....

i am so into this show...mainly because of the characters...ALL of them, even the 'minor' ones are expertly created/crafted/presented: (JUST the right amount of dialogue, without over exposition. Just the right amount of background info, providing various levels of grounded motivations. All performed with excellence. *CHEFS KISS* on ALL of the characters, big AND small!)

oh yeah, its a 'Star Wars' IP right? so what about the 'cool spacey stuff' you say? i say YES!! ITS here TOO! What i dig about it is that the 'cool spacey stuff' is SO VERY WELL INTERWOVEN in that it feels friggin NATURAL. it feels REALER than some the other Star Wars projects. It sneaks up on you in this show, sometimes very subtly in the background, sometimes blowing your mind right in your geeked out face...but always with JUST the right 'touch'.

i have not seen EVERY Star Wars thing yet...but, of what ive seen, my faves to this point are (in no order) "Rogue One", "Empire Strikes Back", "Mandalorian", "Bad Batch"...and now "Andor" is officially in my top tier as well.

even MORE.

This is the sixth episode of the season and they are intruducing a ton of characters in each episode. In this one episode, they introduced Commandant Jayhold, and we got to know him better than almost any other imperial officer we've seen in Star Wars. And then he dies, in the SAME episode he's introduced.

We meet his boss the engineer. We get to know his family. We learn the dynamic of why he's hoping this day goes well, so he and his family can get moved to a better assignment on another planet. We see how overbearing he is to his son. We see how his wife goes tit for tat with him, jabbing about how maybe his he who has "expanded" vs. his dress uniform compressing. We see how he takes the pressure about his job from his superiors and puts that down on the people who work for him. As someone who is in middle management in a large corporation, I FELT that.

Then during the heist, we see the engineer get killed trying to have the rebels let Jayhold's son free. We see the "good guys" put a gun to the head of a CHILD. Then when the rebels make the imperial's load the bounty, Jayhold was also forced to help, after it's been established that he is not in good shape. The work of having to move that heavy cargo plus the stress of his family being in danger and blasters being pointed at everyone gets to him, and dude dies of a heart attack. We don't know what happens to his wife and son - we see them later but did Cinta leave without killing the prisoners who saw her? We don't know.

And all of this was really just a subplot to the episode. This is just outstanding television - we know more about this dude from one episode than we do about Tarkin who has been in Star Wars since 1977.

>i am so into this show...mainly because of the
>characters...ALL of them, even the 'minor' ones are expertly
>created/crafted/presented: (JUST the right amount of dialogue,
>without over exposition. Just the right amount of background
>info, providing various levels of grounded motivations. All
>performed with excellence. *CHEFS KISS* on ALL of the
>characters, big AND small!)
>

its just DAMN good stuff.
i havent yet, but i am REALLY looking forward to rewatching this entire series over again.

>We meet his boss the engineer. We get to know his family. We
>learn the dynamic of why he's hoping this day goes well, so he
>and his family can get moved to a better assignment on another
>planet. We see how overbearing he is to his son. We see how
>his wife goes tit for tat with him, jabbing about how maybe
>his he who has "expanded" vs. his dress uniform compressing.

favorite line of the episode

we see so much snark, ironic, social media engagement-driven TV on the streaming services that it's legit shocking to see a good story, with great dialogue and great characters.

Gilroy said in an interview that episode 7 veers away from the 3 episode arc format, and is a unique stand-alone episode. Then 8-10 is a three episode arc, with 9 and 10 being a two episode finale arc.

Can’t wait!

Mon Mothma confronting Luthen about the heist was fucking epic. Just two great actors going back and forth.

The other was when Mon Mothma is at the party talking/recruiting to Yularen for help and he goes “you didtn’t answer my question” and she shoots back “and I won’t… you are better off not knowing, or maybe you find my politics too strong for your taste” GAT DAMN that scene had some good acting and cinematography. Whenever they show her house im just in awe of everything on screen and how big and luxurious everything feels despite it probably being a small set (or maybe not, its hard to tell with this show in certain scenes). I want her to off her family LOL

^I want her to off her family LOL

The husband I get, but the daughter is just a teenager that doesn't want to be there. Probably like any other child of a diplomat that doesn't have any want or concern to be around politicians. Just like Commandant Jayhold's kid didn't want to wear that Imperial shit.

Plus she seems likely to side with her father right now so she can kick rocks lol

i wonder if they have anything else for her but being a little asshole. it's gotta suck to come home to those people.

i hate Syril's mom more though. her voice is chalkboard nails lol

Even when you have an episode that's not doing a lot it's still doing a lot.

The Empire's reaction in the aftermath of the robbery on Aldhani.

Luthen's twisted joy at the Empire's reaction to Aldhani and his breaking down to Mon Motha the truth of what it will take to start a true rebellion.

Mon Motha is trying to forge alliances and keep her ever-so-curious/suspicious husband at bay.

Andor is going back and being told to kick rocks and forget about his sister for his good. Coupled with the flashback of what happened to his adoptive father.


The Beach planet stuff was interesting and easy parallels to society today. Andor getting thrown in jail just for being there.

The last thing, Luthen's assistant. She's like a ruthless Lea and I love it.

they were good, and i love a heist, but they still didn't hit for me as much as the first 3 eps

but i love seeing the aftermath, wow

>The Beach planet stuff was interesting and easy parallels to
>society today. Andor getting thrown in jail just for being
>there.

when they sentenced the the person before him to 6 months, i was like damn are they really gonna give this dude 6 months for nothing? then...

>The last thing, Luthen's assistant. She's like a ruthless Lea
>and I love it.

is she ordering Cassian's death on her own, or is it Luthen's call?

>when they sentenced the the person before him to 6 months, i
>was like damn are they really gonna give this dude 6 months
>for nothing? then...
>
That shit was like a gang injunction sentence. He fucked up by looking back at that Tropper when he was chasing those other guys. He didn’t know how to not look suspicious and look like someone with a lot of credits on vacay.

>>The last thing, Luthen's assistant. She's like a ruthless
>Lea
>>and I love it.
>
>is she ordering Cassian's death on her own, or is it Luthen's
>call?
>

I think she’s doing that shit on her own. They way she speaks to Luther about everything shows me she’s a more of a cutthroat when it goes to this cloak and dagger stuff than he is. Her reaction when Mon Morgan comes by and when she speaks to Luther was telling.

A couple episodes ago before the heist when they were talking and he was worried about how it would go, he told her that he'd gone to far in telling Andor a bit too much. I got vibes right then that he'd end up trying to take Andor out after the heist.

I agree on her being more hardened - since we've seen her check him multiple times, essentially reminding him of the plan. Very similar to Cinta telling Val that she was stalling when she didn't want to make the go call during the heist. (When you think about it, her reluctance was likely due to her thinking she may never see Cinta again if she makes that call.)

>I think she’s doing that shit on her own. They way she
>speaks to Luther about everything shows me she’s a more of a
>cutthroat when it goes to this cloak and dagger stuff than he
>is.

the one in charge, and she likely made the call to kill Andor on her own as mentioned above. Definitely get that vibe in their scenes together, but also this last episode spent a LOT of time filming her walking to meet Val, and shot her in a mysterious way that I think tips that there’s WAY more to her than we’ve seen so far. Any other Star Wars show I’d take it as “she looks cool in this cloak and boots, let’s show her walking in” but I think there’s a meaning here on this show.

Or it could even be that she’s some type of double agent.

This is how you do a transition episode. Nothing happens, but it isn't filler at ALL. This episode shows the impact of what happened during the heist, lets us look beneath the hood on both sides of the conflict, and sets up the second half of the season all in an episode with zero action.

I straight up CARE about these characters. On both sides!!! This show has been outstanding in showing that it's not always good vs. evil, or right vs. wrong.

For example the Major from the ISB has shown that he's a great boss - recognizing that Dedra was doing the right thing even if it meant that the sectors he'd drawn were outdated and useless given the circumstances. We're also pulling hard rooting for Dedra in this show even though she's trying to take down the rebels. Even Syril Karn has become a relatable character that I'm pulling for, in seeing him get demoted for doing the "right" thing and getting berrated by his mother constantly. Subtle thing but there was a shot of him in his bedroom with her offscreen calling his name, and you could FEEL the unease in the pit of his stomach just hearing his mom's voice.

Then on the rebel side you see how it ain't all roses. They out here ordering a hit on Andor himself. Mon Mothma is battling on multiple sides (she is KILLING this role, crazy to think she was first cast way back during the prequels and had her scenes cut, and is now finally able to do the role.)

On top of that, the worldbuilding is freaking top notch. We got to see a beach resort planet in Star Wars, and it still felt like Star Wars. Andor is there with a fake name, a fake girlfriend, living a fake life, and he gets pulled out of it and sent to prison for 6 years when he didn't even do anything. But actually - he did. The Empire is clamping down on everyone because of the heist and it's impact. At the same time that heist has emboldened others across the galaxy to rebel. So on his vacation planet running errands to go to the store, he gets caught up in the mix with some rebels that he unknowingly inspired. Also when you think about it - him getting caught up is because he isn't doing what he SHOULD be doing. He's not supposed to be burying his head in the sand shilling on the beach - he should be out there rebelling himself. So him getting caught up was almost like the Force intervening and pulling him out of his fake life and back into the game.

I haven't even mentioned Luthen and his plotting, the multiple Palpatine name drops from this episode, Wulf Yularren from the ISB showing up, Karn's new job doing data entry (Dedra will definitely end up finding his name in a report and working with him to catch Andor), Cinta doing a secret mission back on Aldani, or Vel meeting with Luthen's assistant.

All of this in an episode where nothing really happened. Wow.

This show is great, and does a fantastic job of showing how big the Star Wars universe is.

There’s literally just too much stuff to point out. But this show is written and filmed in a way with such awareness of how things are typically done, so that they deliberately do things a bit differently to build tension. For example the scene in this episode with Andor going into the prison to work. They spent more time on the smallest of things that shouldn’t matter. As the audience we feel that and know it’s for a reason. That along with the music built up tension to almost unbearable amounts.

The bar has been raised.

And as I mentioned above, the bar has been raised. That part is almost sad for me as a huge Star Wars fan - because in the past I loved SW so much that I still enjoyed some of the content that I KNEW wasn't as good as it could have been. I feel like after Andor I'm not gonna be satisfied with less-than SW content going forward...don't have to be this exact type of show, but my expectations on quality have absolutely gone up.

...this is some really really well done, tight, smart, engaging storytelling here.
on point on ALL fronts.
every week Im lookin forward to Wednesdays just for this.

The guest stars perfectly fit into the story.

That prison was just, wow. I'd go insane myself if I had to live that life, and the fact they show how much time you got left is awful.

I was wrong about Luthen not being about that life, he def wants Andor dead. At the same time, you can see how twisted he is in this goal of sparking rebellion; even Saw was like, "Nah, I'm not falling for this craay shit." and he's the most radical of all the rebel groups.


That ISB agent is cunning, and the actress owns that role in every scene. Syrill keeps pushing and will either end up working for her or getting killed. I was hoping his story may end like Kallus from Rebels.

This is prestige level tv on par with anything HBO, Apple, or Amazon is trying to put out. If Disney can keep this up, they might be able to turn Star Wars into something special again.

show. It was essentially Squid Game plus Black Mirror.

And it was still only like half of this episode - with all of the cuts to everything else going on with Cyril, Deedra, Luthen, Saw, Mothma, Bix, Cassian's mom, etc...

Also, the way this show thoughtfully sets everything up is crazy. I mentioned above how much time they spent showing Cassian's intake into the prison. Showing all kinds of seemingly mundane aspects. Everything in this show is so deliberate I had to rewatch. I think they are setting up how Cassian will be able to get out. He obviously won't stay his entire 6 year sentence since this is all 5 ears before Rogue One.

During his intake they spent a TON of time on the fact that the guards were one man short. Then that guy shows up late, because he was helping another group who were one man short. In those same shots you could see guards getting ready by putting on their boots which protect them from the floor. I think the operation is very tightly run in a where every guard needs is needed to properly manage the inmates. Due to the Empire's increasingly throwing everyone in prison and upping the sentences, I think the guards will soon be overmatched. Might even have a guard defect and help some prisoners escape by giving them boots and not having enough boots for the guards. Maybe one of the guards will be disgruntled after a fellow guard gets punished or something.

The Mon Mothma subplot is so interesting to me, specifically with her family situation. First they showed us that her husband doesn't see eye to eye with her. Then in the next episode we meet her daughter who is more on her dad's side. Later we meet her old childhood friend. Then in this episode we start to see some jealousy from her husband about that friendship, along with hearing how they got married young at 15 in a likely arranged marriage. Even the daughter showed some suspicions, talking about how dude was there all the time now...this show is so patient in developing subplots that you can have an idea where it's going without really knowing where they are going at all...


>That prison was just, wow.

I found this one even better than most episodes

I mentioned up above how many subplots were in this episode, but it never felt like it was bouncing around. On a rewatch I noticed why - only one subplot was shown at a time while the constant was the prison plot.

At the beginning you have the main prison plot going back and forth with the ISB/Karn subplot.
Then in the middle the prison plot goes back and forth with the Mon Mothma party subplot.
Then at the end the prison plot goes back and forth with the Ferrix subplot (Bix, Andor’s mom, Vel and Cinta there waiting for Andor, Bix sending a message that Luthan receives but doesn’t answer, Bix getting caught because of that message, and Luthan shutting down the Ferrix operation and going to try pulling in Saw Gerrara.)

Subplots 1 and 3 relate directly to the main prison plot because everyone involved are all trying to find Andor, while he’s actually in an Imperial prison already. Subplot 2 with Mon Mothma also relates to the main plot but in a different way - there’s a direct contrast shown between all the luxury of Mothma’s extravagant party with the crazy views of Coruscant and the expensive wine and rich politicians with Andor’s situation having to eat out of a tube, going through a car wash shower, and having to compete with other prisoners to avoid being fried.

There’s a ton of depth I’m not even mentioning, but this deliberate structure really stood out to me on my second watch.

But there’s so much that is just *chef’s kiss*…

In Episode 3 when Cassian meets Luthan on that first planet he told him to build his exit while making his entrance. Then later in Episode 5 I believe we see how much attention to detail and memory Cassian has when he on demand knows the handedness of every rebel in the heist and knows how to apply that.

Then in this episode as he’s coming into the prison, we see both of those traits come into play, without so much as a WORD from Andor. We just see him observing everything that could/May be useful for an escape. All while Diego as an actor is also showing how terrified and shocked he is at everything going on.

This escape gonna be epic. Compare that to the Kenobi show when he breaks into the fortress to break Leia out. The plan was literally hiding her in a trench coat and the imperials not noticing until the end. Again, all Star Wars doesn’t have to be like Andor, but just take the time and care to develop this stuff. Set it up, and pay it off.

Above I mentioned the back and forth in this episode. I didn’t mention another nuance between the prison scenes and Mothma’s party. At the party they are literally discussing the PORD act and debating it in a luxurious party while cutting back to the people impacted by it. You got a guy saying “you have nothing to worry about if you’re not doing anything wrong” and Mothma saying “I fear your definition of wrong.” Then you cut back to prison where Cassian is there just because a short trooper decided to be a jerk. Chef’s kiss…

^
^
^
yes to ALL of that!

I made a post a couple months back that Rogue One was the best movie in the Star Wars cannon, yes better than Empire Strikes Back. ESB is the best "Star Wars movie", but Rogue One is the better movie overall and the best in the SW cannon. Which is crazy given the turmoil with that film's production - Tony Gilroy brought in to do rewrite over half the movie and a completely different third act with reshoots.

Andor is further proof of why RO is the best movie in SW, because Gilroy took all of that and has raised the bar much higher. Rogue One introduced all those characters from the rebel group, had a bunch of jumping around in the first and second act to do so, but that made us care about those characters in the third act. We're seeing all that times 10 in this series.

I'll be back for more on this specific episode, but what jumps out to me now is all the layers foreshadowing. You could see in the last episode how Ulaf was older and weaker. You saw the number of shifts he had left - 41. We saw the hand signals being used. We heard Melshi saw they weren't getting out, and that other dude on th way in said it was the last fresh air they'd breathe in. Then this episode just carefully ramps up with even more foreshadowing and build up.

Andy Serkis is KILLING it in his role. You can see in his eyes the entire episode how he's thrown off on what's been happening. After the last episode he may has well been one of the guards. Just scene by scene it just subtly builds up to what's happening.

Another random foreshadowing thing - Vel (or Val?). In the episode after the heist when she came to Coruscant to meet with Luthen's assistant she was all cleaned up in a way that was notable to me. Yes it was a contrast to her grimy appearance in the field, but it was more than that. Then last week we heard Cinta jab her with her posible cover story "I'll say I'm a rich girl running away from my family". At that point I thought maybe she was actually Luthen's daughter. But no - in this episode we find out she's Mon Mothma's sister. Brilliant. Because that means her family is even more rich than I thought. AND you know there will be tragedy here - she isn't in Rogue One or in the Original Trilogy. At some point, likely during this show, she's gonna die for the rebellion, and that will be one more loss for Mon Mothma adding more and more layers to a character we've known since Return of the Jedi and only had one freaking line in that movie about the Bothans who died for the intel about the second Death Star.

Syril deciding that his way to revenge is to seduce Deedra is wild AF too.

I hope Vel don't mess things up trying to get back to Cinta.


The buildup is crazy though. Remember, we've only SEEN the lowest (1 of 3) in regards to the heat from the floors. When they had the outage, they must have turned it up to 3 to fry that level.

at night, that’s also level 3, since dude killed himself by stepping on it in episode 7.


>Syril deciding that his way to revenge is to seduce Deedra is
>wild AF too.

That scene was WILD. I’ve seen people jokingly shopping Deedra and Syril before this, and honestly it might even happen. I bet she DID have something to do with his promotion and she’s just playing coy. But yeah she’s going to need him at some point in finding Cassian.


>I hope Vel don't mess things up trying to get back to Cinta.

My bad in my last post - Vel is Mothma’s cousin not sister. I’m living all of the Mothma scenes. Her husband just continues being the ultimate jerk. Asking Vel when she’d find a husband? That she needs to ant least find a widower? Exemplifies that he doesn’t know her at ALL. Meanwhile hearing Mon Mothma make moved in silence is just perfect. I’ll say this though - I wouldn’t be surprised if the subvert expectations and have it be that her husband is actually also down for the rebellion and keeping it even secret from her. He’s just so over the top with it. Maybe the daughter turns out being the true villain lol…

>The buildup is crazy though.

The build up in this show is unmatched. And it’s layers - you have scene by scene build up, in addition to episode by episode, and then even longer term things that are set up and paid off way later. The interrogation scenes starting with showing Bix’s friend last week to this week and having dude just giddy about his job in explaining it. And the genius of the torture being through headphones so we the audience can only imagine the torture of hearing these alien children’s death screams that have been isolated and filtered for maximum effect. And then not showing it, but later showing that Deedra was able to extract every element of Bix’s information back at the ISB meeting room? Just flawless perfection.

And somehow, someway, I’m STILL kinda pulling for Deedra even though she’s shown herself to be just as evil as anyone in the empire. She’s pitching ideas in the meeting room about how to best kill the rebel pilot to make it look accidental and bait the others and I’m over here like “great idea!” - because they made those scenes so relatable to trying to get ahead in the capitalist corporate world that many of us deal with in our day to day lives.

We aren't even certain Bix cracked. The other dude who controlled the radio spilled EVERYTHING. At the end of her interrogation...the guards asked Deedra asked what to do with Bix as if she were of no help...and Deedra said they would need her later. So I am not sure Bix said anything, because one, Deedra still doesn't have anything solid on Luthen. Deedra got enough from the radio guy to keep shit moving at ISB though. And ultimately, her ambition is going to be her undoing,because she'll probably have to do something fucked up to her home planet or something of that nature.

Syril's mom is the best. And worst.

information. Based on what Deedra told Bix, we heard what they got from Paak, and Deedra had a bit more information than that when she went back to the ISB. I don't think Paak really knew anything in terms of the specific intel Bix likely gave them.

Big picture, the ISB wants to know where Cassian is, and who Axis (Luthen) is. They knew about Bix's contact with Luthen which Paak likely wouldn't have known, but she never knew much more than that (we know this from her conversation with Andor when he returned asking questions.) Bix also has no idea where Andor is. They left not on good terms, and she didn't know he was headed to "Space Miami" where he got arrested.

Either way, with as much care and patience shown in building up to the interrogation Bix underwent, I don't think there's any way Bix could have held up to that torture and NOT cracked.

My theory is that the rebel pilot they have in custody will lead them back to Luthen in some way. I BELIEVE the plot he was working in was the same one Luthen tried to get Saw Gerrera to help with last week. Then on the other side, the prison break should definitely make waves throughout the Empire, and even though Andor is there under a fake name, the Empire should have his pic in the system, so when they break out I think they'll finally connect the dots.

On Ferrix I think his mother will be key in what happens. Deera brushed her off in this episode saying she was too old. If they do hang Paak, Cassian's mother might inspire some type of protest (remember that's how her husband was also killed, and she wants to go out standing for what she believes in.) If that happens, possible that word gets to Andor once he breaks out and he returns for her to try to help (maybe too late?)

That's all I have to say. There's too much to say about this show; I can only say this is only Season 1. We got another Season coming, and I can't imagine how they'll top what we've seen so far.


This is the best Star Wars TV property created, and I say that as a hardcore CW and Rebels fan. I said it once, and I'll say it again. This is prestige TV.

comparison I can think of within SW, and this absolutely exceeds that. CW was similar in terms of having 3-4 episode arcs and a huge cast, but the arcs were often unrelated and more serialized. You also had entire story lines within CW that were more geared towards kids since it was an animated show. But the depth of storytelling was similar in that The Clone Wars humanized all those clone troopers and many other monir characters and let us get to know them, and CW also gave us strong political drama in a similar way (there were entire arcs about the banking clan and how Palpatine manipulated them into funding both sides of the war)...all that being said, with this asa focused live action show it's going way further than CW ever did, and only 8 episodes into the first season.

>This is the best Star Wars TV property created, and I say that
>as a hardcore CW and Rebels fan. I said it once, and I'll say
>it again. This is prestige TV.

Especially when Thrawn and identifying Fulcrum became a plot point

amazing. Rebels in general is underrated in terms of Star Wars lore impact - they took some BIG swings with Bendu, the World Between Worlds, the continuation of Maul's story, all of the Inquisitors, Vader vs. Ahsoka, etc...

Thrawn was great in Rebels - my issue with Thrawn though was that it felt like a waste introducing him at that point in the timeline and then having him taken off of the playing field with Ezra in the end. I feel like Thrawn should have been a bigger deal with more victories before taking a big L.

Which gets to my bigger issue with Rebels - with the focus on the Ghost crew you had the Empire looking like bumbling fools from week to week taking Ls. Yes they had two Jedi in their crew, but even Chopper had a Stormtrooper kill count in the hundreds...

Speaking of Star Wars animaton, Tales of the Jedi was incredible. The Dooku story blew me away.

>Thrawn was great in Rebels - my issue with Thrawn though was
>that it felt like a waste introducing him at that point in the
>timeline and then having him taken off of the playing field
>with Ezra in the end. I feel like Thrawn should have been a
>bigger deal with more victories before taking a big L.
>
>Which gets to my bigger issue with Rebels - with the focus on
>the Ghost crew you had the Empire looking like bumbling fools
>from week to week taking Ls. Yes they had two Jedi in their
>crew, but even Chopper had a Stormtrooper kill count in the
>hundreds...
The show would've been different if it wasn't focused as a kids show originally. It was later seasons when Filoni and team were able to develop the show in a more serious tone like CW. I'll say this, folks talk about CW and Rebels in high regard but you don't hear much about Resistanc, which IMHO was a miss.

>Speaking of Star Wars animaton, Tales of the Jedi was
>incredible. The Dooku story blew me away.

I enjoy Tales of Jedi; both stories were great. Didn't like the Yaddle going out like that though.

>I'll say this, folks talk about CW and Rebels in high
>regard but you don't hear much about Resistanc, which IMHO was
>a miss.

I never got past the first 2 episodes. It was just CLEARLY not for my age demographic. CW and Rebels had some stuff for kids, but Resistance seemed to be fully not aimed at an adult audience at all. I mean even the Lego Star Wars stuff has some jokes that only adults would get...

This show is by far the most evil we've ever seen the Empire. I saw someone Reddit pushing back against people saying this is the most evil the Empire has been because of the fact that we saw them blow up a planet in A New Hope. But naw...the evil in this show is WAY worse. It's one thing to have evil at the top levels with Tarkin, Vader, and Palpatine, but this show has layered evil at ALL levels.

For example, the interrogation scene in episode 9. There are three layers of evil happening all at once. First, on the surface you have Bix getting tortured by what she's listening to. But second, you have Dr. Gorst telling a story about past evil that the empire has done in wiping out an entire race of aliens because they pushed back on the empire using their planet as a refueling base. Then third, you have the evil of the fact that both Gorst and Dedra are so casual about the first two evils - you got this nerdy dude treating this torture so casually he's even being "nice" about it. Little friendly wave, "don't worry about the restraints" "We wiped out an entire civilization = but that's neither hear or there, let me tell you about the sound they made when they died"...

What this show is doing is proving that the empire is corrupt and evil all the way up and down. These aren't people just taking orders. The little smile on that prison guard's face as he explained why they didn't need weapons. Dude in this last episode saying "I really want to hang him" about Paak. The shore trooper sending Andor to a likely death sentence because he was "looking around" too much. Cassian's adoptive father getting hung in the streets when he was trying to STOP the locals from attacking clone troopers.

All this being said, the show is so well written and executed that the empire still doesn't feel cartoonish or mustache twirling in their evil. It's the type of evil that's relatable to the real world...whether it be modern day police, or the military in Nazi Germany, or corrupt politicians, this is the type of evil we are actually familiar with and that makes it more terrifying than the First Order blowing up a group of planets with Starkiller Base, or Alderaan getting blown up.

That type of evil also gives them room for nuance on the side of the "good guys", with there being all different types of ways to fight against that evil, including doing some bad things themselves in the effort to achieve the main goal. That makes for good drama, interesting story arcs, and satisfying resolutions.

Just EPIC.

The best thing in star wars.

based on his performance in these last three episodes and the arc he delivered with Kino Loy. And then, somehow, Stellen Skarsgard stole the show at the end of the episode with a straight up CLASSIC monologue. Perfectly written, perfectly acted.

It’s just so clear how much care has gone into this show. So much subtle things that make it feel real. Here’s an example of what I mean by subtle…when Andor and Kino get to the control room and they tell the guards to shit down the floors ALL the way off, dude’s response was “they are hydro powered, it will take months to turn them back on.” Why the eff would prisoners escaping care about the floors used to torture them being down for months???? But that response was perfectly realistic. When working a job and faced with stress, the first response would be exactly like that for some folks. Just thinking about the logistics of the request, vs. the actual intent. Then the blaster put to his head made that intent more clear.

They took their time with this show. Some of that was due to Covid and shooting over an expanded schedule. But if there’s anything I hope Disney learns from this it’s that it’s okay to take time to get this stuff RIGHT.

Kino being encouraged by Cassian, then using Cassian's own words to lead, showed Cassian what he is really capable of

POWERFUL.

And that happened before we heard Luthen actually say it.

across the separate plot lines really well. Episode 10’s theme is sacrifice. You have Kino (with a nice push from Andor) inspiring the entire prison to rise up and escape, the entire time knowing that he wouldn’t be able to make it himself since he can’t swim.

Then in Luthen’s monologue he says “I burn my life to make a sunrise that I’ll never see…” because he knows he’s not gonna make it to the end with the rebellion overthrowing the Empire. Also that entire speech kicks off with Lonni asking him “what do you sacrifice?”

On top of that you have the Mothma scene where she’s essentially being asked to give up her daughter to be betrothed in exchange for help in funding the rebellion.

Sacrifice is also a theme of the entire show, because everything we are seeing in Andor’s story are leading up to his sacrifice on Scariff in Rogue One - getting the Death Star plans while knowing they wouldn’t be able to make it out.

he knows who is he is, he knows how it will end for him, he knows what he has become.

"I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them."

that's that reality behind every rebellion. and sets up why guys like Saw Gerrera would work on their own. can't wait to see when Mon Mothma will come to that same realization.

>can't wait to see when Mon Mothma will come to that same realization.

This will be really interesting to see. Because in this episode she was essentially questioned on how far she’s willing to go for the rebellion. Her response seems like a solid “no” but she was called out that she was thinking about it.

She may be the most interesting character to me because she’s the one who we KNOW will live on well beyond this show, all the way into the sequel trilogy era where she retired after establishing the New Republic. She’s been written about in that era and I’m pretty sure that her husband and daughter aren’t mentioned at all. So at some point she’s gonna lose her family, but how? I initially thought they’d both leave her because they were more on the Imperial sympathizer side. But what if it’s the proposal from this episode that ultimately drives a wedge between her and her daughter? Even worse, what if her husband is actually in on it? Davo Sculdun mentioned that Perrin had been to see him multiple times. I got vibes from that interaction that Perrin may have been visiting a brothel or something like that owned by Mon Mothma, and that she was well aware of it. We also heard Perrin when talking to Val and his antiquated views on marriage. So what if it’s really him who wants to get their daughter betrothed quickly, but he knows he needs to have Mon Mothma be behind it because his daughter would hate that. So maybe he convinced Davo to bring it up, knowing she’d think about it. So when the daughter finds out her mom set up the meeting that’s the nail in the coffin for their relationship.

Before this series Mon Mothma has always been portrayed as above the fray. In Rogue One we know that she viewed Saw’s group of rebels as too extreme. She ordered the team to bring Gallen Erso back to them, while that one dude under her ordered Cassian to kill Erso during the mission. She wouldn’t give the order to the fleet to go to Scariff and attack without the backing of the Alliance Council, but she smiled when Admiral Raddus took the fleet there anyways. So she’s benefiting from the more grimy side of the rebellion while publicly staying “clean”. What if in ROTJ she was actually somewhat behind the “many Bothans” dying to get her the intel on Death Star 2? Because she knew she was sacrificing them on their mission? I think in this show we’ll see her transition to being very similar to Luthen in having a clean public image while being ruthless behind the scenes for the rebel struggle.

Back to Luthen’s speech - I wonder how much he was lying to Lonni. We the audience already KNOW he lied about Aldani, saying that his group wasn’t involved in the heist. Makes sense that he wouldn’t want someone on the inside knowing the specifics of what they are doing. BUT what if he was also lying in his response to the intel he’d received about Kreeger’s mission, and he’s not actually going to sacrifice 50 rebels just to keep Lonni safe. From Luthen’s perspective - he may have already gotten all he’s gonna get from Lonni as a mole, since Lonni wants out. He can’t risk the empire finding out Lonni is a mole. But what if instead of sacrificing those 50 rebels he orders a hit on Lonni? It makes logical sense. We’ve already seen a rebel hit put out on Cassian because they don’t want loose ends out there. What’s worse from a moral standpoint? Allowing 50 rebels to walk into a trap knowing they’ll likely die, or ordering a hit on one rebel who you’ve spent YEARS investing in and getting into such a high position in the ISB?

"I...can't swim....I can't swim"
Just floored me

"I SAID I GOTSTA GO!!!" (c) Axis

"LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF..." (c) Da Rebellion

By this point they’ve paid off on so much layered foreshadowing that when watching new episodes I’m watching for EVERYTHING.

Speaking of Luthen, what in the world is his background? Obviously he has military training looking at that escape. But when he went to talk to Saw, that stick he had looked a LOT like a lightsaber. Goes back to what he said in that monologue last week - it was 15 years ago that he came to the conclusion that the rebellion had to happen. 15 years ago would be before Order 66, in the last year of the Clone Wars. What was it he found out about? Was it the Death Star under construction? Or was he a Jedi who found out somehow that Chancelor Palpatine was a Sith Lord? Even worse, is it possible that he was a Jedi who was recruited to be a secret apprentice to Dooku?

The music has been outstanding the entire series. I really noticed it in this episode.

Heartbreaking seeing Bix now and the damage that her interrogation did to her. When they asked her if Kreeger was “Axis” and cut away, my guess is that she lies and tells them he is. She likely has no idea who Kreeger is.

It’s great how they moved all the chess pieces into place. EVERYONE is bout to go to Ferrix, with multiple factions wanting Andor either dead or captured. Can’t wait until next week.

It wasn't just a lightsaber. IT WAS A DUAL SIDED lightsaber, just like the Fondor ship.

One end looked like wood with an emitter on the other side. But yeah I'll have to rewatch - it definitely looked long enough to be a double blade..

Only thing that makes me hesitant to say it's a lightsaber for sure is that I wouldn't think he'd just be carrying it around and have it out like that, as discrete as he's been so far. But as he's said, he's definitely getting more overt. That escape at the end of the episode DEFINITELY put the Empire on notice in an extremely non-discrete way...

The guard flipped it on both sides like he couldn't figure out which end was the emitter, because there was an emitter on both sides. Subtle beautiful detail as usual.

I wasn't mad at that being how the season ended but it felt a bit off lol Very surprised when I saw my TV suggest a new episode lol

The show just does such a good job at buildup and then payoff.

Man, I hope the showing of the first two episodes on ABC, Hulu, and Freeform brings more people in.

>Man, I hope the showing of the first two episodes on ABC,
>Hulu, and Freeform brings more people in.

I obviously love them, but I really don’t think they will bring in casual fans without the payoff from Episode 3. The second episode ends so randomly I can see people not getting the slow burn and thinking the show is boring. That being said, the “this show is boring” types of people likely wouldn’t sit through a third episode anyways.

But I hope that at a minimum a bunch of critics start watching and realizing this is GREAT television, beyond the expectations for Star Wars alone. And maybe once all 12 seasons are out the binge watching types of fans will check it out.

Written by Tony Gilroy, directed by Brand Anderson (The Machinist). Came out a year or so after he wrote Rogue One. You can see the spy writing that he incorporated into Andor, with Don Draper as a CIA/Diplomat. One of those great movies that flew under the radar for some reason. Its on Netflix and Hulu

State Of Play with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck and obviously Micheal Clayton with George Clooney are two other great examples of Tony Gilroy's writing.

meaning - Star Wars isn't just a fantasy about space wizards and laser swords...it's an entire universe filled with infinite potential stories and genres.
OF COURSE a film series about a rebellion against an evil colonial oppressive empire can support a political thriller....and a spy thriller...and a prison break film...and a family drama...and a character study.
You just have to give enough of a damn to think it through and write it well.

The thoughtfulness/intelligence & FILMMAKING in this show just shits all over the sequel trilogy, and hopefully there's a lesson that all these major studios can learn from this, instead of just churning out mindless product

This show is so good that I’m seeing stuff on the third or fourth time watching certain episodes that I haven’t noticed before.

I’ll just say this - Luthen is absolutely one of the best characters we’ve ever had in Star Wars. Can’t wait to see that part of the story unfold.

its so good on so many levels....

i honestly dont think we're realizing HOW good it is in 'real time' quite yet. It may end up being one of those shows that the general population doesn't FULLY appreciate until years later when they'll recognize just how amazing & full of depth it is.

top to bottom, left to right it's just high quality, well crafted, subtle and sensational storytelling.

i love it.



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have you listened to
her stuff?
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http://www.meshell.com/site/
https://www.facebook.com/officialmeshell?fref=ts
http://www.freemyheart.com


RIP David Williams:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Williams_(guitarist)

else in Star Wars. For example,
Back in Episode 3 while escaping on the Fondor Cassian asks Luthen “what is powering this thing?” Because of how it was flying. Just a brief unanswered question. 8 episodes later and it’s not come up at all, but we saw more of the surprises that the Fondor had in store, reminding us that there’s definitely something unique about it. (Which speaks to us not fully knowing what’s up with Luthen himself.) They might not pay off that setup until the next season. But it just shows the care put into the writing, planning, and execution.

Now we know what they were making in the prison.

perfect scene

The way she acts and the deepness of the charater. Ben Mendelson did the same to a certain extent in Rogue One. She is phenomenal in Andor.

Domnhall Gleeson was a corny charicature of a villain in the sequel trilogy. Most of the General or Officer characters were campy in the sequels and terrible.

This series, with Denise Gough and the other Officers seem way more authentic. This show is AMAZING.

The Emperor is a Sith, so he's essentially a Space Demon, but the Imperials on Andor are just hrotten assholes, just because.

>The way she acts and the deepness of the charater. Ben
>Mendelson did the same to a certain extent in Rogue One. She
>is phenomenal in Andor.

her thinking like the Rebellion to stay ahead of them, then calmly executing the most useful option for the Empire (interestingly, most of her male counterparts and subordinates let emotions take over their decisions) is truly the face of fascism.

>Domnhall Gleeson was a corny charicature of a villain in the
>sequel trilogy. Most of the General or Officer characters were
>campy in the sequels and terrible.

I immediately thought of how bad that character was (Gleeson the actor is great) when Luthen met with his informant this season. making General Hux a fucking Resistance spy for about 10 seconds was one of many low points in the creative dive to the bottom spearheaded by JJ and Disney.

>This series, with Denise Gough and the other Officers seem way
>more authentic. This show is AMAZING.

Absolutely. In the past, Imperial officers were either 100% evil like Tarkin, or shown as completely incompetent. Even in books or other media, when they want to show nuance on the Imperial side it’s usually an officer who has a change of heart and becomes a “good guy”, while in this show we get multiple aspects and subtypes of “bad”.

For example, Syril in this show is essentially the foil/opposite of Andor.

Cassian runs from the Rebellion until he the end when they take him in. Syril runs towards the Empire until the end when they (Dedra) take him in.
Cassian gets recruited for his skill. Syril gets demoted because of his skill.
Cassian moves towards the rebels due to inspiration from his mother. Syril moves towards the Empire due to being humiliated and berated by his mother.
Cassian saves Bix in the finale. Syril saves Dedra in the finale.
There’s likely more I’m not even mentioning…

I’ve seen some people complain that the show shouldn’t even be called Andor and should be something more broad because he gets outshined in his own show. I don’t think that’s fair at all. First because the other characters SHOULD be more “interesting” than Cassian. We already know exactly where his story ends. We know what he becomes. So at this point of the journey it’s more compelling for him to be flawed - not yet the leader that he will become, and not a true “hero” because we don’t see that turn fully until the third act of Rogue One when he joins Jen on the mission to Scariff.

So all of that means that this show is an extended hero’s journey for Andor. There are other characters who are more compelling at times, but their stories will likely end before Rogue One. But the show is narratively built around Andor, with him also often acting as the audience’s viewpoint within the story.

The first arc on Ferrix introduces him as a very flawed character, who owes money to his friends, isn’t honest, and is not at all motivated to be a leader or hero. He’s trying to run from the authorities due to his killing of those two corpos.

The second arc sees him called to join the cause, but as a mercenary for hire. During that arc he’s exposed to the true reasons he should join the cause through Nemik. But he ends up running away at the end of that arc off to Space Miami.

That running away feels like Jonah in the Bible running away from God’s call. For Cassian instead of ending up in the belly of a whale, he ends up in an imperial prison due to running away, and that’s the third arc. He gets out of the whale by inspiring a prison rebellion which was clearly inspiration for him to join THE rebellion.

Then in this finale arc it’s about EVERYONE wanting to take Andor down - everyone except that community on Ferrix who are still looking out for him. But now he’s the one helping them, leading them to escape and then being willing to lay down his life to accept the calling to the Rebellion.

This is clearly Andor’s show.

that make the show so successful (production design/props, cinematography, sound design)

https://youtu.be/UhgXXhcPQEM

The show really is a masterpiece of storytelling. I honestly think the cinematography alone deserves it's own essay as does the production design.

The show really is a gift.

and yes, those little details really add up

great sci-fi has those grounded realistic touches (2001, Blade Runner, Dune 2021, etc)

Amazing. All the way through. Loved it.


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Honorable mention:auragin_boi