First 6 episodes are out now.

Loving it so far - the release schedule is daunting with three episodes out per week, but it really fits with the way the season is structured in three episode arcs and one year jumps in time in between, all leading up to Rogue One.

The quality is outstanding just like season 1. It's also crazy how many parallels there are with current events in the US, especially since this season was written and shot well before this administration took over.

Im a fan of the weekly episode drop, but the way this season is broken into 3-part chapters, the 3x weekly drop makes sense....and I like spacing it out so I have something to watch throughout the week.

considering that the inspiration from Star Wars was always taken from politics and history, its not so crazy the parallels....especially since history constantly repeats itself (or often rhymes).

The rebel alliance in A New Hope was inspired by rebel groups like the Viet Cong. Gilroy modeled Andor's storylines after rebellions in history, including a young Stalin.

its easy to see the parallels between the Evil Empire and the current Trump administration....but the Empire is based on imperialism....so helps to view with a wider lens.

direct in Andor. Maybe because of the language and the fact that we are getting literal call outs of “illegals” and “visas” and “rape” and not coding any of this in Star Wars language.but also the proxy war, the various factions within the rebel cause along the spectrum of extremely - to the point that the far extremists actually want the same thing as the ISB is much more overt.

I'm only up to episode 4 and the scenes with....


*** SPOILERS ***


Mon Mothma trying to rally votes and her colleagues against the Emperor's bill and everyone essentially agreeing with her, but still voting along with the emperor out of fear....that felt very on the mark to US politicians and institutions bending the knee to Trump right now ....but not even that is new.

With the exception of Mandalorian and Ahsoka i think most of these Star Wars series arent very good, but this is the only one kinda blowing me away

I heard Gilroy in an interview a few days ago talking about the timing, he was mostly confirming it wasnt intentional, seeing that, like you said this was created a ways back, and that most of these themes are just based on historical reoccurrences and are pretty universal. He also made it a point to make the Maya Pei a bunch of fuck ups to show that the rebellion can't be purely pure and that any polical movement no matter how noble is gonna have its share of idiots

they were picking petty fights when their collective and immediate goal needed to be focused on food and survival....instead of killing themselves or using their limited energy to pivot a tie-fighter


also was a nice touch how at the end of episode 3....


*** SPOILER ****


when Andor flies away from them, we see that they're all stranded on Yavin 4, the rebel base in Rogue One / A New Hope

Ghorman rebels.

Which also speaks to the level of detail they went to throughout this show - creating a new language for the Gormans which was essentially a combination of French and German? And the real sets they built for Ghorman were amazing. And the costumes. And that incredible shot for the transport heist going below the streets and through the tunnels. They've said in interviews that on the sets even all of the drawers and hidden shelves are full of Star Wars stuff appropriate for the location/setting. I know this show had a big budget but it's incredible how much you can SEE that budget on screen.

He's really something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h3bT0TMeVs

He told me to get fancy people to watch the show

-
Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
A public radio show about things that are awesome.
http://www.maximumfun.org
"This is the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world." - McSweeney's

not knowing it was someone on here.

Great interview. Gilroy was refreshingly transparent. I loved his story on the original treatment that Kathleen Kennedy had for this and it’s fatal flaw.

thanks

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trying to calibrate my enthusiasm but still savoring every scene until the end

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>trying to calibrate my enthusiasm

First because he's consistently dropping quotes like this (and the "how often those attributes align" response to Syril last week lol).

But more importantly - he adds so much depth to our view of the empire. And not in a typical "bad guys have good people too!" sort of way. Dude is legit evil - in this last arc we see him using the revolutionists on Ghorman to help justify whatever terrible thing they are about to do to all of the people there, his ownership of the Dr Gorst torture program, and his continued efforts against Axis to stope the rebel alliance before it gets started.

All this evil while being a GREAT boss. He's seriously a good manager - like a lot of leaders in the corporate world could learn from him. He gives strong mentorship to his high potential employees. He's open to new ideas, and also willing to change his mind if presented with good supporting data. He challenges his staff without berating them unnecessarily. In the last arc when he ran into Loni and the other ISB dude in the hallway his "just who I wanted to see - save us all a meeting" line just made me smile. Even though he wanted to see them about protecting his ultimate unthinkable torture program.

Like I'd actually enjoy working for this dude. Perfect depiction of the banality of evil.

I'm completely blown away. And with the experience of watching three episodes at once, I kinda wish I'd seen all that in a theater. Simply amazing storytelling in this show.

somehow blowing up entire planets with a big green laser seemed less malicious then what happened on Ghorman. The Empire (of which there have been so many in history, the US included) at their absolute most terrifying.

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I don't know if they've gone back to practical but the senate (aside from the speaker's pods) was looking great during this arc.

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Love,
Nopayne

good thing Lonnie is pulling the strings over there

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minimal screen time. Let Luthen know about Dedra and Ghorman, got the drop on Dr. Gorst, helped get the listening device during the party, identified the mole within Bail’s group, and may have ensured that Mon escaped safely. And that’s just in the rebel side, he also helped his coworkers get out of trouble which had the dual purpose of helping him keep a closer eye on Dedra’s old assistant.

All in like 5 total minutes of screen time. Sign of outstanding writing.

>good thing Lonnie is pulling the strings over there

>just in the rebel side, he also helped his coworkers get out
>of trouble which had the dual purpose of helping him keep a
>closer eye on Dedra’s old assistant.

that interaction with Partagaz and Dedra's promoted assistant was perfection -- casually cultivate trust beforehand, then let Mr. Promote Me (who was already planning future senate parties at Mon's place) hang himself in front of the Major. a gaffe memorable to the point where Partagaz is absolutely going to blame Gorst on him, and not connect Lonni at all.

just rewatched S1 and it's chilling how Lonni casually banters how they are counting the bodies after the Anto Kreegyr ambush and how today was not about taking prisoners -- even after spilling his guts out in front of Luthen to somehow save Kreegyr and his men.

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we will always be thinking of Supervisor Lonni Jung

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is an absolute joy.

Ben Mendelsohn dashing around in a cape and eating up every scene like Big League Chew; need I say more. Kleya being the coldest intelligence agent on either side -- she's ruthless to the cause but her little bits of vulnerability are so fucking good, like the panic that crosses her face when Davo wants to get all his artifacts inspected and re-appraised.

even Perrin shows he knows how to play his role to perfection, being the intermediary between Mon and the hornets' nest around her (not because he supports the Rebellion, but because he knows his job is to help his spouse play the political game).

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One Hundred.

"move." (c)

masterfully done at every level. you feel the last shot coming but it's still breathtaking, knowing what it took to get there and what happens after.

this show made me love Star Wars again. I can now forget the prequels and Disney trilogy -- it's now Andor + Rogue One + Episodes IV-VI. that's all I need.

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They really did it. I was a bit nervous about this last arc and how different story elements would resolve - because we knew exactly how the story would end and lead up directly to the beginning of Rogue One. It was clear that they made last week's arc (episodes 7-9) the climax of the season and series.

So I was nervous that they would run into cliches like killing off ALL characters on some "not in Rogue One, so they gotta die!" or doing some corny connection type stuff that would have made the universe seem smaller. Like Kleya being Cassian's sister, or Vader showing up, etc. But they were REALLY thoughtful about how the story would end. Even the things that I saw coming (which was unavoidable given that we knew where it was going) were done in impactful ways.

This arc made it clear that the entire series was about Luthen. It was essentially a love letter to Luthen and his impact on the rebellion. Flawlessly set up with him in the last arc starting to lose control. And you could clearly see the differences in how he handled things as time progressed - to the point of "we used up all the perfect". My goodness there were so many quotables throughout this show.

Examples of knowing where it would go but being impactful - Kleya taking care of Luthen. Giving her the full time to show her being such a badass infiltrating the hospital, intercutting with her and Luthen's backstory, the beautiful last moments of Luthen with the slight smile from him of recognition for what she was doing, just perfect.

I loved the scenes in Yavin with Cassian trying to convince the rebel leadership to take action on Luthen's information. Perfect foreshadowing of Jyn doing the same in Rogue One and getting pushback, and an opportunity to again pay homage to Luthan and his impact on the entire rebellion. The scene with Cass and Vel was so tough. The tribute to those who were lost, her call out of not waiting to long to connect with Bix (based on both her having lost Cinta, and us knowing that he WOULD wait too long) hit realy hard. I loved the final shot showing Bix still alive and with B2. Her having Andor's child could have been corny but was also done well.

Everything on the Empire's side was outstanding. Dedra going down for improper email server procedure was hilarious. (Also her ending up in a Narkina 5 style prison was a bit of a stretch to me - given her knowledge of the Death Star (and other ISB secrets) I'd think they'd just kill her.) Loni's desperation in negotiating for safe passage was so tough to see. Again I knew exactly what would happen - Luthen couldn't provide safe passage for even himself at that point, let alone for Loni and his family. No way Yavin would let an ISB imperial come in. But I noticed a small thing - by mentioning "Yavin" and seeing his reaction, Loni low-key confirmed to Luthen that Yavin would be safe for Kleya. Partagas's end was a perfect parallel to what some of the Nazi leadership did in WW2. And I loved how everything broke down at the ISB. Him telling Krennic that they weren't supposed to have had to keep it a secret that long, and also dropping hints of how Tarkin would also take Krennic out? Perfect.

We'll likely never again get to enjoy Star Wars with this level of perfection. Enjoy it.

Random note - anyone else notice that when Kleya was in the elevator with the old patient there was an elevator muzak version of Niamos playing????? Took me OUT.

for how good this was

I'll never like anything as much as Empire because how huge it was for me as a kid, and to this day, but Andor (Rogue by extension) is so far above anything in the Star Wars universe, it doesn't even seem fair

This was fucking phenomenal