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Star Wars: Andor

JohnC

By JohnC,
in Film, TV & Radio

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Pob

Pob

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4 minutes ago, FishyFish said:

The Guardian calling it as one of the best shows of the year...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/22/andor-how-a-star-wars-deep-cut-became-one-of-the-best-tv-shows-of-the-year?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

 

The article contains spoilers, so don't read if you've not watched it yet.

 

That's a good article. I like this quote:

Quote

For better or worse, Disney’s previous experiments with live-action Star Wars TV, from The Mandalorian to Obi-Wan Kenobi, have often felt like watching lifelong fans play with their action figures in a sandpit.

 

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Kodamarama

Kodamarama

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A few episodes in, just after he shaved the beard, I realised the guy looks an awful lot like Paul McCartney (early 1970s, not the current tortoise edition). Now I can’t unsee it, and whenever he’s just knocking around and there’s no dialogue, my brain’s like, “Linda’s just got me to try some

TVP and it’s absolutely cracking in a pie!” 
 

It’s really good otherwise! (I mean, that just adds to it for me really. Maybe not so much for my partner watching with me.)

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fly53r135

fly53r135

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On 20/11/2022 at 11:33, Benny said:

I can't stop thinking about this bloody show.

 

It's an example of writers who really understand what they're doing and it's actually "about" something. Nearly everything in the show, from the visuals, the dialogue/script and the actions characters take is both stimulated by and affects the world and people around them in a believable and organic way.

 

All the small things in the show informs everything else (an ode to Mon Mothma follows):

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Take the way Mon Monthma's powerlessness in the face of her daughter going back to the "old ways" is such a heart-breaking scene. She has spent her life fighting injustice as a politician and sees the inexorable encroachment of the Empire assailing everything from without, and yet here, despite and with no relation to the Empire, is her daughter willingly giving herself up to a much older and more entrenched set of subjugating societal values, from her own specific culture, within.

 

And the tragedy of that is that you know Mon Mothma maybe worries that, deep down, she might feel like it has actually been her political life and career fighting for justice which has pushed her daughter away. Hence the earlier in the series scene where her daughter is pushing back at exactly that.

 

In her own way, Mon Mothma's daughter is having her own small rebellion, teenagers being teenagers or not, but it's informed by and pushing back against what she cannot understand or know about that is going through her mother's life. For Mon Mothma, it would also be so easy, so convenient to accept her new banking partner's proposal, as indecent as it might be: it's the solution to her problems, it helps the Rebellion, and her own daughter would probably play right into it willingly. But she can't do that, because she really does love her daughter and wants a more idealised life that is best for her, and unlike Luthen, she is not willing quite yet to sacrifice everything for the cause.

 

Because that is what it would mean, sacrificing her own sense of self, morality and even family. Even if ironically it could also bring her and her daughter closer together, in the twisted way in which it would allow her daughter to explore her people's faded traditions.

 

It's fascinating. And the fact I can even write about this in this kind of detail, about just one facet of a character in this show, I think demonstrates that it's firing on so many levels above and beyond what has ever been in Star Wars before, let alone most sci fi shows you get these days. They always seem to drop the ball somewhere, or have so little confidence in themselves or lack such a consistency of vision. 

 

 

If I'm reading your post right....

Spoiler

you think Mon Mothma isn't going to marry off her daughter. 

Mon told her sister she'd found a solution to her money troubles and then quietly cried while looking at her daughter.  I think she's agreed to the indecent proposal.

 

As Andor says in Rogue One "We've all done terrible things in the name of the Rebellion", and this is Mon's

 

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Pob

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Re. Mon Mothma

Spoiler

I'm not sure she'll marry off her daughter. I think she's being contrasted with Luthen, who knowingly compromises all his morals in order to force things into motion. Luthen sees it as almost necessary that people like him (and Saw) should not see the sunrise they're fighting for, because they are too far gone. You need people like Mothma, who have retained their humanity, in order to lead the new day.

 

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Popo

Popo

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21 hours ago, CGB said:

(Just a head's up that this does contain some minor spoilers up to the most recent episode):

 

 


That’s excellent. Reminds me of Darkplace - right down to the ‘vehicle explodes, no context’ shot. 

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MardiganX

MardiganX

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On 21/11/2022 at 16:02, FishyFish said:

The Guardian calling it as one of the best shows of the year...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/22/andor-how-a-star-wars-deep-cut-became-one-of-the-best-tv-shows-of-the-year?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

 

The article contains spoilers, so don't read if you've not watched it yet.


I love Andor. It’s an angle on Star Wars we’ve only seen mildly done before in Rogue One and now perfected in this show. But it hasn’t made any of the other good TV stuff poor by comparison for me, which seems to the suggestion here. 
 

The point about stuff feeling like it was made by fans for example, what’s wrong with that? As sad as it might be, the finale of Mandalorian Season 2 was a magical moment for me and it only worked so well because it was done by people who love the source material and handled it with care. Both perspectives on Star Wars can coexist and be equally brilliant.

 

Cant wait for the finale tomorrow and will be rewatching last week to prepare :)
 

 

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K

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Quote

For better or worse, Disney’s previous experiments with live-action Star Wars TV, from The Mandalorian to Obi-Wan Kenobi, have often felt like watching lifelong fans play with their action figures in a sandpit. From a de-aged Mark Hamill to a long-awaited rematch between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, some of their biggest moments have come from weaving in beloved characters and Easter eggs while tiptoeing around the established canon of a galaxy far, far away.

 

That seems like fair criticism to me. I loved Rogue One, but even I don't have fond memories of Cassian Andor. The makers of Andor had to take the hard route of creating completely new characters for 99% of the cast, and even with pre-existing ones, like Mon Mothma, they were usually so thinly sketched in previous material that they may as well have been starting from a blank sheet of paper anyway. It would have been really easy to wheel in Moff Tarkin for a cameo to add a bit of jeopardy or to drum up a bit of publicity in those bottom-feeding fan websites. They even seem to have resisted bringing in fan-favourite characters like K-2S0; Rogue One had that bit where that "I have the death mark in twelve systems" guy popped up and did his catchphrase, which has to be one of the most craven bits of fan-fellatio I've seen in Star Wars.

 

The Mandalorian was terrible for this - look middle-aged men, it's that guy you had an action figure of in the eighties, all de-aged, like you remember! Obi-Wan was better in that it was an attempt to atone for the failings of the prequels and serve these characters a bit better than the films did, but it was still heavily reliant on that thing you remember.

 

it would have been so easy for the Andor people to prop themselves up with familiar stuff but (so far at least) they've really put the effort in, and it's paid off massively.

 

Now that I've said this, the last episode of Andor will be a nostalgia fest where Darth Vader, the disgraced medical droid from the end of Episode III, Chewy's family, Salacious Crumb, and Dark Mature Jar-Jar Binks turn up for an extended series of orgasm-inducing cameos.

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Bucky

Bucky

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1 hour ago, Stoppy2000 said:

If I was a betting man then I'd wager that we get a Palpatine cameo in the final episode. 

 

Prior to the release of this, I'd say that this was pro forma.  But this show has kinda turned the rule book upside down.

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Luthen will be revealed to be Palpatine’s twin. He’s trying to start a Sith war against his estranged brother by starting a rebellion. Luthen is about to kill Andor to protect his identity when a blue lightsaber blocks Luthen’s red one. It’s Andy Serkis! He made it out of Narkina 5 and is revealed to be a Jedi. At the end his Force Frost power gets reflected back on him and he ends up disfigured and we see that he’s fallen to the dark side and transformed into Snoke. 

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Boothjan

Boothjan

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Nailed it.

 

Spoiler

The tension during that was masterfully done - the music spot on, the contrast of the colours of the mourners with the bleak palette of the Imperials, the rousing speech beyond the grave by Maarva. All so, so good.

 

This has been a superb series, from the first episode to the last, it's been a consistently high standard and shows that with good writing, there is still a lot of potential in this era of Star Wars. 

 

Post credits:

 

Spoiler

I KNEW it!!!  My mate owes me a pint.  

 

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Unofficial Who

Unofficial Who

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1 hour ago, JohnC said:

Amazing scenes!

 

Also, it’s got its first post credits scene. 

 

Worth bolding so people don't miss it.

 

Was excellent, not just the best Star Wars ever but the best TV this year.

 

What I loved this episode...

 

Spoiler

...that slow rising tension, that 70's Cold War feeling of spies watching spies and everyone convinced that their plans would hold only for everything to fall apart because of how many variables were in the mix.

 

Brilliant stuff.

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JohnC

JohnC

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Loved Maarva slowly building up to kicking it off at her own funeral. 
 

For a moment I was worried they would shoot B to stop the message. Thankfully they just threw a coat over the projector. Or tried to. They even managed to fuck that up with their bad aim. 
 

And lol to the guy who trudged up the tower only to be immediately kicked off like an idiot  

 

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MardiganX

MardiganX

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That was fantastic. As good as they could have ended it and the way they brought all the threads and key characters together was measured beautifully.

 

Spoiler

Mon clearly setting things up to burn her husband was a nice touch, then tempered with the realisation of what she is having to genuinely sacrifice with her daughter. Just another perfect beat in a expertly crafted story. Andor's point blank chest shot to the guard at the hotel was another great moment. Absolutely ruthless when he needs to be and as Martha's message to him said, growing into the unstoppable force he is destined to be.

 

Lovely touch with the post-credits too. Even if it wasn't Star Wars this would be incredible TV, which is a measure of how well every part of the show has been done. Season 2 now please and Rogue One ready for viewing tonight :)

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