SPOILER Andor Ep. 1-3 Discussion

I couldn't find a flaw in these first three episodes if my life depended on it.

This is Star Wars as film noir, and masterfully done at that. No obvious fan service, no lightsabers, no space battles - just a very personal story allowed ample space to unfold and breathe.

An incredibly refreshing change of pace for the Star Wars franchise, and one that I hope LFL continues to build on.

 

I haven't seen it yet, but maybe it'll pick up the emotional stuff later in the season, much like Rogue One took a bit too?

 

I can definitely see how Andor isn't for everyone. It's a big departure, IMHO, from Star Wars as we have generally known it. And, of course, it is much more film noir than space opera, which is going to provoke a rather different range of emotional responses.

The way I figure it, if SW can be aimed at the very young (Resistance, for example, is way too cute and pratfall-ey for my tastes) then it can also sometimes be aimed at old geezers like me who dig gritty old anti-hero movies.

And really, to me Andor doesn't feel like it's coming from all that different a place than Rogue One did. Especially the early parts of the movie.

But yeah, I can certainly see where you're coming from on this. Hopefully it will find more of that heart you're missing so far.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2022, Original Post Date: Sep 21, 2022 ---

You know, much as I dug OWK I also felt like some of the emotional beats failed to land for me. Some of it was pure geekery on my part, bemoaning lost backstory opportunities (no hiring a freighter pilot from the Mos Eisley cantina?!) but some was due to factors I couldn't put my finger on. The confrontations with Vader, for example - I'm not really sure why they didn't emotionally engage me, but... not so much.

Somehow, I was far more invested in Cassian's story here from the get-go. No accounting for tastes, as they say.

 

The S word?? In STAR WARS??? gasp

I’m a bit stunned. Three episodes in, a lot more to go but so far everything is operating at peak level. Gorgeous visuals, wonderfully acted and maybe, most impressive of all, a story that maybe for the first time in the entire history of live-action Star Wars, accurately portrays the scale and severity of this conflict. I feel like previously we’ve only gotten this in the animated shows.

 

I'm with you dude. I didn't care for Book of Boba Fett and REALLY REALLY REALLY disliked Obi Wan (sure there were some things I liked, but in general I thought it was not very good).

But this show? I really like it so far. The character arc they are developing for Andor is great. It has a noir/cold-war thriller aspect to it that I love. I have to say, just when I thought it might be time to leave Star Wars in my past (of course I'd still watch the films I've loved for decades), they come out with this. Bravo Tony Gilroy!

 

IMHO, so far Andor is all right. Nothing really special, but an interesting set-up for things to come. There's not a whole lot to sink one's teeth into with the first 3 episodes, and it's all rather small in scope and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. (Although I'm sure it will all get grander now that Cassian is on his way to become part of the Rebellion). I think I'd rank these first 3 episodes at around 7/10 or so - there's nothing wrong with them, I feel, but there isn't much with them at all in the first place; we've now seen the 1st Act of the season, and it can only build and blossom from here

I think people are correct when the describe the show as not feeling very much like Star Wars. In the same way as AotC, RO, TLJ, and TRoS feel quite different, so too does Andor. It got slightly more Star Wars-y with the western town showdown thing of the 3rd episode, but appart from aurbesh and blasters, that's about it, SW-wise.

Some observations:
--The show certainly feels more mature than most SW outings. I like that but I can understand how some fans might not. In the end, that's about taste.
--B2EMO is great and adorable. I hope he survives to ride of into a happy-ever-after sunset. He won't, of course, but I'm rooting for that.
--The computer in Luthen's ship sounds suspiciously like Alan Tudyk...
--Writing, acting, shot compositions, and environments are all excellent. Most of the times that I noticed the music, it was fine.
--Morlana One felt VERY much like a cyberpunk/Blade Runner environment.

 

I went into this show expecting nothing too special, but wow, this show is great. 'Andor' feels really fresh. Finally a more mature and unique take on SW.

This show has
- great acting (people feel like actual human)
- great visuals (you can really tell they went for practical sets instead for the volume)
- an interesting score (it's more of a mixture of background sounds, very fitting IMO)

It's probably too soon to judge, but so far 'Andor' is the best SW show IMO.

And I hope this approach is part of the future of SW. I rather take a vision, actual character development and a good script over "heart". For a matter of fact I wish Obi-Wan would have gotten so much care as Andor did...

 

Bland show. Clunky acting, dialogues that aren't dialogues but declarations for the most part, boring tropes of the noble savages being oppressed by the technocrats in order to justify Andor's RAF, Black September'ish actions executing people (what a cheap cop-out) or to have an excuse to make the show appear to be dark and gritty while in reality it is a lifeless display of colossal failure to understand the very basic nature of human beings. Could have been written by an AI using other AI's for text-to-speech acting.

 

Just watched all 3, The opening scenes were great, it was exactly the tone I wanted and the Andor character was the one I loved from Rogue One

After the opening segment though the pace slows right down to a snails pace. To much filler and pointless side characters. Like Book of Boba and Kenobi (and a lot of other streaming shows like Rings of Power) it definitely felt like the studio are trying to stretch the plot to fill an allotted run time.

Things start to pick up mid way through episode 3. And the last 20 mins are mostly well paced. Though would have preferred The Syril character to be killed, it would have made more sense. Really hoping he isn’t the main villain for the show it would be a weak choice.

A minor dislike was the imperial troops costumes, looked naff and really low budget. The music score however was great.

Over all mixed bag, good start good end, but a lot of filler in the middle. Would have been a killer 45 minute episode but stretched over 3 episodes for a run time over 90 mins it didn’t quite connect as I’d hoped.

Still great to see an adult toned Star Wars show even if it is unfortunately without force users.

 

Too early to judge 'Andor' yet.

I'm not really seeing 'dark and gritty', I mean yeah, we now have mud and brick planets to go with sand planets, ice planets, forest planets, more tropical forest planets, sea planets and city planets... but so far nothing we've seen of Andor himself has changed much. We've still seen him at his worst in RO.

I'm not saying that as a bad thing, I like that SW is broadening it's spectrum, from Visions to Andor, and I'm not feeling this has to be THAT dark and gritty to still be good.

So far, I like the effects, I like the design and the casting, the score has mostly been average though the crescendo of E3 works well, there's nothing I don't like so far, and it does feel more 'cinematic' in quality.

As an observation of a subtle 'atmosphere builder' the number of British accents leans more into the Empire than other shows have.

 

What do I even say...

What an amazing first 3 episodes. Certain parts didn't feel right to me, but overall amazing. Binged all the episodes before work and I teared up this makes Rogue One's ending all the more emotional because you understand what Andor has been through in his life and what he was most likely thinking in those last moments.

It also makes you feel sad for the commander who was just doing his job and wanted justice for the two employees that were killed. If he would've listened to his boss and written the report requested the group he went with on the planet would all be alive. You can see in that final moment of shellshock he's rethinking his decision and wondering if what he got himself into was worth it. He'll most likely want justice, but this moment will shape him into the leader he needs to be.

These are the 2 characters I'm already attached to.

 

I loved it. Good stuff.

 

Can we say the word s h i t now?

 

I really like Andor so far. Props to the Lucasfilm crew for authorizing a series like this and keep in mind this was the series they announced first even though it took a while to get here. I see some saying "this should be the future of Star Wars" and I can't say I agree with that. I think Star Wars is flexible. If you love this style that's great, but it's not going to be for everyone. That's fine.

Product values are great. Feels very much like a Gilroy story. So far so good.