Disney+ Star Wars: Andor with Diego Luna (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Stormtrooper shooting acumen still not too high...

 

[joshEH]

"I should thank you."
"There's no need."

…Look, I'm sorry, folks, but going forward, ALL shows need to be judged on whether or not someone uses a corpse-brick to beat the shit out of fascists at a Les Mis-esque funeral riot…those are the rules.

Also, glad how many characters are still on the board after this season. Given we're only getting two seasons of this show, there could have easily been a real massacre in the finale (especially of the Ferrix-characters), but it definitely feels like a lot of them have more room to grow, so it'll be interesting to see who sticks around.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Stormtrooper shooting acumen still not too high...

Some of the town folks on Rix Road might disagree with that sentiment. That Stormtrooper on the mounted heavy weapon was dealing out some damage.

- Walter.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Andor’s season finale solidifies it as one of Star Wars’ greatest stories

Andor’s season one finale was a brilliant example of how the both sides of Force have been part of the story all along.

www.theverge.com

 

[Josh Dial]

Loved the finale. Loved the series.

My favourite subtle thing is that the rebels all wear open collared shirts. Just before Mon Mothma's husband gets into their car, Mon Mothma opens her collar. She's "all in' at that point. Then she throws her husband to the wolves and marries off her daughter.

 

[Sam Favate]

Wow. I have to change my initial assessment of the show from 4 stars to 5 stars. This is the best that Star Wars has ever been - yes, even the original trilogy. Andor fulfills the promise that Star Wars made 45 years ago.

For a show with so many balls in the air, Andor manages to deliver on just about all of them (with more to come) in a satisfactory way. The tension in every episode is just unbelievable and the writing is, by far, the best that any Star Wars has seen. Luthen's speech at the end of episode 10 and Maarva's speech in episode 12 are stirring, Founding Fathers-type statements. This is what a rebellion against a Galactic Empire would feel like.

Some folks have mentioned (and criticized) Cassian's seemingly casual killings during the show. I see it differently. For example, in the scene where he enters the hotel looking for Bix, he's simply had enough, and he's prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way. When he meets someone he knew in the kitchen, I thought for a second he'd kill him before seeing who it was, and I could understand that.

Brasso hitting the Imperial with Maarva's stone is something she'd be only too pleased about, as she would her funeral turning into a revolt. When that first explosion went off in the crowd, which led to the second and the third and so on, I felt exhilaration and relief. Finally, someone was fighting back, and the Empire wasn't ready. (The stormtroopers showed remarkably good aim, there just weren't enough of them.)

Is it wrong that I wouldn't mind seeing the original films, the prequels and the sequels remade with this kind of intensity?

This season was just outstanding in every way.

 

[Citizen87645]

My favourite subtle thing is that the rebels all wear open collared shirts. Just before Mon Mothma's husband gets into their car, Mon Mothma opens her collar. She's "all in' at that point. Then she throws her husband to the wolves and marries off her daughter.

Nice observation.

 

[Nelson Au]

I tuned into ABC last night and since I don’t have Disney+, I was super surprised they aired the first episode of Andor. I had to look this up to realize they really were airing it. I guess it’s a special for ABC to show the first two episodes last night and tonight.

Since I missed the first 35 minutes, I did not know what was going on. . I did happen to tune in about 10 minutes in and Cassian killed a guy (police?) and then killed his colleague, then I had to walk away and came back about 25 minutes later. I wasn’t sure what to make of this either. it looks like they spent the money and from what I saw, it’s got some good production values.

Since I don’t plan to get Disney+, unless they release this on disc, I’ll never get to see it or the other Star Wars based shows.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The tension in every episode is just unbelievable and the writing is, by far, the best that any Star Wars has seen. Luthen's speech at the end of episode 10 and Maarva's speech in episode 12 are stirring, Founding Fathers-type statements. This is what a rebellion against a Galactic Empire would feel like.

I tend to think that there is a synergistic effect between scripting and acting. Better scripts can get you better performances and better performances can deliver the material more effectively. This is one area where Andor simply excels. I would agree that the writing is as good as it gets for Star Wars. The performances from the cast have all been solid, at a minimum, and some have been extraordinarily good. I have noted Skarsgard and Serkis in previous posts and they are probably my two favorite performances in the series, closely followed by Luna, Gough, and O'Reilly.

Getting back to the writing for a moment, one of the things that has stood out during the final episodes is the series' reliance on emphatic closing lines or speeches. "Never more than twelve", "One way out", "Kill me, or take me in" and Luthen's epic monologue at the close of episode ten. These lines and deliveries really just drive home the emotion of the episodes in an effective manner and are a terrific mechanism for concluding episodes.

Did I mention I really like this series?

- Walter.

 

[Citizen87645]

I've not consumed all of Star Wars, though I'd say I've consumed a fair amount, but I'm wondering if the dystopian aspects of the Empire have been explored before, or to this degree before. Even my reading of the Thrawn novels (both the original and the re-boots) have not really imparted the sense of dystopia that this series has. Upon experiencing it, it's kind of a "no duh" moment. Of course things would be like this under the Empire's rule. Strangely, it took Andor to finally make it clear despite this franchise existing, and being milked, for as long as it has.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I don’t have any of the Star Wars films on 4K discs or digital streamed content, but I went ahead and bought Rogue One on 4K disc due to Andor. Then I saw that Gilroy did the writing for that film, and then you realize he had this big story to tell, and we should be grateful he’s getting to tell it in a serial format on D+.

 

[MattBradley]

I've not consumed all of Star Wars, though I'd say I've consumed a fair amount, but I'm wondering if the dystopian aspects of the Empire have been explored before, or to this degree before. Even my reading of the Thrawn novels (both the original and the re-boots) have not really imparted the sense of dystopia that this series has. Upon experiencing it, it's kind of a "no duh" moment. Of course things would be like this under the Empire's rule. Strangely, it took Andor to finally make it clear despite this franchise existing, and being milked, for as long as it has.

I think the closest we got to seeing the dread the citizens faced from the Empire is in the deleted Biggs scenes in the original movie.

 

[Sean Bryan]

This was excellent. A really fantastic series.

I wish there were 4 more seasons instead of 1.

 

[Citizen87645]

I think three seasons would be the sweet spot for me. Five seems a bit too many, but it just depends on the stories left to tell. So how many years is it before the events in Rogue One?

Edit: I see the Google says it's five years before, so five seasons would be nice to have in that sense.

 

[Walter Kittel]

In terms of chronology, I believe this is how season two is planned:

Season two episode one begins one year later at approximately 3.5 BBY.
There will be four three episode segments with approximately a year between each block of three episodes.
The final three episode block will directly lead into Rogue One.

I anticipate that we will see some of the individuals from Rogue One besides Cassian, especially as we get closer to the season two finale. I believe I've read (and it seems logical) that some episodes will be set on Yavin 4. I am not sure if it has been confirmed whether or not Dantooine will be shown.

While I would love more than one additional season, I am very happy to be getting more Star Wars content from Tony Gilroy. I do wonder how the series will flow since the timeline will be significantly different in season two. We had a slow burn season one and I'm not sure if that is how season two will feel given the time jumps between blocks of episodes. I am fairly confident that it is going to be just fine though.

- Walter.

 

[Citizen87645]

I've decided to rewatch the season and it's interesting to see the relationships Andor had at the start with the citizens in Ferrix and where they wound up by the end of the season. He wasn't especially well regarded, but eventually they (with a couple exceptions) closed ranks in protecting one of their own.

 

[joshEH]

I think three seasons would be the sweet spot for me. Five seems a bit too many, but it just depends on the stories left to tell. So how many years is it before the events in Rogue One?

Edit: I see the Google says it's five years before, so five seasons would be nice to have in that sense.

In the opening moments of the first episode, a caption pops up onscreen saying, "BBY 5" (IIRC). So, five years confirmed before ANH, at least for season one. There's definitely a timejump coming if the final episode(s) lead directly into Rogue One, though, yup.

 

[Citizen87645]

Yeah, I saw that with my second viewing and had to look up what "BBY" stands for. My mind immediately goes to "Best Buy" because that's how their order numbers start.

"Before Battle of Yavin," for anyone else who was in the dark.

 

[TravisR]

"Before Battle of Yavin," for anyone else who was in the dark.

And if anyone is wondering what's the battle of Yavin, it's when they destroy the first Death Star/the original movie.

 

[NeilO]

Just watched the finale. Seeing these past 5 episodes this week worked well for me. At one time I might have thought of stretching it out longer, but it was really intense.

I was wondering whether Cassian was going to use his knowledge about Narkina 5 to bargain for his life (or even have given some of the information to B2EMO to play at the funeral), but it didn't come up. Just offering to go all in with the rebellion was good enough.

I was surprised that Syril was able to rescue Dedra Meero there. It will be interesting to see where the two of them are in a year.

I feel like I need to watch Rogue One again.