I feel like we just watched something completely different. While I will assent to the point that this doesn't feel like it should've been divided into 3 episodes (felt more like a tight 90 pilot episode) I was compelled the whole way through. This is exciting stuff, but not the sort of "I recognize that" nostalgia fan bait, or hollow spectacle that most of the previous D+ Star Wars shows have been in my view. This feels like someone examining the human aspect of insurgency through the lense and palette of Star Wars. It'll be interesting to see if this moves into a more traditional TV structure (that may dictate whether I follow week to week or not) but I am onboard for the ride.
I had never really thought of Tony Gilroy as a person with an appreciable stamp to his work, but these episodes were 100% from the person responsible for Michael Clayton and the (good) Bourne movies. "Man on the run who doesn't realize how quickly the walls are closing in on him" is something he does really well, and based how well those works culminate (not to mention whatever magic he worked on the third act of Rogue One), he's one of the few writers who fully gets the benefit of the doubt from me. If he thinks he needs a three episode pilot episode to set up whatever comes next, then I trust him. Which isn't to say I didn't dig these episodes, because I absolutely did.
Even more so than Rogue One, Andor feels like what a Star Wars film detached from the nine episodic films could be. Those films were telling a single story and had to be tonally and visually consistent with each other as a result, but that doesn't mean that everything set in this universe has to do the same. Rogue One pushed it a bit, but was limited by the fact that it had to end where the familiar begins. Andor gets to be an additional step further away from what we have been trained to think of as Star Wars, and it looks to be taking advantage of that opportunity by creating aesthetics and tone all its own.
I also thought of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 while watching, not just because of the noir tones, but also large-scale visuals and blown out sound design (which were far less slick than normal Star Wars sounds - much rougher and more bass-heavy). Even the music consciously pulled away from John Williams's work and style, more concerned with establishing a mood than with Mickey Mousing the action or linking characters to specific motifs. It even changed up the music over the title card with each episode so as not to establish a theme song for the show (not to mention using a drum kit as part of the orchestra, surely a Star Wars first). All of this adds up to something truly distinct. My thought when watching was "I cannot picture characters like Yoda or Ahsoka Tano existing in this show", and I think that sums up what the show was going for.
Also, I cannot put into words how much I loved the fact that the antagonists for these episodes were impotent rent-a-cops with itchy trigger fingers who, in their misguided efforts to play at real soldier, end up hurting innocents and fomenting a city-wide rebellion. I can only imagine how the "keep politics out of Star Wars!" crowd is handling that, although it's likely they don't even realize that story is a real-world reference.
It’s really kind of wild to see something so passionately trying to figure out how far you can push the boundaries of Star Wars before it breaks. Some shows and movies had toyed with the idea of breaking new ground, yeah. But when this show suddenly threw in regular, every day drums into the score at the end of episode 2?? Crazy. It’s nice to see a project finally being be this unabashedly bold with the property, even if the things it’s trying don’t always work (i’m still unsure about the drums! they felt so weird in the moment but maybe they’ll grow on me?)
I basically disagree with everything in this review. I was completely blown away by these three eps. To me this is the best Star Wars thing since the original trilogy just as Rogue One was when it came out. The dialogue, the characterization, the visuals, the relative subtlety are just on a whole other level than any Star Wars property and that includes Last Jedi and the Mandalorian. Basically, this is the first ever Star War done in the style of prestige TV and it's totally working for me. The dialogue in the scene where the higher up says to just fudge the investigation into the death of the two asshole cops was like something out of a David Simon written show. We've never seen anything like that anywhere in Star Wars before! Not to mention we see pretty frank depictions of sex and frank discussion of sex workers we see people getting killed in pretty intense ways and not just with pew pews and our hero kills two guys at point blank range at the very start of the show. I wonder why we've never seen stuff like this before? Is it because Star Wars is supposed to be for kids? Why was this given such leeway
Anyway the structure of the three episodes didn't really bother me at all even if I agree the stopping points of the first two seemed kind of random. I was just vibing with the great music and visuals the whole new interesting world/take on Star Wars etc
On the one hand, I think it's cool to see Star Wars portray Indigenous people (and the effect the Empire's incursion has on their civilization).
On the other hand, it's Othering as fuck not to subtitle them, treating them like people we don't even get to understand. They're so mysterious and incomprehensible!
Thanks for the thoughtful review Josh and welcome! A few thoughts:
- You mention syndication as one reason for the early episodes, but with streaming and especially D+ isn't that removed from the equation entirely? Or should be creatively even if, 50 years from now, everything ends up back on tv and is syndicated and shopped out stuffed full of commercials
- I am in love with how much money they spent on set and costume design to mimic 1977 style. One for the sheer cost of the outfits and practical sets and second because it all feels and looks so badass and real
- Read this somewhere else but I think this is the first time actual brick has been seen in Star Wars and I didn't realize how much I am enjoying that simple fact
I cannot believe they let them get away with streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetching a pilot into three episodes. It's so frustrating that I might have had a slightly more positive reaction if they'd just cut it to be one 90-minute episode. Or even shorter. Because this could all have been much shorter.
On the other hand, I do appreciate that this show feels different from any of the other Star Wars shows. More purposeful, more adult.
I find myself weirdly distant when it comes to this show. Even if I agree with all the commenters saying that this (finally!) feels like something completely new in the Star Wars universe, I do not care much for anything happening here, except probably the Syril character whcih I find very interesting.
Maybe it's because of the pacing that is off or because I find the main characters not very well developed. Andor is pretty blank for now and I feel like the people around him are all not very bright. Luthen is a nice addition though, so I am optimistic on that front.
And to me, Fiona Shaw will always be Carolyn Martens from Killing Eve 😍
Just got Disney + again, so I'm finally now getting caught up on both this and Obi Won. The difference in tone is striking, to say the least. I have to say the more adult feel of Andor is a lot more appealing to me so far, but as I'm still working my way through both so who knows how It'll turn out.
3-episode pilot notwithstanding, this review and the other comments here have me intrigued - but a mental hurdle for me is that Cassian Andor was kind of a nothingburger character for me in Rogue One, bit of a dour discount Han Solo maybe. In fairness I haven't watched Rogue One in awhile (although I liked it!), so my memory may be a bit unfair to the character. Is he more compelling and/or entertaining here?
I feel like we just watched something completely different. While I will assent to the point that this doesn't feel like it should've been divided into 3 episodes (felt more like a tight 90 pilot episode) I was compelled the whole way through. This is exciting stuff, but not the sort of "I recognize that" nostalgia fan bait, or hollow spectacle that most of the previous D+ Star Wars shows have been in my view. This feels like someone examining the human aspect of insurgency through the lense and palette of Star Wars. It'll be interesting to see if this moves into a more traditional TV structure (that may dictate whether I follow week to week or not) but I am onboard for the ride.
I had never really thought of Tony Gilroy as a person with an appreciable stamp to his work, but these episodes were 100% from the person responsible for Michael Clayton and the (good) Bourne movies. "Man on the run who doesn't realize how quickly the walls are closing in on him" is something he does really well, and based how well those works culminate (not to mention whatever magic he worked on the third act of Rogue One), he's one of the few writers who fully gets the benefit of the doubt from me. If he thinks he needs a three episode pilot episode to set up whatever comes next, then I trust him. Which isn't to say I didn't dig these episodes, because I absolutely did.
Even more so than Rogue One, Andor feels like what a Star Wars film detached from the nine episodic films could be. Those films were telling a single story and had to be tonally and visually consistent with each other as a result, but that doesn't mean that everything set in this universe has to do the same. Rogue One pushed it a bit, but was limited by the fact that it had to end where the familiar begins. Andor gets to be an additional step further away from what we have been trained to think of as Star Wars, and it looks to be taking advantage of that opportunity by creating aesthetics and tone all its own.
I also thought of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 while watching, not just because of the noir tones, but also large-scale visuals and blown out sound design (which were far less slick than normal Star Wars sounds - much rougher and more bass-heavy). Even the music consciously pulled away from John Williams's work and style, more concerned with establishing a mood than with Mickey Mousing the action or linking characters to specific motifs. It even changed up the music over the title card with each episode so as not to establish a theme song for the show (not to mention using a drum kit as part of the orchestra, surely a Star Wars first). All of this adds up to something truly distinct. My thought when watching was "I cannot picture characters like Yoda or Ahsoka Tano existing in this show", and I think that sums up what the show was going for.
Also, I cannot put into words how much I loved the fact that the antagonists for these episodes were impotent rent-a-cops with itchy trigger fingers who, in their misguided efforts to play at real soldier, end up hurting innocents and fomenting a city-wide rebellion. I can only imagine how the "keep politics out of Star Wars!" crowd is handling that, although it's likely they don't even realize that story is a real-world reference.
It’s really kind of wild to see something so passionately trying to figure out how far you can push the boundaries of Star Wars before it breaks. Some shows and movies had toyed with the idea of breaking new ground, yeah. But when this show suddenly threw in regular, every day drums into the score at the end of episode 2?? Crazy. It’s nice to see a project finally being be this unabashedly bold with the property, even if the things it’s trying don’t always work (i’m still unsure about the drums! they felt so weird in the moment but maybe they’ll grow on me?)
I basically disagree with everything in this review. I was completely blown away by these three eps. To me this is the best Star Wars thing since the original trilogy just as Rogue One was when it came out. The dialogue, the characterization, the visuals, the relative subtlety are just on a whole other level than any Star Wars property and that includes Last Jedi and the Mandalorian. Basically, this is the first ever Star War done in the style of prestige TV and it's totally working for me. The dialogue in the scene where the higher up says to just fudge the investigation into the death of the two asshole cops was like something out of a David Simon written show. We've never seen anything like that anywhere in Star Wars before! Not to mention we see pretty frank depictions of sex and frank discussion of sex workers we see people getting killed in pretty intense ways and not just with pew pews and our hero kills two guys at point blank range at the very start of the show. I wonder why we've never seen stuff like this before? Is it because Star Wars is supposed to be for kids? Why was this given such leeway
Anyway the structure of the three episodes didn't really bother me at all even if I agree the stopping points of the first two seemed kind of random. I was just vibing with the great music and visuals the whole new interesting world/take on Star Wars etc
On the one hand, I think it's cool to see Star Wars portray Indigenous people (and the effect the Empire's incursion has on their civilization).
On the other hand, it's Othering as fuck not to subtitle them, treating them like people we don't even get to understand. They're so mysterious and incomprehensible!
Thanks for the thoughtful review Josh and welcome! A few thoughts:
- You mention syndication as one reason for the early episodes, but with streaming and especially D+ isn't that removed from the equation entirely? Or should be creatively even if, 50 years from now, everything ends up back on tv and is syndicated and shopped out stuffed full of commercials
- I am in love with how much money they spent on set and costume design to mimic 1977 style. One for the sheer cost of the outfits and practical sets and second because it all feels and looks so badass and real
- Read this somewhere else but I think this is the first time actual brick has been seen in Star Wars and I didn't realize how much I am enjoying that simple fact
I cannot believe they let them get away with streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetching a pilot into three episodes. It's so frustrating that I might have had a slightly more positive reaction if they'd just cut it to be one 90-minute episode. Or even shorter. Because this could all have been much shorter.
On the other hand, I do appreciate that this show feels different from any of the other Star Wars shows. More purposeful, more adult.
I find myself weirdly distant when it comes to this show. Even if I agree with all the commenters saying that this (finally!) feels like something completely new in the Star Wars universe, I do not care much for anything happening here, except probably the Syril character whcih I find very interesting.
Maybe it's because of the pacing that is off or because I find the main characters not very well developed. Andor is pretty blank for now and I feel like the people around him are all not very bright. Luthen is a nice addition though, so I am optimistic on that front.
And to me, Fiona Shaw will always be Carolyn Martens from Killing Eve 😍
Just got Disney + again, so I'm finally now getting caught up on both this and Obi Won. The difference in tone is striking, to say the least. I have to say the more adult feel of Andor is a lot more appealing to me so far, but as I'm still working my way through both so who knows how It'll turn out.
3-episode pilot notwithstanding, this review and the other comments here have me intrigued - but a mental hurdle for me is that Cassian Andor was kind of a nothingburger character for me in Rogue One, bit of a dour discount Han Solo maybe. In fairness I haven't watched Rogue One in awhile (although I liked it!), so my memory may be a bit unfair to the character. Is he more compelling and/or entertaining here?