Andor

This is, minute for minute, some of the best television on today. Not a ton of FX. Just a compelling story and great acting. It is certainly more adult than other CGI laden spin offs. I don't think any cute cuddly toys will emerge from the series. But the story shines.

The plight of the rebels feels real. We're drawn into the characters one by one. The acting is first class. The writing succinct. And the ever enigmatic Andor keeps the tension taught and mysterious.

Though the series seemed in no hurry to gain traction, it's totally forgivable as we approach mid season. We're drawn to the next episode as we anticipate the the rage sure to be drawn by the empire.

The writers seem merciless with the characters and Andor himself has a sharp unscrupulous edge not quite on display in Rogue One.

Big thumbs up.

This is THE show anyone who grew up with classic Star Wars needs to see. 'Mature' Star Wars, if you will.

Maintains the aesthetics of Rogue One and has a quality of writing to shame recent pathetic efforts. Stands as a great little sci-fi adventure on its own, within the Star Wars universe.

Terrific production, script and depth of accomplished acting performances - tremendous - give it a gravitas to have you salivating if you ever so much as tingled at any great Star Wars movie.

One particular visual snippet as an example - S1E06 'The Eye' has Tie Fighter pilots scrambling into their machines. Mere seconds of screen time but a scintillating burst of realisation that such dynamic moments have never been 'authentically' presented to you before. Ally that with engaging and stimulating dialogue, and it delivers some great stuff.

Treat you inner kid and impress your critical adult: don't miss out on giving this quality production the attention and admiration it deserves. This is Rogue One (the 3rd greatest Star Wars movie behind IV & V) expanded. 8/10 and climbing.

Andor is why I pay my Disney+ subscription. This is Star Wars for those who have grown up with the franchise and are yearning for a more mature take on the Universe. It's hard to use the work 'realistic' when it comes to sci-fi, but everything about Andor feels real. The characters act sensibly and their actions never feel like they are purely made to drive the plot forward. I think the last time I used the term 'sci-fi that transcends it's boundary' was when talking about Battlestar Galactica. I think I can safely use that term here too. It's not a action sci-fi, so it's audience it probably smaller, so I hope it will not get cancelled. I hope Disney can find the courage to front a show based on quality and not just audience numbers. I believe that quality shows will always be good revenue earners over time as they are appreciated by more people, even if they are not the most popular out of the box.

Remember how amongst the lightweight drivel, uninventive fan-servicing, and confused plotting/character arcs of the last batch of Star Wars films Rogue One shone like a beacon of decent filmmaking? Well three episodes in and it looks like Andor is doing exactly the same thing for the Star Wars TV series. Unburdened by the need to placate nostalgic adult-kids that grew up with the original films (or even the poor souls that grew up with the prequel trilogy and so have a nostalgic fondness for those), or the need to pass under the scrutinous eye of the studious geeks who "know" how the Force and hyperdrives work (as though they're real things) - Andor is free to 'simply' build interesting characters, plots, storylines and visuals to give us the dramatic framework for what is shaping up to be just a damn good story and adventure.

Sadly, like Rogue One, it also stands - by example - as a reminder of what could have been. Of what a terrible wasted opportunity the rest of this latest run of Star Wars output has been (with just the occasional, infuriating glimmer of quality thinly veined through Obi-Wan and The Mandalorian).

Here's hoping the rest of this series manages to capitalise on this great start, and leaves us with at least one more properly good piece of work in this third age of Star Wars.

Andor is everything I didn't know I needed to fall in love with the Star Wars universe. It'll never get the recognition of the original movies. The prequels. Or even the underwhelming sequels that couldn't stick the landing. But for what it is, Andor is one of the biggest accomplishments in tv for what it accomplished in the small window of opportunity they had in terms of material.

Andor is not only a prequel, but a prequel to a movie that's not even deeply connected to the main Star Wars story. Yet what it accomplished was one of the most grounded takes on corruption, manipulation, and abuses of power in all of television. Turning a mission of taking the plans of the Death Star into a series that embarks on all of these strong ordeals that are occurring in our world as we speak and putting a spotlight on them is something I didn't think I'd get from this universe.

Stay with me here but to me this show is what Severance and Succession / The Newsroom are to Apple TV+ and HBO. For the topics that are covered to the awful things that these multi billion dollar companies do and are apart of, it's extremely ironic that these shows would air on these platforms and go to show how much they don't care. But I am thankful that shows like this can exist and go about these topics in a way that feels earned and gives hope.

I didn't think a prequel would be even remotely close to Better Call Saul in a very long time, but when BCS ended in 2022 Andor began. And with its conclusion 3 years later despite it only being 2 seasons, Tony Gilroy and company proved me wrong.

"And know this: the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.

Remember this. Try."