About Andor

Post 1778:

I’ve been sparing with my praise lately, I must admit. There hasn’t been a rush of great storytelling that has come to my attention and captured it.

So then there’s Andor. This latest and final season puts it in real exclusive company. It’s one of the best things I’ve seen in years. If you’re surprised that this random Star Wars streaming series warrants such heavy praise, that makes two of us.

Let’s start with the visuals. Everything looks fantastic and cinematic. The costumes and aesthetics slot right in with the original trilogy. The late 70s idea of what sci-fi should look like is cool. Great directing, camera work, tasteful CGI—it really is a top-notch production.

It think this show makes a great case for having a fixed end point when writing. I don’t think it’s the best way to craft a story, necessarily, but here they use it to their advantage. We know the main character and Rebels are going to get the evil space plans for the evil space station and die heroes and kick of the clash against the Empire in earnest. Here we get to see a really cleverly constructed backstory filled with complicated characters, multifunctional dialogue, and plots that make sense.

It is not perfect. The first bit of season 2 doesn’t do enough. I almost stopped watching, in fact. Glad I didn’t. From episode four to the end, there isn’t a wasted scene. Probably not a wasted line of dialogue.

This doesn’t mean it will work for everybody, but I do think it’s objectively good. I was interested in every character and they all received a proper ending. This is the sort of stuff that should be prerequisite but is far too often overlooked. I highly recommend if you can get over the episode three hurdle. The payoffs… well, they payoff. Way to go show. I’ll think of you fondly and come back to visit from time to time. Cheers and see you after.