Forget The Mandalorian, Star Wars Andor is finally good TV
Warning: Shallow SPOILERS about the course of episode 4 of Star Wars Andor.
First of all, forgive the lurid title. As shamelessly as it played on my love for this universe, I did enjoy The Mandalorian. That is… I liked about every second episode. The episodes in between were either irrelevant, overly naive or milked the license too obviously for me to really call the series an enrichment of my entertainment diet. Fast food, just low in calories, but with the same potential for regret.
I don’t want to and don’t have to talk about Boba anymore and also Obi-Wan ended up angering me more than it made me happy. But Andor now – in episode 4 I am now almost completely convinced that we have the first serious Star Wars series in front of us. Serious in the sense that it works even if you didn’t ban the Lego Millennium Falcon from the shelf until the birth of your second child (this is primarily a metaphor, whether that really happened will not be revealed !). Star Wars, its worlds and mythology serve as the rich background, not the purpose and central justification of this series.
And before that this time people play who had no problem choosing between a serious thriller and Muppets-in-Space for the former.
Nothing against the light space fantasy adventure story that was the original trilogy. On the contrary, Star Wars doesn’t have to be hard space drama for me and I completely understand if the slow, yes, almost sluggish way everything is unfolding here doesn’t appeal to everyone. But everything that’s come out since – including the series – has been so tonally torn between the “kids’ movies” George Lucas wanted to make and the sci-fi for people who had grown up by now, you never really knew how they were substances actually saw themselves. Then there was a general volatility, a lack of charm, sloppily written stories or unintentionally funny escapades – for me it’s all been drifting along directionlessly and joylessly for a long time.
The fact that someone still dares to shoot a character-driven drama with serious dialogue and credible backdrops is quite remarkable and does my immersion in these worlds infinitely good. The actors don’t seem like foreign bodies, they lead understandable conversations and are even allowed to flex their muscles in the acting. Stellan Skarsgard’s Luthen is likely to be the highlight of the episode, as he suddenly effortlessly transitions from a rough-and-tumble rebel recruiter on Coruscant to a jovial antiques dealer and meets Mon Mothma. A role for which he clearly has to practice so that his camouflage doesn’t fall. The transformation is played masterfully.
Genevieve O’Reilly, who returns to the role of Senator after Rogue One, is reminiscent of a young Glenn Close and plays as convincingly stateswoman as Faye Marsay (“The Homeless” from Game of Thrones) as Vel, an inexperienced but determined rebel brings across. Vel’s full squad that Andor encounters seems a little more diverse than ragtag teams in cloths like this tend to be. It seems to be a grown group in which no one just stands around. Everyone has an opinion, doubts or reprimands Andor as an outsider.
The plan to rob the garrison didn’t seem to strain my “suspension of disbelief” too much, even if I’m happy to wait for the implementation in the next episode. Because the saying that you can dare the coup precisely because the empire assumes that nobody is stupid enough to try it sounds familiar to me from somewhere. But so far no one is acting stupid except for the Corpo people around Karn, where that’s an important plot point. What episode four presented in terms of the advancing villains gave hope for equal and appropriately devious counterplays.
Because the secret service of the empire becomes aware of Cassian’s work in the form of Dedra Meero, which Denise Gough brings to the screen in a shockingly ice-cold manner without drifting into comic-like evil. Her superior, Major Partagaz, who effectively describes the role of his star Stasi, can be trusted to do anything. Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones’ Qyburn), plays him with authority and a secret cunning that betrays he’s not here because he’s related or related by marriage to the right people. I’m really looking forward to seeing the game of cat and mouse continue and am really enjoying witnessing the tender beginnings of the rebellion that the Empire doesn’t seem to even fully recognize as a threat. What I’m saying is that the cast is still excellent even in episode four, where they grow massively.
Now the question is to what extent the action and tension can still increase (judging by the shootout of the third episode, still plenty). And also how exciting that should be, when we already know where the journey is going, at least for Andor and Mon Mothma, is a point that concerns me. For now though, I’m very surprised that we’ve finally gotten a Star Wars series that seems to have had the story written first. A plot in which interesting characters are allowed to do the supporting work and not leave it to the background mythology, iconography that is used too often or fan-driven legend building. One of the surprises of the year. So far at least. I hope it stays that way.
More on Star Wars Andor
– Andor doesn’t feel like Star Wars. And I love that!
Reference-www.eurogamer.de