Elliot Kessler

I cannot wait to see the rest of this show. It is incredible how Disney began making “Star Wars” content, and everyone said that they were ruining the franchise, only for them to quickly turn it around and produce “Star Wars: Rebels,” “The Mandalorian,” and now, the next fantastic “Star Wars” show, “Andor.”

It’s no surprise that this show is turning out as great as it is. I loved “Rogue One.” I still remember my parents driving us to the theaters and surprising us with it. It was an incredible film. So, a show based on one of the best characters from a top-3 “Star Wars” movie? Count me in.

The trailers looked great, Diego Luna said it would be great, and the early reviews said it was fantastic. However, as much as I was looking forward to the show, I didn’t feel the hype. I wasn’t excited about it. But now I look forward to the Wednesdays to come until this show is over because this is amazing. I love the characters, I love the story, the sets and effects look incredible, the music is great, and it’s finally a new and incredible “Star Wars” story.

This show also looks amazing. Especially Coruscant. Also, yes. We finally get to see Coruscant in live-action again, and it looks incredible. Coruscant is flexing the beauty of this show. It also looks very clean and polished, almost unnaturally so, which makes it look like how it did in the prequels and also displays the greed of the Empire that Andor was talking about earlier, which is great. If this was someone’s first “Star Wars” experience and they don’t know much about the Empire, one of the characters saying “Oh, well, they’re greedy” isn’t going to cut it. So, it’s nice that they’re showing us the Empire and showing how they’re greedy.

Something I didn’t like in this episode was when those two ISB officers were arguing about whether or not one of them should get to see the other’s report. The officer who wants to see the report, Dedra Meero, explains that she’s been seeing some suspicious activity that she feels might mean an organized rebellion is forming. Her superior tells her that the ISB doesn’t run on feelings, it runs on data. That sounds fine, but it shines a bad light on her superior, Major Partagaz, for telling her this. That’s what bugs me because he’s right. As obvious as it is that Dedra is supposed to be right about the rebellion forming, they can’t act on feelings because that is not their job. A police officer isn’t going to arrest someone because they feel like they did something wrong. The Empire has a lot on its plate at the moment. They were reorganized from the Republic only about 15 years before the show. There’s a lot going on right now, and an ISB officer’s feelings that there might be an organized rebellion isn’t going to be a high priority, especially with the Corporate Authority issues that they now have to take care of. I don’t think the Major is in the wrong here, even if the show is trying to make me feel like he is.

I know that this might be a controversial take, but I did not like “Kenobi.” Sure, Kenobi himself was great in the show, but I was disappointed in the story. It had so much potential, yet it fell flat on its face. Even the music on that show completely failed. I love Obi-Wan. He is one of my favorite characters in “Star Wars.” I also liked Reva. I thought she was interesting and could make for a unique character. But, in the end, Reva’s plan didn’t make a lot of sense. Leia was fun, but seriously though, how did she outrun those bounty hunters? There was a lot in the show that didn’t make a lot of sense, and a lot of moments, such as Obi-Wan’s duels with Vader, that felt like they were subpar. The duel in the finale could have been amazing. It could have rivaled that of the duel of the fates, or even the first Obi-Wan and Anakin duel. But it felt like it was just below that.

Now, I’m saying all of this because “Andor” is finally another fantastic “Star Wars” show that I’ve been waiting for, but no one’s talking about it. There was plenty of talk about “The Mandalorian” because it was the first live-action “Star Wars” show. There was a lot of talk around “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Kenobi” because they are two legendary characters, even though their shows weren’t the best. But no one is talking about the best show since “The Mandalorian,” but we should be. We need to show Disney that we want more shows and movies like this. We want quality content, not fan service. Sure, fan service is fun, and I do enjoy it. But a show or movie shouldn’t run on fan service alone, like “The Rise of Skywalker.” It should have a good, interesting story with its own characters and through some fan service in there along the way, like “The Mandalorian.”

Anyways, this was a fantastic episode. It seems that we’re over all the setup and we’re getting into the meat of the story, and I am loving it. The characters are great and I can’t wait to learn more about them. Check out this show if you haven’t yet! I am telling you, you won’t be wasting your time.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.