So just how good is Andor?

 

I know that I am late to the party and that I reviewed The Mandalorian season 3 ahead of this series. Andor, the prequel to Gareth Edwards Rogue One, easily the best motion picture to come out of Disney owned Lucasfilm follows the exploits of protagonist Cassian Andor as he develops from a scavenger and slowly leans towards becoming a rebellion sympathizer. I figure I might as well share my thoughts about Rogue One, seeing how intertwined the movie and the series are. Andor just completed season 1 and season 2 will debut in  August of 2024.

Rogue One : A Star Wars Story 

I remember watching this movie after watching the main line Skywalker saga movies and really enjoying the freshness and the character development of the main players. They felt more three dimensional and fleshed out in comparison to the other movies. Edwards for one didn't use nostalgia or lighsabre wielding/ force powered jedi or sith, save Darth Vader, as this scene was required to link the movie to episode  IV. We are introduced to every day ' nobody's' playing their roles for the rebellion or empire. For the first time the main characters are not linked to the Skywalker bloodline! Contrary to popular belief , Skywalker's are not required to guarantee success. All we fans need are a well written script!

The story revolves around Jyn Erso, daughter of the architect of the first Death Star, Galen Erso. Jyn is played to perfection by Felicity Jones, while Galen is played by Mads Mikkelsen. Galen is a retired former Imperial engineer who is forced to work on the Death Star by Orson Krennic. Jyn is hidden away from her father to save her. Galen reluctantly builds the deadly battle station, but secretly includes a fatal flaw that would eventually allow Luke Skywalker and the rebels to triumph over the empire and destroy the super weapon. This story is the tale of how a brave squadron of rebels, led by the the titular Andor, portrayed by Diego Luna, the producer and star of Andor meets Jyn and learns about the Death Star. They are aided by his dedicated partner and copilot droid K2SO, voiced by Alan Tudyk, a jedi temple guardian of the Whills Chirrut Imwe, played by martial arts extraordinaire Donnie Yen and his enforcer Baze Malbus, and a rag-tag band of  rebels. Their ultimate goal is to secure the schematics to the Death Star. The story focuses on Jyn Erso and her arc from innocent farm girl, to battle hardened thief, and finally rebel. Andor's backstory is explored in the series. The events in this movie lead directly into the intro sequence in episode IV.

Andor

This 13 episode series follows the exploits of Cassian Andor. We see Andor as a child and how he is separated from his tribe after a botched raid on a crashed Imperial ship, and is saved and adopted by Marva. He lives a life of obscurity. That is until Andor's run in with two officers at a local bar, and his subsequent termination of the two. This puts his home planet in the crosshairs, and marks him as a wanted man. He also has in his possession some Imperial technology from the time he raided an Imperial ship in his youth. He gets recruited by the mysterious Luthen, played by Stellen Skaarsgard. They escape from the local authorities and Luthen drops him off for a mission with a band of rebels. We also see how Luthen and Mon Mothma work behind the scenes to orchestrate the genesis of the rebellion. While the first three episodes are a slow burn, Tony Gilroy's great writing, the use of actual locations, as opposed to the excessive use of The Volume, and the focus on character arcs gave this series a different view of the 'background' players in the war between the two factions. We get to see how morally grey a lot of these characters are. This is one of the strengths of this story. Those that work for the empire are not necessarily evil. They are just doing their job, to the best of their abilities. From their point of view, they are the good guys, bringing peace and order to the galaxy. As for the so called ' good' guys. They resort to some really despicable acts to achieve their objectives. If you were to look at this from another point of view, they could even be mistaken as the bad guys. Such is the brilliance of Tony Gilroy's writing. It is such a pity that this series is not more well received. It's obvious that their views have been tainted by more mediocre series such as The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are some really outstanding episodes, such as the prison arc of the story involving the highly talented Andy Serkis as Kino Loy, in what seems to George Lucas's THX mini movie. I highly recommend slogging through the first three episodes. You will definitely not be disappointed!