Andor Andor Episode 1.01 Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I have a bad feeling about this

 

Ah, an attempt at condescension!

 

Andor takes no prisoners.

Vader: The Force is strong with this one.

 

Say "meh" and you shall receive.

 

I thought ep 1 was great. Very slow moving. Curious to see where it goes and how it develops. Feels like a very different kind of SW show, than what we've gotten so far. The dialog feels natural. There's space for it breathe a bit.

 

As soon as I saw reviewers saying it was "slow" or a "slow burn" I knew I was going to like it.

 

I watched all three episodes. I might blend them, so excuse.

I agree there is a similar aesthetic and visual style as Blade Runner. I love that!

Okay, Corporate Sector Security that has its own agenda independent of the Empire! Yes!

In fact, the Chief Inspector wants to bury the killing of his own men in order to keep the imperials out of the loop and protect the corporate sector pezzonovante from imperial oversight.

I can’t wait to see his reaction to the assistant chief’s failure on Ferrix !

I know there are some with criticism with respect to a slow pace, but I think that completely baseless since it takes time to build the characters around Cassian. It was brilliant. One can see the massive potential and the surface barely scratched.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Here is my three paragraph review, followed by a short list of things I liked and did not like, which nobody asked for.
I will be doing this for every episode, because I can.

Definitely not what I expected when the show was announced, or even after the first couple of trailers dropped. This show is very refreshing, and I imagine that Episode 1 is very close to what George Lucas would have done with Star Wars Underworld. We knew that Andor will have a nitty gritty and darker approach to traditional Star Wars storytelling, but I personally did not expect that it would also be so different than its predecessor, Rogue One.

The opening scene on Morlana One is one of my favorite scenes in all of Star Wars now, since I have been wanting to see the cyberpunk influences in George's sandbox for decades now. We had gotten glimpses of those in the prequels and in certain The Mandalorian episodes, but this was really great to see. Ferrix is apparently our home planet for the show, or I guess it was. I know a lot of people do not like flashbacks as a storytelling mechanic, but I will never get tired of them, if they are as well done as all the scenes on Kennari.

Which brings me to the last paragraph. The decision to not give us subtitles for the Kennari language is one that had me worried at first, and one that I ended up applauding and finding worthy of standing ovation in the end. All the scenes on Kennari made me feel that I am also an outsider on the planet, almost like I was invading by observing these native people. Which made me connect so much with what was happening. I truly wonder why there were no adults. The optimistic approach would be that maybe all the adults were on a hunting trip. But I feel like a more realistic approach would be that Gilroy wanted to show how truly primitive this planet is, where perhaps an expected lifetime would only be at ~20-25 years. Then again, this wouldn't explain the total lack of adults, as surely there would have been some older folks that would have survived. So maybe there's more to it.

Things I liked:

• First and foremost, obviously the worldbuilding. New planets, with very realistic settings, beings, interactions, habits.
• The music. This one stands out. It is emotional, mellow, cinematic, and very fitting to the character of the show. No, scratch that. The music gives character to this show.
• The contrast between the darker grittier "first world" urban setting of Morlana, the "developing world" town on Ferrix, and the "third world" primitive jungles on Kennari. And suddenly, only one episode later, the galaxy is a much larger place.
• Adria Arjona. What a presence. And I am also in love.
• The names. Yes, small detail, but names like Bix Caleen, Brasso, Timm Karlo, Syril Karn, Linus Mosk are as Starwarsy as can ever be.

Things I did not like:

• A little less than 35 minutes of pure screen time is way too short for a show like this. Yes, I understand the logic that this is the story they wanted to say in the first episode, but I will still stand by my tiny complaint.
• No lightsabers, No Force. This will be a constant, get used to it

9/10

 

I hope it brought you joy.

 

Will you two just get a room already?

 

nvm

 

I was under the impression that the disaster happened under the regime of the Empire, as it's the Empire that prohibited people going there. I could be wrong, but also

Spoiler

Luthen says that Cassian's father was hung on a particular street (can't remember the name), which I know is weird seeing as though Cassian was basically kidnapped. I even have a theory that there may not have been a mining disaster at all, but the planet was a testing ground for the Death Star laser. The mining disaster story was the Empire keeping people away and hiding their own secrets. But like I said, I could be wrong, won't be the first time lol.

I think there's more to come about the reasons why they are all youngsters and about the disaster that made the whole planet toxic.

 

Unless Cassian is younger than about 23-24 years old in the show, which doesn't really seem so, then the flashback scenes are pre-Empire. I would argue that Andor was found by Maarva during the Clone Wars.

Luthen is talking about Clem Andor, Maarva's husband/partner. We see him in the flashbacks when they discover Cassian together, and essentially adopted him. Kidnapped is one way to see it , saved his life is another one.

But I like your theory. It would make sense.

 

No arguments there from me, but I was referring to the timeframe of the mining accident.

Thank you re my theory. If I'm right, it would be my first correct guess at where things are going in SW.

 

Oh, I thought we're taking for granted that the mining accident took place before the flashbacks

 

I'm unsure seeing as though it's the Empire that released info about the accident. But if that's the case, and the accident happened before the flashbacks during the Clone Wars, then the Empire lied when they said the accident made the planet toxic, as the kids all seem alright.
Unless the toxicity was a slow burn effect after the accident?
Certainly making me think about it. I think we'll learn more as the show progresses.

 

I liked it a lot. "Slow" is relative - it's a product of our times not an objective measure. "Anna Karenina" or "Swans Way" - that is "slow". This reminds me a lot Visions - in that it's SW from a certain point of view. I really enjoyed the live music at the end, loved the droids and really enjoyed the "hopelessness" of it all - I think it sets up ANH very well and the emotional payoff of blowing up the death star will be that much more satisfying.

 

Got thru the first episode last night. Was just outstanding. Felt like Blade Runner meets Star Wars and a streaming service TV show is the perfect place to do something like this.

 

Am I right in thinking this didn't use the Volume at all? I thought some of the sets and whatnot were fantastic. Especially the town where he lives. Just looked so real and, like it was shot on location. As someone who thinks Rogue One is aesthetically the best SW film, especially of the new bunch, I'm glad to see Andor is visually very similar. Really hope the persistent rumours/speculation about Gilroy sticking with Lucasfilm come to fruition.

 

@Krueger Leading up to it, they talk about how little they used The Volume compared to shows like Mando. It also was one of the reasons why I believe it was the most expensive show they done yet and why Gilroy said the original five season plan had to be scrapped and instead will only have a second season which will lead directly into Rogue One. I am holding out hope that besides a second season (which they already greenlight) they can something on the end. Like a 90 minute special that is like Season 2.5 but again due to costs I highly doubt it.

 

Well, obviously it did. The kids are living there without parents, and we see a mining zone with a bunch of wrecked machinery around it.

If this show is a huge hit, I bet they will continue it (under a different name) beyond Cassian and Rogue One, covering the different aspects of the rebellion between ANH and ROTJ. So much potential in that.


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

I think mining accident thing is a cover up story just like in Rogue One. There has been some incident on the planet before where adults were killed, but Empire does something sinister there after the flashbacks we have seen and official records then claim there was just one mining accident period, while really some secret bio weapon was clearly involved and something much more complicated happened and it was not mere "accident". Poisoned yellow guys had separatist markings and Maarva mentions the republic. Clone troopers are seen in flashbacks too so I think we will learn more of all that. For now the chronology on Kenari incidents is unclear. I think there is dark side of the Republic soon seen. When jedi are busy with the war Republic changes to worse.

Empire lies, so surprising Mining accident was cover-up of Jedha incident too.

 

I think it's quite possible that the loss of all the adults and the planet becoming toxic were separate incidents, for example they could have been direct casualties of TCW or perhaps the entire mining operation was the doing of off-worlders who were not-so-kind to the native population. In any case, I think it's highly likely that the poisoning of the planet is directly tied to whatever was going on with that ship that crashed, so it's also possible that they were killed in a mining accident but it was unrelated to the planet becoming unlivable, or there never was a mining accident at all. (Also, I consider this less likely, but at this point even the planet being toxic itself could be a lie to keep people away from whatever resources were being mined there for all we know.)

ETA: it seems @Swashbucklingjedi was on a similar wavelength