I don't think I've been this invested in a piece of Star Wars since Episode III. In my opinion, even Mandalorian can't compete with this level of near-perfectness this show has reached.
We're only 8 episodes in and Andor has become not only the best original show on D+, but one of the most engaging and well-written shows I've personally seen, and it's shaping up to be one of my favorite shows ever.
After the spectacular and total failure and disappointment Obi-Wan Kenobi was and just about everything from MCU's D+ being mediocre or just completely unwatchable, I kinda lost my hope and interest in the future of Star Wars at the hands of Disney, but this show made me excited about and interested in this universe again.
Just about everything in this episode and the show as a whole is perfect, the acting and the great writing and dialogues just complement each other in the best way possible. The production value and the set designs, the great writing and the acting and everything just work so well together and make this show feel so real and believable and makes every character in this show, even the side characters, and smaller ones feel like real characters that have a life outside of this part of the story we're seeing.
One thing that took me by surprise in this episode was the prison Andor went into. I totally expected a little cell like the one in Rogue One and him getting free this episode easily... but oh my god what a great new subplot or should I say the development in the primary plot of Cassian Andor's galaxy adventures. The prison design is just simply amazing. They spared no expenses, the sets are just too perfect and make this show even better. They're showing the inner workings of the empire we haven't seen before and it's just all really great.
We're getting more from each plotline in this episode and every major character gets to shine, but even though there are like 4 or 5 plotlines happening it's not incoherent and hard to follow, so the pacing and the editing are great here too.
Dedra Meero is slowly shaping up to be one of the most terrifying and well-written Star Wars villains in the whole franchise and the actress is doing a really good job at playing her.
Tony Gilroy was right when he said he was making a show for adults.
There is just something about this show that makes it so interesting and engaging to watch and makes you actually care about the story and these characters:
- There is actual tension and stakes
- The writing is actually great
- The characters feel real and act like normal people who are actually living in this world,
- The characters don't act like buffoons or children throwing quips and jokes every two lines of dialogue so they can keep the children watching the show entertained
- The characters act like actual mature adults and their decisions make sense
- The design of the sets really sells the believability of these places
- The show doesn't rely on nostalgia, cameos, and in-your-face easter eggs to delude us into thinking we're watching something good, they do that with the writing
- They don't rely on rehashing the same story Lucas told 40 years ago and selling it to us as a "new and original" story
Show this show to anyone who thinks adult, mature, and dark means R-rated blood and guts flying everywhere and fk word being thrown in every sentence. This is what a real dark and mature show look like; complex characters and storylines.
All in all, this episode ranks next to episode 6 "The Eye" as the best episode of this show in my 'eye' and I might have even enjoyed this one more than episode 6. I seriously can't think of any complaints about this episode in particular, I might've had some nitpicks with the first two episodes because I thought they were just perfectly mediocre and nothing amazing, but this show really picked up the pace and it just keep getting better and better. Here's hoping the quality stays the same or gets better and they don't fumble the ending of this season and the whole of season 2.
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