Reading and Reeling #4: Andor: Season 2

FULL SPOILERS for Andor below!

Ever since about 2017's The Last Jedi, I've been fairly disinterested in all new things Star Wars. As far as I'm concerned, Disney is guilty of one of the greatest crimes against entertainment ever: running Star Wars into the ground with one rushed, low quality, and soulless piece of entertainment after another. They lacked a coherent plan for their sequel trilogy, dismissed basic storytelling rules, made Star Wars action look terrible (see most of their live actions shows) and occasionally got directly antagonistic toward fans who called them out for it. They prioritized making things they could advertise, teasing the next Star Wars project, and inserting their preferred ideology into a galaxy far, far away. Storytelling always took a back seat, and it showed on-screen and in viewership numbers.

Until recently, the most outstanding exception to Disney's quality problem was 2016's Rogue One. I can only theorize that it was made early enough in Disney's run that it didn't have the life squeezed from it by what became their modus operandi for Star Wars productions (see above). They hadn't settled on their disastrous way of doing things when it was being created, and so its creators were relatively free to do what they thought best.

But now we have a new exception, Andor, which is a prequel to Rogue One. I've still not decided how this one got made. I can only think that it seemed peripheral enough to the Disney powers-that-be for them to let writer and director Tony Gilroy take the horrifying risk of trying to make something compelling. But, credit where credit is due. For one reason or another, they allowed Andor's creative team to be creative, and it paid off. It's a shame Disney has degraded the Star Wars brand so much that more people aren't watching it.

As you can tell, I think there's a lot to like about Andor, but I'll get my criticisms out of the way first. I found the second season of the show to be a little more uneven than the first. Granted, the highs are higher, but the lows are also lower. I thought the first arc dragged a tad, and I wish the last episode had been more exciting. Mon Mothma's rave scene wasn't my favorite. The final arc was less interesting because the arc for Syril and Dedra was over (I'll get to that in a minute) and Mothma had already been evacuated to Yavin. I didn't realize how much these two arcs meant to the show until they were gone. The final three episodes, which focus mostly on Luthen getting the first news of the Death Start to the rebels, were fine, but they were a little thin compared to the rest of the season.

Now for the good.

Even when the show dragged, it always had my attention. A lot of that has to do with the little things. The dialogue was tightly written. The acting was always convincing (and sometimes quite powerful). But the biggest thing is that it made me care so much about so many characters that even when the pacing seemed a little off, I was fully invested in what was happening on-screen. It balanced solid character work against the large-scale rebellion plot and the Death Star. It also helped that the action was so solid. Unlike lesser shows, where action exists just to exist, the action here always meant something. Just as importantly, it was convincing. I can't say the same for all Star Wars products as of late (I'm looking at you, lightsaber action in Ashoka and Obi Wan).

I'd be remiss not to mention the third arc of season 2 here. It's over these three episodes that so much that came before it pays off. All storylines are hitting on all cylinders. The buildup to the massacre is tense. The actual massacre is horrifying. The speech in the Senate by Mon Mothma about the death of objective truth is stirring and both fits the story world and our real world (that is how you insert ideas into your entertainment, Disney). And the sense of dread as she starts to realize that there's no going back is palpable. Her reactions as Cassian kills a couple of people, including her spying driver, to get her out of the Senate, say it all.

But my favorite part of the entire season was the relationship between cold and calculating imperial officer, Dedra, and Syril, a true believer in Imperial order. The way Dedra starts to break as she oversees the trap and massacre on Ghorman is incredible. She is terrible, but she is human. She's vulnerable in those moments in ways I didn't think the character ever could be early on - and it was convincing. She is a believable monster for whom I felt sympathy. I can't say I've felt that for a Star Wars villain since Luke took off Darth Vader's mask before he died. Syril, on the other hand, truly believes in the Empire. He's naive. And as he realizes his girlfriend is helping facilitate what's about to happen to the Ghorman protestors, he completely breaks. He thinks the Empire is the way to galactic peace, and so when he starts to realize they are the bad guys, his entire world falls apart. He realizes he's a cog in a terrible machine. The sad thing is, he doesn't get to do anything about it other than not kill Cassian when he finally has a chance. I can't say enough about these characters and their portrayals. It was top-notch stuff.

Dedra and Syril in Dedra's Apartment Before They Get Involved in Ghorman

So, do yourself a favor and check out Andor if you haven't. I don't think you even need to be a Star Wars fan to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into this one. Hopefully, if enough people watch it, we can get more like this in the future. But I'm not holding my breath with Disney.

Andor is Available on Disney +