[TV] Disney+ Star Wars: Cassian Andor

[Koriani]

That said I struggled watching it at first, then I went back before today's new episode and binge watched it so far and it was a much better experience. This doesn't work as a self contained episode show that functions on a weekly release, it should have maybe released a large portion at once, and then drip thread the final episodes.

Kenobi would have benefitted from the same.

Maybe that's what feels "slow in a worse way" to me than other "slow burn" TV shows that don't bother me at all.

Because yeah, the single episodes themselves are NOT 'self-contained' stand alone episodes, so when it feels like I'm watching the "middle hour" of a three hour movie, much like many 'middle movies' of trilogies, there's a lot of 'filler feeling' to get between the start and end of the story. A lot of "ok so things are happening - but yet nothing is /happening/."

And I definitely think that trying to force these story arcs into 3 "full" 45-60 minute episodes (as at least these first six episodes seem to follow that pattern - 3 episode story arcs) is giving me "slow-filler-boring part" vibes. When if we were looking at the same arcs 'tightened up' to fit into two episodes (or one 2 hour movie vs. 3 hour movie), it would work better.

Or maybe its just that I can't reference most of the characters as far as "Why do I give a shit about this person/conversation?" and the show isn't giving me much context to go on other than "random Imperial people and you know they are bad!" or "random common citizen/rebellion person and you know you're on their side!" Outside of the main character, and in episode three, Double-Secret-Agent Rael (looked up his name! LOL) and Mon Mothma - none of the other characters have any weight or meaning for me and the story and "Why do we care?" Seriously, the 'main villian' (or I guess the guy who is suppose to be/will be a villain? - the guy who is now out of a job and staying with his mom - sorry I suck at names) is so unimportantly boring to me as a character. I know he's suppose to, somewhere, be "important" to whatever's going to happen - I just have zippo reason to care about him on screen, or his story, at this point. Outside of being the guard who went 'against orders' in order to try and 'prove himself' by going after Cassian in the first 3 episode arc, he has little personality as written or presented (not saying the actor is at fault at all) and no other context provided as to why he's in the story anymore. There's nothing 'engaging' about the character, itself and other than the assumptions by the viewer that he must be important for some future reason (I hope else I would assume we wouldn't still be following him lol) we have no context, backstory, or even personality insight, into why we should care.

A statement I can't make about any of the characters (main or side) say in House of Dragon - another show we're about 5-6 episodes into, that also contains time-skips and even replacing actors with new ones between episodes - and I still feel more informed, more invested, and more 'understanding' about why even the minor characters in the timeline 'matter' to the story and how it all feeds where things are going. And I don't have that same sense - at all - with Andor.

Again - I'm not slamming the show. We like it - mostly. Just me trying to figure out what is it about THIS slow-burn show that makes watching some of it feel more like a slog than other slow-burn shows I enjoy. And since this is a discussion forum.... I'm discussing my thoughts . I guess I think if I figure this out, then I'll enjoy the show more (lol).

[Polyxo]

Well, it wasn't just "losses". I'd say heavy losses the least. While objective was mostly completed, almost all rebels ended up dead, except Andor and the female leader (forgot her name, sorry).

The usual SW theme is unnamed losses (ships, planets, etc) and win for the protagonists. Here, we ended up in a wipe of known personnel, people with whom we spent almost 3 full episodes to get to know and familiarise with.

That said, i'm not disagreeing with you, i much prefer the direction being away from the SW norm and embracing the loss of Rogue One.

Skeen kind of survived, but he got himself killed by Andor after the fact. Cinta Kaz also survives. She's seen walking off into the locals in imperial disguise. The plan seemed to be for her to stay behind the whole time.

It's interesting how the Empire is given a very colonialist British Empire type of feel in this series. It really came out in both episodes 3 and 6. Ferrix is basically 'space Belfast', where it's a shipyard/shipbreaking industrial zone, and the locals who are not keen on Imperial control bang on things to inform on Imperial (British) activity and passively intimidate them. For those who don't know, this was pretty much exactly what happened in Northern Ireland, where locals would bang trash can lids on the ground. In 6, it's more of an exposure of the dismissive racism of the 'indigenous' Aldhanis.

[Syegfryed]

Well, it wasn't just "losses". I'd say heavy losses the least. While objective was mostly completed, almost all rebels ended up dead, except Andor and the female leader (forgot her name, sorry).

The usual SW theme is unnamed losses (ships, planets, etc) and win for the protagonists. Here, we ended up in a wipe of known personnel, people with whom we spent almost 3 full episodes to get to know and familiarise with.

That said, i'm not disagreeing with you, i much prefer the direction being away from the SW norm and embracing the loss of Rogue One.

Cinta was alive too, she walk away from the base

And that much losses is what i expect from things going wrong along the way.

[PACOX]

I honestly thought all of them would die except Andor

[Polyxo]

I honestly thought all of them would die except Andor

I think that would've seemed a little contrived. I did find myself thinking either Cinta or Vel would die, mostly from the fact that they're in a relationship with one another.

[Syegfryed]

I also did notice, but didn't mention, how the guy that Andor killed, betrayed one of guys, he said "cover me" and he actually didn't, shot once and stopped. He was trying to do his thing for a while. Nice bit that the show did.

And i think its a bit unrealistic how the doctor was not able to save the kid, seems like at that time technology can doa lot of shit, maybe he didn't had all the materials, but anyway.

[Polyxo]

Was wondering, when Skeen says "I don't have a brother", does he mean "I made the story up", or like "my brother's gone, so what anyone else thinks of me doesn't matter anymore"?

Also, really liking some of the smaller details that they put into this series. It was more the previous episode, but one thing that stood out for me was the stormtrooper drilling the rest of the team, and voicing the mindset of stormtroopers: "we're following orders, we're locked in, we're ready to adapt".

[Witchblade77]

I think that would've seemed a little contrived. I did find myself thinking either Cinta or Vel would die, mostly from the fact that they're in a relationship with one another.

and get called out with "bury your gays" all over social media, losing more of good will?

The moment we got some indication that Cinta and Vel are in a relationship, I knew they would survive it.

also, is it just me, or did they try to do Finn 2.0 with Taramyn?

[Polyxo]

and get called out with "bury your gays" all over social media, losing more of good will?

The moment we got some indication that Cinta and Vel are in a relationship, I knew they would survive it.

also, is it just me, or did they try to do Finn 2.0 with Taramyn?

I don't think so. He seems to be just a really military/sporty kind of guy who'd portray 'who could realistically be a stormtrooper' in a believable way.

[Witchblade77]

I don't think so. He seems to be just a really military/sporty kind of guy who'd portray 'who could realistically be a stormtrooper' in a believable way.

its just a vibe I got. "we screwed up Finn, how about we do black former stormtrooper that joins the rebellion, but right this time"

[NightZero88]

Was wondering, when Skeen says "I don't have a brother", does he mean "I made the story up", or like "my brother's gone, so what anyone else thinks of me doesn't matter anymore"?

Also, really liking some of the smaller details that they put into this series. It was more the previous episode, but one thing that stood out for me was the stormtrooper drilling the rest of the team, and voicing the mindset of stormtroopers: "we're following orders, we're locked in, we're ready to adapt".

I believe he was implying he made the story up. That's what I took it as.

[Polyxo]

I believe he was implying he made the story up. That's what I took it as.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Maybe I was reading more into his use of present tense than I should.

[Ihavewaffles]

The slow build does work.

Right now it feels the Episodes are in "sets" to me. You had the first three which set up the story. And then you had the three for the Robbery.

I wonder what the next mini-story is going to be.

From what I saw in the trailer, my hopes is Saw Gerrera, but maybe that is best saved for last..

[sishkady]

OMG I'm so exited about Thrawn show, that one of my favorite characters

[Ihavewaffles]

Mon Mothma is so beautiful... damn Stellan is a rebellion bad guy.. no wonder he talks to saw gerrera in the trailer..

Lol dumbass, uh..."tropical tourist beach-trooper"? Arrest a guy for standing around.. so much imperial over reach, ironic that Andor gets arrested as a result of the robbery he caused..
With such a massive empire, they need to fill lots of positions, so the empire must have really low standards on recruitment, will hire any moronic human they can find that can hold a blaster n can march in a straight line..

interesting that Stellan showed what is true about many rebel groups or extremists amongst them in our world, they want to provoke an enemy so that enemy strikes back hard, just to get more recruits for the rebellion..

Stellan = Luthen, I first wrote Luthien but that is a Tolkien character..



Looking at those cubicles, made me think of office space, trust the empire to suck your soul out just by looking at those work stations..

[Darththeo]

Interesting episode. But set up for the next arc in this series.

[s_bushido]

Surely I exhausted all my shitty predictions with Rings of Power, so when I predict that the blonde rebel is the daughter of Skarsgard's character, the universe won't immediately prove me wrong...right?

I still have no idea where they're going with the disgraced security officer's story. So far, all I can tell is that his situation mirror's Andor's in that they're both frustrated with their mother figure, and trapped (literally and figuratively) in a situation that's almost completely out of their control. But right now, I'm struggling to see the relevance of his character beyond that.

[Ihavewaffles]

A bit confusing, apparently Mon Mothma didn't talk to Chancellor Valorum, why they made a character that looks like he could be Valorum's brother..

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OMG I'm so exited about Thrawn show, that one of my favorite characters

we saw Admiral Yularen this episode, so that's a step closer to Thrawn, who didn't appear until season 2 of sw rebels, dunno what he did prior to that..would be great to see him, all we got in mando season two was a name drop, i think Thrawn would fit into Andor show like a glove, since it's so dark so Thrawn's voice by Mikkelsen would suit it very nicely..that voice is really unsettling..

Maybe next episode they show that Palpatine speech that is coming n Thrawn may stand beside him, or something

[Koriani]

I also did notice, but didn't mention, how the guy that Andor killed, betrayed one of guys, he said "cover me" and he actually didn't, shot once and stopped. He was trying to do his thing for a while. Nice bit that the show did.

And i think its a bit unrealistic how the doctor was not able to save the kid, seems like at that time technology can doa lot of shit, maybe he didn't had all the materials, but anyway.

Well, outside of plot armor (or perhaps, the lack of plot armor) for his character - I didn't find it "unrealistic" as you did, but more the reflection that without a bacta tank/actual med bay - there isn't too much even a doctor (without that equipment) can do to be able to do to save someone's life. And given what would have been very EXTENSIVE crushed internal organs/spinal cord injury, would not be survivable in most situations.

Now if the ship had a med bay/bacta tank or more advanced equipment then I would have given that character some hope. But as it was presented, I was actually thinking "this is bullshit if he lives through this" when they pulled him still alive from behind the pallet. It was refreshing (to me) to see that no, not every injury is survivable in Star Wars. Or at least, isn't always survivable without the miracle bacta-tank!

[Ihavewaffles]

But surely he would have survived a light sabre stabbing from Vader through his torso cooking his insides without a bacta-tank

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interesting...


State of the Galaxy in 5BBY | ANDOR

Generation Tech
Sep 29, 2022