[TV] Disney+ Star Wars: Cassian Andor

[eschatological]

Grogu might be a new character, but he was created specifically to create that nostalgic connection to Yoda. It's nostalgia all the way down.

Plus, the format wasn't new either. It was basically a serialized Western, where each episode a lone gunman faces off against a threat plaguing a town. The push to get Grogu back to the Jedi was something that only really took off s2.

[Darththeo]

All of that, bar the Darksaber, wasn't until season 2, season 1 was all original characters and let the series establish itself as a standalone. So yes, new is a very fair line to describe it.

We're halfway into this series and we've had Mon Mothma show up. Andor's been a real slow burner for me so far, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a while and it finally looks like we're getting somewhere. There just felt like an exceptional amount of waffle esque filler prior to this point, which goes against the "show, don't tell" aspect of what works so well in Star Wars for me.

Not suggesting it's a bad series, far from, but it's yet to really get its claws into me and grab my interest yet.

Well, we also saw a lot of call backs to older material in Mando.

You are correct that for a lot of people those were "new", but if you are familiar with the Clone Wars series and even some older Star Wars lore, the Mando was 100% designed to tie into nostalgia, but it just wasn't a direct pandering.

[Witchblade77]

Honestly, I love the pacing in this show. is it slower then what we are normally used to? yes, but it IMO helps to build suspense so much more. I like it that they are letting scenes breathe, I like it that they are developing all of these characters into something more then a throwaway, that tension between Mon Mothma and her husband intrigues me, because he is NOT nearly as vapid as he first appeared to be. he is shrewd and manipulative and I don't think he is that much different from Luthien, except he is not on rebellion's side. They seem to be staying married for reasons other then actualy wanting to be married and I want to know those reasons. Daughter doesn't interest me much because so far she appears to be a pawn in their little chess match against each other. she is Mon Mothma's weakness, but as a person right now she is just typical teenager picking sides in this tug of war between her parents and picking a father because he is there more, plays nicer and to me at least obviously manipulated her against her mother.

I do wish they didn't spread out the episodes across multiple weeks, but I don't think it would work if they condensed the narrative either. and I'm definitely enjoying the fact that imperial intelligence is actualy shown to be.. well.. intelligent.

[Ihavewaffles]

[Polyxo]

TIE fighters have always been H shaped targets for the heroes to shoot and look cool destroying, and Andor's managed to make them intimidating. The whole show has a great sense of pace where there's a lot of slow things going on, and then when the action happens, it's at a real speed, rather than a 'cinematically digestible' speed which makes things a lot more threatening and dangerous.

Also, is Meero popping space adderall?

[Ihavewaffles]

TIE fighters have always been H shaped targets for the heroes to shoot and look cool destroying, and Andor's managed to make them intimidating. The whole show has a great sense of pace where there's a lot of slow things going on, and then when the action happens, it's at a real speed, rather than a 'cinematically digestible' speed which makes things a lot more threatening and dangerous.

ships are basically space muscle cars, so they gotta be visceral n raw, tie fighter makes sound in space even though that should not happen.
We had Din Djarin putting together a new ship like it's 2 fast 2 furious, or some car tv episode
Lucas previous film to star wars was all about cars

Dunno why other franchises treat their ships like just floating submarines..instead of trying to make them kewl.

adderall?

Sneks

[cface]

One of the best shows going right now, it's a vivid experience to watch this unfold, and I'm really glad it goes slow enough for me to bond with a lot of the characters.
If you want slower build up, that's what movies are for. At least it's not slow teen drama unfolding, it's a real treat watching the tension of these characters play out, and directing and acting is on point.

[Darththeo]

One of the best shows going right now, it's a vivid experience to watch this unfold, and I'm really glad it goes slow enough for me to bond with a lot of the characters.
If you want slower build up, that's what movies are for. At least it's not slow teen drama unfolding, it's a real treat watching the tension of these characters play out, and directing and acting is on point.

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.

[Koriani]

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.

Mixed results over here for whether the slow burn is 'working' or whether its feeling like "something we now have to get through to get to the more interesting parts" pattern.

Its not so slow we can't tolerate it. And I watch a TON of slow-burn tv series, so for me its nothing 'new' to be ok with this. But we (hubby and myself) are still finding this to be a bit too dry, or perhaps to slow paced, between the plot-pay outs. Its not that we think nothing at all is happening, because I certainly agree I'm seeing the back-plotting and character development specifics, and 'why' at least some of the points being made are being made - but at the same time, and I find it very difficult to describe what this 'feeling' is so I'm sure I"m not describing it well - but it just seems to fall flat as far as "feeling important to anything."

Like the Imperial scene between the two officers (I guess they are, I have no clue what their names are) who are discovering the "myriad of missing parts" from various Imperial facilities are actually connected and there's a 'bigger plot' at play that only they are piecing together. But in that scene she lists a whole bunch of words of parts from a variety of facilities and that whole time all I could think was - "this would mean more if I knew what any of those parts were good for instead of spouting off a bunch of star wars terms that mean nothing to me and then saying - "its a bigger plot!" For me to understand "Oh that's why I care about this conversation. Because that one part Cassian stole is connected to this plot they are uncovering. I think?" I don't know - I'm not explaining it well!

All I know is - I've never had a problem with a slow burn show before and have been able to watch entire seasons "waiting on the pay off" to be worth it and then finding it worth it. Finding the journey to get there interesting *by itself*. And whatever THIS show is doing - its not doing THAT as well as it could. The journey to get there is only half as interesting as it seems it could, or should be.

But we are still watching and, mostly, enjoying. Its just also feeling like more of a slog at times, and I hate that - just wish I had better words to describe why its feeling that way. gah! LOL

[Ashana Darkmoon]

Assuming they continue at this pace, this will easily be the best SW show to date.

So mature and such good subtleties all over, really makes everything else feel pretty childish! Nice change of pace since OW left me in total disgust

[Northern Goblin]

Grogu might be a new character, but he was created specifically to create that nostalgic connection to Yoda. It's nostalgia all the way down.

The characters, worlds and time setting were all new.

So far Andor has dropped references from all three trilogies in at a level we didn't get until season 2. Not that I'm complaining, it helps root it in the Star Wars Universe but in that sense it's certainly not new, and definitely not more than The Mandalorian was.

I wouldn't say the concept for Andor is entirely new either, it has a lot of pre existing tropes in its storyline. To me that's irrelevant as it's still bloody good to watch.

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.

[PACOX]

I loved the gunfight, the little bit of what we had. I'm willing to bet they took for of the original Rogue One concepts with some of the tones and visuals we get in this episode. My dream show is one focused around a squad of soldiers, either side, through the GCW, ideally Inferno Squad. Will never happen, but this scratches the itch.
The heist is what I expected from Solo (which I enjoyed either way) but that ended more like an MCU movie. The visuals are amazing. The episode is full of great shots, and we all know the The Eye was beautiful.

One thing I have to tell myself is this kind of SW, the visuals, themes, etc isn't as popular with casual and mainstream fans. Thats why we don't see it that much. The broader fan base still prefers your classic hero journey/redemption stories that appeal to a wide age range. Star Wars is for the kids™. Disney will definitely be studying the numbers and feedback to see if people want more mature stories - even its one mature show for every 4 or whatever. The content exists, see SW print content but something they've been afraid to commit to on screen.

[s_bushido]

One thing I have to tell myself is this kind of SW, the visuals, themes, etc isn't as popular with casual and mainstream fans. Thats why we don't see it that much. The broader fan base still prefers your classic hero journey/redemption stories that appeal to a wide age range.

Just counting down the minutes until we see someone spark up a lightsaber. They couldn't resist doing it in Rogue One, I doubt they'll resist doing it here.

[Syegfryed]

I do Like that Andor is more of pragmatic protagonist and do what is necessary and kill people when it needs to, that honestly is a bit of fresh air in those kind of shows/moves.

I think the Heist was all right, even if think some parts were a bit forced, but since it showed they indeed have losses it gave more credibility to it.

[Fabinas]

I do Like that Andor is more of pragmatic protagonist and do what is necessary and kill people when it needs to, that honestly is a bit of fresh air in those kind of shows/moves.

I think the Heist was all right, even if think some parts were a bit forced, but since it showed they indeed have losses it gave more credibility to it.

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.

[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.