‘Andor’ is the best Star Wars entry since, well, ‘Star Wars’
Two-and-a-half years later, delayed by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, “Andor’s” second and final season has concluded, the planned 24-episode series culminating in what is now perhaps the best thing to ever emerge from the “Star Wars” universe in almost half a century.
It’s not just the best “Star Wars” show hands down, it’s the best thing Disney+ has thus far produced. More than that, it’s just one of the best TV shows of the last decade.
This second season sees a more formal structural change in its rollout: The 12 episodes are broken up into four blocks of three episodes, with a year dividing each block in the story’s timeline, counting down to when the show inevitably leads into the movie it serves as a prequel to, 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Each block gets its own director and writer, with creator/show runner Tony Gilroy overseeing all.
Each block also feels like its own movie, as the blocks were dropped weekly over a month, another difference from the prior season. This keeps the timelines and blocks more organized, but may have dampened some of the dramatic impact of each episode, since we have less time to sit with each installment.
What hasn’t changed, indeed has improved, is the writing. Actually, it’s all of it. Every element, from acting to directing to props to costumes to editing, seems to have benefited from the strike delays.
Dramatically satisfying
Knowing your endpoint proved to be liberating, according to Gilroy, as he knew what to aim for and thus what to set up in order for it to be dramatically satisfying. “Andor” takes its place alongside Vince Gilligan and co.’s “Better Call Saul” as one of the finest prequel projects to ever exist, not only serving but improving upon the original releases (“Rogue One” and “Breaking Bad,” respectively). They know they can’t threaten the main players so they create new ones for us to care about and be captivated by, which the creators can then imperil to our consternation.
Each block faces its own challenge of establishing its status quo in the first few minutes, and like the first season “Andor” has no time for lazy exposition. This is no show to be watched passively while you bother with a chore or scroll through your phone. If you aren’t paying attention, you’re going to be lost, or you’re going to miss something. So much of the delicious, juicy dialogue is natural and revelatory without being broad and arched, a problem that has plagued many other streamers’ shows.
“Andor” marks itself in such ways as the “Star Wars” show for adults: it can be a slow burn, it has higher stakes, has deeper concerns, richer themes, more on its mind. Its dialogue has layers, and biting, even cruel, wit.
A real alliance
While the first season mostly saw titular character Cassian Andor (Diego Luna, never better) learning how to become a proper rebel and fully committing to the cause, the second season shows how the rebellion becomes a real alliance, and the amazing supporting cast continues on their arcs to thrilling, inevitable conclusions.
Republic senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) finally calls out the evil on their doorstep in a very public move after news of a massacre referenced by previous shows, a massacre that is its own incredibly moving block of episodes that nods to the French revolution (and not just because it’s mostly got French actors).
Andor himself finds his priorities in flux, until Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) takes the decision out of his hands. Imperial officers Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), and Lio Partagaz (Anton Lesser, “Game of Thrones”) provide much of the intriguing villainy, fascinating yet misguided, though one may yet see the light.
“Rogue One’s” Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) joins, even more delightful and florid than before, a menacing figure pulling all the strings. Stealth series MVPs, however, go to Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) and Kleya Marti (Elizabeth Dulau), the spymaster and his faithful assistant. Their chemistry has been compelling since first appearance and climaxes in a wonderful sequence that is both tense and moving.
Soul-crushing revelations
“Andor” feels like something that shouldn’t exist: something this good in an IP infrastructure that’s usually under a chokehold. The universal acclaim of the first season gave the production some armor, and they took it and ran. Dramatic ironies, petty grievances, poetic endings, soul-crushing revelations — all of these happen throughout the 12 episodes that comprise the back half of something we may never see again.
Part of the joy is also not just what’s in the story, but how it is executed: wonderful shot composition, the analog tactility of the props and clothing, the soaring music that becomes more orchestral as the season goes on, and watching actors delivering lines they know might be the best lines they’ll ever get to read on camera.
The force was with them on this one.
