Chris And Bret React To Andor Season 2

It would be impossible for us to conduct this discussion and remain entirely spoiler free. If you have not seen the show yet, and wish to remain unpolluted by spoilers, I would recommend turning back now. If you have seen this wonderful series, let's dive on in:

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Andor season 2 is the greatest thing Star Wars since the Original Trilogy, but it’s not perfect. If you’ve been following along in the comments as the series was airing, you know I have serious misgivings about the first six episodes. Those feelings did not wane despite the fact that the final six episodes were absolutely flawless in my opinion. The last time I remember feeling this enthused by Star Wars was when Luke made his heroic cameo in the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. But in that case, I was thrilled because Disney brought back something I already loved. This time is because Disney made me love something new. The latter feels more poignant. One point I’ve always made about the OT is that it’s a fib that it was “made for children”. Go back and look at any of the clips of moviegoers crowding theaters in 1977 to see Star Wars. It’s primarily adults and young adults. Episodes IV to a lesser degree, and V in particular are not children’s stories, but they are accessible for kids. There’s a world of difference between “made for children” and “accessible for children”. In addition to the pacing issues of the first six episodes, I felt they got “un-Starwarsy” at times. One of those “un-Starwarsy” things is that there are aspects that are utterly inaccessible for kids. I don’t like that for Star Wars.

But once I “ate my vegetables” from the first half of season 2, the entrée of the second half had me watching with rapt attention. Nothing short of a nuclear blast could have separated my eyes from the screen. Despite the stimulation addicted two-screen world we live in, I never once felt the urge to check my phone. I was immersed in the world of Andor. The way the creative team steeped the tension of the Ghorman Massacre will be taught in film schools for generations. The visceral reaction I had to that impending doom was a mini-version of the anxiety I felt during the Normandy scene in Saving Private Ryan. While not action-packed, the final arc that resolved the events on Coruscant was pitch perfect spy thriller, and I came away feeling that Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero is the star of the entire series. What a tragic character - devoured and spit out by her own ambition. Gut wrenching. It’s a shame we're stuck with a grotesque hybrid figure of her. And Mendelsohn spun Krennic into such an unbelievably menacing villain. That index finger to the top of Meero’s head was so perfectly terrifying. There was such an iciness to it that Krennic joins the pantheon of great Star Wars villains.

The ending is so bittersweet knowing that Cassian is starting a chain of events that will inexorably lead to his death. It means B2 never gets to see his person again, and Cassian never sees Bix again, or learns of his child. Once again, gut wrenching. Andor does something as a prequel that is damn near impossible. It enhances the story for which is serves as backstory. If you don’t watch Rogue One in the immediate afterglow of Season 2, you’re missing out. Having Cassian become more fleshed out makes the character so much more impactful in Rogue One, particularly with respect to his mission on Eadu. I have so much more to say. I could write ten pages, but you would all be checked out before Bret even got a word in. I’m giving it a 9 out of 10 solely because I think those first six episodes were indulgently drawn out. I don’t feel we would have lost a speck of plot or character development if they were condensed into two tightly paced episodes. If Andor Season 2 were a compact 8 episodes, it would rival The Empire Strikes Back. Pao and Admiral Raddus will now be climbing up my want lists, and Sergeant Gharial will be making his debut.

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Andor accomplished almost exactly what the Sequel Trilogy did: it annihilated so much of what we thought Star Wars was supposed to be. BUT...It did so by being so great. Not only do I suspect we'll never again see anything in the Star Wars lore that will come anywhere close to sniffing the Andor standard, but it almost ruins everything that came before.

Almost.

Rogue One is my favorite film outside the OT. I enjoy it more than the prequels, and while each of the first 3 films in the saga have their warts, I do really love the PT. It's not a knock any of those films, it's more praise to Rogue One. It took a risk to show a more realistic, gritty, dark, and morally ambiguous side of The Rebellion that wasn't fought by swashbuckling heroes using mystical powers while wisecracking and slashing their way through the bad guys. And bad guys sometimes had a "cartoon Nazi" quality as seen in Indiana Jones; the type that Spielberg said he could never do again once he had done Schindler's List. Andor's Rebels weren't all goody-two shoes, they fought in alleys, in dark hallways, under rocks, undercover, and guerrilla-style. They fought hard, they fought dirty, and they fought with each other. Sometimes they blurred the lines of morality. They sacrificed much more than we were allowed to imagine in the sanitized and kid-friendly Star Wars universe that came before.

I always like Cassian Andor in Rogue One. And not because he killed a good guy for his own benefit, making him "edgy." I just enjoyed the way he played this character. He was a pragmatist, doing a job that he was invested in. It wasn't about saving the galaxy or the Jedi or his Dark Lord father. It was his life's calling. And he was willing to do whatever it took to win. And after I watched Diego Luna in Narcos, I enjoyed him even more. If you've ever seen his various interviews, he's just a delight. So when Andor was first announced, I was thrilled. And I loved all of Season 1. I thought it was some of the best Star Wars available, and couldn't wait for Season 2, which I expected to be even better.

I was wrong. It wasn't "better". It was on a completely different level. After watching the first 3 episodes (in which almost nothing happened) I texted Chris and said something to the effect of: "Drunk Mon Mothma at a wedding? Dedra having a dinner party with her mother-in-law? Bix surviving a brutal near-rape? Cassian sitting idly by while a bunch of moron rebels argued and killed each other over nothing? This is the most un-Star Warsy Star Wars I could possibly imagine. I LOVE IT! MORE PLEASE!"

Diego Luna was awesome and completely earned his opportunity as the series lead. Genevieve O'Reilly, Elizabeth Dulau, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller are revelations. Benjamin Bratt absolutely NAILED IT and transformed Bail Organa into a hardened and determined rebel political leader in a way I would not have imagined possible. And Stellan Skarsgård is the king of Star Wars.

Andor S2 is so good, we may never reach these heights again. There's Andor, and there's everything else in Star Wars. Lucas intended for his story to be a timeless fairy tale of good vs. evil, based on universal truths from many cultures. It was meant to be a fun ride, and every other installment on both the big and small screens carried on this tradition, even if they weren't always done well. Andor shattered that tradition, and in being so damn good, may have made it almost impossible to enjoy the rest of it as Lucas intended.

The Galactic Standard Calendar recognizes the Battle of Yavin as its base event, and divides everything before and after as BBY and ABY, respectively. For my Star Wars fandom, all media will henceforth be considered as either Before Andor or After Andor.

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So that's what we think. How about you? Let us know in the comments, and since we've declared this a spoiler article, we don't see any need to use the hidden tags in the comments. Spoilers are allowed.

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