Andor Season 1 Review

Andor is probably the best Star Wars show for people that are not fans of Star Wars. I say this because its Star Wars without the magical force or laser swords. Its the real story of the War that we have had 9 movies about but have only seen a hand full of battles. Like Rouge One this show is about the normal every day citizens of the empire rising up and fighting back. Just like real life rebellions they don’t happen over night and take time to build up. Andor shows this in spectacular fashion with its various story archs throughout one season. Where most shows have only one major story arch per season Andor has about 4 major arches in just season one, each done to perfection and don’t feel rushed. Warning Spoilers ahead.

Arch 1: Back story and recruitment

The first arch give us the back story of Cassian Andor, who isn’t looking to pick a fight with the empire, just looking for his long lost sister. Just in the beginning moments of the first episode something happen that we don’t normally see from our heroes in these stories. After a scuffle with some drunk local authority figures that tried to shake Andor down, he makes the active decision to kill one of the cops in cold blood. I liked this not because of the ruthlessness of the action but because leaving a witness to your activity when you are trying to be invisible is always a bad idea. Most TV shows don’t want to villianize the hero right off the bat but this tells us that Andor is not the virtuous hero that Luke Skywalker or the Jedi are. He will kill in cold blood if its seem to be the better option. Unfortunately this action started the his journey into recruitment that ends with an over zealous corporate security guard trying to hunt him down. This results in a shootout, several explosions and Andor’s escape with a mystery benefactor that wants to hire him for a job.

I highly recommend rewatching this arch after finishing the show as whole because there was a major item that I missed on my first viewing. First time you are caught up in the story of Andor trying to get away, but what this arch is really showing is that the people are willing to fight back if they have the right reason. Andor gets away not just because of the benefactor that wants to hire him but because the townfolk take small and simple actions that help out. Not just sounding an alarm but anchoring a troop carrier to the ground so it crashes when trying to take off. There is a spark of rebellion already within the people, but fighting the empire isn’t in their sights, helping their long time friend escape is worth the risk.

Arch 2: The Heist

Andor finds out from that his mysterious benefactor wants to hire him to be a pilot for a crew planning a heist to steal the quarterly payroll for a sector of the empire. The nice thing about this arch is that its not rushed. It follows all the basic tropes heist storylines do. Reluctance, practically impossible mission, and execution.

The team working the job isn’t happy to have Andor there as he is a last minute addition, but Andor proves his usefulness quickly and the job continues on schedule. This arch also introduces use to the political side of this growing rebellion and the struggles they are having with funding operations. Contrary to how the movies make it look princess Lea’s family was always for the rebellion but they were not funding it all of it and perhaps weren’t funding it at all considering the struggles the senator is shown having working behind the scenes. Andor meets his first set of rebels with this group that is planning the heist. There is the guy that just seems to be the hired mussel mercenary, the young true believer in the cause writing his manifesto of the rebellion the two women who know what’s really going on and leading the group and the local empyreal solider that is there inside man that has a personal stake in this specific mission.

The best things about this arch is like I said its not rushed. I was expecting an episode of half planning and prep then the second half to be the execution of the heist, but instead we got a full hour episode of just the heist and the aftermath. Most studios would have rushed this so you wouldn’t have a slow planning and prep episode. Again this show is a slow burn but it pays off. The other great scene in this arch is when the heist is done and casualties are counted and the remain group finally gets to rest, the typical trope happens where the mercenary tries and offers Andor a deal to kill everyone else and split the take. You see this coming a mile away but what was nice was Andor didn’t talk the guy out of it he just shoots him in cold blood again. Also the right move here. When ever a member of a heist starts to even talk about changing the cut you need to put that person down, they are completely untrust worthy. Andor doesn’t hesitate kills him and notifies the leader of the group that he is taking his cut but doesn’t want to fight the empire and leaves.

Arch 3: Prison

Andor takes his money and returns home even though the empire is still looking for him. He tries to get his adopted mother to leave with him and his old flame. He wants to leave take his riches and live on a paradise resort planet till things cool down. No one wants to go with him. His mother who was an old school rebel to begin with sees the signs of rebellion coming and want to stay there to fan the flames, his old flame doesn’t want to go so Andor is off living what he thinks is his best life on another planet living resort life. The results of the heist are about to catch up to him.

As the heist goes off and reports of it reach the empire and the underground rebellion the senator is freaking out and our benefactor is excited. The goal of the robbery wasn’t to solve a funding problem it was to anger the empire and show the people its evil. The empire follows suit by squeezing its people even harder.

While Andor is living the resort life he notices a couple of people running away from storm troopers and as he moves to get out of the way another storm trooper starts to question him and assumes he is a criminal without any evidence. (Some of us know how that feels.) He is then taken away to trail, isn’t given a chance to explain and is told his sentence would normally be 6 weeks or 6 month but due to the higher security level from the heist he is sentenced to 6 years in prison. For being accused of talking badly of the empire. Which he wasn’t even doing.

The prison they send him to is set up is cool and what you expect of a future like prison. You are shown why escape should seem impossible and how obedience is awarded. This prison has been gamified so that prisoners work hard to build widgets as fast as possible the best groups get the best food the worst groups get no food. The prisoners are happy to complete their work and just count their days down. Until they find out that prison has killed an entire floor of prisoners just to quell a possible riot. Andor and his cell block lead played by Andy Serkis find out that a prisoner that was suppose to be released for completing his time was just moved to another floor and was expected to continue working. This started and up roar and the prison killed the entire floor. This new was enough spark the buy in for a prison break.

Arch 4: The funeral and real recruitment

Meanwhile the benefactor the intelligence agency of the empire and just about everyone is looking for Andor since his gave a fake name no knows that he was in prison. Just about everyone is looking to kill him for various reason. The Empire intelligence wants him so they interrogate him on who the benefactor is as he know what he looks like, the benefactor and rebels are looking for him to possibly kill him to tie up a loose end. And his old flame and friends are looking for him because his mother has died. Unfortunately his old flame reached out to the benefactor to see if they knew where he was and that his mother was dead. This tips off the intelligence group and they set up camp on the planet to interrogate Andor’s allies and set a trap for him if he shows up for the funeral.

Andor returns to the resort planet to find it basically empty from the empires influence but basically returns to grab his stash of cash. That’s when he calls home and finds out that his mother is dead and that his old flame has been taken in for questioning. With tensions high and the empire looking to trap Andor its the perfect mixture to light a fuse and for all hell to break loose. Andor does come back but keeps a low profile. The towns people are allowed to have their funeral for his mother as she was a high ranking member of a local order but are given strict rules to follow. The townfolks that have now seen the cruelty of the empire magnified by the action of Andor and the rallying final speech Andor’s mother gives in her own eulogy calls the people to arms and rebellion begins. There is so much chaos in here with the people fighting the storm troopers that Andor basically just walks into their base rescues his friend and walks out. All the people that planned this fight all gather and escape and Andor finds his way back to where the benefactor hides his ship to finally volunteer for the rebellion. I don’t want to go into too much detail here because this episode is worth the watch but is a moving seen that the people finally take a stand. That our hero didn’t just join the rebellion because he hated the empire he had to be shown their cruelty and experience it first hand to where now he is not going to be hired hand but is now a volunteer who wants to fight.

The final scene of the season was very interesting as well. It showed us what the widgets were that the prisoners were building. There were a component of the Death Star.

Conclusion:

This is one of the best shows on TV and if you skipped it you should go back and give it a chance. With a 96% rotten tomatoes critic score and a 85% audience score this show really shines. If you just watch the Star Wars movies you only see the war through the eyes of the Skywalker family who were not real rebels but key figures in taking down the empire. The real rebels were the everyday people that put not only their lives on the line but their family’s to try and fund and fight the empire. Rebellions are not made over night even in the real world. People will put up with a lot until something finally forces them to snap that can be a moving speech at a funeral or the death of a citizen by morality police in the middle east. Its a story we see told on the nightly news but always feels disconnected as we don’t get the personal view from those effected. Star Wars Andor gives us that view and its worthy of your time.

Its a Must Watch

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