"Star Wars: Andor" Season 2, Week 3 Reviews (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Also reviews for the latest episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.



Star Wars: Andor "Messenger"

Starting the episode one year later in pretty ballsy. But this is a pretty ballsy show. And the canon is on a clock.

Things getting tense for Cassian at the end. On the upside, the bellhop remembers him, likes him, and appears to have his back.

If I was in Andor's position I would have been equally freaked out by the psychic healing woman. Bix asking him to simply accept it is unreasonable.

Cyril's arc is amazing to me because I have no idea where it is headed. At this point, I'm not even sure if he's good or bad.

Meero is referred to as a monster. She would call herself a bureaucrat. But considering what she's signing the paperwork for, is there really a difference in the Empire?

I am about to compliment Star Wars and trash Marvel. Deadpool is pretty good, but when Marvel decides to do an "adult" series, it's due to graphic violence, sex, and cursing. Like Daredevil. Or the various R rated projects based on Marvel Comics.

When Star Wars decided to do a series for adults, they made the scenarios complex and political. It's the same TV-14 rating as The Mandalorian. For whatever reason the people in charge or Star Wars have a very different idea of what an adult project entails than do the producers of Marvel. stuff. And it's definitely MUCH closer to my own thinking.

Tense. ****.

Star Wars: Andor "Who Are You?"

I'm struggling with this review. There's so much I want to say and I don't know where to start.

I guess Andor taught me something about myself I didn't know until it came along.

I don't like Star Wars.

I never have.

I have toys, I have Blu-Rays, but the truth is I don't relate to it.

Until now. Andor is what I've been missing in the franchise.

Modern Star Wars gets nothing but shit. Quentin Tarantino, before seeing a frame of it, derisively called it "That Disney shit". Look in your heart. When George Lucas was running things was there EVER anything so heartbreaking or emotionally resonant as this? Moreover, think about Palpatine's obvious and stupid double-entendres during The Clone Wars, which somehow escape Yoda and Obi-Wan's notice entirely. Did you EVER get ANY sense of realistic political cause and effect from that level of storytelling bullshit?

It says the evil of the Empire is down to one man.

Bullfuckingshit. That's not how evil OR fascism works. There are cogs moving the monsters in the direction of genocide and horror and it could not happen without the willful participation of all.

I sensed Cyril was a dead man. The Imperialist hardliner finding his conscience upon learning the monstrous truth? There is no place for him on this show anymore.

And it's to this show's eternal credit that despite the fact that he's sickened by this, he's not a good guy. Him wrapping his arms around Dedra's throat is shocking enough. But what galled me is immediately afterwards it didn't phase her or change her wants for them to run off into the Coruscant sunset together. Which says she's far crazier than he is. And what stops him from killing Andor at the end and leads to his demise? Andor simply asking him who he is. Because he is so insignificant to Andor he doesn't remember him, while he's essentially focused his entire career on Cassian. But he's not even on his radar. He realizes he doesn't even have a good answer for who he is HIMSELF before receiving a blaster to the brain.

Everything about this genocide was tightly orchestrated and planned. When he eerily walks into the waiting room filled with battle Droids even he senses there is something fucked up going on.

Cyril Karn wound up this series' cautionary tale. And I thank the series for going there.

And I thank Star Wars for going there. And Tony and Dan Gilroy. And yes, Kathleen Kennedy. I will agree most of the other Disney stuff is hit or miss. I tend to be more lenient on it than other fans but I see why something like The Book Of Boba Fett would make people mad. But before Disney, Star Wars was NEVER this. And it was SO far below this in every single respect. The Empire Strikes Back is considered the best Star Wars movie. Comparing it to THIS in hindsight is laughable to me.

Ultimately I do have concerns about Andor raising the bar so highly. It might be too high. I simply might never like another Star Wars project not at THIS specific level ever again.

Avengers: Endgame also hit the right notes for me. But unlike other fans, I don't begrudge Marvel movies worse than it coming after it. It was the grand finale of the Infinity Stone arc. It was SUPPOSED to be the best thing ever. Expecting an average Marvel movie to top it is not just unreasonable. It's fucking crazy.

The thing about Andor that will lead me to a different reaction to future lesser Star Wars projects is that Endgame was SUPPOSED to be amazing. None of us were surprised it was and indeed would have been pissed if it wasn't. But Andor? It never NEEDED to be amazing. It wasn't wrapping up the Skywalker arc or The Clone Wars. It is the Best Star Wars Anything Ever because it randomly decided to be. That makes every future lesser Star Wars project, especially if they are dealing with more important issues and legacy characters, seem weaker by comparison. How will I NOT think that?

I rave about this show but part of me doesn't like the fact that I love it so much. I sense I will be far more critical to Star Wars in general from here on out and NOBODY who reads these reviews will ever thank me for that. The thing about Star Wars gaining a legit standard of quality is I'm not willing to go back to Palpatine smirking over talking over Mace Windu's head. I think if other Star Wars fans are, they are plain weird. It's a weird fandom in general, but people who talk shit about The Acolyte and The Mandalorian don't hate those shows for real grown-up reasons. And I'm sensing that's where my upcoming anger and disdain will actually come from.

Don't get me wrong, I WILL still defend Star Wars against bullshit claims of Wokeness for it having the gall to point out people of color are allowed to exist. But in the future, that's probably as far as that defense will go. Andor has spoiled me so badly I fear I have soured on the rest of the franchise forever. *****.

Star Wars: Andor "Welcome To The Rebellion"

That was very much a political thriller.

It has been argued that Star Wars: Episode II: Attack Of The Clones was a thinly veiled slam at the Bush Administration by George Lucas. If it was, it wasn't a very precise one. This show seems to specifically be calling out Donald Trump and MAGA about reality and the truth mattering. It's a powerful message.

It's also wrong. Call me a cynic, but I don't believe the truth matters. In real life the Empire would not be screaming at their technicians to cut the feed on Mon Mothma's speech. They wouldn't need to. Even though she's telling the truth, the dregs THEY need to hold onto power would never believe her. Yes, deep into fascist Empires, free speech is outlawed and dissenting views criminalized. I've come to realize that wasn't just overkill. It's unncessesary. People are terrible, and more likely to believe the stupid lie than the truth that explains everything. In real life after that speech Hannity would be on the air calling Mothma a DEI hire and that would be the talking point, and she'd be roundly ignored not just by the people in power, but the media too.

In fairness to this show not understanding this ugly truth, it was written before last November. I honestly didn't understand that ugly truth before then myself.

Birth of K-2SO. I'm realizing I'm gonna have to rewatch Rogue One when this is all over.

The actual reason Cassian lost Bix? His decision was unilateral and he didn't ONCE ask for her input. If he had, she would have nixed it, and they could have stayed together fighting the Empire. Because he was thoughtless enough to take it out of HER hands, she had to be heartless enough to take it out of HIS.

I mentioned I gotta see Rogue One again? That! That!

Good stuff. ****1/2.




Law & Order: Organized Crime "Lago D'Averno"

Good ending. This didn't exactly walk back last week, but we're further away from the dreaded two bad episodes in a row than we were. Which is good.

When Eli is asked if he identified himself you realize it WAS a bad shooting.

I love his girlfriend telling Elliot she hopes he's kicked out because he doesn't want this. I believe her.

Randall's stuff with Vargas was fun.

Back on track (I think). ****.




Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Aperture"

This was a pretty heinous week with a pretty heinous suspect.

I'll say this though. I never trusted Atlas. I was praying my distrust of him was wrong but damn, that's sick.

I don't much like the mother either. She's all "I have to focus on my son," instead of "I have to disown my son." I thought she might have been all right when she angrily tells him he ruined their family, but nope. She sucks and is an enabler.

I can't get over him beating his father for something he knew he himself did. How sick is this kid?

The mother says he won't survive in prison. She's right. And that makes me feel the tiniest crumb of sympathy for him, which makes me feel incredibly guilty. I love Liv telling him the next time he'll hear his sister's voice is in court.

Something about this season I've noticed is it's gotten back to the sensibility of the earlier seasons in having truly horrific crimes and suspects. Not every week, but recent seasons of the show have been more grounded and realistic. I didn't exactly MISS this kind of storytelling, but it was kind of riveting in the same way a car wreck is. I kind of couldn't look away. ***1/2.

Comments

[neoultramike]

"Starting the episode one year later in pretty ballsy. But this is a pretty ballsy show. And the canon is on a clock."

- Well the thing was the original idea for Andor was a 5 season long series where each season would have been a full year of what Cassian was doing before Rogue One. So there was a write up of all of those events however after working on Season One main star Diego Luna admitted as much as he loved Cassian and the team he couldn't commit to really doing FOUR more seasons like the first especially with how long it really takes to do one. So a deal was made that with this season each block of episodes would be one year later so obviously the last block will be one year BEFORE the events of Rogue One. I guess if you weren't informed of that beforehand doing it like this does feel pretty gutsy but that's how I remember it always being framed when they actually started production on season 2.

"It is the Best Star Wars Anything Ever because it randomly decided to be. That makes every future lesser Star Wars project, especially if they are dealing with more important issues and legacy characters, seem weaker by comparison."

- Andor also reminds me whenever I hear someone start a review ranting and raving about "oh how could THIS have been made NO ONE wanted this it was stupid of them to make this project" I kind of have to roll my eyes considering not only do a lot of the biggest most profitable properties of all time start as just off kilter ideas you'd think no one would be into, but sometimes there IS potential in a property or character you wouldn't think so if you bother to give it a chance. Now granted this still does mean the project has to actually you know be GOOD and that's why I'm not mad that Solo A Star Wars story though decent didn't go anywhere because as the end product turned out there wasn't much of a place to go. And you could easily argue at inception that was especially true for Andor. Yes Rogue One made a billion dollars but that was done right after The Force Awakens re-established Star Wars and honestly Rogue One having some very passionate fans was never this beloved movie still seen as the "attempt at a more WAR movie in Star Wars trying to fix what many would say was a massive plot hole of the original film." So like NO ONE when they first heard about Andor was down for a show focused on one of the stars of that movie's prequal years and felt it was an absolute waste. Like seriously people tend to forget how much flack this series got AS a concept when it came out... then again people also forget how much hat Ahoska got in early Clone Wars day compared to how beloved she is now proving if you do have the right actual story and ideas you can win people over.

[matt_zimmer]

"Nobody asked for this," is the mark of a lazy critic. Nobody asks for art in general. The creators create it because they must. Some people respond to it. Some people don't. But fan demand has nothing to do with it. And on the rare occasions it does? I don't trust that artist's vision remotely.

[neoultramike]

Granted it is clear that studios will make IPs not out of some actual passion and creativity or a spark that had to be gotten down for a story but because "well this made money in the past or is something we could make money out of based on so and so let's do that" and make a lot of badly thought-out decisions that lead to a lot of mediocre projects. The Crow 2024 and hell all of the "Venom Verse" for instance can be said as that but yeah there's equally as much product that comes from people who do have a passion that maybe no one else would have that result in a lot of great works. You know the Creed movies or hell a lot of MCU products could start as that so it really is dependent on HOW the product turns out and not just assuming the worst when it's announced.

I'm not sure how related this is but since you brought up how you feel "Avengers Endgame was the top of the MCU but I don't expect much else to be better then it considering how long that's been building up to but I'm not going to begrudge other projects for not being on that level" I want to bring up something that personally bothers me when I hear that comment;

Do the people who seriously say stuff like that not know ANYTHING ABOUT THE COMIC BOOKS THESE PROJECTS ARE BASED ON?

Seriously even before Marvel and DC over flooded the market with like a half dozen event books every year they would have these big spectacle multi part events that would mean quite a lot within the moment of the event but like things would go back to normal and there would still be more stories after such things wrapped up. And yes I know that comics can't be like movies and shows; like you have so much infinite freedom when just writing dialogue and making art on the page you can't with actual actors and directors and there has to things that really do change and alter hell sometimes just based on real life experiences but that doesn't mean you just STOP this sort of universe because a major arc wrapped up. Yeah character stories and important plot points wrapped up but it's clear there was still a lot going to happen after Endgame. I mean like we just started the adventures of characters like Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, was it really fair to see THOSE guys stop having stories just because Iron man died and Steve Rogers retired? Like no that's why they made sure there was still going to be more and yeah in how that was delivered there were a lot of issues especially in regards to how much connection to the Disney Plus shows they gave but it's stupid to say they should have stopped. Just like it's stupid to say this series shouldn't have been made just because of people's thoughts on Star Wars now or feelings towards Rogue One; like if they have the ideas and actually CARE into the work it should be made and just because you don't get that "perfect ending" you wanted doesn't mean what comes after or even before is bad.

[matt_zimmer]

Are you mad at me? Because I didn't remotely say what you are ranting against.

But me being me, I'll poke the bear anyways. I have never been a fan of the ongoing nature of superhero comics. Or soap operas. I have never responded to that kind of storytelling. It's also why the tags in Marvel movies piss me off more often than they intrigue me.

[neoultramike]

no I wasn't mad at you at all or saying this is something you ever commented on specifically. Probably should have phrased it as "I want to bring up something that personally bothers me when people say they should have stopped at Endgame and there is no reason to do movies or show in the MCU after that film came out" then trying to signify this was something you ever commented on. It's just a comment I hear from a lot of other reviewers that just bothers me because again they are ignoring the nature of these stories. And if you aren't a fan of super hero comic and soap opera structure, fair enough. A lot of people are into them but a lot of people aren't and I totally get both groups. Sometimes it is nice to know there's a story that's being told for a specific period of time that wasn't intended to be added on to and isn't building to like grander projects, and sometimes it's nice when you are watching something part of a much larger narrative you don't know what ends. Either way of thinking is fair. It just bothers me when a lot of other people act like they just think that it's money or greed or just malicious hollywood practices that are extending the MCU for no other reason. Like "they had a stopping point why didn't they stop there" even though that film was only a stopping point for a SAGA because they are based on comics who go through so many different kind of sagas for generations.

I guess when you mentioned "lazy critics" it again set me off to a totally different rant and tirade which again not dirtected at you just a chance I guess to complain to someone about this thing personally bugging me people keep saying about the marvel movie verse.