Spoilers for Season 2 Episodes 1-3

Andor is back! ‘Star Wars for grown-ups,’ as Stellan Skarsgård calls it. Fair play to him, I guess. Andor is probably the best piece of Star Wars media since the Original Trilogy, and season 2 has kicked off with a bang.

A New Episode Structure

They’ve changed the formula for this season. Instead of weekly episodes spanning a year, the new season will be released three episodes at a time, with each three-episode instalment telling a cohesive story set a year apart. They’re effectively doing a mini movie each week.

The original plan was to have several seasons, each spanning a year. But Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna decided they didn’t want to do that (fair enough, it’s a big life commitment). The weekly mini movies will tell the rest of the story and lead directly into Rogue One.

This initially gave me pause for concern, because that’s a lot of ground to cover in not much screen time. Still, I trust Tony Gilroy, and season 1 also had three-episode story structures (albeit to a lesser extent).

The First Arc

The first three-episode arc was a great start to the series, though I do have some criticisms (which I’ll get to later).

The arc revisits the characters a year after the season 1 riot on Ferrix, showing what they’ve been up to and demonstrating the ramping up of Imperial oppression. The pacing felt slightly different from season 1, at least to my mind. It took me a little while to get used to, but it’ll work fine going forward.

Cassian Andor is now an active agent in Luthen’s rebel network; episode 1 opens with him stealing an advanced TIE fighter prototype. His Ferrix friends – Brasso, Wilmon and Bix (who’s dealing with her season 1 trauma) – are living with him on an agricultural world called Mina-Rau.

When this world was glimpsed in the trailer, I assumed it was Dantooine (the first rebel base). It’s probably good that it’s not; it helps to grow the universe.

A large part of the arc is focused on the wedding of Mon Mothma’s daughter (which Luthen and Kleya are attending as antique dealers). Mon Mothma’s attention is divided between her daughter (with their strained relationship) and co-conspirator Tay Kolma, who, between financial problems and a failing marriage, is getting cold feet about the rebellion.

Meanwhile, Imperial loyalists Dedra Meero and Syril Karn are getting domestic, which surprised me at first. It makes sense, I just didn’t see it coming. They have a slightly amusing dinner with Syril’s overbearing and toxic mother, in which Dedra lays down the law.

A Serious Approach to Star Wars

Skarsgård’s description, “Star Wars for grown-ups”, is right. The arc deals with difficult themes like manipulation, murder, betrayal and sexual violence. Themes that no serious story about oppression and revolution can ignore, but which most Star Wars stories shy away from.

Star Wars typically has morally clear-cut heroes and easily bamboozled villains. That’s okay for a kids’ show, but it doesn’t make for good storytelling.

I am generally inclined to think that Jedi can be morally clear-cut heroes, but only because they have force powers. The rest of the Galaxy should be dark and dangerous. Anyone playing at heroics without those powers is likely to get killed. (Jedi should also be used sparingly, as explained by the Empire’s Jedi Purge.)

But again, most Star Wars media doesn’t do this. Characters with no abilities or powers are constantly able to be heroes and get one over the Empire, ultimately making the Empire look incompetent.

Andor is a refreshing change. It depicts the Empire as an actually threatening fascist force and doesn’t give any plot armour to the would-be heroes. In this week’s arc, Brasso was killed (sniff). It also seems unlikely that B2EMO will see Cassian again. He’s gone to live with someone else.

There are a few characters we know make it to Rogue One: Cassian, Mon Mothma, Melchi, K2SO (who is being introduced this season) and Director Krennic. That characters like Vel, Cinta, Bix and Luthen aren’t in Rogue One suggests this season may involve a lot of characters getting killed.

Some Minor Criticisms

I could praise Andor to no end, but I do have some criticisms of this arc.

In episodes 1 and 2, Cassian gets captured by a group of rebels on Yavin 4. Their leader, Maya Pei, has been killed, and now they’re desperately trying to get off-world. They ultimately start fighting amongst themselves.

I get what they were going for.

The rebels are divided and fighting each other instead of uniting against the Empire, which will gradually occur over the season. The reveal that they’re on Yavin 4 (the eventual headquarters of the Rebel Alliance) is meant to demonstrate this.

But I don’t think it worked.

It was played as comedic for some reason, which is a tonal clash with the rest of the show. Also, the Yavin 4 reveal depends on the audience having knowledge of the wider lore. That is a safe bet for Star Wars, but I don’t think stories should make assumptions like that. It comes dangerously close to a wink-at-the-camera ‘prequel moment’.

Moreover, Cassian ultimately just gets away, and the entire B plot comes to nothing. They clearly just needed him busy so that he can’t help the other characters. I can’t help but think there were better ways to go about doing that.

To be honest, I’m not sure I understand the point of the first arc. It was chiefly focused on reintroducing the main characters and showing us what they’d been up to in the last year.

Ordinarily, that’d be a fine way to start a season. But in this case, I’m not sure it works. If every arc is set a year apart, everything we learn about their current status will quickly become old news.

My criticism, basically, is that they didn’t have quite enough story for this particular arc, hence the need for a slightly comedic B plot and the long character reintroductions.

I am just nitpicking, though.

Final Thoughts

It was a good opening, and I’m looking forward to next week. The arc did a great job of showing the Empire’s oppression, resistance and the rebel infighting that needs to be overcome (especially regarding Tay Kolma’s cold feet).

It also set the Gorman plot in motion, which, Star Wars fans will be able to tell you, will prove central to the formation of the Rebel Alliance.

I did have a couple of small criticisms, but I’m sure that’s only a temporary issue.

Looking forward to next week.

-Dexter