MLGG: Pop Culture News, Reviews and Interviews

Andor’s mother has passed away; her funeral seems to be the perfect opportunity for the ISB to catch Cassian. Meanwhile, he’s on the run having escaped the hellish prison facility, but he’s not out of danger yet. Luthen pays a visit to an ally, but things get out of hand for him too. Syril Karn receives some important information – and Mon Mothma’s situation is worsening; she seems to be losing those closest to her as her trouble deepens.

There’s no need for me to gush over the beautiful cinematography, flawless performances (Genevieve O’Reilly has been phenomenal throughout, though perhaps never stronger than in one particularly devastating scene here), incredible writing and stunning score again, right?

Because if you’re already watching Andor, you know. You can see it, hear it and feel every thread of the show gnawing at your emotions as the drama intensifies.

Who knew I could have so much empathy and concern for a droid, for example? One scene here is a masterclass in nuance and detail, right down to the tiny movements, gestures and noises that a droid makes. I mean sure, I like R2-D2 and C-3PO, but I’m not sure that I’ve ever truly felt like either of them needed a hug or to be told that they’d be ok.

There’s a scene here that gets as Star Wars-esque as Andor has been so far – a phenomenally tense encounter that ends up being as thrilling, if not more so, than any action sequence I can think of in Star Wars, ever.

Partly, that’s because of all of this careful building up of characters, of the political intrigue and raising of the stakes for everyone we’ve seen so far. When it finally kicks off and we get a scene that could be from any number of Star Wars shows or movies, it means so much more because of what we see and what we know of the importance of this character; of the knock on effect that the consequences will have if things go wrong.

A house of cards has been slowly, carefully and compellingly built over the course of this season of Andor – despite knowing the ultimate climax of the ongoing saga and certain characters that feature here, it’s remarkable just how invested I’ve become in seeing that house of cards remaining stable.

Yet of course, it’s all set to come tumbling down in one way or another.

And yes, this really is the best that Star Wars has ever been; it’s truly a phenomenal achievement – and I can’t wait to see how everything falls apart in the next episode.

My only concern is that Andor will now ruin Star Wars in a way; is this lightning in a bottle? Is it too far from what the average Star Wars fan wants? What happens when we go back to the pew pew and clunky callbacks and cameos in other shows?

Regardless, Andor has raised the bar for Star Wars and for TV in general; it doesn’t get better than this.

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