Review: ‘Andor’ Episodes 1-3 Deliver Solid Setup to Great Payoff
In their marketing campaign for the latest Star Wars live-action series, Andor, Lucasfilm and the cast and crew behind the project tried to stress a handful of things to the public. Perhaps the most important one is that this is no regular Star Wars series — it is as close to an HBO drama as Star Wars can get, with no Jedi or lightsabers around. Tony Gilroy, the showrunner, head writer, and executive producer on the series, is famously not a Star Wars fanatic (something that was definitely interesting in some aspects, as I’ll discuss later), and was drawn to the project because of the character drama that he found behind it, as well as the scope that he would be able to achieve with the backing of a huge machine like Disney and Lucasfilm’s.
Diego Luna, who plays 21-year-old, future Rebel spy Cassian Andor, was immediately sold on Gilroy’s pitch, as the writer wanted to test the limits of what Lucasfilm would be willing to do with Star Wars. Right off the bat, he announces to the audience that he wasn’t kidding with all of his talk, when Cassian Andor walks into a brothel in the very first scene of the show. While it certainly isn’t the first time sex is alluded to in Star Wars, Andor got quite explicit in the first two episodes, both in this scene and when Adria Arjona’s Bix visits his booty call late at night in the second episode.
It’s clear from the very beginning that Gilroy doesn’t care about pleasing a fanbase or checking the classic Star Wars boxes that creators like Dave Filoni or Jon Favreau would. And that is not a burn on them either, it’s just a different piece of content, and something Star Wars should be grateful for. Gilroy also doesn’t care about keeping awake those who set their alarms at 3am to watch the new Star Wars episode by throwing flashy action sequences in their faces. He builds his story through dialogue and character conflict, and through careful setup in the first two episodes, he finally delivers a grand spectacle in the third. But we’ll get to that.
I would like to rewind back to the first two episodes before I get to the third, which is by far the best of the bunch that Disney Plus released today. From a writing perspective, it is obvious that there is meticulous planning put into these episodes, perhaps even more than Favreau puts into his episodes of The Mandalorian, which are a different kind of slow burn. I am not a fan of comparing different series, so that’ll be it for now, but I thought it was worth bringing up.
Going in, we knew that the structure of the series would be in blocks of three episodes, perhaps in a similar way to how The Clone Wars is set up. I don’t know if this will be the case for the rest of the arcs, but I am glad Disney Plus decided to release all three of these simultaneously, because the first two episodes were hard to get through at times for me. They were never boring, but I found myself disconnected at times from the characters — especially Cassian — in the first episode.
Good setup makes the payoff hit even harder. Great setup, in addition to that, works on its own. The first two episodes of Andor worked as good setup for what came later, but they do not work as well to me without the payoff. Here’s an example. As mentioned earlier, the very first scene sees Cassian visit a brothel. He’s looking for his sister. So far, so good. Even those viewers who aren’t familiar with the character can already relate to someone looking for their long-lost family. He runs into a few despicable Imperials, who go after him to rob him, and Cassian is forced to kill both of them. This is quite a good introduction to the antagonists of the series, and a solid establishment of our main character — he is looking for his sister and, as seen on his face in a brilliant acting moment for Diego Luna, while he is not happy to be responsible for killing an officer, he would rather kill the second one in cold blood than turn himself in and report it as an accident.
In our heads, the character has now two things in his mind: his sister and killing two Imperial officers. That should be enough to carry the entire season, but the next time we meet him, he’s practically forgotten about it. His second biggest worry is now that Maarva might find out that he went out last night, which also indirectly tells us that this is not the first time he’s run into trouble. But even that is forgotten quickly, because now he’s laser-focused on getting rid of this one item, a box that is quite valuable. We assume it is all connected, and he’s trying to collect some money to get off-planet and disappear, so that when the Empire starts investigating the murder of the two officers, he’s long gone. I appreciate Gilroy trying to appeal to more mature audiences and not having to explain it all the way, but the scenes came across as slightly disconnected for me, especially because of one thing: his sister.
Now, had Cassian not mentioned his sister in the first scene, I think the flow of the episode would have worked much better for me. But you never have a second chance at making a first impression, and the very first thing that Tony Gilroy, when he wrote this episode, wanted us to know about the character is that he’s looking for his sister. A character that is never brought up again in the present timeline (she does appear in the flashbacks, though) in these three episodes. So our initial investment in the character is basically ignored thereafter. I understand that this might be the Cassian’s arc for the season — he just wants to find his sister, and is unconsciously drawn into the fight against the Empire, in a similar way to Finn simply looking for Rey and not caring about the Resistance at the beginning of The Last Jedi and ending up willing to sacrifice himself for the fight (not comparing, just drawing a parallel). However, it would have worked much better for me if the first mention of his sister happened in a later conversation or was just brought up any other time.
The brightest side of the show for me, so far, is Adria Arjona’s Bix Caleen. Her introductory scene and the conversation with Cassian were just fantastic, both in terms of writing and acting. Arjona has been getting more and more work lately, and I hope this will be the high-profile project she needed to finally make the jump to being a recognizable name. I also love that Gilroy’s writing tries to keep the audience on their feet by having them catch up with everything that is going on. The fact that Bix and Cassian have had an on-and-off relationship for a decade or so is never explicitly said in the series, but is definitely implied (and confirmed by Gilroy during the marketing campaign). There is little to no exposition in the series, and practically all the information is delivered to the audience through smart dialogue and clever writing.
Every character also has more than one side to them. Bix is not only Cassian’s ex, but she also has a job and someone who she’s starting to have a relationship with. It’s unclear at the beginning if this is just a sort of revenge move against Cassian, or if she really cares about Timm — however, by the end of episode 3, it’s more than clear that, while she has a soft spot for Cassian, she did grow fond of Timm.
Kyle Soller plays Syril Karn, probably one of the most interesting characters in the series so far. He is eager to pursue the investigation of the double murder despite the fact that his superior thinks it will do them no favors. But letting the murder of two Imperial officers go unpunished is not the way to impose order in the more chaotic sectors of the galaxy. He then meets Alex Ferns’ Sgt. Linus Mosk, who is further down the dark path. Karn is unstoppable at the headquarters, but clearly hasn’t seen much action. Kostek takes over from there and leads the Imperial forces into a straight assault on Ferrix.
I feel like my reaction to these three episodes would have been even better had they condensed the first two into a single, hour-long episode. I don’t need action setpieces to keep me hooked, and I loved the fact that it was mostly all dialogue-based. But judging them as single episodes, I think they would have worked better as just one episode of setup, and then the payoff, which was great. And I don’t mean that just in terms of the third episode having some action. It was great in terms of directing, writing, and editing. And it was quite a complex episode to pull off on all three fronts.
In the second episode, we are introduced to Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael, though barely. It’s not until the third episode that we realize (to my surprise if I’m being honest) that he’s Bix’s contact and already very familiar with Cassian. So much so that he’s convinced he can make him join the Rebellion he’s trying to create. An entire 1500-word article could be written to dissect why the main action setpiece of episode 3 is a masterwork of directing and writing, and I will spare you the details, other than to say that the shooting inside the warehouse is some of the best lightsaber-less action setpieces in Star Wars since The Mandalorian‘s Krayt dragon sequence. Besides the main shootout between the ISB officers and Cassian/Luthen, there is an additional level of danger, which is the levers that are inside the warehouse, which act unpredictably both in favor of and against our heroes.
Having the entire village turn on the Empire, but doing so in a very unsettling way, was great. One of my favorite moments was when Maarva reveals that the true danger will come when the noise stops. A lesser writer and a lesser editor would have stopped the noise right at that moment — but not Tony Gilroy or John Gilroy, who edited this episode. In an almost Hitchcockian move, they decided to keep us on the edge of our seats for a little while longer, and then, when it finally stopped, we are as breathless as the Imperials are.
I should also mention the Apocalypto-style flashbacks where we are introduced to Kassa in Kenari, a young boy trying to survive inside a community made of children that we assume are victims of the Clone Wars. I was expecting a Clone Wars-era flashback and maybe even to meet Cassian’s parents, but this worked even better. The scenes, shot in Black Park, worked as a great introduction to the Rogue One line “I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old.” A younger Fiona Shaw appears by the end as Maarva Andor, and the relationship between the two is finally revealed to the audience — she is his adoptive mother.
Another minor complaint I would give the series is that both the costume design and the makeup at times feel more science-fiction than fantasy or Star Wars, which in many ways is its own sub-genre at this point. The people that Kassa finds inside that wrecked ship looked very Star Trek to me, with major Data vibes. And that isn’t all of it — other aliens and even humans have more of a Trek vibe than the classic Star Wars look. It didn’t take me out, but I feel like this is where Gilroy’s relative inexperience with Star Wars as a fan came in.
On the flip side, however, I do feel like he took extra steps to familiarize himself with certain Star Wars lore by constantly consulting the Story Group, something we know actually happened. It’s almost like he left his Oscar nomination — and the ego that comes with it — at the gate, and knocked on the Story Group’s door saying “Teach me, guys.” This was translated into a wonderful use of comlinks, droids, the Imperial bureaucracy, the geography of the galaxy, and even the way certain people talk about the political status of the time (and I feel like this is going to be even more explored once Mon Mothma gets introduced).
At the end of the day, the first three episodes of Andor were a solid start to the series, which I’m sure will get much better as more episodes start to come out. I just hope the next two are not as slow and even disconnected as the first two, not having to wait as an audience until the payoff of the second block to be truly satisfied. I’m sure this will not be the case, as we’re surely being introduced to Mon Mothma and Saw Gerrera quite soon, as well as Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, who will probably launch an assault on Ferrix in retaliation. I’m fascinated to see what consequences Syril Karn will face now that he is essentially responsible for the deaths of at least two officers and endangering a dozen more. I wonder whether Dedra Meero will take care of him or simply collaborate.
Our three hosts from The Resistance Broadcast have also done a reaction to each of the three episodes — you can check them out below:
Tonight, go to the Star Wars News Net YouTube channel for TRB Live, a live discussion where John, James, and Lacey will be discussing the three-episode premiere at 9:30pm EST.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
