Who ever thought a prequel to a prequel could be this good? Honestly, the first season of Andor feels like a prequel to a prequel to a prequel, but (shockingly enough) it’s an excellent show on a standalone basis. In the context of Star Wars, however, Andor shoulders the unenviable job of wringing hefty dollops of tension out of situations that, by all accounts, shouldn’t be very tense (given that we already know the fate of the main character). The truly astounding thing is that it works. This show could have ended up a lot like the movie Valkyrie – a slick, tightly-shot attempt at a thriller that wound up being about as thrilling as watching crustaceans evolve in real time. We all knew that bomb wasn’t going to kill Hitler! (If Tarantino had directed, then maybe…but he didn’t, so it didn’t.)

We don’t have a Valkyrie situation on our hands here, thankfully. If anything, the show started off solid and moved into good – often great – territory. Before I get too carried away prostrating myself at the altar of Andor’s greatness, let’s take a look at the last two episodes – I’ll refer to them as the “Funeral Arc,” because of the funeral everybody went to.

Speaking of funerals: if mine is half as badass as Maarva’s, I’ll count my entire existence a success. Starting a riot (and, by extension, a galactic rebellion) at your own funeral is just…so fucking boss. The funereal music was both otherworldly and inspiring, like Eye of the Tiger, but performed by an alien that’s full of steroids and misplaced enthusiasm for the pugilistic arts.

Leading the charge at the funeral are Blue-Collar Brasso and Maarva’s droid B2-EMO, a heartwarming pairing that I didn’t expect to feel so invested in; I was pleasantly surprised that both survived the season. B2-EMO is a new kind of droid for the franchise: one that’s, for lack of a better term, emo. My guy is one bad day away from putting on eyeliner and listening to Evanescence on a Walkman while he lurks outside the local Hot Topic.

You know what’s kind of nuts? I didn’t spot a single lightsaber during this season’s twelve episodes – hell, there were only one or two scenes with Stormtroopers in them. That’s like making a Slim Jim without mechanically separated chicken. I guess you could characterize whatever the fuck Luthen had strapped to his ship as “lightsabers, plural,” but I’m going to stick with the objectively-more-badass “lazer wings” (with a ‘z’). The scene portraying Luthen’s escape from the Cantwell-class Imperial ship was awesome even before we got to the “lazer wings,” with the galaxy’s most murderous antiques dealer demonstrating both a cool head and a knack for risky piloting as he violently trolls the underprepared Imperial ships.

Luthen doesn’t spend all his time blowing up TIE fighters in the Fondor (I’m pretty sure that’s the name of his own ship). He gets up to some edgy spy stuff, too, from sacrificing Anto Kreegyr (and his 30 men) to protect his source inside the Imperial Security Bureau to endlessly stressing out his assistant (who, to be honest, might be fun to watch in a spinoff workplace comedy). Luthen was also one-half of two of the most interesting standoffs of the season: his tense reunion with Cassian and his talk with Forest Whitaker’s delightfully bonkers Saw Gerrara (regarding the sacrifice of the aforementioned 30-men-plus-Kreegyr).

Over on the other side of the political spectrum, Syril’s obsessive, stalkerish tendencies somehow impress Dedra (OK, sure, he saved her life, but still). At the end of the day, though…let a thousand blossoms bloom, as far as I’m concerned. I ain’t spending any time on it, because in the meantime, every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland.

While we’re on the topic of the Imperials, I should give a shout-out to whoever designed the costumes and equipment for the Imperial Riot Troopers – it’s always fun to try and extrapolate information about the Empire from new Trooper types when they show up. The overhead shot of the Riot Troopers assembling in battle formation as the funeral became increasingly tense was *chef’s kiss* good; the bird’s-eye view made the Imperials look almost like mechanical bugs swarming in unison.

Then that one dickhead officer goes and knocks B2-EMO over, Brasso Sparta-kicks[1] the guy, and the funeral attendees start the afterparty early. The first scenes of the finale showed a Ferrix resident assembling a homemade bomb; Chekhov’s IED bears explosive fruit shortly after the riot kicks off, although I’m not clear on how many Imperials it actually took out. Overall, I wish there had been a bit more clarity regarding the riot’s fallout – sure, we know the fates of the major characters who were either involved in or adjacent to events as they transpired, but I wish we’d gotten a couple of shots showing how the nameless civilians were doing. Like, are we talking Tiananmen Square or Kent State? Neither one’s good, but if I had to pick I know what I’d choose (it’s not the one where I get run over by a tank after buying groceries).

Thankfully (and unlike the aforementioned real-life tragedies) the good guys get a couple of wins in: Vel’s girlfriend Cinta, who’s been lurking on Ferrix for the past few episodes, knifes the Imperial that’s also been lurking around on Ferrix for the past few episodes. Her murderous pre-stabbing stare is the scariest facial expression I’ve seen since the last time I sharted at a funeral. While I’m giving props to the good guys, let’s hear it for Hammer Dude™, who took a break from whaling on the anvil in his bell (anvil?) tower to kick a Stormtrooper to their demise. Excellent sense of dramatic timing; I’m sure he’s already got an action figure.

I suppose I should discuss Cassian Andor if I’m going to review the show Andor. Let’s talk about Mon Mothma first, though.

It sure looks like Mon is using her daughter as a bargaining chip after all…yikes. I mean, I get that she needs to launder money, but there are other ways to do that (besides marrying your daughter off to the child of a crime lord)! The whole situation is maybe 5% less morally reprehensible than it could be, given that her daughter seems to be fine with the idea of an arranged marriage…but she’s, like, 13 years old. At least wait ‘til the age of majority to make that decision, you know? Shit, look how Mon’s arranged marriage worked out! (It rhymes with ‘shitty’.) I’m sure Mon will be able to extricate herself from her financial entanglements (given her presence in the original trilogy of films), but at what cost to her family? Her husband sucks, but I’m worried on Vel’s behalf – she’s basically a bull in a china (antique?) shop, which might be effective in the short-term but isn’t a good way to stay off the ISB’s radar.

As for our boy Cassian, he doesn’t do anything too unexpected in the season’s last two episodes, but was compelling to watch nonetheless; Diego Luna is entirely convincing as the haunted proto-Rebel, whether he’s coldly putting down Imperial goons or showing a softer side to Brasso, Bix, and B2 while he organizes their escape from Ferrix. Particularly memorable were Cassian’s takedown of the guard outside Bix’s cell (some great choreography on display there) and his tense, season-capping exchange with Luthen in the cockpit of the Fondor. Thankfully, Cassian didn’t shoot Luthen midsentence (you have to admit, Cass kind of has a history with that), so we get to look forward to the pair teaming up for some hijinks next season.

The Narkinian fishermen that briefly captured Cassian and Melshi in Episode 11 were a delightful surprise – I know I’ve been harping on the relative absence of aliens in the show, but the introduction of this new species was exciting and thoughtfully done (although those nets are uncomfortably sploogey). Their sympathy to the (ex) prisoners’ plight was, perhaps, a bit serendipitous – but the show put in the work to make sure it didn’t feel immersion-breaking, with Cassian making the logical argument that he, Melshi and the Narkinians had a common enemy in the water-befouling Empire.

I’m a stickler for continuity, which meant I was tickled pink to see Cassian return to Niamos (yeah, I had to look that one up) to grab his preposterously-sized hand cannon and that one dead guy’s manifesto. It didn’t need to be a long scene, and it wasn’t – I was just pleased to see the show doing its homework, so to speak.

The very last scene of the season, which revealed the purpose of the widgets the prisoners were making on Narkina 5, was arguably pretty predictable –  but I found that it added a delicious bit of dramatic irony to Cassian’s story.

At the end of the day, was an excellent twelve episodes of television – Andor would be worth a watch even were the franchise tag not attached. It’s got a great mix of complex characters, believable-yet-otherworldly settings, and punchy, high-stakes action the likes of which we don’t get enough of on TV. Now that you can watch entire plot arcs in one sitting (instead of forgetting things during the week-to-week wait), there’s never been a better time to give Andor a watch. I’m optimistic about next season, and hope that the powers that be over at Disney encourage projects with a similar tone in the future.

Rating:

Episode 11: 8.75/10 (+.25/-.75)

Episode 12: 9.5/10 (+.25/-.5)

Overall Season Rating: 9/10 (+.5/-.75)

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[1] That was a 300 reference, for the record. (You probably already knew that.)