Andor is Moving and Conflicted

 

I am deeply divided on Andor. The hype around it automatically made me suspicious and prejudiced against it. The hype grew, my suspicions deepened. 

The first three episodes were so bad that I didn’t bother investigating further. 

We can blame the following blog post on my brother. My brother does not ask much of me. He is a generally the Huck Finn to my Tom Sawyer, quietly observing as I fly into the clouds and stay there a good long time. And, at one point, he told me he adored Andor. My brother is not a man to mince words, nor one who follows trends. He is one of the very few people I have met who forms genuine opinions.  So, if something moves him, I shut up and pay attention. When I told him the first three episodes sucked, he agreed they were rough, but to skip them. 

Did I listen? Of course not! I am stubborn! I tried starting again at the first three episodes again. What a surprise, I hated them! Badly structured with way too much yellow crap.

At some point I laughed at my stupidity and did what my brother suggested. And I really like the first season! I have three caveats, three pieces of context to refer back to before reading my thoughts on the first season of Andor.

Caveat the first: Star Wars is music expressed as a story. This is not up for debate, it is not a question worth arguing over. You listen to the music, let the images link up to it in your head, and use the dialogue to contextualize the music and images. That's how George did it and it's what Lucasfilm under Disney continues to do. If you disagree with this point nothing I am about to say will make sense to you. So, if you get lost, come back here and read this paragraph again.

Caveat the second: Star Wars is irrevocably Arthurian. And the Arthurian ideal, best expressed in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is that of the noble failure, where one can't win, but goes down swinging as hard as one can. The green claims you after you have worn your body out past death. Nobility is not in succeeding, but in preferring death rather than giving your foe what he wants.

The Force is simply Arthurian logic given power. Luke's triumphs in the OT are born from the Arthurian ideal given actuality. From blowing up to the first Death Star to sparing Vader to providing an escape path to the Resistance, Luke's successes are the noble failure par excellance. If you're trying to figure out who Luke is, look no further than Gawain of Camelot. 

But, no matter what happens, eventually you will fail. Like Frodo at Mount Doom, eventually you will be unable to resist. So fight until the green reclaims your bones! The rest of us get a green armband, because if only we could fail like Gawain!

The last caveat before I actually get to the point. I think Lucasfilm has a lot more creative control than most people think. So, when I watch anything Star Wars, I assume the other stuff matters. If it's released, it's meant to line up with everything else on a thematic level. Different works emphasize different thematic elements. You get a mosaic of experiences of mortals grappling with the central truth: death is preferable to giving in to what evil wants.

So, when they're charging the lines and shouting "Freedom!" I cheer because, for just one moment, everyone threw off their fear before it all came crashing down. The First Order is going to happen, folks! The next generation doesn't stick the landing, because as it turns out the house always wins, because the house doesn't play fair, and the next generation forgot. Because they always forget.

No, that's not subtext in Andor, it's literally shown right here:

Congratulations on resisting, the Empire is way ahead of you. It always is. The house always wins. You are not winning; you are choosing a way of life. You are choosing how you will die. No more. No less. 

And if you don't want to do this? If you don't want to resist the downward inner pull of the universe?

I assure you Luke pulls it off better than you. He bounced back five years after losing a dozen foster children, which is a superhuman act of fortitude. Don't like it? For the love of God avoid couples who miscarried. You may not be able to handle the sheer amount of inevitable soul rust. 

All the caveats aside. What do I think of Andor itself, not to mention its nearly universal acclaim as the new Star Wars hotness? Andor is a brilliant but unoriginal Star Wars show. It deserves high praise, but not the kind of acclaim it’s given. In reality, Andor has some deep flaws that result from the stupidity of the streaming model, which also simultaneously makes the story possible. 

Andor’s writing is brilliant. No one should be arguing this. The scope of  “We’re doing this on purpose” is beyond obvious. The plot is a perfectly crafted slowburn, filled with thematic showcases that only look like digressions. It isn’t Monster levels of brilliance, but anyone pulling off theme-as-plot is doing something incredible. Time and again, Andor stops to breathe. To process. To let you think about what you just saw. It can take a minute to get used to, but Andor pays off its promises every time. 

The real protagonist and true brilliance of Andor is Luthen Rael, the man who must make it all stop.  Stellan Skarsgard elevates the practically-perfect material written for him with an inspired performance. Luthen wields his grief as a dagger in the dark, for the benefit of others… assuming he doesn’t stab them In the back. Luthen is dangerous, unpredictable, with the right mix of actual masculinity and vulnerability to make him sympathetic. He is the broken heart of Andor. 

Arguably the show lets lightning strike twice by making the second-most boring character in Rogue One compelling: Cassian Andor. The show does a convincing progression, from selfish thief to conflicted hero. Diego Luna really pours himself into Cassian, showing as the walls around his soul crack, break, and collapse. I didn’t expect to give a shit about Cassian at the beginning of the show. The fact I do relatively quickly is a testament to the quality of the writing and acting. 

Unfortunately, that’s about where the brilliance stops. The rest of the characters are basically tools to advance the plot except for brief shining moments. Bix particularly suffers from writing that in any other show would be called out as chauvinistic, but the titillation of a brutal rape attempt is just too much to pass up. Mon Mothma almost hits brilliance (incredible speech aside!), but keeps getting sidelined. It’s a frustrating thing to witness all around, given how on fire this cast is. I understand they were cut short, and to a degree I even approve. But don’t introduce pieces you’re not going to move around! The stuff they do pull off is amazing, however! However. Andor doesn’t quite deserve the praise it gets. Aside from Luthen, these themes of “What are you willing to give up to keep everything going?” have been done a lot in Star Wars, and sometimes much better. Clone Wars and Tales of the Jedi does far more realistic (and useful) political commentary. Rebels has a much better supporting cast and overall writing. It’s not that Andor doesn’t have the best moments in Star Wars: “One way out” is, objectively, simply the most Star Wars thing ever. Period. It’s that other shows are more evenly constructed all around. I would prefer to rewatch Rebels (and am doing just that), because of the wider tonal range and cast of characters. 

And honestly? Andor is hampered by being connected to Rogue One. I am of the mind that, as the cultural zeitgeist changes, people will finally be allowed to see just how mediocre a film Rogue One really is. And returning to it after Andor only exacerbates the problems of Rogue One. All the characters except Chirrut and Saw are just… there. The plot moves because it’s supposed to move. It’s quite obvious Gilroy improved meteorically on Andor, and good for him, but it makes Rogue One look worse. I think it was a mistake to openly link the two. 

Andor has the single best moments in Star Wars. Period. Luthen is a breath of fresh air. Its uneven treatment of characters and plot, however, hamper it. As good as this show is, as beautiful as its moments, there is a reason why the streaming model doesn’t work. But at least we got this gem before the end.