Dan Poxton

After the magnificence of Andor, this is a depressing return to Disney's low quality, formulaic fan service conveyor belt. An excruciatingly slow and macguffin filled plot, threadbare dialogue delivered haltingly by actors phoning it in. StarWars fans: Disney has bet the farm that they can deliver this stream of junk-food television to you and you'll call it steak and ask for seconds, and you're so inured to bad quality you're doing exactly that. As a fandom Starwars is unfortunately getting everything it deserves, it craves for fan service and more of the same old tropes, and is willing to utterly disregard the lack of quality, originality and craft that makes for good TV. Until the fandom is able to look objectively at TV shows like Ashoka and Obi Wan and see them for the infantile, cobbled-together embarraments they are, Disney will continue to churn this dross.

This is BRILLIANT, not just brilliant for a Star Wars how, but brilliant by the standards of critically acclaimed television. I'm thinking "The Wire" or "Breaking Bad", that level of production and craft. The dialogue and acting are out of this world, with a real dedication to building mood and characterization in a serious way. I can't speak highly enough of the quality of this serries. Too often Star Wars recently has got caught up on the same old tropes: the Skywalkers, Tatooine, easy callbacks to fan favorites. Andor is braver than that, it dares to explore stories and themes outside the comfort zone of the average Star Wars fan: who are the rebellion? How did it start? How would it feel to be one of the few setting themselves against the empire? What is the nature of the empire? What kind of oppressive state surveillance and secret police keep it under control? What do they do with their dissidents? These are lofty questions and Andor treats them with skill and nuance. I could write all day about the performances given by actors like Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgaard, Andy Serkis and Genevieve O'Reilly. They've taken great writing and forged it into something epic. The scene's they've delivered have given me goosebumps. If I could ask for a future for the Star Wars universe, I would say: "Andor", make it more like Andor.