The “Andor” spoilers follow.
“Andor” by Tony Gilroy is a masterpiece not only of the “Star Wars” franchise, Being the best title since “The Empire Strikes Back”, but also just a television masterpiece in general. Each element of the show, its exquisite production design, in the casting and the theater, with impeccable narration which offers an exciting, poignant and appropriate story to fight against fascism, to work together in a transparent way to offer the best television program of the year.
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An underestimated but no less brilliant aspect of “Andor” is the way it connects to the rest of the franchise. Since the prequel trilogy did its best to give a story of origin to each major and minor character, “Star Wars” had a bit of an awkward approach to interconnectivity. We had original stories like how “The Bad Batch” shows the poignant tower of the clones at Stormtroopers, but also the moment of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” when Han draws his family name simply to be unaccompanied.
“Andor” is by far the best example of connection to the rest of the galaxy without feeling forced. Each Easter egg, each head sign feels thought and intentional, rather than pure fans. Not only does the show connect to the original trilogies, but it also brings things from the legends, from the era of the prequel, and more. Of course, as Tony Gilroy has teased it several times, the season accumulates to end like “Snape One”, so there are a lot of head signs to this film, Addition of context to character choicesOr simply already transform main lines into intestine.
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The rebellions are built on the hope
“The rebellions are built on hope” is probably the best line of “Rogue One”, a poignant and emotionally loaded line which ends up being what lights the spark which feeds the battle of Scaif and gives the rebellion its first victory. It was not necessary to explain this line or to give it an additional context, but nevertheless this is what happens in episode 8 of “Andor”.
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In the episode, Cassian Andor of Diego Luna heads for Ghorman to try to assassinate Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) out of revenge for what happened on Ferrix. Realizing the danger in which the inhabitants of Ghorman are, and how difficult it is to obtain a clean blow from Dedra, Cassian decides to abandon the mission and to remove the hell from the planet. When leaving, Cassian turns into Thela (Stefan Crepon), The hotel clerk who explained the history of the first Ghorman massacre in Cassian. Cassian wishes Thela Bonne luck, recognizing the signs that Ghorman is about to find herself like Ferrix, to which Thela simply answers: “The rebellions are built on hope.”
It is a simple and in short head sword, but which says a lot about the kind of spectacle “Andor”, and a sign of head that makes both this show, the Cassian arc and “Rogue One” better than before. Cassian tells this line to Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) at a time when he has fully engaged in rebellion beyond doubt, after all. Seeing that he heard the sentence for the first time while having doubts about his place in the rebellion, and making him hear this sentence of a guy who has already survived a massacre by the Empire and is on the verge of living the genocide of all his people, is both heartbreaking, exciting and goosebumps. The time recontextualizes Cassian saying this line in “Rogue One”, adding another layer of tragedy to the character and his relationship to the rebellion. The line was already great, but now? It could be one of the most important of all the “Star Wars”.
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The Ghorman massacre is the turning point of the imperial era
“Andor” The episode 8 gave us the emotional knot of the season, the antithesis to the episode “One Way Out” by Ande. Where this episode consisted in seeing the oppressed finally retaliated and achieving freedom (but not without heavy sacrifices), episode 8 of season 2 is only 45 minutes of pure and relentless horror and sorrow. It is the worst empire, a moment that we know that we came not only because of “Star Wars Rebels”, but because The show itself told us in the very first episode of the season that Ghorman was doomed to die. Well, no preparation was sufficient to reduce the emotional devastation of seeing the massacre playing in real time.
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It is by far the most heartbreaking thing we have seen in “Star Wars”, an episode that far exceeds the shock of seeing Alderaan explode in the very first film, or the seats of the New Republic explode in “The Force Awakens”. It is not a superpowered evil, but entirely human, based on evil, which is calculated, planned by the committee and executed without remorse.
Director Janus Metz means that the episode looks like a documentary war film while delivering essentially “the miserable” in a galaxy far, far, really, Victor Hugo’s novel was an integral part of the DNA of this show from the start). The sight of a peaceful protest against the occupation turning into a widespread massacre is the most visceral of the franchise. It is heartbreaking, fascinating, extremely well done and as well in time in the way he depicts imperial propaganda at work – as we see several teams of news signaling the events giving the impression that the Ghormans attacked the imperial officers of the planet while in reality they were massacred. This is the moment when everything changes for the “Star Wars” galaxy and for the rebellion. The galaxy looked at.
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