‘The Mandalorian’ was a breath of fresh air within the Star Wars universe, but both ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ and ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ were great disappointments that invited us to think that the franchise created by george lucas could have run out. And I can’t say I was too confident that ‘Andor’ was going to change that.
Also, ‘Andor’ promised to be nothing short of a waste of time, since it revolved around a character that I hadn’t even liked that much in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’. Perhaps that is why the surprise has been so great, since its first three episodes They invite us to think that we are facing the best live action series of the saga.
At the time, Disney+’s movement to postpone the premiere of ‘Andor’ and launch three episodes directly attracted attention, since it seemed to be a way to both protect the series a little compared to ‘The house of the dragon’ and ‘ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ as to separate it a little more from the arrival of ‘She-Hulk: Lawyer Hulka’. Once seen, I am clear that the mistake would have been to start with a single chapter or even two.
From here you will find SPOILERS of the first three episodes of ‘Andor’
The virtues of ‘Andor’
And it is that these first three episodes are still a gateway to the universe of the series, but at the same time they function as an introduction, middle and end to fix the motivations of its protagonist and better understand what led him to come into contact with the Resistance against the Empire.
As such, the start of ‘Andor’ shines from the thriller, with its protagonist with fewer and fewer options to try to escape from the mess he has gotten into by ending the lives of two agents of the Empire. That pressure is something that first conveys the interpretation of diego moon and that later adds more and more elements – especially noteworthy are those metallic noises as the overwhelming soundtrack of the third episode – to the point of capturing the viewer and being genuinely exciting. Because we all know that he will manage to escape, but the series manages to avoid it seeming like a mere formality.
I have no doubt that it also helps that the three episodes are signed by the same director (Toby Haynes) and that all of them are written by Tony Gilroy, who already participated in the script for ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’. That helps everything to be more compact, although it is fair to point out that those flashbacks to dig a little into the past of its protagonist are not up to the rest.
They have their logic as a common thread and to give more depth to the character and the search he is carrying out -something that I have no doubt will be taken up again in later episodes-, some parallels with the present time appear, but on other occasions they break the rhythm without contributing anything memorable in return. Luckily, things get better in the third, about when the main character’s path crosses Maarva’s (Fiona Shaw).
Another striking detail is how well integrated the lighter notes are without this meaning giving the comic a marked presence. From that bodyguard for those who want to collect a debt from Andor to that passenger in the scene that serves to introduce us to the character of Stellan Skarsgård -the best of the function by far, since it is not the same to appear self-confident as to transmit it, something that he more than achieves-, everything goes rather in the line of giving the series a curious everyday touch that suits him very good.
In return, this beginning of ‘Andor’ has a more contained and street approach. I am not going to say that it is a dirty proposal, but it does have a different spirit from what the saga has accustomed us to. This is something that is also noticeable visually, where the most spectacular moments are at the service of what the story needs at that moment. And their presence is quite small.
Its protagonists benefit from this, since ‘Andor’ is a bit of a celebration of the secondary characters, of those who struggle to get ahead and trust their criteria above what others propose. That makes them more human and closer. Be careful, do not expect to go from night to day at this point, but here, at least for now, nostalgia is banished and the motivations of the protagonists matter and are more elaborated. With that there is already a lot of gain.
The only doubt I have left is to know exactly what series ‘Andor’ will become after these three episodes. He already has a rival out there who I imagine will reappear later wanting revenge on the protagonist, but now It’s time to know if it will continue to have its own spirit or if it has already reached the ceiling and he will have to live adventures here and there in preparation for what we saw in ‘Rogue One’. It is confirmed that there will be two seasons and that it will end up connecting with said film, but, please, do not limit it from now on to being the prequel of the prequel.
In Espinof: