We need to talk about Cassian

Wed_Santa
931 posts Member
edited September 2022
Ok. I’ve noticed a thunderous silence of threads in relation to the new Andor series. Even Zombiefyer hasn’t proposed a new Kenari scavenger fan kit or Pri-Mo Corporate Security faction- so I’m hazarding a guess that folks just aren’t warming to it? Is that the case? You see I’m struggling to like it myself. The first two episodes felt so slow & miserable that I almost didn’t watch episode 3. Then episode 3 started warming up with some decent action and even humour (very much lacking in episodes 1 & 2).

Yet, there’s good actors in it; the world building is interesting; there’s an attempt to give it some real world grown up themes; it has unity of time, place and action. It’s trying hard (so far) to root the Rebellion in real human scale events and concerns - no hokey religions or mumbo jumbo in sight - yet still I can’t seem to get into it. Anyone else managed to get excited (& looking forward to a B2EMO or Bix toon any time soon)?

Replies

  • I agree. It was really boring for me and I thought it took way too long for him just walking around and trying to leave. 3 Episodes! I jokingly compared it to the Hobbit where it also takes half the movie before they are on the road and yet I found that execution better than Andor's.

    I also agree about the actors. The problem is not bad acting. It's more the script or directing I think. Andor seemed very one dimensional. In the movie he cracked cocky one liners and had this kind of scoundrel attitude, a bit like Han. In those last 3 episodes he had the same sulky facial expression the whole time. I missed his sly expressions and tone of voice.

    I really hope it gets better in the next episodes.
    We are all made of star-stuff
  • I've just finished Kenobi, and I've watched the first episode of Andor. I think I'm going to like Andor a lot more!
  • LordDirt
    4941 posts Member
    Wife and I watched the first two episodes last week. Neither has pushed to watch the rest.
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • I said to a friend that they released the right number of episodes at the beginning.

    I was not into it after #1 or #2, but I continued watching #3 b/c I have a friend who wanted us both to watch Andor on the same day and then talk about it.

    And guess what? After #3 I was hooked.

    The first 2 episodes are.a poor introduction. If you've already watched them, you've made it through the slog. Reward yourself with Ep3.
  • I think episodes 1-3 could easily have been edited into a double length pilot episode - Losing 30-40 mins of padding
    like most of the Kassa back story and all the homoerotic bell tower gong banging for a start
    and it would have been a well paced mini-movie style series opener.

    Now the empire have shown up,
    styled by Ahnald apparently
    it feels like there’s a bit more promise but essentially Andor is a thriller so it needs to, well, thrill…

    I am liking the acting though and that’s holding my attention but I do wish these big franchises wouldn’t get so lazy about editing.
  • Is it a thriller, though?

    Lots of heist movies, for example, start slow and go through assembling a team and doing the planning before you see any significant action. And we're being set up for a heist.

    And, to be fair, though most "spy" fiction. involves serious action/thriller scenes, real spy **** is mostly doing your cover job and occasionally going to a party where you contact is going to be, getting nervous as hell that someone is going to notice when your contact passes you the micro-SD card, nobody sees, you go back to your cover job.

    This obviously isn't going to be that boring, but I don't mind if they take some time to do some more sneaky spy stuff in a series about a spy.
  • Hmm. You seem to know an awful lot about real spy ****… anything you want to neither confirm nor deny?
  • I'm really liking it. 1 was good. 2 was dull as dish water, apart from the flashbacks there was nothing there. 3 though was fantastic, the best thing since bad batch and mandalorian. 4 was good........I'm a little worried it's now going to turn into Ocean's 7 though!

    One thing I heard/read once by a director or some such was (I'm paraphrasing) 'Sci Fi story lines are exactly the same as any other movie story line, just set in space.'

    It's a concept I don't agree with. I do feel that the people behind Andor may disagree with me though!
  • LordDirt
    4941 posts Member
    Wife and I had nothing to watch last night so we watched 3-5. Episode 3 picked up and was interesting and 4 & 5 seemed like just a heist show. They were definitely better than 1 & 2 but we both felt that it really didnt feel like SW. It barely feels like it takes place in the same universe. If the show wasn't SW: Andor then we most likely wouldnt even watch the show. We will finish the season but neither of us feel attached to any of the characters and we already know Andor lives.
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • I don’t really see it as a heist story so much as a deconstruction of the rebellion - all the different elements that come together to make up the Alliance (revenge, opportunism, idealism etc) - but very very slowly explained….
    …also, we keep getting told the Empire is awful but so far haven’t been shown it, so the plot unfolding feels more like a rather po-faced lesson than a story you get emotionally engaged with. So for example….
    Skeen’s story about is brother could just be a case of a depressive drowning himself rather than a example of Imperial cruelty - he himself complains that a comrade sees oppression everywhere… maybe they’re just a bunch of petulant malcontents- we only have their word for it so far
  • LordDirt
    4941 posts Member
    I was thinking the same thing while watching the show, why is the Empire looked at so horribly yet people are just going around living their life? What makes them bad?
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • LordDirt wrote: »
    I was thinking the same thing while watching the show, why is the Empire looked at so horribly yet people are just going around living their life? What makes them bad?

    Well I think it's the forced labor and borderline to extreme poverty for the majority. Also the nail that sticks out.....

  • I fail to see how none of that existed during the republic before the empire.
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • Lumiya
    1431 posts Member
    Well, for example you could have an "independent" planet on which a "rogue" Empire Officer with too many ambitions wreaks havoc, destroying things and killing people and as a result, instead of an apology or help, the planet gets totally controlled by the Empire afterwards. I'd say that is one good example of an oppressive, bad Empire.
    We are all made of star-stuff
  • LordDirt
    4941 posts Member
    edited October 2022
    The rebels destroyed the Empire but never fixed anything and opened the door to the First Order.
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • Lumiya
    1431 posts Member
    LordDirt wrote: »
    The rebels destroyed the Empire but never fixed anything and opened the door to the First Order.

    Yeah, I am not sure if I would take the "story" of the sequels into account 😉
    We are all made of star-stuff
  • Lumiya wrote: »
    LordDirt wrote: »
    The rebels destroyed the Empire but never fixed anything and opened the door to the First Order.

    Yeah, I am not sure if I would take the "story" of the sequels into account 😉

    Cant pick and chose
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • Lumiya
    1431 posts Member
    edited October 2022
    LordDirt wrote: »
    Lumiya wrote: »
    LordDirt wrote: »
    The rebels destroyed the Empire but never fixed anything and opened the door to the First Order.

    Yeah, I am not sure if I would take the "story" of the sequels into account 😉

    Cant pick and chose

    Sure I can. Just as I can say it's a shame that GoT never got finished and I wish there were some more seasons after season 7. 😜

    No, but seriously. I know there are people who like the sequels and I don't want to get off topic here, but I do think there are some massive weaknesses and plot holes "story" wise that it would open up a can of worms to use points of that underdeveloped Trilogy. There are so many plot points that didn't get explained, so nobody even knows how exactly the FO could rise and how exactly the Rebels could be so incapable that it could happen etc.

    Eta: Back on topic, before we get carried away about the sequels, because neither they nor their story have anything to do with the point that was being made, which was that it is not visible that the Empire is bad and I just gave an example of how it is shown that it is.
    Post edited by Lumiya on
    We are all made of star-stuff
  • Ok. Now the Eye…
    That was a nice looking episode. I actually liked the way the Empire were presented - with a mix of arrogance, pettiness, venality and a touch of humanity too. Series is starting to grow on me. Could have done without
    all the drippy hippy scandi-knitwear hygge chanting
    but otherwise a solid episode.
  • @Lumiya the rise of FO was told but it wasn't in any movie, TV show or book. Battlefront 2 somewhat showed how the FO rose up so fast and quick. The rebel one ya not sure, guessing the reason was complacency.
  • TVF
    36518 posts Member
    I really wish this thread was titled Andor instead of Cassian. As it stands I keep thinking it is SWGOH related only to find out / remember it's a thread I don't want to read because I don't want spoilers.
    I need a new message here. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • Lumiya
    1431 posts Member
    @Lumiya the rise of FO was told but it wasn't in any movie, TV show or book. Battlefront 2 somewhat showed how the FO rose up so fast and quick. The rebel one ya not sure, guessing the reason was complacency.

    I was talking about the movies and know they somewhat touched on it in battlefront😉
    But thanks for the info 🙂
    We are all made of star-stuff
  • harvestmouse
    890 posts Member
    edited October 2022
    LordDirt wrote: »
    Lumiya wrote: »
    LordDirt wrote: »
    The rebels destroyed the Empire but never fixed anything and opened the door to the First Order.

    Yeah, I am not sure if I would take the "story" of the sequels into account 😉

    Cant pick and chose

    Well 'continuity' is such a problem with Star Wars, I think you have to.

    Any how............back on topic. I really like Andor, a lot more than I thought I would.

    I hear that figures aren't good though. It feels a little bit like the 'Solo' movie. A solid movie that suffered from mediocre stuff before and over-saturation. It's a shame.

  • I didn’t care to read all that, but I can say one thing: I watched the first 4 episodes so far and I like it a whole lot more than kenobi.
  • It’s really coming into its own now. I like the way it shows the Empire and life in the Empire at a granular level - how it is for ‘ordinary’ people - and (@TVF please stop reading & go and see someone about your short term memory)
    I prefer those scenes to the Mon Mothma stuff, which feels a bit redundant. I loved the way the camera panned out across the rows and rows of workstations in the imperial standards office. Also Star Wars on Sea.
    A good episode all round
  • TVF
    36518 posts Member
    edited October 2022
    There's another, more appropriately titled thread for this.
    Post edited by TVF on
    I need a new message here. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • TVF wrote: »
    There's another, more appropriately titled thread for this.

    You just don’t like puns.

    Ok @Ultra can you merge the Andor threads to avoid confusing the elders?
  • I personally think Andor is great! Yea, it's for those who enjoy a bit more of detailed storytelling and not for those in need of intense action in the first 5 minutes.
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