Disappointed (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Sunday, November 27, 2022, 20:52 (737 days ago) @ CyberKN

People built this up as the best thing since sliced bread.

It was unusual that I even tried it, because I'd heard nothing good about the last two shows. I started it only because Rogue One is my favorite Disney Star Wars movie. I hadn't heard any hype. After loving the first one I went looking and found a bunch people claiming this wasn't Star Wars, there's no lightsabers, stuff like that. What they didn't like about it was what I liked about it, and that might be the case here.

Andor is Season 4 of Star Trek: Enterprise, but less entertaining. They try to do the thing where you have multiple mini-arcs in a season, but the episodes that try to "flesh out characters" and "build tension" are so devoid of anything interesting and repetitive, that I struggle to think how anyone could keep engaged in this show on a week-to-week basis, aside from the performances.

Wow, well, didn't see Star Trek: Enterprise, but otherwise I have to agree to disagree. One of my favorite episodes was episode 5, where Cassian gets to know the heist crew. It's subtle, well-written, and believable. Most importantly, the things we learn about the characters are interesting and have significance that carries forward.

Spoiler-free example: The Buyer gives a rousing speech at the conclusion of episode 2 an an attempt to recruit Cassian. It's very well acted and delivered. He then gives almost that exact same speech at the beginning of 3, to the same person.

The Buyer actually doesn't meet him until the middle of episode 3, but regardless, if you're talking about their first two times they speak, they begin a conversation that is interrupted and picked up again in the next episode. I didn't find it repetitive, except it was the same subject that got fleshed out.

The conclusions of these mini-arcs, when they finally happen, are good, but not enough to excuse all the filler that comes before-hand. Andor would easily be a much better series if it was compressed into 6 episodes instead of 12. This has been a recurring theme with every Disney+ show with the notable exception of the Mandalorian.

Again, this might have come down to what kind of content each of us likes. The conclusions of the mini-arcs were good, but I would have been bored by them without all of the "filler," which I thought was superb, and gave the more kinetic sequences weight. I realize that this isn't a show for everyone--that's cool. Damn if it isn't a show for me.

[/2Cents]

Thanks!