I think this series can be really good for people that don’t know Star Wars, too. Anyone that enjoys spy thrillers and political intrigue should really get on well with it.
Comment on 'Andor' Season 2 Debuts to Nielsen Viewership High With 721 Million Minutes
Zagorath@aussie.zone 1 day agoI just introduced my parents to it. My dad especially is really not in to fantasy media, but he’s absolutely hooked on it. They’re 6 episodes into season 1. It took until about the 3rd, maybe 4th episode to really get into the swing of things, but after that it’s easily the best live action Star Wars has ever been.
Fwiw personally I thought Rogue One was extremely overrated. I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, and I thought some (especially the bizarre “I am one with the Force, the Force is with me” guy) were actively grating. IMO for a lot of the broader public, Rogue One’s popular reception rests entirely on the awesome final sequence with Vader, and to a lesser extent on some of the great action leading up to that.
Ashtear@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Zagorath@aussie.zone 1 day ago
Yeah, that’s exactly why I introduced my parents. I had to assure them it’s a political thriller with no Force or lightsabres, and I’m explaining necessary prerequisite knowledge as it comes up (like who Mon Mothma is). I’ve decided not to tell them about Rogue One, but only episodes III and IV.
Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Agreed. Rogue One was basically redeemed with that final act, basically right when it became clear to everyone that no one was getting off that planet alive. But everything leading up to it (aside from the opening) was basically just okay in retrospect, and I found myself rolling my eyes a bit at some of the memberberry cameos like R2 and C3PO just having a random conversation, or bumping into the guy with the weird face from the Tatooine cantina. And uncanny CGI Tarkin, which I remember thinking was fine when I first saw it but now just really sticks out a bit.
Surprisingly, other than the mere presence of some core characters, Andor didn’t rely on nostalgia bait at all and I think that really worked to its benefit.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 1 day ago
I avoided all media about season 2 until after I had completely finished watching it and then went back and watched reviews etc. Seeing one reviewer who was watching week by week complain about gratuitous fanservice cameos that would turn out in later episodes to actually be core to the story was very amusing. This happened multiple times. To be fair to the reviewer, they didn’t say it was some terrible thing, and even at least once described it as being earnt, even if it was out of character for the show.
Spoiler: examples of the above
The reveal at the end of episode 3(?) that they were on Yavin IV, and the inclusion of Senator Organa (whose first episode was seemingly just a minor cameo before he becomes more important in later episodes) are the two that come to mind, but I think there was at least one more.
wjrii@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’ve read that the first cameo was just to get people to spend THAT week talking about the Benjamin Bratt re-cast so they’d be calmed down by the time he had something important to do.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 1 day ago
Oh that’s very interesting. Personally it never occurred to me as something to get upset by. Obviously the actor from 2002 is probably not going to be a great fit to continue playing the character in 2025.