Comment on 'Andor' Season 2 Debuts to Nielsen Viewership High With 721 Million Minutes
BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I guess I’m the only one disappointed by season 2? I feel like they could have cut half of it and told the same story. Nothing even came close to the powerful messaging of the season 1 prison arc.
K2SO felt shoehorned in, the love plot felt super gross considering Cassian’s last act in Rogue One is to make out with some other chick, the whole bit with Saw was inconsequential nonsense (so was the ep where Cassian was captured by those gangs in the forest), they pulled a “bury your gays” trope… plus a lot of the pacing just felt wack.
It wasn’t the worst or anything, but it was a pretty weak follow up to that great first season.
The only scenes i felt were shoehorned in or removed me from the plot were the ones with the force healer. They weren’t needed at all. Worse, they possibly remove some value from Cass’ character by implying he’s on a divine “messenger” quest instead of acting on his own agency.
Rest of the series was perfect.
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I typically hate the force mumbo jumbo aspect of star wars but I thought the force healer bit was way more nuanced take about the force than other examples in recent films. My interpretation is that he saw his own death, and still chose it anyway. So he still had a lot of agency rather than just being a pawn of fate.
His blaster wound not healing was a metaphor of him being independent from the movement and not being able to move on from his trauma. He’s fighting accepting his losses when he’s fighting getting force healing. The act of getting it is him accepting he can’t do everything independently, and that he is part of the movement, no longer and individual, and moving on from his losses. That’s what allows his trauma to start healing.
This concept could be handled in countless other ways. My main gripe is that the show and rogue one focused on how the rebellion wasn’t built on zealotry or a single hero but the sacrifice and grind and passion of a great many people working together.
But it’s Star Wars, they gotta jam some lucas spam in there somewhere. I’m glad it was limited to this.
On the pacing: I dont mind “slow” episodes if it takes time to set mood and ambiance in such a superb way Andor does. Could also have something to do with Genevieve O’Reilly playing Mon Mothma …
There was such well constructed tension in every slow scene. If you were getting bored you would have to have missed some plot, be traumatized, or not be particularly invested in the series on other grounds.
Both the forest and the late added character were there to give opportunities to shake things up/lighten the mood. This was a grim, grim season and you’ve gotta have some of that in an 11-hour runtime.
I agree on Saw’s part; felt like something they had to get through to complete the series’ connection to Rogue One. I did love the season other than that, though. “Who Are You” is one of the best episodes of TV I’ve ever seen.
I think the Saw parts fit in decently. It adds another flavor of resistance to the mix.
We get the rebellion, which is an organized military like effort, we get luthen who as a spy master pulls strings in the shadows, Mon mothma straddling the line between being in a privileged public position and helping the rebellion, on ghorman we get a more amateurish resistance, Cassian is more of an individualist who finds his own path between the different factions, and with Saw we get a gurellia like extremist faction
The Imperial parts were also extremely well executed. Dedra, Syril, Partigaz’s actors were all on point and were remarkable complex characters. We were able to see through the inner workings of the Empire ISB, not something typically told in Star Wars stories.
angrystego@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Oh, I didn’t see the relationship in Rogue One as a love story. By the end, they just hold each other before the inevitable - I see no romance there. I can see how someone might find something there if they wanted to though.
BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Huh, I misremembered that last scene as a kiss, but I checked and I guess they do just hug. So at least that part isn’t so bad. I think the rest of my problems with the season are still legit though
farting_gorilla@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They still have some long, meaningful glances and the romantic tension is there. Cass from Andor and Cass from Rogue One are not the same character.