Andor

I finally finished watching “Andor” over the weekend. My reaction to it was mixed.

On the one hand, “Andor” is almost certainly the single best “Star Wars” show to date (and if you restrict it to live action shows, that ‘almost’ goes away). It is really, really good – exceptionally well made, with a wonderful cast (the only slight disappointment being that Jimmy Smits wasn’t available, so they recast Bail Organa… but the new guy did the job very well, so that wasn’t too bad), a spectacularly strong set of scripts, and no weak episodes. Yes, the pacing is a little slow at times, but that’s because it’s building tension over time.

It's just great.

And yet… I found that I really didn’t enjoy it. There’s just something about the show that meant I knew that it was very, very good, could appreciate all the things that went into making it so very good, but I wouldn’t watch it again. And, indeed, if I knew then what I know now, I might not have bothered to watch it at all.

Which is really odd, and I don’t really understand how it has come about, but there it is.

So, do I recommend it? Well, yes, because it’s excellent. And yet…

(Incidentally, there seems to be a bit of a split in fandom between “Ahsoka” fans and “Andor” fans. Personally, I’m glad we get both – in terms of production, “Andor” is the better show, but I enjoyed “Ahsoka” rather more. Plus, there’s that one episode of “Ahsoka” that I count as the absolute pinnacle of Star Wars TV thus far.)