Star Wars fatigue shouldn’t stop you from watching Andor

There’s a scene in there episode 7 from Andor that blew my mind.

It starts out weird. Cassian Andor, our titular anti-hero who had staged an impossible heist on the Galactic Empire, did what any sane criminal would do in the sequel: party in what can only be described as “Space Ibiza”. Get drunk at night, rest your hangover on the beach during the day. An odd mood for a universe normally dialed in by space mages fighting it out with lightsabers.

While lounging, Cassian – a bystander in a crime he is not involved in – is pulled up by a stormtrooper and interrogated on the spot, accused of taking part in a crime he only witnessed.

Anyone who saw this scene and was questioned by a rogue cop almost certainly had a knot in their stomach. Cassian, polite and accommodating, desperately tries to avoid trouble while slowly becoming enmeshed by a calculated series of guiding questions, leading to his being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. It’s a scene that’s both brutal and bewildering in its veracity. What initially feels like a parody slowly unravels into something terrible. The result feels depressingly inevitable: that’s what happens when you let fascism thrive without recourse.

It’s funny, but Andor — a spinoff show that focuses on a character from a spinoff movie — is literally the first “Star Wars” “thing.” this has shown us that the Galactic Empire is a truly fascist regime at its root very bad. In a universe where the villains are supposed to be space nazis, that’s kind of weird.

But that’s also why Andor continues to be a surprisingly excellent TV show. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely do it. it reigns.

Andor rules because it’s a show obsessed with the smaller things in its universe. Star Wars has traditionally been about massive events, massive space battles with galaxy-changing consequences. But at no point in a Star Wars film did I really get a sense of what Luke Skywalker and company were actually fighting for; or against which the rebels rebelled.

Darth Vader was bad because he dressed in black and choked guys. That’s it. The Emperor, on the other hand, had a pale, doughy face and a creepy laugh. Sure, these people blew up planets and slaughtered younglings, but that’s pantomime villain stuff. In Andor, the villain is the slow, humble creep of fascism, and that makes the show one of the most compelling things Disney has produced since acquiring the Star Wars license in 2012.

It’s a show obsessed with the smaller things, the little things of the grind. We see apartment buildings, broken robots, disappointed mothers having dinner with their grown children. We watch the effects of bureaucracy in action, crappy little work meetings, office bitch sessions. We see families bickering over breakfast, agonizing over guest lists, and generally partaking in the mundanities of everyday life. Oddly enough, it’s fascinating.

I’ve often criticized Star Wars for obsessively filling in the gaps in its own timeline and making its once-great universe seem small. Andor’s universe structure is different. It captures minute details so that the world of Star Wars feels authentic. By weaving the stories of these lesser characters into the grand narrative, we get a sense of the magnitude of broader conflict. This isn’t a Star Wars story, it’s just a partial story that takes place somewhere in this universe. That’s great.

But beyond those topline concepts, Andor is simply a show that is good at almost every aspect of its production. It looks great, it’s well written. Not a single line of dialogue feels overdone or awkward. It’s also packed with an array of top-notch performances.

Denise Gough – who plays Dedra Meero, a member of the Imperial Security Bureau – brilliantly captures corporate angst at high-level meetings where a single wrong word can see you lose your job. And, as this tweet saysthere isn’t a crime I wouldn’t commit if Stellan Skarsgård asked me brusquely if I “really wanted to fight those bastards”.

Andor takes Star Wars to a place it’s never been. It feels more like a John le Carré novel with blasters than a space opera. And as someone who literally once ended a Star Wars rant/article with the words“that’s enough Star Wars for me, thanks”, it’s a welcome change.

If, like me, you’ve been exhausted by the exploits of Luke Skywalker and company, I urge you to reconsider. Andor, Star Wars baggage notwithstanding, is one of the best shows of 2022. I’m as surprised as everyone else.