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Andor Season 2 Series Review | Best Star Wars Yet?!
11 Plays2 months ago
In today's episode Rod and Melody talk about what could possibly be one of the best shows of the year...ANDOR. They talk highlights, the importance of story, the acting, the genius of tony gilroy and more.
If you haven't watched Andor...get on it right now. You will NOT be disappointed.
And make sure, if you haven't yet to rate us 5 stars and of course follow the podcast so you don't miss out on future episodes.
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Transcript
Introduction to Beyond the Shot Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome to the Beyond the Shot podcast, a podcast hosted by close cousins Melody and Rodney. And on this podcast, we're going to dive into different topics related to movies, TV shows, and the entertainment industry as a whole. Movies are meant to make you feel something, and both of us want to share those feelings with you.
00:00:20
Speaker
So tune in to new episodes every other Monday, and thanks so much for listening. And now, into today's episode.
Is Andor the Best Series of the Year?
00:00:27
Speaker
Andor. Let's talk about, to me, to me, one of the best series of the year, right?
00:00:36
Speaker
Like absolutely just deserves all the recognition in the world. Um, Yeah, Andor was an absolutely fantastic piece of media that I have consumed this year. um i was just going to give like my overall thoughts on it. i just i i like Just straightforward what I just said. I just really loved this whole series.
00:00:57
Speaker
um like Especially everything from like episodes three and on was absolute perfection to me. i don't think there was one episode that I was like, no. Every episode i was...
00:01:11
Speaker
I was glued to the TV. Like, it just it just had me. i i I love this show. And I'm so sad that, like, we'll never see... Well, why i don't want to say never, but... Well, some we will never see.
The Essence of Star Wars in Andor
00:01:21
Speaker
But, like, you know, this world is, like, it's closed, right?
00:01:25
Speaker
It goes into Rogue One. There is no... room for like let's add a little extra thing unless you do something completely different like finding out what Bix was doing while the while New Hope is going on you know or something like someone does like a spin-off or another spin-off but if not if they decide to kind of just leave it as it is i will be very happy but also very sad because I really really enjoyed watching this series I really really did I agree.
00:01:54
Speaker
I agree. it was um This series is a reminder of how you can do something special and remind people how special something can be.
Comparing Andor with Other Star Wars Series
00:02:05
Speaker
And this series just reminded you how special Star Wars is and how special it can be. um I'm a Star Wars fan.
00:02:17
Speaker
I love Star Wars. And I have to say, I've been fairly disappointed with how yeah Disney has treated Star Wars as an IP.
00:02:28
Speaker
Granted, we've gotten a lot of Star Wars stuff. So I think as a fan, you I got to be happy that we have stuff. But is it, to me, the most important thing is quality over quantity.
00:02:42
Speaker
And- Andor is definitely quality. It is quality that is unmatched. It is it is pretty much its masterpiece. um i Now that this series is over, i can look back and I could easily put Andor as a whole in the Star Wars mythos.
00:03:03
Speaker
Up there with the original movies. hundred percent hundred 100%. 100%. That is. and it's And it's really telling that the two things that Disney. That Disney Star Wars has done.
00:03:15
Speaker
That has been the best. Are the two things that have nothing to do with the new movies. Which is Rogue One. And then this, because this was born out of Rogue One.
War Themes and Authentic Portrayal in Andor
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. Even though this movie ends going and pretty much going into Rogue One.
00:03:29
Speaker
But this this that's what it is. um none of None of the things that Disney has done compares to this show. Now, granted, this is a very different show.
00:03:40
Speaker
You can see visually, obviously, it's very different. Story-wise, it's very different um from anything else. Mandalorian, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka.
00:03:53
Speaker
It's different from all the from all the other things. This, in terms of live action, is the best thing that they have ever done, yeah period. Yeah. and ah Disney, this is the best thing they've ever done for for Star Wars.
00:04:04
Speaker
And I am very happy that this movie, i mean, this show stuck the landing and did enough to make you feel like satisfied.
00:04:15
Speaker
Because that's what it, when it ended, i was, I agree with you, Mel, I was sad that it was ending, but I was happy that the journey was so wonderful. so So beautiful and so tragic and so sad and so heroic.
00:04:29
Speaker
it's ah it's a it's a It's a show that that can really, that it really emphasizes the word war in Star Wars. and star wars it gave you yeah It gave you the spectrum of what it means to be at war.
00:04:45
Speaker
It gave you the spectrum of where ah renete when a rebellion starts. It gave you the spectrum of what it is to be a spy, what it is to mean to sacrifice yourself for people that you love, what it means to to to just exist in a world where there's so much turmoil.
00:05:02
Speaker
And this show hit so many amazing points. um The performances were beautiful. The show itself, the look of the show was so authentic in terms of the set design. Yeah, nothing ever felt like- No, it didn't feel- nothing felt cheap.
00:05:20
Speaker
Nothing felt cheap. Nothing think felt like it was like- ah Yeah, there's some CGI, but like it never felt like so- like I'm in the volume or i'm or there's all these like visual effects being- I just felt very- a lot of it felt very practical or like that you were there. And it did. And it did. Yeah.
00:05:39
Speaker
It did. It wasn't, and nothing felt like it was like a, like a enclosed set, which sometimes those, those scenes where there's like in a forest, sometimes its like enclosed set. Yes. Yeah. It was not an enclosed set. were on location someplace shooting.
00:05:52
Speaker
And that's what made these, play it just felt real. It felt like a lived in world. You know, like and even the, even the parties when they went, when the, earlier in the season with Ma and Mothra. One of my favorite episodes.
00:06:03
Speaker
Episode 3. Yeah, like, it just... it it I was like, wow, this feels awkwardly real. It doesn't it doesn't feel like
Empire's Realism in Andor
00:06:12
Speaker
like ah like like something I've seen before. Like a sci-fi fake... And look and that's the thing. to cut you off, but on the, like... um when you're talking about it feeling real, is that because it felt so grounded, it almost felt different to like the Star Wars we grew up watching because it does feel very fantasy, very sci-fi.
00:06:34
Speaker
Like, do-do-do-do. Like, you know, and even the Empire feels like, and if you watch old movies, like, yeah, they're scary, but it doesn't feel as grounded as this show made you feel.
00:06:47
Speaker
You're like, oh shit, the Empire... is like This is horrible stuff we're seeing here. I'm scared of them. And you didn't need to see Palpatine. You didn't need to see Darth Vader. You never saw a lightsaber. They barely mentioned the Force except for like that one episode with the Force healer.
00:07:09
Speaker
And you never had to do that, but you were still in the world of Star Wars, and it felt so grounded in reality, but still connected to Star Wars. It never felt like I was disconnected from the other movies.
00:07:20
Speaker
It all made sense, even though this was... It was like a cherry on top. Like, oh yeah, you know, you've you've seen the old Star Wars and the Empire and they're, you know, they created the Death Star, blah, blah, blah. There's plans, you know, the new hope, how it started, right? Plans to destroy the Death Star. But you know nothing who the Rebellion is, nothing, right?
Potential Spin-Offs from Andor's Characters
00:07:40
Speaker
But you're on this ride with them until the end. And then you have this one show that came out of a random movie they decided to make about being like, let's make a movie about, well,
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah. from okay let's make we ends up being one of the best star wars movies that they've ever made yeah and then they decide you know what make a story but dora an orur get to be you know the character that he is in the show in the movie rogue one who is this and or character What does a sacrifice mean?
00:08:18
Speaker
How did the rebellion start? let's Let's do a show about that. Mon Mothma, right? A character that's always been talked about and is kind We never really knew much Never really knew much about it. She was in movies, like, casually. Yeah.
00:08:32
Speaker
But this show, oh my God. Episode three. Episode three, when she's dancing... In that party, which I kind of want to go into like just talking about like social somewhat, unless you have something else you want to add to what you were saying. Yeah. um About some standout episodes because there were like and the whole series, i'm obviously as a whole, but this whole season was absolutely fantastic, amazing TV.
00:08:56
Speaker
But episode three is one of my favorites because that whole episode was just like a, what's going happen? Quarantine. what's going to happen? And every episode, every, you know, the three arc, the the three episode thing, right? How it was like three, three little mini movies make one big one, right? It all made sense.
00:09:14
Speaker
But that, I loved seeing, like, I think it was at the same time that Mon Mothma is like, going through all of this like disaster you see all the other disasters happening right yeah and the the the parallels of what's going on in her world yeah and everyone else's world and how she was just like well fuck it I'm just gonna get drunk because I'm gonna have to leave this world anyway right like I'm gonna have to if I want to start this rebellion I'm gonna have to like give up this life yeah oh episode three that and and then it just like cuts to black oh
00:09:50
Speaker
I loved that episode.
Cyril's Complex Character Journey
00:09:52
Speaker
It is one of my favorite episodes of the whole series. That one. um Also, obviously the i I mean, it was sad, but the Gorman, the Gorman massacre episode was fucking amazing.
00:10:06
Speaker
Tragic. So tragic to see. But I mean, we got a lot of amazing things out of that. I mean, freaking what's his name? Fuck.
00:10:17
Speaker
The weirdo. What's his name? Oh, yeah, yeah. Cyril. Cyril. was like, something a little... Cyril. you know seeing that character, like, the way that they decided to to end his character was...
00:10:35
Speaker
Shuskus. yeah And not because I wanted the character to necessarily die, but it that character is has always to me been ah very interesting character. And the actor, i don't I don't know his name, I can't think, but I just want applaud him because I think he played this part so well because I never knew Kyle Soler. That's his name. Kyle.
00:10:56
Speaker
Kyle Soler. I hope you get more work after this. i don't know. I don't know if he's worked a lot before this, but I hope he continues to get work because he is so very good in this role. Like, I never knew if he was going to turn back bad turned good what like the only thing i knew was that he was clearly someone who was very verbally abused by his mother my god that mom she's so good that the mom was so good that little old lady she's like probably like my height she's so short and tiny but anytime she talked you were like it like it was like a knife in his heart yeah it was like a knife and you just like hated her so much but then like it was also sad when she saw that like
00:11:37
Speaker
you know when she knew that her kid had died right and you see her you know at the end of the episode and that tear go down even though she like treated him like shit right and it was like but just like this character from episode one all he wanted to do was fucking find and or because and or killed one of his men he was like just wanted to do that's right oh this guy's bad he killed somebody on my team yeah Nothing to do with the Empire. Nothing to do, nothing. so It was a moral compass thing and it was revenge. He wanted that. and And that's always what that's what drove him pretty much. was when
00:12:10
Speaker
When he saw Andor, it just it brought him back to that moment. He's like, I'm going to fucking kill you. And then, could you hear when Andor says, who are you?
00:12:21
Speaker
And he sees in his face that he's like, are So after all of this, no one even knows who I am. who i am And psh, dead.
00:12:32
Speaker
That's crazy. What? I mean, just the writing. The writing. The story. The arc of that character of just being like, he just wanted to be somebody as well, right? He always wanted to be, he was like, I want to impress my mom. I need to be at the top.
00:12:46
Speaker
You know, when he was introducing that, like, um I think it was episode... was it the episode when we see him again for the first time? And now he's like the, the manager of like the job that he had at the little desk job. Right. And he's like talking about how we're doing good here. Right. The moral compass, like we're doing good.
00:13:03
Speaker
And then he realizes like what the empire is up to. And you almost see like a, like a, almost like a flip. of disappointment where he's like have i been fighting for the wrong side like you're about to kill all of these people that's the genius of the show man genius oh my god oh my god and then you think for a moment oh is he gonna flip
Moral Ambiguity in Andor
00:13:24
Speaker
like is he gonna become a good guy now is he gonna like tell them like what is this but then he sees andor and he just goes into this rage where he he goes red he just turns red he turns red and then andor says
00:13:35
Speaker
Who are Who are you? He's like, why? is oh army Andor's like, why the fuck is this guy trying to kill me? I don't know who the hell you are. Like, what's going on? Not realizing that this guy has been after him since, like, the beginning.
00:13:50
Speaker
Since you killed those two guys randomly at whatever planet you were on, he had no idea that, like, this was the guy who was, like, after him. Oh, just fantastic.
00:14:03
Speaker
And then we had the introduction of, oh, excuse me, the introduction of, was it K2? Yes. Right? Oh, my God. when you saw those When you saw what those robots were capable of and they were just massacring these people because they're so big.
00:14:19
Speaker
Yeah. And then, you know, you you oh I love seeing K2 again. I was like, oh, my God, we're going to see K2. Shout out to Alan Tudyk. Yeah. and Coming back and voicing it. Yeah. And doing the motion capture and everything. like Yeah.
00:14:32
Speaker
So good. So freaking good. um And then, i mean, I'm just thinking the top head because there's so many good episodes. Obviously, the episode when they rescue, when he rescues Ma and Mothma after she gives a speech. Yes. Oh, my God.
00:14:49
Speaker
I could clap after every episode. Oh my God. And she mentioned Palpatine's name and everybody's like, she said the name. She said the name. And you know, when everyone's thinking, like everyone knows, right?
00:15:00
Speaker
It's the empire, but there's a leader. What's their name? Everyone knows it, but no one says the name. Yeah. And when she says and she just calls out the empire for their shit and then Andor has to rescue and how like,
00:15:13
Speaker
that That show is also really good at, you just never know, and not always, but there were certain characters where you never knew where they were. Like, what side are they on? Like, her driver.
00:15:25
Speaker
That, to me, the driver was an interesting one. I couldn't tell before Andor killed him if he was, like, going to help her or if he was to turn think the point. I think that was the point. I think they wanted you as a viewer watching the show to feel like how Andor felt at that moment of, like, I can't trust anyone.
00:15:43
Speaker
I can only trust me and I can only trust this lady because this is this is all we got. And I think that's what the show did so well. it it it This show really takes me back to a lot of A lot of old um kind of like espionage, Cold War, World War II type movies.
00:16:03
Speaker
And even recent kind of espionage films where it's like you can't you can't trust people. You got to be careful because you don't know who wants to turn you in. You don't know who wants to give you in. in And in all honesty, it's it's it's a lot this I think this show resonates with me.
00:16:17
Speaker
And like with you and with a lot of people, because it's a lot of telling. It's very telling of the time we live now. Yeah. so much There's so much insecurities on on on who's the good guy?
00:16:29
Speaker
Who's the bad guy? Yeah. Who's all these things? and And it's interesting that you said the whole thing with Cyril. Cyril is, you know...
00:16:37
Speaker
You know, i don't want I'm not going go political, um but there's a lot of people that see one side and they're like, oh, well, I'm for this side because this side speaks for me because they talk about things that matter to me.
00:16:52
Speaker
But then when you start slowly looking at what this side is doing and you're just like, I didn't sign up for this. You know, what you're doing is wrong. And I think Serral felt in that way, just like many other maybe characters in that world felt that way about the the Empire.
00:17:10
Speaker
And then you have the other side of the rebellion where they have to do questionable things. and Yeah. I think that's moral of that show. I think, yeah, I think the moral of this show is that when it's when it's a time of war...
High Stakes and Storytelling Excellence
00:17:26
Speaker
There are no good guys and there are no bad guys. There are just people and we're all collateral damage for the situation that we're all in. you know Because you know what you may think is bad is good for someone else. And what that person may think is is good is bad to you.
00:17:45
Speaker
So this world, and that's what this that's what the writing did for this show. Granted, listen, we know as we know as as audience members We know to root for Andor because it's his story. He's the good guy. you know the emperor We know the Empire is is bad. yeah But if you look at the show as a whole, you can see why certain people went to the Empire side.
00:18:11
Speaker
Because they liked the order of things. They liked that there was structure. Like Serol. Serol wasn't necessarily a bad dude. He was just a dude that followed the rules extensively. He liked the organization of things.
00:18:26
Speaker
Yeah. You know, while you look at someone like Bix, who, you know, didn't like how the Empire ran things because, you know, she saw the ugliest side of how she did. how Oh, man, they really she really fucked her up in the season. Holy. Yeah. You know, and it's it's.
00:18:42
Speaker
Like, this is where we're at with this. And this is why this show was so important and so vital and it delivered in such a major way that I didn't expect it to. Even I, who loved season one, went into season two and I'm wondering, okay, how are they going to stick this landing?
00:18:58
Speaker
You because I don't think it's just as easy as like, oh we're going to end up right into Rogue One. Yeah. I think you had to fill up a lot of things and kudos to Tony Gilroy. who's Tony. Oh. um I'm assuming Tony Gilroy is getting a call from Kathleen Kennedy about we need you for all these Star Wars projects. It wouldn't surprise me. it would not surprise me because, again, this is what these studios do.
00:19:23
Speaker
if they offer him some sort of major position within Lucasfilms to maybe take take care of Star Wars. Because I think i think maybe the stuff with Favreau and with Filoni isn't working out as well as they had hoped.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah. So it wouldn't surprise me to do that, especially coming off of this show. But the thing with Tony Gilroy is this. He's not like... He's not going to do it. Because Tony Gilroy, like we talk about with other auteurs, like a Nolan, like a Danny Gilliland, like those guys,
00:19:53
Speaker
These are type the type of of creators that once they do something, that's it. They're going to move it on. Because you're not you're not it's it's not about telling another story, a better story, a different story.
00:20:03
Speaker
It's about telling this story. That's what matters. And you could tell that this story mattered to him. You could yeah could see the quality in the visuals, in the writing. in the production, it delivered a story that made an impact in this world. And it told it in a very realistic and very honest way.
00:20:25
Speaker
It showed us again, I'm prefacing this, that not all good guys are good do good things and not all bad guys do bad things, but in this world, they are who they are.
Espionage and Fear in Andor
00:20:38
Speaker
You know, and, and again, I, this show to me right off the bat, episode one, right at the beginning, that was that scene where Andor is trying to get on. He he was, yeah he was dressed as the pilot to steal the, the tie fighter.
00:20:56
Speaker
And he has this wonderful conversation with this one girl there. Who's, who's essentially a turncoat. Who's a spy. Who's giving up information. And she asked him, and I'm paraphrasing, like, oh, am you know, am I going to live after this?
00:21:10
Speaker
And you can see she's terrified because everything she's doing is going against everything she's felt. Because essentially, if you're working for the Empire, it's two things. Because you believed in the Empire or you were forced to work there.
00:21:23
Speaker
We don't know what the intentions of that character was. But you can definitely see the fear in her eyes and fear in the way she was talking about. when she was giving all this information and giving all this access to Andor.
00:21:36
Speaker
And I felt like this is, this is like, i'm like, I'm like, okay, we're doing this with this character right off the bat. Then we're in store for something. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Because you treated that character with that level. And, and again, we talked about it. It's, it's, it's about stakes.
00:21:50
Speaker
Yeah. And this show always... the state straight word oh Great word. Great word. Always high. Stakes are... Always. There never moment. It is literally life and death. every Every moment is a life or death situation.
00:22:03
Speaker
And you explained... You said it best, Mel. it's It's about putting the fear back in the empire. It's about looking at these officers and being terrified. It's about...
00:22:15
Speaker
what it signifies when you see the empire, when you see the stormtroopers, they're not just people that run around and shoot and miss all the time. No, yeah you're, you're afraid of them. You're afraid of these officers with these stoic stone cold faces that, that it looks like they're looking through you.
00:22:32
Speaker
Cause that's the other thing that i think the show did fantastic was even the interactions within the officers themselves, was very stoic. It was very like... yeah Oh my God, the actress that plays Mira.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yes. Oh my. She is so good. She is so good at playing that character. I hated that character so much. That face. Denise Gough, yeah. Oh my
Gender and Power Dynamics in the Empire
00:22:52
Speaker
God. She stone cold face.
00:22:54
Speaker
And even the the yeah the other actor, um I'm trying to get him, he played the older gentleman who was the... The ah the one that shot himself at the end. Yes, he was... Also very good.
00:23:06
Speaker
Oh, so good. Like, like there's just... And that, about that, is like, even within the Empire, there is fear. Yes. Because you have... That's thing, yeah. That was like... That was... Like, you even have, like, these hierarchy... These, like, you know...
00:23:22
Speaker
Oh, well Mira's ah an officer and then she's got her boss. Even her boss wasn't going to make it. was like, you know what? I'm going to end my own life. Yeah. Right. Or even, oh my God, another amazing scene. God, I can tell. God, it's so good.
00:23:34
Speaker
When, Krennic? Krennic? Yeah, Krennic, yeah. When he comes in to talk to Mira and he puts his finger on her head. yep Oh, that whole scene was the way was shot. The fear in her eyes. The fear in her eyes. In her eyes.
00:23:51
Speaker
And honestly, I didn't know what was going happen in this character. I think most people wanted her to die because she was like the worst. But she was also like somebody like... You still felt for, which was weird. Like I should never feel anything for you, but even I felt bad. Even I, like when Krennic was like saying like, oh, you're just a scavenger. You're just like like putting her down. She's like, I've had to be in this place because she's like a woman in the workplace. and No one respects her. She needs to get done things done herself. How am I going to do it? but i like You said it perfectly.
00:24:22
Speaker
And this, let me let me let me preface this into something else real quick. This is how you do it. You know how we talk about representation? We talk about calling out the matriarchy of things and how sometimes it feels forced.
00:24:36
Speaker
Like, oh, you're just forcing an agenda. Every creator, take note on how this show did it. It didn't use the fact that, oh, I'm treated like this because I'm a woman.
00:24:47
Speaker
It did it in a way where you visually saw it. You saw it in how she acted. You saw it in how she had to do things. It wasn't her... But, you know, like, you know, looking into the camera, saying these these things where it kind of comes off so disingenuous and forced.
00:25:02
Speaker
No, this was a visual thing that you saw. And what you just said pretty much nailed that. It kind of gave that situation of like, of like yes, this is the this is the moment and this is what I'm going through. This is what I got to deal with as as ah as a woman in the Empire.
00:25:19
Speaker
in the empire. Like, course I've had to scavenge, scavenger. And then it's crazy. then she starts getting blamed for being like, Oh, are you a spy? It's like, no, I'm not a spy. Oh, how did he have, you know? And then like, it's just that, that
Bix's Story of Trauma and Decision
00:25:31
Speaker
fear in her eyes. And then, oh, I will say like, even though like, it would have been nice if she died. I still think like, it was great that she ended up being in that same prison that, um,
00:25:41
Speaker
I'm not sure if it's the same prison, but if it was um amazing, if she ends up actually being at that same prison that Andor was, and she's just like building parts for the Empire, for the Death Star, and you just see her and she's just like...
00:25:56
Speaker
But even, even, like going back to her performance, even the episode with the massacre, when she goes into the room and she's like, like, get me out of this. Like she is like, there's so much in the pressure. She's feeling the pressure of it. And it's,
00:26:12
Speaker
It's crazy that I could feel so much hate, but so much sadness for a character. And, like, I feel for her in a way that's not just I feel hate. It's also, like, a different, like, feeling where I feel bad for this person.
00:26:27
Speaker
Yeah, like I agree. Like, it it was – they did such a good job at doing that. And even, like, the scene where, like, she, like – What's it called? When she puts the fear into like, uh, Cyril's mom's eyes when she's like, so this is what's going to happen moving forward. Right? Like, I loved that scene for her because I'm like, yeah, you stand up for this guy who, and that was another thing. Like, i can never tell. I'm like, did she...
00:26:50
Speaker
I think she had feelings for him. Like, if she had feelings for him, or was she ever or was she just using him? Like, I could never, ever tell. I think it was both. I think she was using him, but I think as, you know, just like with anything, I think you fall for that person. I think it's kind of like a thing where she was working him for so long that she kind of grew sympathetic for him. She felt bad for him. yeah and after seeing that mom. no Yeah, she probably felt for him because she probably was like, you know, this guy...
00:27:14
Speaker
He genuinely likes me. And she's in a situation where look around, you know, she's, she's this woman who's in this world where it's a bunch of men who look through her and look down at her. And here's this guy who's actually interested in her. yeah So I think there was something there. She was confused. She was very conflicted character, but again, this goes to show and to what it is for people in that situation where they buy into, uh, into a cause.
00:27:41
Speaker
Because it sounds good. it it kind of There's things in the cause that project to their what they like. But then once they go through with the cause, they start seeing, okay, this isn't i didn't I didn't buy into all of them this. I didn't buy into massacres. I didn't buy into and into controlling things the way you're doing, and into into into taking advantage of people that have helped us. like I'm not into that. And I think that's what happened to her.
00:28:03
Speaker
Like with Cyril, I think... they Those are two characters that were very conflicted in who they were with and who they sided with. Yeah. And obviously it was too late for them. You know, they they decisions were made by them and made for them into who they are and and and and what where they're going to fall in line with this, you know. And and again, we can go to the other side with this, with...
00:28:28
Speaker
with um with people from the side of the rebels. Like Bix, for instance. Bix made a decision. she she um i knew she was going leave.
00:28:40
Speaker
yeah because When he came back, I was like, oh, she's leaving in the morning. She's not going to there. She had trauma. She went through a lot of trauma. She got she she almost got raped.
Symbolism in Andor's Ending
00:28:49
Speaker
Like, that's a crazy scene. That was a big thing, though, when they said word rape. That was a thing.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah, that was crazy. I never heard that. You never heard that word. No, and that's that. It gave a lot of people. And I thought that. And that's what I'm saying that It was powerful because it it gave that word power. And, man, I. Wow.
00:29:07
Speaker
I absolutely. I got to applaud. Yeah. What's her name? Adria Arjona. I got to applaud her. She was absolutely fantastic in this show.
00:29:19
Speaker
The way she acted, you see the trauma in her eyes. She didn't have to say much. You just look at her and you look how ah miserable. And she was she was prison. She was in that apartment for a while, encompassed and held in.
00:29:32
Speaker
And, you know, you know you know like... you they were protecting her you know andrew was protecting her he was he was afraid because he knew he knew what she went through you know he knew all these things but she knew that she wasn't going to be able to be safe there you know like she went on that last mission with him did i love when they blew up the the doctor and everything they blew the building i was like yeah yeah they did all that and And it was it was it was awesome.
00:29:59
Speaker
Yeah. But then it's like you kind of knew that she had enough of the rebellion. She's done with it. She felt that she sacrificed enough. And she went off to live her own life, you know. And obviously, spoiler alert, in the end, you see her with a child.
00:30:13
Speaker
we You know, we can we all just assume that that's Andor's child. and A lot of people think that she left, though, Not necessarily because of that. I think people left because they she knew if she stayed and told and or that she was pregnant that he would...
00:30:33
Speaker
you know, put everything away. But then I think that conversation with the force healer and it being very much pushed like, oh no, he's meant for something. And if I stay here, I'm holding him back. And she said that. that's, think that's the, on top of the fact that she was like, I want to rest and not be part of this anymore. She was like, I'm, I'm out.
00:30:51
Speaker
But I think she knew that if she told Andor that she was pregnant, cause i'm pretty sure she knew. And that's why she left. And she was like, oh I gotta leave because, yeah. if I tell him I'm pregnant, he's going to leave and he has a greater purpose in this and I'm holding him back.
00:31:04
Speaker
And I knew that when he was telling her that, he's like, you know what? After this, I'm done or whatever. You know, she's going to better whatever. When he comes back and she was like really quiet. I was like, oh, this bitch is leaving.
00:31:16
Speaker
I said, because I didn't know, you know, with so many of these characters, right? Because you only see Rogue One. You don't see these characters other than think Mon Mothma, but you don't see. Towards the end, we start seeing Familiar faces from World War II. Yeah, but- We see that one general, that one guy that's with him, kind of ball-headed dude. Yeah. We see some things. We see some, but for the most part, you don't know who any of these people are. So you don't know, are they dying? Are they living? Nothing. We don't know what ends up happening to these characters. So Bix was always one that was a question mark, is like, does she die? And or sad, and he asked why he goes on a mission.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah. Oh it wasn't that at all. It was like, she lived and I was happy that she lived. yeah And it it was a nice, it was sad, happy, tragic ending at the same time. Cause there was that, there was like the hope thing, but then you know how rogue one ends and you know, you see her with the baby and you're like, Oh my God. And also like when that happened, the end, just talking about the end of the of the series and you see that shot, I couldn't tell if this was after and or had died had and did she knows did she know that and or had passed like we don't really know of these things no but i don't know if you put it together because no one's talked about this i've like watched reviews and things and no one's talked about this and i'm like i need to ask ronnie to see if he picked up on it and see if he picks what i i did but when she was looking up at the sky and saw the light and
00:32:44
Speaker
Do you know what I'm talking about? It was like the the sky and she kind of like smiled in peace and then like just looked at it and it was like, it was kind of like almost looked at like a piece. That reminded me of the end of Rogue One when Andor dies. The sky looks just like that because it's at peace.
00:33:03
Speaker
And it really connected to the movies where it made me think, I'm like, is this that moment where When all of this is going on, but nobody knows, and he's passed away because it just looked so similar to the end of Rogue One when, an and maybe it just we haven't seen Rogue One in forever, but I will never forget it because it was so fucking sad in Rogue One when everyone, you know, when they died.
00:33:25
Speaker
and Yeah, was just like, you saw that cloud with that with the light going through it as a sign of like the peace, it's the end. And it happened at the end of this show. And it made me wonder, I'm like, is it connected to like, is this connecting to that moment when he passes away in Rogue One?
00:33:44
Speaker
Is that what she's seeing? I don't know. i It was just like something I saw that ah as soon as I saw it, that was the only thing I thought. I was like, oh my God, is this connected to like, this is the moment in Andor. Like, I mean, in in Rogue One, like what's happening?
00:33:57
Speaker
um It's possible.
Emotional Depth of Luthan and Kayla
00:33:59
Speaker
It is possible. I don't know. That's just theories, you know, but um yeah I, yeah, I just think that the show just did a really, yeah really wonderful job at like just giving everyone that their end, right? Their their arc end with, um what's his name? um Oh my God.
00:34:21
Speaker
Luthan, right? Oh man. Oh my God. Luthan's end and Kayla's end. ah She was fantastic by the way. That was her first, you know that's her first gig was that role.
00:34:36
Speaker
No. Yeah, apparently that's her first gig. ah Amazing. and They gave her so much this season because the first season She was emotionally very emotionally. yeah And yeah, it was very, I mean, my God, cheers. That, that that story. Yeah. That, that, that end of that story, their story where, you know, you didn't know much about it. that episode, again, this is the genius of the show. It took one episodes for you to see how they met and how they connect and how their story ended.
00:35:05
Speaker
And Is it? It felt rushed. No, it felt it felt organic. Yeah. Because I feel like you knew these characters because you went along the journey for two seasons. Yeah. But to get the backstory of it you understand right away, you know, why this little girl...
00:35:20
Speaker
who became pretty much his adoptive daughter. Yeah. And, you know, he became a father to her. You could see why, you know, she was kind of like his ride or die. She said, no, you know, we're in this together. um You know, and, and, you know, she did the ultimate sacrifice and she, she pretty much ended the life of the only father figure she's ever known in her life. And which is really hard. And,
00:35:41
Speaker
You know, mentally, we don't know what we don't know what happened to her. We don't know what, what because, you know, she we didn't we didn't see her in Rogue One or anything. But, you know, you could imagine that the the trauma that she went through causing that probably, you know, ruined her mentally and emotionally for the rest of her life.
00:35:56
Speaker
Granted, you know... Somewhere in in the Star Wars universe, she probably feels happy because that means Luton's death was worth it, especially when they blew up the Death Star. That means that all this was what this
Diego Luna's Impact on Andor
00:36:08
Speaker
was worth it. yeah So, I mean, shout out to Stellan Starsgaard. Oh, yeah.
00:36:13
Speaker
To Elizabeth Dalau. That's her name. she Both of them. Oh, good. Everyone. This is everyone. This whole, the entire cast. Even Diego Luna.
00:36:25
Speaker
Diego, no, that's, well, let's let's let's wrap it up and and and go to the star. And that is that is Diego Luna. I hope he gets nominated for this. Please be, oh, please.
00:36:35
Speaker
Yeah, Diego Luna is the driving force of this show. And the authenticity that he brought to this show is what I think carried it.
00:36:48
Speaker
And, you know, when we saw him in, obviously we saw him in Rogue One, we saw Cassian and we saw who he was. And granted, Rogue One was in his movie, was more um Felicity, what's her name? Jones?
00:37:01
Speaker
Felicity, it was her, what's, a um is it Felicity Jones from Rogue One? Is it Felicity? I think it is. Yeah. Her, her, um, that, that was more her movie. She was the lead in that movie and, and, and, and Diego Luna was the co-lead.
00:37:18
Speaker
So this is his first kind of lead thing. And he was phenomenal. He delivered in every way. And you can see it You can see in how he moved.
00:37:29
Speaker
You can see how he spoke. You can see in his face, he he he acts really well with his face because you there was moments where you saw him and then you saw how stressed he was and how concerned and scared he was.
00:37:41
Speaker
But then there was little moments of levity where you saw him relax. Especially in those last episodes where you know they were at they were at the at the Rebel Hold and and him and K2 and the other gentlemen were playing cards or whatever. and It was one of the very few moments where you saw him kind of let his hair down. him Oh, yeah.
00:38:01
Speaker
um be relaxed. And then you see him switch it right away. The moment when he comes, when the guy comes in with the radio and then he realizes the code and he's like, okay, you're we're going. and You're here. youre We're going. We're on our way. Yeah. It's it's a combination of things. And and this this is what glenn this is what lends to the greatness of this show.
00:38:20
Speaker
This show is an ensemble of so many moving parts of so many ah actors, so many people behind the scenes, so many writers, beautiful sets.
00:38:32
Speaker
direction, everything. But the most important thing is, and I will always preface this, is the story. The story is what moved us. It's what drove
Innovative Narrative Structure of Andor
00:38:42
Speaker
it. And again, shout out to Tony Gilroy in handling how he handled this because it takes a special kind of genius to do time jumps the way they did.
00:38:51
Speaker
Oh, I think so i loved i I loved the three-episode arc thing. I think this is going to show. it was great. think show is going to be the blueprint for so many other shows in doing stuff similar like this.
00:39:03
Speaker
I really do think a lot of shows are going to follow this yeah when it comes to the time. Because sometimes time jumps can be jarring. Mm-hmm. I think in this case, it wasn't as giant because you didn't see growth in the characters physically.
00:39:17
Speaker
It was more growth in the situation as opposed to physicality. Yeah, maybe there was a little bit of growth here and there and how they how they looked appearance-wise. Yeah. But it wasn't something daunting or major. Like, there weren't little kids involved where you saw a little kid was like a toddler to them being like a you know teenager. It wasn't anything like that. A teenager.
00:39:35
Speaker
Just a year. So think that helped. Yeah, it was a year, but it was still enough to tell the story and keep it moving, keep the football moving forward.
Is Andor the Best Disney Plus Series?
00:39:42
Speaker
And they did a fantastic job and ultimately delivered, like I said...
00:39:48
Speaker
the best Disney Plus series ever. There's no better Disney Plus series than Andro. I could say that confidently, easily, no doubt about it.
00:39:59
Speaker
And it is d and this is this, along with Rogue One, is the best thing Disney has ever done Star Wars-wise. And this and Rogue One is up there with the original movies. With and with with with ah with the New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return to the Jedi. yeah This is up there with that.
00:40:16
Speaker
yeah Everything else... Way down the list. Way down the list, yeah. This is up there with that. It's just... Yeah. It's it's that good. It's that good. That's how I feel. this show This show, to me, and this will be my final statement on this, five stars.
00:40:29
Speaker
I hope that it gets some sort of recognition. This has been... It should. It really should. This year for awards is a tough year because there's so many... amazing shows out there. But this show, being that it's the last year of this show, i hope that it gets some sort of recognition, whether it's for acting, whether it's for writing or or production or direction. I really want it to get, let it get some sort of not some sort of just ah awards because it deserves it.
00:40:56
Speaker
Shows like this deserve to be rewarded because they're very rare and far few between where you take a property like this and put it in a place where, again, you did not expect, as a fan, to be taken.
00:41:11
Speaker
To be taken, yeah. Wonderfully said, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. That's my thing with the show. I loved it. I loved it. ah top Top to bottom, fantastic show. I repeat everything you just said. I really do hope it gets... some some not some nominations and I hope it wins some things because I think it really does
Encouragement to Watch Andor and Rogue One
00:41:30
Speaker
deserve it.
00:41:30
Speaker
It was just absolutely amazing TV. I haven't watched Rogue One again, but a lot of people say that when you rewatch it it, like, it changes your whole experience, the way you see the characters, the way decisions are made. Now that you have so much...
00:41:48
Speaker
background so much backstory excuse me it it just fills this movie in a very different way and i think it's gonna make you feel the that death at the end even more than what you were because when i first saw it i already was like oh this is so fucking sad which is why it's always hard for me to watch the movie because I know it's sad But like now having this backstory and knowing where Cassian came from, what the rebellion has gone through, what the characters, these characters that are not even in this movie, what they're fighting for, why the rebellion is like willing to just be like, right, well, we got to kill this guy, right? All these things, it it all makes sense. So I'm like, really, i'm I don't know when yet, but im one of these days, next coming a couple of days here, I think I'm going to sit down and watch Rogue One um again.
00:42:34
Speaker
Because I think it's I think everyone who's done that says it changes your whole viewing experience now knowing what the backstory is. But and anyway, guys, if you have not seen Andor yet, I don't know why you watch this because we just told you everything that happens.
00:42:51
Speaker
But if you're somebody who enjoys spoilers and that's why you watched this and you haven't seen the series, I do highly recommend that you go and watch it um or i rewatch it. Right. I think sometimes these shows are are shows that we should rewatch because you miss things. And there is a lot of information in shows like this, a lot of political things going on. And that can really kind of confuse you.
00:43:13
Speaker
um My dad, for example, he was, he got really lost in the show. It was Oh, dad, I'm sorry. um Yeah, he was like, I don't know if I like it. I was like, oh, dad, you got to watch it again. But regardless, if you haven't seen it, please do.
00:43:27
Speaker
And go and watch Rogue One again. Go and watch the movie and experience it again. Because like I said, I think it's going to be a very different viewing experience for you. ah But if you liked this episode, please make sure to rate it ah lovely five stars for us. It really helps us out.
00:43:42
Speaker
Also lets us know you know how we're doing. And yeah, send us a review. If you're friends with us, yeah, you know, send us a text message. Let us know what you're thinking. yes Anything else you want us to cover or anything that you feel like would be nice that we did or did less of, it's fine. You can give us some negative feedback too.
00:44:00
Speaker
That's always really helpful. Constructive criticism. Constructive criticism. Exactly. um ah but yeah. Thank you so much for listening. And we will see you in the next episode where we will probably be talking about all the, I think we're probably to be doing How to Train Your Dragon, Materialists, and F1 all next month. So it's going be a heavy, heavy, heavy month.
00:44:24
Speaker
So hope you guys are subscribed and we'll see you next time. Bye. Later.