Andor (Disney+)

Interesting... no Syril this week...  I have a gut feeling that he's going to do something incredibly stupid/horrible in episode 12 which will be the catalyst for season 2...

Serious question: Is this the best Star Wars show of all time? It damn well might be. Is it the best Star Wars PROJECT of all time? Also maybe.

I can't say either for sure without seeing the finale, much less the next season. What I will say is that Disney needs to make a SERIOUS Emmy push for this show. Don't laugh. It's better than Game Of Thrones and that was nominated a few times and won once or twice too. It's a serious contender for Best Drama. We ARE living in a golden age of TV drama for sure. Maybe there might be five shows better than it on the air currently. But it's definitely the most prestigious show DISNEY has ever done, and it needs to act accordingly.

I also want to point out that there is not a single Marvel Studios TV show I would make the same suggestion for. The idea of any of those shows bringing home major Emmys is laughable. Yeah, people were impressed with Elizabeth Olson and Oscar Isaac. But both WandaVision and Moon Knight were so otherwise poor, Emmy recognition seems like a bad idea. This show's acting, writing, directing, just everything is phenomenal, and freaking Serious which is the thing that makes me take notice. I don't mean Serious as in tragic, or dark, or hard to watch. I mean serious in that it's an adult and clever enough show to have the Empire decide to do a phony look-in on the accident they staged because it would look suspicious if they ignored it. That's smart, adult, Serious writing that really is the kind of smart thing the Emmys claim to love.

To be sure, I think the Emmys have a terrible reputation and have given some trophies to absolute stinkers. The fact that Picket Fences, Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Murphy Brown have all won major awards says that the only reservation I have about this show being pushed for an Emmy is that it might actually be too good for the award. We'll see. But this is some high quality drama right here.

Kino's Braveheart speech is interesting because he doesn't believe he can do it, but it gets better as he goes along. I was very impressed of his suggestion that if someone sees someone confused or struggling, they should be helped. I think the biggest thing I took from the speech (beside Andy Serkis' amazing performance) is annoyance that it never occurred to George Lucas to give a similar moment to Luke or Leia. Star Wars: The Original Trilogy has its fans. But when it comes to Meeting The Cultural Moment when it comes to common tropes like inspirational speeches or complicated bad guys, it's Not Serious. And this show being Serious is WHY I think Disney needs to lobby the Emmy committee on its behalf.

The arranged marriage thing the Senator is considering for her daughter is gross and reminds me unpleasantly of Game Of Thrones. But the worst part is the guy saying she's lying and that deep down she IS considering it. It's kind of disgusting.

Luthen's monologue about sacrificing EVERYTHING is like Stellan Skarsgard's entire Emmy Reel. Like Serkis, he is a Serious Actor doing Serious Work that deserves award recognition.

I want to point something ambiguous out, because the prisoner escape was treated like a Big Hero Moment for everyone. While it's obvious a LOT of those guys were like Cass and railroaded with unfair sentences, and did nothing wrong, it seems impossible to me that that's true for ALL of them. The Freedom Fighter / Prison Takeover might well have been releasing a bunch of mass murderers, serial killers, child molesters, and rapists right back into the wild. It's not in the episode's drama's best interest to point that out, but I guess maybe I should after the fact.

And Kino can't swim. Of course. But he's gonna learn pretty fast, I think.

If there exists a better Star Wars show than this one, it exists in the franchise's future. If there is a better MOVIE than this? If the season ends as strongly as this, I will say the same thing then. *****.

How can a droid evoke that much emotion?...  I really feel bad for B2 and I doubt things are going to get better for him.  I actually think things are going to be absolutely horrible for him...  

That stuff with Luthen at the end was a pretty good Star War.

How sinister is Luthen's plan? When you got Saw Gererra expressing morality concerns, you are kind of off the rails.

Cyril's mother being so horrible will never stop being funny.

Really feeling for that sad stuttering Droid. What a tragic moment.

Like I said, I just saw a pretty good Star War. ****.

Best Star Wars anything ever.

I hope people see this and understand exactly what a toxic dumbass Quentin Tarantino is for talking down Star Wars at Disney. This show is essentially ten times better than the best thing Lucas ever did. It's amazing. Andor was NOT a fan-favorite character or somebody who demanded his own series, especially with his fate already known. And yet if you ask me it wound up the best Star Wars thing ever anyways. I don't really understand it either.

Meera is seeing Syril in a positive light for the first time ever. Those sparks of sexual tension are her seeing the man in an entirely different way. I heard speculation that Cyril's role in the finale was going to be to screw something up that couldn't afford to get screwed up. And I like that Karn has spent the season rising above everyone's basement-low expectations of him, and is given the hero moment instead, and it also looks like he's 9/10ths of the way to getting the girl to boot.

The Death Star tag was the least surprising thing ever. What it was was solidly constructed and COOL. I believe surprises in fiction are overrated.

Really looking forward to Season 2. Keep the Gilroys, Lucasfilm. They are the next Star Wars producer superstars. *****.

Theory goes that Kleya Marki (Luthen's assistant) was once one of Padme's handmaidens.  The "disguise" she wears to meet Val is probably where that theory came from.  Even if it isn't intentional from the production it is something that could probably be tacked on to the character through novels/comics without causing any problems to what is being presented in Andor.