Main cast: Diego Luna (Cassian Andor), Stellan Skarsgård (Luthen Rael), Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), Denise Gough (Dedra Meero), Kyle Soller (Syril Karn), Adria Arjona (Bix Caleen), Faye Marsay (Vel Sartha), Fiona Shaw (Maarva Andor), Varada Sethu (Cinta Kaz), Alastair Mackenzie (Perrin Fertha), Joplin Sibtain (Brasso), Anton Lesser (Major Lio Partagaz), Richard Dillane (Davo Sculdun), Alex Ferns (Sergeant Linus Mosk), Gary Beadle (Clem Andor), and Alex Lawther (Karis Nemik)
Director: Benjamin Caron
Finally, the end is here! Well, the end of the first season anyway, as after meandering like a decrepit dementia-ridden coot like the first quarter or so of this season, Andor wastes the last few episodes setting up the next season.
I suppose it is no coincidence that Rix Road is named after, well, a road in this setting as the show wants me to know that this tedious, directionless journey has yet to end so I better get ready to keep consooming.
So, Andor comes back to Ferrix because where else can he go anyway as this show has a tight budget, and everyone wants to kill or arrest him.
Mon Mothma and her husband have marital issues that may overlap with some barely developed plot of spies and liars and whatever.
Meero and Karn share some weird scenes that seem to be designed to stoke fan fiction writers to write torrid naughty stories about these two, but meh, who cares.
Caleen is here, so are Sartha and Kaz, and in the end, Andor goes back to Rael despite knowing that he wants him dead because we are all going in circles and this season ends with just a few steps ahead of the first episode.
Oh god, and I’m supposed to praise Andor as the best thing ever to come out from the Disney Star Wars stable. Sure, the bar is super low, so this show doesn’t have much competition in the first place.
However, this entire season is put together with far too many episodes for so little actual story. If there were to be a show that needed to have the usual six- or eight-episode count, this show is it. So much of this season is made up of long boring exposition delivered through monologues, characters spending so many scenes doing things that don’t seem to lead up to anything, and vague villainous motivation that never truly congeals into something substantial to stoke the suspense.
Andor never feels like he is in any danger, and he doesn’t show any direction, purpose, motivation, growth, anything. He just wanders around and reacts to situations around him, and ends up being the least interesting thing in the whole season. This is a complete 180 from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in which he was one of the most interesting characters.
It is possible that our titular character may experience more adventures that will shape his personality into something more compelling, but this season is not the way to present the beginning of such a character.
That’s the tragedy of the first season of Andor: it quickly runs out of things to say, but it labors under the delusion that it can still keep going.
If it had ended right after the Aldhani heist arc, I may still be enthusiastic about the next season. Now, I just want them to take their time and first come up with a proper, compelling story that can fill the episode count before getting to work!
