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ruzgardiken t1_j90dl72 wrote

I think people are overestimating Andor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good watchable show but nothing more than that. It’s a good story, but nothing extraordinarily special about it

Maybe the overly positive reactions are because of the sludge Disney has been releasing these last years?

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adevilsadvokate t1_j91jzeg wrote

I would be inclined to agree just because the state of the Star Wars franchise makes that theory seem plausible and likely, but I don't know. On a purely production level, it's everything its "prestige" contemporaries are and more, and I can't think of many TV shows that even attempt to work in the spaces Andor does, and does it at that level. (AMC's Little Drummer Girl from 2018 is the most recent comparison for me.)

There's a combination of elements here that is new grist for the cultural mill, and I think it's easy to overlook because of the IP. I think we can all have preferences for some stuff Andor maybe didn't attempt (more personal drama, perhaps) but it's an exceptional work in both the science fiction and thriller spaces it is in. I think the IP association hurts here more than it helps, because it deserves a spot with some of TV's greats, even if it doesn't have universal appeal/acclaim.

The Criterion Collection doesn't just include a certain type of arthouse drama, right? Andor may not have Better Call Saul character drama or The Last of Us emotion, and all you might see is a "good story", but it's an immaculately well-constructed work with more going on than that credits it, especially for those who do have an affinity for works like a Le Carre adaptation. Tinker Tailor can be the most boring movie to some, but it's been permissible to exist as a Not For Me w/ an acknowledgement of its precision and detail. Andor deserves that too, from a pretentious board that can see those merits. It's good like that, not just for the franchise. So much better than it had any right to be, that it loops around to being inaccessible in some ways

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cheapnfrozensushi t1_j91qcry wrote

yeah there's a larger conversation about the relationship between mass appeal and "quality" that Andor doesn't fit neatly into because of its parent franchise's identity as blockbuster

Andor is definitely more esoteric in form, a genre and style that has its audience and is associated with a level of sophistication - but when it's about real history or politics. Andor is in a space fantasy backdrop, so that muddles how it should be engaged with. I think you can perceive the dissonance in a few ways: as bold pastiche, or half baked emulation. I think Andor more than meets its ambitions in the former but it just has the entirely wrong audience to appreciate it, and it becomes easier to perceive the latter in that context.

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BlueberrieHaze t1_j916l68 wrote

Agreed! I really enjoyed it, but that’s because every other Star Wars show has been shit. I was happy to finally see other parts of the Star Wars universe.

But I would not put it on the same level as Last of Us.

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