The first three episodes of Andor release on Disney Plus this evening. The Star Wars series is the highest-rated entry not only in Disney’s era of a galaxy far, far away but of any Star Wars live-action property ever made.
I posted my rather gushing, spoiler-free review yesterday (you can read it here) and noted that I liked it just as much as Season 1, though I think the two are about neck-and-neck overall. Season 1 still has my favorite sequence at the Narika 5 prison complex, but Season 2 is still phenomenal television.
The 12-episode second season is split across four “chapters” releasing in three-episode blocks. Each block is written and directed by different people, and each takes place in a different year beginning in BBY 4 (or four years prior to the events of A New Hope). Each chapter draws us closer to the events of Rogue One.
And just like Season 1, each chapter gets more and more intense and action-packed. My brief warning for viewers is simply this: The first three episodes are easily the slowest and least exciting of the bunch. There’s still plenty of action and tension but a lot of the first chapter is devoted to establishing the stakes, similar to how the first three episodes of the first season functioned.
In other words, don’t judge the entire season based on tonight’s premiere. While I enjoyed these episodes a great deal, I would also argue they’re the weakest of the bunch. That being said, there are some genuinely terrific moments, especially in Episode 3. This isn’t meant as a dig at the opening chapter by any means.
Just remember that sometimes great television requires a little patience. A lot of people complained that Andor’s first season was too slow or too boring, but I remain convinced that these people never made it past the first episode or two, because after that the show is more gripping and intense than any other Star Wars series out there.
