Andor: Aldhani

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Andor, played by Diego Luna, embarks on a heist and the embers of the rebellion begin to form.

I think this was a very good episode and way better than a lot of the other Disney + Star Wars shows we have had so far, however, I would say that it is a step back from what we got last week. This is very much a talking set up episode, which by no means is a bad thing as we will get to, but it does mean that the episode suffers with pacing issues. I think the worst thing about pacing in this episode is where it leaves off on, as the ending of the episode just feels like a random cut to black in the middle of a scene.

I enjoyed the scenes with Stellan Skarsgard’s Luthen, it is nice to see that he is a man of many faces. I have no idea where his story is going but I am excited to find out. Moreover, I thought his scenes with Mon Mothma, played by Genevieve O’ Riley, were really strong, and I thought that O’ Riley was really starting to shine in the role.

I also thought the heist planning scene was a lot of fun later in the episode, I liked the fact they built a model diagram and that yet again it seems like Cassian will be doing a suicide mission. I thought the two stand outs of the Cassian scenes were Faye Marsay as Vel and Alex Lawther as Nemick, both instantly created memorable and likeable characters who I want to see more off.

Overall, a slower episode but still one that is a lot of fun.

Pros.

Seeing more of Luthen

O’ Riley’s Mothma

The heist planning scene was a lot of fun

Seems like there is a lot to be excited for later in the season

Cons.

Pacing issues, mainly where they choose to end the episode

Not a lot happens

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Andor: The First 3 Episodes

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, searches for answers in the early days of the Empire.

This review will be a little different from my standard pattern, rather than review the first batch of episodes individually this will instead review them all together.

I think if you compare the first episodes of this show to Obi-Wan Kenobi or God forbid The Book Of Boba Fett then it is night and day. Where they felt cheap and low rent, with a seeming fear of anything approaching moral ambiguity, this show feels cinematic and asks some hard questions making us reflect on whether Cassian is a hero or not. In truth he is what modern Lucasfilm seems terrified of, an anti-hero.

I heard on a Youtube review on these opening episodes that some people are annoyed that within them there is no mention of the Force or of the Jedi/Sith. However, I for one think that is a great thing, I want to see what the wider Star Wars universe looks like, I am bored of the same old same old and would like to see other aspects of the Rebellion.

I also really appreciated the moody tone of these episodes with their being an almost Peaky Blinders esque feel to it at times. I think that Luna is already doing a terrific job and I can’t wait to see more from him as the series progresses.

Overall, the best thing Lucasfilm has done since The Mandalorian

Pros.

The moral ambiguity

The tone

Luna

The wider Star Wars universe

It feels fresh

Cons.

A bit slow in places

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part VI

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, and Vader, played by Hayden Christensen and voiced by James Earl Jones, face off once again, and Reva, played by Moses Ingram, goes to hunt down the child of Anakin Skywalker.

For the most part a great final episode. There were a few things that I would nit-pick, such as the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend, still looking naff, or the fact they undercut what should be a very impactful moment with a meme reference, but those aside this episode is firing on all cylinders.

The fight between Vader and Obi-Wan was well done and fairly cool, I wasn’t so keen that it was the memory of Leia , played by Vivian Lyra Blair, that returned his strength not his memories of Anakin or even of both the children, but that is just personal taste. I thought it was a bit of a forgone conclusion that Kenobi would beat Vader, but I enjoyed his defeat all the same Christensen gave a great performance.

The Reva sub-plot I thought tied things up nicely, it redeemed her to a degree and had her survive to go off and have her own adventures as possible a light side Jedi again. I really thought these last two episodes really brought Reva into her own, it was just a shame that she was written so one notedly beforehand.

Finally, I just want to touch on the Qui-Gon Jinn, played by Liam Neeson, who does a make a return here and boy oh boy what a return it is. Seeing Neeson back really made my day, a great way to end it.

Do I think we need a second season? No not really, I say leave it here and maybe have the comics fill in the rest, Star Wars as a brand really needs some new characters and new stories, the past as they say should die.

Overall, a strong season finale.

Pros.

The Vader fight

Redeeming Reva

Qui-Gon’s return

The emotion

It really brought the series together

Cons.

A few nit-picky concerns and issues

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part V

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Vader closes in on Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, and Reva, played by Moses Ingram, has her origins explored.

First things first, the flashback scenes wherein we finally got a return from Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker weren’t great. What I mean by that is twofold, firstly not a huge amount happened in them and secondly the de-aging CGI used on Christensen wasn’t good, there was something deeply uncanny valley about it.

My other issue with the episode was that the ending implies that Reva will go and hunt down Luke Skywalker if she survives her injuries, this makes no sense as in the episode she was helping Kenobi to a degree and had a heel turn so to go after a kid would not make sense in terms of character progression. However, that aside I do think that this episode is probably the best one for the character of Reva as the youngling theory is confirmed and we get to see more nuance from both the writing and Ingram’s performance.

I thought the final fight with Vader was pretty strong, it was fun to see just how powerful Vader is and the return of the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend, satiated the part of my brain that needs things to stick to cannon. I would say the highlight of the siege was probably the death of Tala, played by Indira Varma, as it felt incredibly powerful emotionally.

Overall, another good episode though I do wish they would stop using this de-aging tech as it doesn’t look good.

Pros.

The Vader fight at the end

The death of Tala and its impact

Reva’s origins

Kumail Nanjiani’s return

Cons.

The ending

The de-aging tech

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part IV

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A freshly defeated Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, must venture into the Inquisitors’ base to try and save a captured Leia, played by Vivian Lyra Blair.

I think this was the best episode of the series so far. I liked seeing Kenobi back in action fighting off storm troopers and actually being capable to a degree, I see why the show had him be so weak and ineffective to show how far he had fallen, but it was nice to see him recovering and returning to his old ways.

I enjoyed seeing the early form of the Resistance in the Path people, and though I would have liked to see another Jedi like maybe Quinlan Vos show up, maybe that was just wishful thinking. On that note, I am intrigued to see where they go with all the trapped Jedi beneath the Inquisitors base, that could be quite impactful for the wider universe.

I like the little bit of Vader, played by Hayden Christensen and voiced by James Earl Jones, we got towards the end, it was nice to see him pose a threat to Reva, played by Moses Ingram who up to this point has just been great at everything and got away with seemingly killing the Grand Inquisitor. Reva again had some very painful scenes, Ingram managed to pull off threatening in the torture scene though that would be hard not to, but in the proceeding interrogation her lack of facial acting abilities really shone through.

Seemingly Lucasfilm have greenlit a Reva series now, which highlights that the character won’t die and that Star Wars is almost more concerned with sending out a political message rather than producing good content, but who knows maybe it will be good if they actually give the series good writers.

Overall, a good episode let down once again by Reva with it now almost feeling like her show rather than Kenobi’s.

Pros.

Kenobi getting his groove back

The torture scene was surprisingly hardcore for Disney

I enjoyed the ending fight set piece

The Vader/Reva scenes were strong

Cons.

Reva is stealing too much focus from Kenobi and Ingram’s poor acting is starting to show

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part III

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Darth Vader, played by Hayden Christensen and voiced by James Earl Jones, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, face off for the first time.

I think this series is getting better as it goes along, it isn’t perfect by any means but it certainly is finding its footing. The two things that irritated me about this episode up front before I get into the things I liked, firstly I don’t like that Reva, played by Moses Ingram is being written to be a mary sue, great at everything automatically with no knockbacks or challenges and secondly I don’t like that the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend, has seemingly been killed off, though no doubt that will get changed by the end of the series.

That said, for the most part I enjoyed almost everything about this episode. I liked the secret underground resistance, before the resistance, rail road and all of the good things it could bring: including maybe seeing Quinlan Vos in live action. I also enjoyed Indira Varma’s Tala and thought she had great chemistry with both Obi-Wan and Leia, played by Vivian Lyra Blair.

Moreover, I also thought the fight between Vader and Kenobi was good and I applaud how brutal they got with it. I think a big issue with The Book Of Boba Fett was how bloodless everything was, so it is nice to see some gore and threat being shown in the Star Wars Disney + universe. I have seen some people complain about Vader letting Obi-Wan go at the end, with him not venturing into the flames to finish him off or even using his force powers. However, I think him doing this makes sense as he is probably going to be playing the long game and be tracking down not just Obi-Wan but also his helpers. Two birds with one stone as they say.

Overall, a pretty strong episode made better by Reva taking a back seat.

Pros

The Vader Kenobi fight

The tease of Quinlan Vos

Leia continues to have good moments

McGregor is on top form

Cons.

Hugely side-lining the Grand Inquisitor

Reva as a mary sue

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part II

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, tracks Princess Leia, played by Vivian Lyra Blair, to the planet of Daiyu.

Reva’s parkour race/flip session was the most low budget goofy thing I have ever seen from Star Wars. Honestly whoever put that together should get fired.

I thought this episode was better than the first, though not by much. McGregor was on top from and I liked his back and forth with Leia. The two have great chemistry together and I hope they spend a lot more time together over the course of the series, though maybe not as Disney + Star Wars already has enough parent child dynamics.

Moreover, though I was initially disappointed that Kumail Nanjiani’s character wasn’t an actual Jedi, I do like the mystery of who these friends of Obi-Wan are. I liked Nanjiani and thought he was a welcome addition to Star Wars lore, again I hope we see more of him as the series goes on.

I thought Reva, played by Moses Ingram, continued to be a problem and that her conversation with the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend, about her not being one of them and her being beneath them was so incredibly on the nose that I question if the writers even understand the concept of sub-text. Furthermore, her stabbing and seemingly killing the Grand Inquisitor at the end of the episode both further ruined him as a character and also made no sense in terms of the franchise’s cannon. We know he can’t be dead as he later appears in Rebels unless of course this show is going to retcon that. Reva makes it so that the Grand Inquisitor is no longer threatening in anyway and totally undoes a lot of the good character development.

Overall, Reva still continues to hold the series back in a big way and Ingram also comes off as the weakest member of the cast in terms of acting ability.

Pros.

Kenobi and Leia

Nanjiani

The Vader tease

Letting Kenobi fight and be badass

Cons.

Reva

Seeing Reva seemingly kill the Grand Inquisitor

The flips and parkour scenes

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part I

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor must come out of retirement to save a capture Princess Leia, played by Vivian Lyra Blair.

So this was a deeply mixed bag, though I would say there was slightly more good than bad.

The good first, I really enjoyed McGregor as Kenobi again he did a really great job of playing the broken Jedi who has all but given up. His interactions with the other characters always feel heightened by his acting prowess as well.

Moreover, I also enjoyed the tone and the more violent edge this series had, with the Inquisitors chopping off people’s body parts and actually feeling threatening. However, this was some what undercut by the fact that only one Inquisitor actually behaved as you would expect, that being Reva, played by Moses Ingram. I will get into later why Reva as a character doesn’t work and why it points out everything wrong with modern day Lucasfilm, but I will say that she was the only Inquisitor that acted the part wanting to hurt civilians for answers and being evil, the rest felt like they were holding back and the show didn’t explain why.

My issues with this series do mostly stem from how they use Reva, having her openly defy the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend and thinking that she knows better than all of her male colleagues. A lot of very simplistic people online will scream that anyone who doesn’t like Reva is a sexist or a racist or both, however, I am here to tell you that these people are stupid and so obsessed with their own politics that they have to inject it into any media that they see. The reason Reva sucks is not because of the actor’s race or gender, it is because they have written her as one dimensional, her writing doesn’t feel in keeping with what has been established, by having her treat the Grand Inquisitor as her whipping boy it makes him lesser as a character; and his lack of violent response to her makes it worse. I thought we had all collectively agreed that the girl boss archetype that only existed as a shallow gesture within media to try and force in strong female characters was bad and tokenistic? Or did I miss the memo.

To move off Reva, this show continues another of Disney + Star Wars’ key issues and that is having humans be everywhere. Honestly, at times in this show you would forget it is supposed to be set in a wide interconnected galaxy and just think it was on Earth as humans are most of the characters you will meet. There are a few here and there peppered into backgrounds and in some small supporting roles but for the most part they don’t seem to exist.

Overall, I like what they are doing with Obi-Wan and the more adult tone, however, they need to do more with Reva to make her a better character, humble her and have her overcome something rather than just having her be super great at everything, oh and include some damn aliens in your space show.

Pros.

Obi-Wan himself

The more mature tone

The order 66 flashback opening

Cons.

Reva

The lack of aliens

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The Book Of Boba Fett: In The Name Of Honor

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The war between Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison, and the Pike Syndicate finally comes to blows.

This was one hell of a mixed bag.

On the one hand you had the Grogu and Din, played by Pedro Pascal, stuff, which was really sweet and well done and honestly also quite effecting. As well as some great action set pieces that felt intense and bloody, and had a nice heft to them that helped you forget you were in Disney era star wars where blasters are set to stun half the time.

However, on the other and infinitely worse hand you had the Mods at their most insufferable, lecturing Boba Fett, an experienced mercenary, on battle tactics and social justice and being far too prominent during the final battle. The social justice message of the Mods really makes me dislike them, and it takes me out of the show and makes me feel like Hollywood Z listers are talking down to the fans. I understand that Robert Rodriguez likes to push diversity in his kids films now, and for the most part that is admirable and well done, but here it is forced down your throat by characters that never fit into the universe. Also surely if it was a diverse street gang they would have at least some alien members? No? That seems well thought through.

Moreover, this episode has Boba learn that it was in fact the pikes that killed his beloved Tuscan Raider tribe, yet can he avenge them? No, no he can’t. Instead the show has to once again take the action and badass moment away from Fett and give it to Fennec Shand, played by Ming-Na Wen, which feels illogical and like a slap in the face to anyone invested in the show. To not give this to Boba means his character journey is not ended in any meaningful way.

Finally, and perhaps most egregiously of all they kill off Cobb Vanth, played by Timothy Olyphant, off-screen…… The last episode had him survive his injuries, what happened? Honestly this made me want to turn off the finale.

Overall, Boba Fett spent more time in a bacta tank then doing anything even remotely cool.

Pros.

Grogu

The action

Cons.

The Mods

Cad Bane’s awful death that looked hilariously bad

Not finishing Boba’s character arc

Cobb Vanth

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The Book Of Boba Fett: From The Desert Comes A Stranger

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorian season 3 continues on with a silent cameo from Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison.

I think this may have been the best episode of the series yet. Admittedly much like with last week’s episode it is concerning that the episode without Fett in them pretty much at all are the best ones, considering this is Boba Fett’s show. In my mind this has now just become The Mandalorian but under a different name.

I think this episode does a lot right, I enjoyed that it brought back Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth, Olyphant can do no wrong and he was on fire in this episode. Likewise I thought they nailed the emotional reunion between Din, played by Pedro Pascal, and Grogu: though not much of a reunion took place. I thought the episode’s cliff-hanger cruelly played with our emotions in the best way, though I have a fairly good feeling I know where it is all heading.

The things I don’t enjoy about this episode all come back to the same thing, the effects. Ashoka, played by Rosario Dawson makes a return to the show and continues to look like a cosplayer, there is something deeply uncanny about the way her character looks as she moves, especially when there is a focus on her talking. It is quite jarring. Moreover, the bad effects continue with the return of a de-aged Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, and the less said about this the better. What I will say is that every time the character talked or we got a close up of his face it looked like a video game cut scene from over ten years ago, there were major issues with the dubbing. The de-aging tech clearly isn’t there yet and I really don’t think they should be showing this much Luke Skywalker if it is going to look this bad. In a final example of horrendous special effects this episode marks Cade Bane’s, played by Dorian Kingi and voiced by Corey Burton, first appearance in live action and my word does he look terrible.

Overall, in terms of emotions and action this episode is ahead of the pack sadly the tech and the effects really stop the episode from being perfect.

Pros.

More Mando

The emotion

Bringing back Olyphant

The ending

Cons.

The effects and the look of some of the characters

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