Criticalstaff

Let's not pretend American TV was ever fantastic. It wasn't amazing, it wasn't high art. It has always been a commodity. For the makers as much as the consumers. At its best it has always been a vehicle for soap commercials. Yet, it did sometimes in spite of this find itself showcasing something really beautiful. Sometimes an otherwise lowbrow TV show about a mafia captain going to the therapist would become a deep reflexion on the self and masculinity in a changing world. In other moments, a very realistic procedural cop-show would allow itself to suggest the portrait of Baltimore, an American city circa the turn of the millennium. It would charm us with the story of a chemistry teacher who was a megalomaniac psychopath all along, or a whimsical story about how a dragon girl became a despot. It had good moments, it had bad moments, but at least it kept on going, it kept trying.

This film, which I regard as a TV movie, was made why? It was made as content for Apple TV+. Apple used to make computers, now it's a cellphone company. In order to sell more phones year over year; they figured people should have something to do on these devices, why not watching movies? That is the reason this film exists; it is in the hopes to sell more phones next year!

Today I'm watching something on Apple Tv+, tomorrow it will be Netflix, the day after it will be Amazon; it doesn't really matter which, all these hegemonic tech firms are all the same. The quality of the thing we are presented with is secondary; the true goal is to sell something else: a phone, a subscription, a yearly plan, a gizmo, a gadget. Whatever.

People are fearful of AI taking our jobs away. But the truth we are already living as if it were the case. Most of these films coming out on these platforms are all the same. A simple story, a lazy script and whatever star was available that day. Just look at the names in this! I mean nodoby is ever even acting in this, there just here for brand, erh ... I mean name recognition. This is not a question of pairing or connection or chemistry, it a formula; it's a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet come to life. Krasinski + Portman + a bunch or other lesser yet still recognizable names = number one film on the internets. And obviously I also clicked on it so I am part of the problem.

But the thing is: something has got to give ; you can't go on forever. You can't go offering a lesser and lesser product and charge a higher cost, people will start to notice. Efficient markets hypothesis. This is not an artistic review anymore, it's an economics breakdown.

The Tim Apples, David Zaslavs, they won't care. They will milk this sucker dry one way or another. I cant wait for this bubble to burst.

I think it was somewhere halfway the second season I realized: "Wait a minute! Something is off ?!"

Maybe it was because the storyline made less and less sense; maybe because I was zoning out at every slower character moment; maybe because characters went in an out without reason or logic; maybe because season 2 of Andor had nothing on season one.

Season one was truly brilliant. Simple, elegant, modest, flawlessly executed. It was comptent storytelling, niched into a spy thriller disguised as political commentary on authoritarianism and the dangers of a police state. Season 2 is about nothing; that is it is about space. Not cool space, nor the one filled with stars and marvels of the unknown, nor the one with laser swords or let's say space opera political intrigue. But rather the quite empty space between the end of season one and that absolute brilliant gem that was the film Rogue One.

If you've seen Rogue One, you surely know that the emptiness of space is nothing compared to it. And just like the prequels before them, who tried desperately to burn every bridge they every built and sacrificed everything good or interesting it built in order to connect Revenge of the Sith neatly with A new Hope - so does this series; it squanders everything, the characters, their motivations, the plots and subplots only because we have to get form A to B. Cassian Andor, our hero, must end up on whatever planet for whatever reason. I saw the series last night I could not tell where it is of why he was supposed to be there because it had no source and impact on anything the show Andor had been about until now.

I think that there that maybe they had no idea the first season was going ot be such a great success, so they had to improvise an new one. But they had to make it the same, but different. So you've got the same structure, three overarching story arcs, except there is no sense to them here. In the first one, Cassian is stranded on a random planet and is being involved being two feuding groups of jungle survivors. Will there be and extended narrative that will change our hero and imprint on him some sort of lesson or trait? Will he become a leader by working out a peace deal between two antagonizing parties and therefore learning how to organize different factions into a united front? Yeah whatever He acquires a gun by happenstance and flies out of there; we'll never see the survivor characters ever again.

What a show, absolute genius. Dedra Meero the great antagonist, who was such a clinical austere spy genius, being as instinctive as Cassian was heroic. How did she get her comeuppance? A minor character hacked her computer off-screen she is sent to prison. I can't believe I watched this garbage.

I have had a couple of moments while watching Andor, where I was reminded that it actually does take place in the Star Wars universe. And it was almost always a surprise, and a welcomed one. I think it speaks to the quality of this series, that you're able to completely forget that it is actually a spin-off to a prequel film made to counter a lazy nitpick. Andor has escaped that lineage and is definitely it's own thing. And, that is arguably what is refreshing about it, given how saturated the franchise has become.