Andor (Season 2)

⭐ 10/10

This show is easily the best Star Wars of my lifetime. Episode 3 is peak movies for me, and honestly the Mandalorian season 1 re-ignited a love for the world, but this series is for grown up Star Wars fans. I do think season 1 was slightly better, but there are absolutely no complaints here about this season. The set design, the music, the writing and how its delivered, all top notch. Seeing what someone can do with the most wrung-out IP is honestly inspiring, and gives me hope that we aren't just living in a corporate hell-scape where everything we once loved is repackaged and regurgitated back at us for the rest of our lives.

I remember in season 1 being in awe as a TIE fighter screeched above a group of rebels in hiding, and how terrifying this staple of Star Wars objects was when viewed from that perspective. In a nutshell that's what this show does so well, re-contextualizing everything you know about Star Wars with the trappings of actual people caught in an actual war. It sounds so simple, but it has such bold vision and refuses to do any sort of fan service. This is a prestige show that would be great if it was set in some other new universe, but because its part of a beloved galaxy the impact of everything is enhanced. A creator and writer with complete vision and unique tone playing in a sandbox of endless possibilities, crafting Michalangelo's David while everyone else is just eating sand.

There is a tremendous flashback episode late in this season that any other show would completely botch, and every scene was backed with heart. There is a scene where they detonate a bomb on a bridge that is so well written, I just can't stop thinking about it, explains this relationship so well. The season starts slow, but the initial scene is really exciting and quite funny. There is a 3 episode arc of tensions rising, and when they finally burst it is brutal and real, putting the "war" in the title of this world in a way nothing else in it has ever done.

Andor is our main character, but Syril and Dedra steal the show for me, I love the conception of these characters. No one will ever have action figures of them, but they will live in my mind next to Anakin and Obi-Wan. Krennic is an amazing villain, who needs lightsabers? I could keep going, I just love the depth of all the people we encounter here.

It never quite hit the highs of the "I can't swim" moment from the first season, but this caps off a legendary 2 season run of one of the best shows of this era of TV. Easily the best IP-based show.