Andor Episode 1 Television 

Five Thoughts on Andor‘s “Kassa”

By | September 22nd, 2022
Posted in Television | % Comments

If you understand that you’re watching a prequel to a prequel that fell after the original prequels, then you’re ready to dive into Andor! This show, for me and lots of other Star Wars fans, went from a shrug of indifference to wild enthusiasm after seeing the initial trailers. Did the first episode live up to the hype? Find out, but be warned that spoilers will follow.

1. Already the best looking Star Wars show

I’m not here to hate on the Volume, the innovative piece of tech that was designed and built for The Mandalorian, to allow for a better version of green screen/CGI work. It is a miraculous piece of tech that, most of the time, looks very good. However, there is no comparison to filming on actual sets and in the ‘real world,’ and Andor has visuals that are richer and have more depth of focus than anything in The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett. This is noticed both in the scenes on Kenari and in the brothel and streets of Ferrix.

With Tony Gilroy writing and show running the series, there is a more cinematic quality to the work than Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, or Jon Favreau brought to the prior series. And while yes, this is clearly still a Star Wars show, fittingly much like Rogue One, there doesn’t appear to be the same reliance on tropes or fear of straying too far from some nebulous distinction of what the show is supposed to be.

2. Speaking of Rogue One

There are a few moments in this episode that are there to specifically evoke Rogue One, both in blatant and more subtle ways. Every planet visited gets the on-screen text and general galactic location (mid-rim, etc) that Rogue One had, which is a helpful tool I wish more Star Wars media would embrace. It also added a little detail of displaying the ‘5BBY’ designation at the start of the show. Is this the first time that this type of dating has been seen on-screen, either in text or spoken, in a Star Wars show? I think it might be.

The show also uses its first scene with Cassian to do the same thing that his introduction in Rogue One did, which was show that he is both on the right side of whatever he’s up against, but also unafraid to kill if someone is in his way.

This scene adds a little more nuance than the Rogue one (see what I did there?) did, as he seems legitimately upset about the one goon that jumps him getting accidentally killed in their scuffle, and then shows him killing another when it might not have been necessary, just because it was easier. We are supposed to see just how dark and conflicted the character is, but also not think he’s totally a lost cause.

Of course, that is somewhat unnecessary, as we’ve already seen his ‘redemption’ on screen, but I get what they are trying to do. If Cassian is a more relatable character, people will be more willing to spend the time with him.

3. No subtitles

There’s no real rhyme or reason as to when Star Wars decides to use subtitles or not, but this certainly isn’t the first time we’ve seen characters speaking a foreign language that we cannot understand. However, this does seem to be the most time spent in that scenario without a translator, like C-3PO on Endor. [Side note: can we get Endor next? Thanks!]

These scenes aren’t exactly My Dinner with Andre, requiring subtitles so that we can understand the deep conversation happening before us, but it does seem a little much. If the point was to add mystery to the situation, than the visuals are too telling. If the point was to give us insight into Cassian as a child, that could be better achieved through dialogue.

4. All Imps are the Same

While we have had lots of stories in Star Wars that single out certain imperials as not the fascist bureaucrats that we’ve grown to hate, sometimes the shoe just fits. Syril Karn, the security mucky muck that is so invested in catching Cassian is basically the base model imperial: good looking but with zero flair or charism, stick up his ass, pedantic, white boy. The character is easy to hate, which happens nearly instantaneously, and makes for an easy foil to the incredibly charismatic and casual Cassian.

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But here’s the rub: at least in this first episode, we don’t care. If you, like me, felt bad for the two guys Cassian killed, the way to make us feel that deeper is to have someone take up their case who isn’t so easily dismissed from our minds. If you really want to show that Cassian is a scoundrel with an off-kilter moral compass, let someone with a morality that isn’t politically driven advocate for them. This almost entirely undoes the moral ambiguity that the first half of the episode is so focused on: if the Empire is Cassian’s enemy, then it doesn’t matter what he did, he’s the good guy.

5. Wait, that’s the ending?

The episode ends back on Kenari, with Cassian (then known as Kassa) joins folks from his community, staff in hand, to investigate a downed spaceship. If that feels anticlimactic in print, it surely does on the screen, too. I waited for a mid or post-credits scene to act as the ‘real’ ending, but there wasn’t one. The lack of ‘extra’ scene is actually a good thing, but that is neither here nor there. This was a very strange place to end the first episode. I haven’t watched past the first at the time of this writing to keep the reviews purely focused on the episode at hand, but it seems pretty clear that this was a case of splitting up a longer first episode into more digestible parts. I get that, but this is a clunky way to end something that you want folks to keep watching.


//TAGS | Andor

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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