This week, we got to watch two different pieces of geeky content that could arguably be viewed as tangents or spinoffs of the "main story". On the one hand, there's the TV movie Star Trek: Section 31. On the other hand, there's (Star Wars) Andor.
Section 31 was a caricature of a Star Trek story. It didn't even feel like a good Section 31 story, as the organization is supposed to be a clandestine spy-type organization with a tendency towards black ops. But the movie was more than a little silly and it assembled a rather large cast of characters and didn't really know what to do with them, especially given how strange their individual concepts were. What a waste of an entertainment experience.
But then we have Andor, whose final three episodes aired today. This second and final season of Andor was structured into 3-episode mini-arcs, each one covering the events of a particular year leading up to the events of Rogue One and ultimately Star Wars: A New Hope. We first met Cassian Andor in Rogue One, and he was already present as an intelligence officer, but one who was rough around the edges and willing to do potentially evil things in the name of good. And the show has embraced that overall tone.
The show had a clear path for itself - the end state was the beginning of Rogue One. And I can see how it can feel a little liberating to tell a story with a clear end goal. There were plans for a much longer run for this show, and it's a shame that we didn't get it. But what they did with this final season - cutting it into 4 mini-movies, each set one year apart from the other as we march steadily towards the events of Yavin - this was just brilliant. And it made this final season such a strong narrative venture.
And I really enjoyed this ending, even if some may find it slow at some points or lacking a big battle at the end. But this isn't a mainline Star Wars story - this is a story from the margins, an effort to flesh out events that happened in the background. Our "heroes" are largely tragic figures and the ones who mostly remained in the shadows. The show is a reminder that it took the sacrifices of many diffenre people to help the Rebellion get to where it was in the main movies. And to some degree, it even depicts the Imperials as very human figures with very human failings.
I'm going to reflect upon this series even more, just because it's just so good. And I'm going to re-watch Rogue One with Tobie as soon as we're able because it's quite brilliant how the show really does bring us to the very beginning of that movie.
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