I’ve skipped all of the Star Wars shows after the second season of The Mandalorian. No point in sticking with shows after they’ve jumped the shark. This one however caught my attention due to its rave reviews and best of all, it’s a prequel that builds up to perhaps the best Star Wars film of all time, Rogue One. I can say without exaggeration that this show is amazing and adroitly captures what it means to build a resistance movement from the ground up. It’s also one of the darkest interpretations of the franchise I’ve yet seen, as the rebels can and do make moral sacrifices in the name of the greater good.

Set several years before A New Hope, the title character Cassian Andor is a thief and scavenger who lives on the planet Ferrix. He kills two security officers while on another planet and is hunted by Syril Karn, an overzealous supervisor. Back on Ferrix, He makes contact with a black market buyer to sell a piece of stolen Imperial technology. The buyer is Luthen Rael whose cover is an antiques dealer on Coruscant but is secretly trying to organize a rebel movement to oppose the Empire. He is more interested in recruiting Andor to the cause than the technology but Andor claims that he only wants money and has no interest in revolutions. After fleeing together from Ferrix, Luthen convinces Andor to participate in a heist in exchange for pay. They travel to the planet Aldhani where an Imperial garrison has its base. Their objective is to steal the payroll for the entire sector and Andor is introduced to the crew. Most of them are participating due to their grievances against the Empire and are upset at being forced to accept a newcomer into their midst. Meanwhile we also see other cells of the resistance beginning to form and the Imperial Security Bureau are becoming aware of the threat.

The new batch of Star Wars television shows generally have solid production values and this one is no exception. I was impressed by the fully realized settlement of Ferrix and the shots of Coruscant. What I liked most of all however are the scenes of ordinary life in this universe, taking a bus, having breakfast, needing to worry about money and so on. It feels lived in, realistic and well thought out. Even the multiple planets aren’t just scenic backdrops. They’re distinct places, each with their own sense of purpose and peoples, making for a rich and meaningful expansion of the fictional universe. The action scenes are plausible, with the exception of one space combat scene that looks overly fanciful. The blaster bolts for once are instantly lethal making all the gunfights feel dangerous. The show even treats stormtroopers with respect as the corporate security guards are now treated as the lowest tier of the Empire’s military apparatus. Best of all, there are no Jedi appearing to save the day with their magic powers. All of the successes are down to human ingenuity, courage, planning and sheer dumb persistence in the face of the Empire’s overwhelming advantage.

As the story of just one man being converted to the rebel cause, this series is just about okay but as the story of how a resistance movement gets started, this is amazing. It makes no pretense that a rebel cell is any different from how a terrorist cell is organized with each cell being unaware of any others for operational security reasons. Luthen explicitly states that his objective is to provoke the Empire into making a heavy-handed response that will in turn lead the population to resent their oppressors. They even exploit local religious activities as cover for their operations. The nascent rebellion is so hopelessly outmatched that they don’t hesitate to sacrifice a cell or kill their own operatives to protect more valuable assets. The body count of killed rebels is astoundingly high though towards the end of the series when the characters become more established they stop being killed off so readily. A nice touch is that it also depicts the response of the Empire as viewed from the inside in a realistic way. It turns out that one reason why the ISB has difficulty stamping out the rebellion is because of internal bureaucracy as supervisors are upset about colleagues interfering in what should be their turf.

My favorite character here is probably Syril Karn as he provides the point of view of a low level flunky who is loyal to the Empire and yet feels underappreciated. It’s just so rare for a show to offer this kind of perspective. His inclusion and the realization of all the other details prove just how well written this series is. I do hope that there will be a second season eventually but it seems to be up in the air due to the ongoing strike in Hollywood. This is better than even The Mandalorian and I hope more fans will pick up on it.