i just wanted to say that up front. to be clear about where i am coming from. it's not that i don't like it. i grew up on star wars, second generation nerd and all. it's just that i wouldn't call myself a fan. i enjoy it. but not in a fan kind of way. so that's where i'm coming from

i watched andor (both seasons) in kind of a blur. it has a slow start. and some places where the storyteller's desires to drag out the tension outpaced my adhd patience and i got restless. i respect their goals, but i am an impatient creature. it's not their fault.

i watched andor in kind of a blur. and then as soon as i finished i re-watched rogue one. and then the next day i re-watched the original star wars trilogy.

now i am rewatching andor with my partner, nearly right after finishing it.

it is a slow simmer kind of story. sometimes the pacing feels treacherously, draggingly slow. but you see...a simmer is just that. slow.

andor has reminded me that my impatience with storytelling is not always a virtue. sometimes, a good story simmers.

after watching andor, when i revisited the earlier movies, they felt...enriched. deeper. more flavorful. andor didn't just simmer as its own story, it simmered every part of the story of the empire and the rebellion and the battle between them, the universe they exist in. i'd never seen a star wars story that contributed so much shape, so much detail, so much flavor to the rest of the story.

andor is the opposite of whatever thing incels complain about something "woke" supposedly "ruining their childhood" is......andor recovered my childhood. contextualized it. gave it a whole new, presently to my life applicable meaning that refreshed it for me, revitalized, somehow brought me closer to it and more in tune with it.

what reverence for the star wars universe must the people who made andor have, to achieve that kind of impact.

there's a lot about andor that is good in and of itself. but for me, the thing that is most remarkable about it is what it did for my perception of everything that came before.

its slowness even painted the star wars universe with a slower brush, for me. i slowed down while watching it. i looked for details i never had before, examined choices i never considered very deeply before.

it's remarkable. how what we do now can so deeply color what came before. and what comes next.