Set during the era of the prequel trilogy, Tales of the Jedi offers six animated shorts delving into the pasts of fan-favorite Star Wars characters. The anthology centers around two characters in particular with three episodes each dealing with Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and Count Dooku (Corey Burton) during the times when both were members of the Jedi Order.
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Andor shifts back into a low gear for an episode where the plot isn’t noticeably advanced for much of the episode. We get multiple scenes of the Imperials talking about action (but not really doing much) following the heist, the disgraced Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) getting to work at his new job, squabbling amongst the Rebels concerning the heist, and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) returns home for a brief moment for final goodbyes. While there’s some nice moments in the latter, nothing of note happens here. Then, bizarrely, the episode jumps forward an indeterminate amount of time to a different world with Cassian arrested for walking while not Imperial. For an episode determined not to do much, these final few minutes can give you whiplash setting, I almost thought the episode had put me to sleep an I missed a full half-hour of plot. Nope, that’s just Andor‘s attempt at “story telling.”
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The sixth episode of Andor finally gets to the heist, although the show’s method of drawing events out unnecessarily continues even during the heist itself often flashing to events elsewhere on the military base or with the locals amassing to view the celestial event. The choice would seem to be done in attempt to draw out the tension of events even longer. However, the result is actually the opposite as editing of the episode continually undercuts and distracts from the events the show has finally gotten around to delivering. If Andor was a comic book series it would be a three-issue story stretched thinly over an entire year’s run where you could easily miss two or three months at a time and still have no trouble staying caught up with the story.
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After picking up the pace and finally beginning the main story in the previous episode, Andor slows to a crawl again as we spend another full episode waiting for the mission to begin. The season’s fifth episode also spends more time with Mon Mothma‘s (Genevieve O’Reilly) family and with the disgraced Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) without advancing, or yet justifying, either of those subplots. We also check in with Imperial Security Bureau Supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) despite no progress being made in her investigation. If you are looking for the definition of a filler episode, you’ve found one.
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Continuing the unexpected alliance of Darth Vader and Sabé against Governor Tauntaza, Darth Vader #27 brings the fight to the Governor and what she mistakenly believes is her unbreachable fortress. The comic is notable for its action and Vader and Sabé each saving each other’s lives with the Dark Lord of the Sith putting off the attack on the Governor to rescue Sabé from a sandstorm and later the former handmaiden choosing to help a wounded and defenseless Vader after his successful attack on the Governor.
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