Ando: A show we didn't need or asked for, but busted all expectations, justifying its existence and then some. Not because it's Star Wars, but because it's actually good. Would have been even stronger if we didn't know his ultimate fate, curse of the prequel.
Yeah I was floored by Andor. The end of the prison arc is one of two times I've felt a major positive emotion in SW for a long time. Its a shame the rest of SW couldn't be even half this good.
Mando: Did not stick the landing. S3 falls apart hard as it throws away it's premise and lacking oh damn commentary like Herzog or Bill Burr. Felt unplanned, the reason we don't know, executive meddling, no expectation of S3, writers ran out of ideas, forgot what Mando is about. Doesn't matter, disappointing.
Wife and I both did not enjoy S3. And we were fans of both previous seasons. We watched the "missing episodes" from Book of Boba Fett because after the Tuskens my wife wanted nothing to do with that show. I don't know if watching those back-to-back with S3 helped or made it worse. Both Grogu's arc, and pretty much everything involving Bo-Katan was not enjoyable. I'm still surprised that Disney opted to make Bo the leader/hero -- a literal terrorist that enabled Maul to take over Mandalore and lost the planet not once, not twice, but three times, with and without the Darksaber. It was like they were contractually obligated to include some things and hit some beats and the creatives were absolutely not all in on the direction.
Question: What is the sequel to Loki? Quantum of something?
Only halfway through Loki S2 and it really feels like its gotten the Agents of Shield treatment where its been quietly sidelined into not being relevant to the overarching story. Wife was not feeling it (as it has been for much of Phase 4/5 of the MCU outside exceptions like Guardians 3 and No Way Home).
If S2 takes place AFTER Quantumania, that just feels extra weak because of how Kang got defeated and trapped there. Maybe the ending will surprise me, but its been pretty predicable and basic so far. Also the whole "retro 50s Sci-Fi" aesthetic and halfhearted time traveling just doesn't feel that engaging. Felt like some weird episodes of Legends of Tomorrow, and not in a good way.
Maybe we were extra harsh on it because it has been so long since S1 and we forgot a lot of what happened, so we were scrambling to remember who was who from the side characters and how the universe worked. Did they have fake local money? Did they need to not mess with events too much? Who were those side agents that barely had screen time in S1 that now seemed overly important in S2? Just felt a little like it didn't get the memo from how things have been going in the greater MCU and should have come out much sooner after S1.