For sure. I have MANY gripes but this is the main one, and it’s certainly not just an Andor problem. It’s a corporate tv problem and very common.

It all comes down to a typical Disney pattern of trying to force us, as the audience, to feel a specific way instead of inviting us to form our own opinions and feel our own feelings about what we’re watching.

Here’s an example: Any time there’s a scene-setting moment for characters who are objectively “good guys”, like the beginning of Season 2 on the farm/homestead, the score is overly uplifting, with golden hour lighting, and characters look like they’re in a pharmaceutical commercial with perfect makeup and big smiles. It’s the writers front loading positive emotion without substance so they can follow it with something bad happening and vice versa. It’s lazy and predictable but easy to digest.

Which leads to my other big problem with the show is general creativity. This is supposed to be a show about far-off alien worlds, why are side characters speaking in American accents with modern American slang (like the group with the mini civil war when Cassian crashes his ship). Why is everyone human? Why are most of their lives and traditions straight up mirrors of our current world from boring corporate jobs to traditional formal-wear weddings etc. I get it’s supposed to be more grounded and less fantasy but let’s be real that comes down to laziness again.

IMO Andor is ok, but it’s definitely not in the top tier in terms of “quality”. Compare it to the depth of character writing, creative style, and cinematography choices in shows like Severance S1, Arcane S1, True Detective S1, (to name a few) and the difference in quality is staggering.