Star Wars, as a franchise, is something I love... even when it's bad. Though there's precious few things that I actually consider "bad," because there's always something cool or interesting to be found. I positively loathe The Phantom Menace, but loved the pod racing and ship designs. I also loathed Attack of the Clones, but loved the chase of Sam Wessell in the opening and everything to do with Obi-Wan's story. I thought Return of the Jedi was a massive step down from The Empire Strikes Back, but the big space battle and duel between Luke and Vader were amazing.

Things get more complicated after that, especially with the television series.

The Obi-Wan series should have been a home run. It stars one of my favorite actors, Ewan McGregor, and he is indeed phenomenal in the lead role. And Darth Vader too? Sign me up! But the story was so weak. Not deserving of the character that McGregor made me care about so much.

Ahsoka began as one of my most-hated characters, but once they had her start growing up and getting rid of the annoying sidekick idiocy with "Sky Guy" (Anakin Skywalker) she quickly became on of the best characters in the entirety of Star Wars. And then... then... they cast Rosario Dawson in the role! Her guest appearances in The Mandalorian were too good to be true. So how excited was I for her own self-titled series, Ahsoka? Very. And while the casting and performance and effects were all great, they saddled her with a story which wasn't really her own. It was so jam-packed with other characters that it felt as if she was a guest-star in her own show. Why not just call it Rebels? And then there were positively silly moments that sank it for me... like that crazy spacewalk scene where she battled star fighters. JUST SHOOT THE SHIP!

But oh well. I still enjoyed Ahsoka... it just could have been so much better.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum is the Star Wars television shows I love. The first two seasons of The Mandalorian were good to great. I loved Skeleton Crew, even though I was pre-disposed to hating it because I thought it was just going to be a bunch of bratty kids hanging around Jude Law. Nope! Brilliant Star Wars.

But the pinnacle for me is Andor. The first season was not just some of the best Star Wars ever made... it was one of the best television shows ever made. Period. Very close to one of my favorite things ever, The Empire Strikes Back.

And here comes the second (and sadly, last) season...

Based on the first three episodes alone, I'm guessing that it will end up overtaking Empire for me. It's THAT good...

There's a single line delivered near the end of the third episode which will haunt me for a long, long time. You can't say that about a lot of the stuff you see.

I'll withold my comments until a while after the series airs because I don't want to ruin it for anybody. But, dang... if you're not watching, you should be. Even if you don't care much for Star Wars.