thinking about B2EMO and how, as a character, he embodies something that in Star Wars you rarely see, which is a droid's human-ish characteristics being treated with a degree of empathy & care.
this isn't an "and that's why Andor did it better" point (though I could say that too, frankly) but it's an interesting figment, because actually Solo (2018) tried to do this too1, but Solo was such a mess that even the interesting bits got kind of swallowed up by how goofy the entire presentation was.
But the thing is that, I think, one of the core tenets of Star Wars as a media franchise is that droid sentience/humanity is sort of a dramatic concept more than it are a diegetic concept -- droids exist and say lines and act like people because in a dramatic sense, that's helpful to the plot. I don't think anyone knows or honestly particularly cares what C-3PO does in his off-time, because for 99% of stories, C-3PO and R2 are less "characters" than they are "commentators". They're the Greek Chorus who gets to wink and nod at the action, and to explain things to the audience. Sometimes they literally do this, like in Rogue One, but sometimes they're just kind of there to be a little joke.
And that more dramatic staging of droids works so often in Star Wars because Star Wars is very often playing in the mode of high drama. But Andor wasn't, which is why I think it necessitated this... well, I wouldn't call it a "break" with that core tenet of "droids as dramatic device" as much as a "bend" of it. B2EMO gets a more humanistic portrayal because this is a more humanistic story.
Which gets me to the other thing that Andor keeps drawing out of me: where Andor pushes at "what makes Star Wars".
On the one hand, it is very much an "adding to the database" piece of media: we are learning more about Cassian Andor, we are filling in his backstory for the wikis and getting a fuller picture of his life.
On the other hand, it is staunchly uninterested in just "showing you the story", so to speak. A lot of characters and arcs are left unresolved, and probably won't be (e.g. the second arc) any time soon. It both exists as a piece of "filler media" and simultaneously decides to take a very grounded, people-first storytelling approach to being a piece-within-a-whole. It's done to great effect, in my opinion.
But with things like B2, I think there's that... intentional bending. I have no idea of the creators of the show were thinking like this, but... I'm willing to bet that there were discussions of "how far you can take a droid characterization" before it starts feeling "not like Star Wars".2
I'm impressed with what was able to be done! It's a great showcase of how a large IP like Star Wars can flex, but not break, with tonal and characterization changes between media -- while maintaining canon/continuity.
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1I don't think L3 was treated well by the script but arguably L3 really shouldn't have existed in the first place, since it raises so many questions about the nature of droid sentience that Solo (or most Star Wars media) really does not have the storytelling chops to tackle.
2this is extremely close to what i do i my actual job which is why I feel like this likely occurred
