Paradise is my new LOST. Love to characters, the nonlinear storytelling and unravelling mysteries backed by interesting lore, and sprinkled with style (and good music choices).

Andor is not only the best Star Wars show ever, it's arguably the only and prestige offering from Disney+ (aside from NatGeo programming and perhaps, Loki season 2) and the only show that can stand in the ring with Apple TV+, HBO, and FX programming.

Characters, gripping dialogue, and beautiful design work add to straight-up impressive storytelling without any need for mystery gimmicks and holding back core info from the audience. The team behind Andor and Rogue One have established the blueprint that Lucasfilm should follow for all Star Wars storytelling.

I've watched the first 3 episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew thanks to screener access and while I enjoyed watching them I found the episodes to be unsatisfying, partly due to D+'s inexplicably short runtimes with incomplete-feeling episodes, and partly due to the dialogue and over-the-top pirate theming. Some nuance in design would go a long way paired with the impressive production designs the show does offer.

There's a lot of hope for the show (shallow runtimes aside) and likable roster of youngsters, with interesting locations and lore being teased as well. However, like all live-action Star Wars TV aside from Andor, Lucasfilm is still hiding story elements as marketing gimmicks vs. focusing on character journeys, at least in the first episodes.

I don't know anything about the source material but this show on its own was incredible, from story and characters, to art and direction. A perfect series.