When it comes time to make big lists of the achievements that each of the biggest and best streaming services has managed so far, Disney+ has one show that most critics and audience members are likely to focus on. Andor is a superb achievement, rated 96% on Rotten Tomatoes – and people are rightly extremely excited about its return in a few weeks' time.
If you're not a Disney+ subscriber, though, and have always wanted to see what the show's all about, there's great news this week. Disney has just put the first few episodes of Andor up on YouTube, for all to see, without any hint of a paywall. This means you can watch three full episodes whenever and wherever you want.
The three episodes are our introduction to Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and the show sure kicks thing off in style, following our hero as he makes a name for himself in the worst way possible, by killing some imperial officials when he'd probably be better advised to let them go. This kicks off a chain of events that will eventually lead him to a starring role in Rogue One and the rebellion.
The best part of this set of uploads is that, while it's far from the whole of Andor's first season, it nonetheless tells a full story. This is due to the way Andor is structured – it takes place in a series of three-episode mini-arcs, each of which advances the overall plot, but also tackles a concrete story that has a beginning, middle and end.
That structure is one of the show's many brilliant ideas, and it'll be curious to see if it returns in the second run of episodes due very soon. That said, for those of us who have high standards when it comes to audio-visual home entertainment, there is one little flaw with this YouTube upload that is worth knowing about.
Principally, the episodes are uploaded in 1080p only – even if you have a YouTube Premium account, you can upgrade the bitrate a little but not the resolution. That means Disney+ will have a clear advantage because it has the show in 4K, which is noticeable. Still, as a way to watch the show for free, it's hard to fault it too much, so be sure to jump on it if you're interested in seeing what Andor has to offer.
