What a Festive Evening

Greetings from Lithuania.

"What a Festive Evening", a sixth episode of "Andor" season 2 was a good one. Tense, were thing and events starting to (finally) move. Its not just about building pieces of a puzzle, but pieces started to move. The ending was surprising and rewarding. What is like about "Andor" is its unpredictability. Its a Star Wars but in spies world. The scene in the museum was a standout for me. Rebels, spies - all coming into one place.

Performances were excellent as usual, and i really looking forward to see remaining half of the last season 2. Its intriguing and well written story.

This is a strong conclusion to the second trilogy of episodes with standout moments.

There is little information about the plot I can reveal without spoilers but it is safe to say that this is a pretty tense and eventful episode that contains compelling moments on both Ghorman and Coruscant. Characters like Syril, Dedra, Luthen, Krennik, Kleya Marki, Vel and Cinta are all use well by the filmmakers.

For me the highlight is the final scene, which I can give no details about, other than it was unexpected to me and a satisfying moment given the build up involving the relevant characters. What the fallout will be is quite intriguing. I hope when the time jumps to the next three episode arc that it will be shown as having a significant impact.

For me all actors are on top form and the visuals are amazing as ever.

For me it is an 8.5/10, but I round upwards.

If you don't like this show up until now, this arc won't change your mind. But if you love this show as much as I do for its writing, tension, characters, and intrigue you will absolutely love this arc. Don't expect loads of action or a huge flashy finale like The Eye, but expect a masterfully crafted and tension filled thriller of an arc where every character gets to shine.

The time jump works wonders for these episodes, letting us jump straight into the plot while smoothly catching us up on events from the lost year.

Certain characters meet that you would have never thought would meet and it's wonderful. The music absolutely holds its own even with Britells abscense. And finally props to the show for making a new language for the Ghorman.

Just go watch it.

So far this is the standout episode to me of the season. It's wound tight enough. The acting bristles with energy. The whole story has a good rhythm to it.

The only real negative is that the audio is mixed too bassy. Like someone just boosted it 3dB at 120hz the whole way through. I watched this on my studio computer, and I know this room. Trust me.

But otherwise it's a great episode. One thing that I really appreciate about this episode, but also the series in general. Is that it actually challenges the viewer with long quiet scenes. And shifts the intensity and rhythm of the editing and acting for different parts of the story. This is very refreshing. So many similar series fear losing your attention span, so they constantly barrage you with eye candy and dynamic sequences. This series challenges the viewer to keep their attention on the story and not pick up the smartphone. I like that a lot. Yes please more.

This episode does a fantastic job of starting off slow and then accelerating and increasing the tension and intrigue.

I do have to say I was a little bit confused for a moment. I happen to be watching Agents of Shield and Doctor Who in parallel with this series. And a few points in the story I got off track wondering where the Doctor was (on seeing Varada Sethu) and later I was wondering when Simmons and Tremors were going to show up, what with the green vials and all.

I wish that this show more regularly featured the round table with Major Partagaz. I love his whole British boarding school Neoplatonist rhetoric thing. We only get a taste of that in this episode. And it's excellent, I feel if that was more consistently a part of the show it could help viewers orient themselves from there.

I know I said I love how the writers push and pull with the pacing. But thats not it. There are just so many damn characters to keep track of. Wait do I know this one, or do I recognize them from Doctor Who or Mad Men?

But that's what is great about it. It's what make's it remind me of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The dense intrigues that slowly move forward a plot. Winding the tension higher until you can't bear it. However most of the time it's subtle and restrained.

Half expected to have someone whip out a brief case and start assembling a sniper rifle. Well we got 6 episodes to go.

The score, the visuals, the effects, the acting, the directing, the writing, the editing - every element is a masterclass in this arc.

Even though there wasn't much action, I was still on the edge of my seat at the end of this episode.

The characters are smart, there's not a single mistake or irrationality in the writing, each actors and actresses deliver absolutely phenomenal performances.

One criticism I would say is that the last scene may have been rushed a little bit, a short scene where the characters get informed and discuss their next move which was displayed in the last scene may have helped in my opinion.

Still, the other Disney plus series can't even compete with "Andor", this show is on another level. Sadly I feel we will never get this good Star Wars ever again after this show ends, but I'm grateful it happened.