Festival of Dread

[setsuled]

Now I've watched "What a Festive Evening", episode six of Andor season two, a nice little symphony of suspense. As I noted yesterday, the writer of this arc, Beau Willimon, wrote the prison arc last season, which was stronger than this because it revolved around one man's life changing and it was done with an extraordinary performance by Andy Serkis. But "What a Festive Evening" was by no means bad.

The best part of it was the shifting dynamic between Luthen and Kleya. It always seemed that Kleya was Luthen's assistant, now they seem more like partners. The scene where Kleya removed the bug from the artefact, using Jung as a shield, was a lovely trapeze act of tension. The bug getting stuck was like the old device of the car not starting at the absolutely worst moment. Ben Mendelsohn's presence as Krennic added to the sense of menace, as did Mon Mothma's slightly too bold arguments. There was also the very fact that Jung is already a mess of nerves and could have broken off at any moment.



The heist plot was good though not quite as strong. I liked Vel and Cinta and wish Cinta could've stayed around longer. It's funny, one of the things Andor is noted for is not being in line with the modern, bad screenwriting that seems to come from students who've spent more time criticising other writers than learning how to actually tell a good story. "What a Festive Evening" does one of those things that that crowd of people always complained about; having a gay character killed in order to provide motivation or character growth for other characters. I remember it was called "Bury Your Gays" though this one might also be "Fridging". I don't mind writers doing that but I feel like Cinta had potential as a character that the show would've been better off exploring. Not to mention Varada Sethu shines more in this role than she does on Doctor Who. It really made me notice how much better hair and wardrobe are on Andor compared to Doctor Who. She somehow just looks a lot better, even when her hair is supposed to be messed up. But I guess Andor's budget is pretty lavish.

Andor is available on Disney+.