Andor episode 8 review: The Empire Strikes Back in Diego Luna's series and it's beautifully painful

3/5

Story:

Cassian Andor has been captured by a part of The Empire. He is forced to live under conditions he hoped to never see again. Will he make it through?

Review:

Star Wars: Andor promised to give us hell of a series with the last episode. Taking a dark turn, that one set a benchmark. The latest episode – episode 8 – does stay true to that theme but only to some extent. You see the episode and know that there is no coming back from the low point of what’s happening in the story. That’s the power of this episode. It may be predictable but you always have something to look forward to – to imagine what Andor will be up to next and what people close to him are going through.

Diego Luna enters the episode almost instantly, as this one commences from where the last left off. Of course, that means Kyle Soller's Syril is back in action too.

Denise Gough as Dedra Meero, who has been the most powerful female in The Empire for quite some time, remains stable in her role. This, in itself, is a feat for the actress since it is a tough role to pull off.

The series takes a weird turn. There's almost a zombie moment involving Diego.

Genevieve O'Reilly as Senator Mon is lovely yet shrewd as always. She has a briefer but powerful role, given her arc from the last episode.

Andor finally knows fear. He is zany as always and is at his all-time low. The real question every time you see him is, will he bounce back?

The downs are so constant in this episode that you get used to not getting good surprises.

Fiona Shaw is back as Cassian Andor's mother Maarva Andor and more than her acting, it is everything around her that makes her character better. Of course, she doesn't falter in her acting skills either.

Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen is different this time. She is a fresh change from the ongoing situation but somehow, once again, gets mired up in the circumstances.

Faye Marsay's Vel and Varada Sethu's Cinta are back too. The latter is so powerful everyone looks normal around her.

Stellan Skasgard's Luthen is here and his role is just like always. However, he has a moment of mafia this time which is part impressive.

The visuals are stunning as always. It is at par with the OG Star Wars and not like the other series which have released from the franchise so far.

Andor gets its basics right. The series matches its standard set so far, even if the story has taken a downfall, literally.

Verdict:

Andor episode eight is not at par with episode seven. However, it is not so bad that you would want to leave it mid-way. The episode makes you wonder – what’s next for Andor?