Andor

Maarva’s funeral – Andor spent much of its first season being a masterclass in tension, and yet nothing could compare to the simmering revolt that sets the stage for the funeral of Maarva Carassi Andor (Fiona Shaw) in the finale. Our heroes and villains all drawn to Ferrix to tighten the net around Cassian (Diego Luna), the sudden, mournful outbreak of music to herald the march to Maarva’s ceremony, all released in the cathartic moment Maarva’s hologram wills her community to resist the Empire. It’s about 15 minutes of a nearly hour-long episode, and your heart is in your mouth and your butt on the edge of your seat every second of it.

Nemik’s manifesto – Nemik (Alex Lawther), our dearest space Socialist. How little would you know just how vital your stirring manifesto would become, after you literally got crushed by the weight of Imperial capital? Watching Cassian’s journey after the Aldhani heist—from being outright fearful of Nemik’s revolutionary thesis when offered it, to embracing it and listening to its stirring treatise as he prepared to fight on Ferrix in the finale—through the lens of Nemik’s watchword about community spirit in rebellion against the Empire was a highlight of Andor’s back half.

Luthen’s speech – It’s kind of rude for Stellan Skarsgård to sweep in at the end of one of Andor’s best episodes for tension and dialogue alike and drop an all-timer speech, but that’s exactly what he did at the end of “One Way Out.” Part tragic realization, part harrowing fury to keep Luthen’s ISB double agent in line, it’s one of the very best soliloquies in Star Wars, as Skarsgård’s haunted vigilante weighs the cost of his sacrifice in the name of resistance.

“One way out” – “One way out.” “One way out.” We can still hear the chanting as Cassian and Kino Loy lead a prison break/rebellion on Narkina 5. Not only was the extended sequence a hugely satisfying payoff, it had some of the most exciting, intense action in the whole series.

Aldanhi heist – An arc-based format did Andor some good, because it meant that every handful of episodes, things were going to pop off in spectacular fashion. The show’s excellent second arc capped off with “The Eye,” all-time banger of an episode that made a case for what heists in this universe can be. The show uses rising tension to perfect effect as it seems like the Aldhani crew are going to pull everything off, then a nosy air traffic pilot and a single heart attack ruin everything. Combined with poor Nemik getting literally crushed by capital and a fantastic visual spectacle in the Eye of Aldhani, this episode felt like something Star Wars had never given us before. It was television on the big screen, and it was magnificent.