If you’ve been keeping up with Andor Season 2, then you know the series has been operating on another level, but Episode 8 just pushed it into absolute greatness. It a masterclass in storyelling and building tension.
While this is one of the best episodes of Andor so far and the best TV we’ve seen on Disney+, Star Wars fans are calling it one of the greatest TV episodes ever made, period.
The episode dives headfirst into the long-referenced but never fully depicted Ghorman Massacre, a tragic turning point in Star Wars lore. What begins as a peaceful protest in Tarkin Square escalates into chaos and slaughter when an Imperial sniper shoots one of his own soldiers, manufacturing justification for the Empire’s brutal crackdown. It’s a moment fans found both shocking and masterful.
“That the Empire lit the match by having their sniper shoot one of their own? Masterful,” one fan wrote, summing up the manipulation that set off the carnage. “E8 has to be one of the best TV episodes ever. Period,” another wrote.
Tony Gilroy, the show’s creator, previousluy explained the opportunity they saw in finally portraying this event onscreen:
“Ghorman, interestingly, is canonical but completely undescribed. It’s a total blank slate. There’s also a bit of confusion about the Ghorman Massacre, and what is the Ghorman Massacre? So, it was an opportunity to rebuild in a really significant way.”
He added that the impact of this moment stretches beyond a single episode:
“Quite honestly, it’s very expensive to build, so we really want to use it as much as possible so it carries over five different episodes. I’m really confident that the really deep, passionate Star Wars community will appreciate how we’ve straightened out that story.”
And straighten it out they did with gut-wrenching precision.
One of the most devastating moments of the episode? The death of Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), who finally confronts Cassian Andor in the plaza. Syril, burning with obsession, spots Andor—but Cassian doesn’t recognize him.
“Who are you?” Cassian asks, moments before Syril is shot in the head by Carro Rylanz. The weight of that moment hit fans hard.
“Andor saying ‘Who are you’ and watching the realization on Syril’s face that the axe forgets but the tree never forgets. That was powerful,” wrote one fan.
“Absolutely gutting. I had a feeling he was gonna go down in the massacre, but not like that. Damn,” said another.
Viewers are placing this episode right alongside Andor Season 1’s unforgettable “One Way Out” prison break sequence.
“That shit was on the same level as One Way Out,” said one Reddit user. “That’s high praise in my opinion.” Another viewer summed up their reaction in blunt terms: “I’m still sick to my stomach after watching it. It’s going to stay with me for a long time.”
The Ghorman Massacre, first introduced in 1990’s The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, was an essential event in the rise of the Rebel Alliance. Mon Mothma’s opposition to the Empire is rooted in it. But until now, it’s existed in fragments. Gilroy and his team finally brought it to horrifying life.
“Revolutionary movements are spontaneously happening all over the galaxy. How those come together is the stuff of our story,” Gilroy said. “These 12 episodes are gonna take us over the next four years into Rogue One. The complexity of the show, the possibilities of the show—it has to be all in.”
What did you all think of Episode 8 of Andor?
Credit:Source link