What a Festive Evening

"What a Festive Evening" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American science fiction political spy thriller drama television series Andor. It is the eighteenth episode of the series overall; it was written by Beau Willimon and directed by Ariel Kleiman.

"What a Festive Evening"
Andor episode
Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) reunite on Ghorman before their final mission together.
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 6
Directed by	Ariel Kleiman
Written by	Beau Willimon
Featured music	Brandon Roberts
Cinematography by	Christophe Nuyens
Editing by	John Gilroy
Original release date	April 29, 2025 (2025-04-29)
Running time	55 minutes
Guest appearances
Richard Sammel as Carro Rylanz Pierro Niel-Mee as Erskin Semaj Thierry Godard as Lezine Robert Emms as Lonni Jung Jacob James Beswick as Heert Alaïs Lawson as Enza Rylanz Ella Pellegrini as Dreena Ewens Abid as Tazi Abraham Wapler as Samm Caroline Vanier as Leeza Théo Costa-Marini as Dilan Alex Skarbek as Capso Joshua James as Dr. Gorst
Episode chronology

"What a Festive Evening" was released on Disney+ on April 29, 2025 as part of a three-episode block also including "Ever Been to Ghorman?" and "I Have Friends Everywhere", and received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.

Plot

Cassian insists to Luthen that the Ghorman Front is an inexperienced insurgent cell, and is resentful that Luthen secretly made contact with Bix to persuade her to return to action. Luthen chastises him for his short-sighted vision, insisting that an insurgency on Ghorman would be a boon to their efforts even if it proves calamitous. Vel and Cinta, sent by Luthen to aid the Ghorman Front, fully reconcile and rekindle their romance. The heist, secretly documented by Syril to Dedra and Partagaz, is successful, but one of the fighters disobeys Vel's orders and brings a blaster, only to accidentally kill Cinta when a passerby interferes, devastating Vel. At Sculdun's Investiture party, Krennic and Mothma get into a debate over the ethics of rebellion, unintentionally giving Kleya more time to extract her bug from Sculdun's collection, after forcibly roping Jung into the scheme. Bix breaks into Gorst's new office and uses his own torture device on him before leaving with Cassian, who remotely blows up the facility.

Production

Writing

The episode was written by Beau Willimon, in his sixth writing credit for the show, and directed by Ariel Kleiman, after directing the previous five episodes of the series.^[1][2][3] During an interview with TVLine, Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy said he treats the kiss between Vel and Cinta as "a regular thing" and described their relationship something which connects to bigger themes "about revolution and what it costs you to be involved in it, and the kind of courage it takes" and defended the death of Cinta, saying that if people don't die, "it would really be disingenuous", while adding that calling for Cinta to die was "tough decision to make, tough phone calls to make to the actors".^[4]

Varada Sethu, who plays Cinta, told Variety, in an interview, that she was glad to see that "people cared about Cinta in the way that I care about her", calling it heartwarming, and saying Cinta's death was "cleverly done and...truthful in how people experience death", while saying it is "shocking", she predicted that Cinta would "die in the rebellion", and adding that if Cinta and Vel had survived, they would dream of going "into hiding somewhere if they could" but would actually "end up staying in the rebellion".^[5] In an interview with Elle, Sethu said that the death of Cinta "made perfect sense" while tragic and clever, adding that she could "fangirl about this show forever" noted that the kiss scene between Vel and Cinta was "a bit...off-the-cuff" and called the relationship between Cinta and Vel as a real and flawed which is a "mirror into the world".^[6]

Casting

By March 2023, Benjamin Bratt had been cast for the episode in an undisclosed role, later revealed to be Bail Organa, replacing Jimmy Smits in the role.^[7][8] In "What a Festive Evening", marking his second appearance on Andor, Ben Mendelsohn reprises his role as Orson Krennic from previous Star Wars media, including Rogue One (2016), in which he served as the main antagonist.^[9]

Music

The original score for "What a Festive Evening", as with nine other episodes of the season's twelve,^[a] was composed by Brandon Roberts, replacing Nicholas Britell, the composer for the show's first season, due to scheduling conflicts.^[10]

The soundtrack for the episode was released alongside that of the other two episodes in its block on May 2, 2025 via Walt Disney Records as part of the second of four volumes of the second season's original score.^[11]

Andor Season 2: Episode 6 (Original Soundtrack)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Andor (Main Title Theme) – Episode 6"	0:39
2.	"Kafhaus Reunion"	2:20
3.	"Oathkeeper"	1:04
4.	"Sculdun Tower"	1:43
5.	"Crates in Motion"	2:43
6.	"Doctor Heal Thyself"	2:22
7.	"The Bix Is Back[b]"	1:41
Total length:		13:32

Release

"What a Festive Evening" was released on Disney+ on April 29, 2025 as part of a three-episode block, alongside "Ever Been to Ghorman?" and "I Have Friends Everywhere".^[4]

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating, based on 7 reviews.^[12]

William Hughes of The A.V. Club gave a positive review, writing "This episode was tense, occasionally funny, well-acted, and with a couple of stand-out moments."^[13] Mike Redmond of Pajiba also gave a positive review, summarizing that "Instead, we're literally speed-running through this season because here's the very depressing reality: It's already halfway over".^[14]

The death of Cinta Kaz in the episode received mixed reactions from critics and fans. Some critics called her death a "misstep", a "slap in the face" which furthers the "emotional arc of her white counterpart", furthers "regressive tropes" like bury your gays, reinforced the franchise's bad track record for LGBTQ characters, and said that fans were "rightfully upset", while calling inclusion of Cinta Kaz and Vel Sartha a "step forward".^[15][16] PinkNews and Den of Geek reported that fans were "rightfully upset" with the death of Cinta, with a "mixture of heartbreak and rage", and asserting that the series was deploying negative tropes in the process.^[17][15] Other critics and commenters said that the death of Cinta was a "painful reminder of how rarely our stories are allowed to be fully told", and was heartbreaking, following a trend of how "queer relationships often get written in Hollywood".^[18][19]

Critics for Gizmodo, TheGamer, and Polygon gave a different view. They argued that the death of Cinta did not follow negative tropes, but that treating queer characters as full characters requires "sometimes...putting them at risk" and has queer characters being "treated the same as straight ones", with her death treated with weight rather than pure "shock value", with no character safe from death in the series. These critics acknowledged that the franchise has work to do when it comes to "introducing prominent LGBTQ characters", criticized the queer representation in Star Wars as "incredibly bleak", called her death "bitter", "retrograde", and praised Vel's speech to the one who killed Cinta.^[20][21][22]

Notes

1. All episodes of season 2 but "Ever Been to Ghorman?" and "I Have Friends Everywhere" credit Roberts as the main composer
2. Composed by Nicholas Britell