Andor, Episode 6:

This was the strongest episode of Andor yet! It achieved that distinction because it was NOT predictable. SPOILERS:

The heist and the entire situation on that planet had several good plot twists. Perhaps most importantly, Andor comes out of it as a man of principle, but NOT - yet - a committed devotee of the Rebel cause. He carries out his obligations, and even kills the guy who wanted to betray the team and split the money. But his own objective is ultimately still to take his money and go. It will now be more interesting to see how and why Andor ultimately DOES come to support the Rebellion. My only reservation is I find it difficult to believe that a society technologically advanced enough for interplanetary flight would nonetheless use a cumbersome coin-based currency instead of some type of fiat money, electronic transactions, or crypto. Then again, there's a lot of strange technological backwardness in the Star Wars universe.

Rings of Power, episodes 7-8 (reviewed together because I didn't really review 7 last week):

This was just lame, digging the series' already deep hole deeper. So many dumb plot twists that I cannot possibly go over them all. Just a few examples (SPOILERS):

1. The "Stranger" being Gandalf was predictable, but stupid. No way Gandalf comes to Middle Earth on a meteor, with no memory of who he truly is. He was sent by the Valar to carry out a specific mission, and they have lots of ways to send him without risking his sanity. Also no way he needs a Hobbit child to show him around. This whole plotline exists only to get the proto-Hobbits into the story.
2. Halbrand being Sauron was also somewhat predictable, but -in fairness - slightly less stupid. But the whole thing requires Galadriel to be extremely obtuse, so as not to figure it out till too late. If Sauron was right under her nose for many weeks, an Elf leader of her power and experience would not just fail to notice it. The show has been praised for centering female characters and thereby promoting feminism. But the central female character actually comes off as a totally incompetent dingbat.

At this point, I don't know if I will bother to watch Season 2.

House of the Dragon, Episode 9:

This was another strong episode in a strong show. But had one big misstep.
SPOILERS:

The strength was the intricate plot the Greens clearly had to seize power upon Viserys' death, and the interplay between Alicent and Otto (who mostly want the same thing, but have very different views on how to get it).

The really big weakness was the massive deviation from the book that arises when Rhaenys is at Kings Landing when Viserys dies, and then escapes on her dragon, Meleys. She then breaks into the coronation of Aegon II, and has the perfect opportunity to squash the Greens by simply saying "dracarys" and killing them all. That would have forestalled the war right there. But she passes up this obvious chance! The character we know in both the book and the TV series would NOT have done that.

If she was too scrupulous to kill them all, she could have simply had the dragon kill those she thought most dangerous and/or most guilty. She could also have simply taken Aegon hostage by bringing him with her to Dragonstone, thereby gaining leverage. So many obvious options, but she chose the dumbest one.

The reason she did that, of course, is the NEEDS OF THE PLOT. She can't kill them because 1) it would tank the whole plan of making the Greens seem more sympathetic than the Blacks, and 2) there probably would be no Dance of the Dragons, thereby destroying the rest of the story the show is supposed to tell! That's why, in the book, George R.R. Martin solved this problem simply by not having her be at Kings Landing at this time (she is at Dragonstone, where she helps Rhaenyra muster her forces once they find out about Viserys' death and the Greens' usurpation).

By portraying nearly all the Greens (Alicent partly excepted) as villainous plotters, this episode also doubles down on the effort to make Rhaenyra's faction the one that gets audience sympathy. Rhaenys' restraint is another brick in this edifice. I have long wondered how they plan to make this work, as the war goes on an the Blacks commit atrocities of their own. Perhaps the answer will be further deviations from the book plot that make the Blacks look better and the Greens worse.

I do NOT believe this one mistake kills the series. It's still great, overall, and I hope and expect they will recover. I also recognize, judging from the reviews, that I'm actually in the minority in condemning this plot twist. Most reviewers seem to like it! They may even be right. But I think the Queen that Never Was would never have simply let the usurpers go, given the opportunity to easily wipe them out, or at least eliminate the ones she considers most reprehensible.