Andi Mack Reviewed: S2E13/14: "Cyrus' Bash-Mitzvah!"

It's a cow! MOOO!

Well if I'm going to spend an entire post bashing Andi Mack I might as well review an episode I really like - which just happens to be the very next one (and yes I'm still playing a long game of catch-up).

Cyrus' Bash-Mitzvah! is (technically) the second hour-long episode for both Season 2 and the series in general (the first being the S2 opener, Who Wants Pizza?, although technically the first was the series premiere, Tomorrow Starts Today although it's mostly aired as two separate episodes since - 13 and What's In The Box? And boy is that a lot of technical detail most people either already know or just don't care about.) Anyway, as such it has a lot of room for growth and to wrap up or air out a lot of loose ends and plotlines (including some the show just decided to randomly drop in favor of new ones as if it was a bored and easily distracted child) and even enough room to introduce new conflicts without getting too much into itself. It remembers it has a whole cast of characters for Andi to interact with and get her Jonah problem through, and it has a nice plot device that ties all of this together rather organically.

Plus, the Bash-Mitzvah! just looks legit off the chain, yo!

But really, for the first time since Cyrus came out this feels like the first time a S2 episode really grew back to the same quality, amazement, wonder and even headiness of S1 (remember, when I was just giving episodes A-grades left and right?) A big lacking element of S2 compared to S1 were those super-organic character interactions and moments that made me love most of S1 (you know, instead of in favor of just stacking moments on top of moments and boring Amber betrayal stuff everybody saw coming from the moment of the previous two episode titles and the frustration of having to suffer through some jerk-ass who just won't give Buffy the dang ball for like 10% of each episode that plotline is featured in), and in Cyrus' Bash-Mitzvah! we're again reminded why these characters are actually pretty damn real, at least as far as a Disney Channel series goes (even given single-cam). Again, with this much breathing room, all of the plotlines and developments feel natural instead of forced to the point of interfering with each other - Buffy's mom's homecoming and worries of additional deployments (and as we'll find out, her own future in this town) are given the dedicated time and development room they deserve, and the payoff is amazing, one of the best Buffy-centric moments of the entire series so far. Even Jerk-ass gets his character fleshed-out and starts to feel like an actual character. In fact, Madame Le Doux is probably my favorite minor/one-shot characters in the show so far because of how beautifully she's used to bring the plot forward and develop and well-round-off these characters. She really is the make-or-break fulcrum of the entire episode, and she makes the whole 44 minutes memorable and beautiful all by herself.

Not that the other characters, including the mains, don't help either. Andi, Cyrus, Buffy and even Jonah are all on-point here. Andi's new boyfriend (yeah I forgot his name already) is an amazing addition (yeah that's probably the 9th time I've used "amazing" or a conjugation thereof). Again, even Jerk-ass makes it feel this whole episode, even with his limited participation, is a real growing and actualization moment for him. Many of the scenes are so well-done, in fact, that I found myself rewinding and watching them over and over and over again, because they're just that good.

It felt like almost forever since I've seen an Andi Mack episode this good again. Most of it's my own damn fault - this episode originally aired back in February and I'm only seeing it for the first time now. That said, being the season's midpoint, that's still way too freakin' long and way too big a freakin' gap to have an episode this good when again in S1 I was just handing out A-grades left, right and center from the series premiere onwards. But hey, I feel excited about Andi Mack again.

Episode Grade: A+. This is simply my favorite Andi Mack episode so far, hands down. It's also an example of why everybody loves this show and what a really good, top-tier Andi Mack episode looks and feels like. I was actually tempted to give this episode an A++, the first individual episode that would've received the highest grade this blog can give out. Also, I learned that an italicized "+" doesn't really show up that well. 
Episode MVP: Madame Le Doux all the way. I just loved the fortune teller scenes, full stop, and those fortunes were the focal point of almost all of the episode's character growth for nearly all characters who appeared in this episode.