Star Wars: The Acolyte (Disney+) (2024)

Call me crazy, call me judgmental, but it feels to me like the plot doesn't hold together. Maybe after the season is over it will make sense as a whole, but for a Pilot, set in the earliest onscreen setting in Star Wars we've EVER seen, it's needlessly complicated. The first thing EVER in a franchise can usually be told simply. That is one of the few selling points of prequels. I notice most prequels tend to be overly complicated instead. And I can't look down TOO much on them for that because my Gilda And Meek prequel The Pontue Legacy is pretty complex too.

But considering Osha's hairstyle and skin tone, a facemask should not actually surprise Adira about her identity. Not a ton of Force users fit her profile.

And then halfway through the episode, "Oh, Osho conveniently has a twin sister who supposedly died." It seemed a little late for that to come up in the episode. So many Jedi were fond of Osho it should have been their first thought. But nobody knew she had a twin? They didn't think that was vital info? Sol claims he saw May die. But he instantly believes Osho she's alive. He believes her over his lying eyes.

See what I mean about the plot not holding together? Mistaken identity is a staple of genre, as are evil twins. But the show introduces that specific revelation far too late in first episode to feel like a fair reveal. And if you mess around with mistaken identities with audiences, it's important the fall-out and solution is fair.

I hope the next episode is better. It's pretty freaking ballsy for a Star Wars show to kill off the biggest name in the entire cast in the opening scene, so I'm rooting for this to turn things around. But the first episode did not work for me. 2 1/2 stars.

MUCH better. Nothing exactly papered over the plotholes of the first episode, but it didn't make them worse or add new ones.

Actually, it DID address a plothole. I thought it was stupid and convenient that May was coincidentally on the same planet Osho crashlanded on. No, it appears that was just a vision, and May actually didn't know Osho was still alive. So a little help there.

Wookiee Jedi! Good times are ahead.

I love the silent meditating Jedi who has this weird Force shield. Why he took the poison, and what sins he is actually hiding is a good mystery. I'm curious about the answer.

I liked that episode. 3 1/2 stars.

Pretty gutsy to make the entire third episode a flashback. The Ascension seems to me to be a borderline musical number.

This is a VERY dark episode in happenings, but the thing that disturbs me the most is that just based on what we've seen, the happenings are FAR darker than Osha thinks.

Mae may have started the fire and attempted to kill her sister. But once I saw Sol skulking around in the forest, I knew the Jedi killed the Coven. It would explain why the dude took the poison last week, why Mae wants to kill them, and most importantly of all, why after Osha asks Mae what she's done, Mae asks her the same question in the tone of "What have you brought upon us?"

Let's say I'm wrong, and there is an entirely different reason the episode didn't show us the Coven's death. Let's assume for a second the unlikely theory that Mae killed them all and is finishing off the Jedi for no damn good reason whatsoever is true. I STILL think the notion of Jedi conscription of little kids is beyond troubling. Osha is framed as having a choice, but if you take a four-year-old away from their parents, that's not actually possible. I don't know if Lucas quite understood that there is a fine line in the story in Jedi children being Chosen by destiny, and being trafficked child slaves. I have mentioned how little I think of Lucas' tenure. It's because he normalized immoral crap like that. I like this episode because it seems to me the show is about to outright SAY this shit is immoral, Lucas-established canon or not. And calling Lucas on his shit (repeatedly) is why SO many people HATE the Disney Star Wars stuff. For me? That's why it's the only Star Wars stuff worth a damn. Come and get me for that unpopular opinion.

And maybe the bar for quality sci-fi / fantasy doesn't NEED "child trafficking is bad, m'kay" messaging. But because of this kind of shit, it now exists. And fuck, I like that this show is finally saying it sucks. 4 stars.

I can't tell if this show is interesting or not. If that's the first ever Sith at the end, yeah, that's a big moment, but although the politics in the Council scene seem entirely different than other Star Wars stuff, out of context, it's impossible to discern if things were better or worse back then.

I do love the chill guy played by Manny Jacinto though. Jason Mendoza rules.

The planet sets on this show are elaborate and amazing.

Still not entirely sure what to make of this show. 3 stars.

SO... there is speculation running rampant that this isn't actually a Sith. At least not a Sith Lord. If it is, it runs against canon (not the first time its happened, surely won't be the last) in multiple ways and messes up the timeline. It definitely isn't the 1st Sith.

All that being said, I have 2 completely unsupported and wild theories as to who might be under the mask:

Carrie Ann Moss or Manny Jacinto

No one in the show has seen the person without the mask and even when they communicate it is purposefully vague and disconnected from a character.

There is footage leaked that shows Carrie Ann in a later episode. We don't know if this is flashback footage or not so it is possible she set up the duel and survived her injury to misdirect the other Jedi.

Manny Jacinto's character knows much more about the masked baddie than he claims and his responses about their connection are also very purposefully vague and misdirecting. This could be to help protect the his identity.

 

Ultimately, whoever this is has beef with the Jedi who are shown to be kidnappers (albeit "for the greater good") in this age and not quite as wholesome and pristine as they appear.

Just my thoughts, feel free to disagree

I felt the ending landed a little soft, but the rest of the episode was so strong, I'm onboard the series now.

You can't do a bunch of expensive CGI creatures and spaceship battles on a TV budget. What CAN you do? The most intricately boarded and epic lightsaber battle of all time. And yeah, this is probably the best ever. I want every single person review bombing this show for being too Woke to look me in the eye and tell me it wasn't.

Qimir being the Sith, is not a surprise, BUT his entirely different persona kind of was. It suggests he's a gifted actor to play the fool so convincingly that even Mae never suspected him.

Sith have been around for ages. How is it Sol doesn't seem to know what they are?

Here is my one problem with the story. I think the Jedi started the fire, and Mae and Osha's mothers were PROBABLY killed by Sol himself. It feels dramatically necessary to explain why Mae has gone so far off the deep end, while still supposedly swearing love and loyalty to Osha.

Fine. I'll accept that plot twist. And I expect it. The problem is when we get it in the future I'll be annoyed now. Because of the time Osha and Mae had to converse here means Mae could have easily told Osha the real score, possibly changed her allegiance, and messed with the status quo permanently. But that's not how fiction, particularly genre fiction, works, is it? These franchises draw things out, and use every excuse they can think of the hold back on the audience, and refuse to tell the story as its needed. And we tolerate that usually. Even I will admit, although I don't use that in my own work, it IS a valid method of storytelling. The problem is when the snag hits because characters inexplicably fall silent about important information that would help their cause, solely because the writers need to prop up the status quo a little bit longer, and think people won't complain TOO heavily, especially considering doing shit like this is common.

I don't care if it's common. It's both shoddy storytelling, and shitty way to treat the viewer. Whether everyone else tolerates it, or is willing to look the other way because hey, best lightsaber battle EVA, I don't approve. If you aren't pissed because you are used to it. I'll be pissed on your behalf. You actually deserve better, and simply don't realize it. I swear to God, genre would stop doing shit like this if people got it into their heads to point out how shitty it is. Crap like this is only a trope at all because nobody ever complains. And because nobody ever does, most people aren't even aware they SHOULD. I'm here to tell you it's okay to make a fuss when genre treats you dirty. It's not a sin to resent being toyed with.

But it is a sharp episode otherwise. Jecki's death was not actually a surprise (you could sense the episode was gonna be a bloodbath) but I like that she acquitted herself admirably during the rest of the episode before it happened. I thought that was cool. Also Dafne Keen just plain rocks.

The show uses the long lost evil twin trope. Of COURSE impersonation is going to be part of it.

Despite me going on and on about how the episode strung us along, because everything does, I won't penalized the final grade too harshly. Either way, this was the episode that arguably made the show, and showed exactly how Star Wars could actually work well on a TV budget. 4 1/2 stars.

Oh mt God! The teaser! Osha is on Lian Yu!

Honestly, I think the episode closing on Sol telling Mae he's waited 16 years to talk to her, and she is gonna listen probably should have been the cliffhanger. It was awesome.

The bald chick and her Jedi flunky are the worst detectives ever. It's practically Keystone Cops over here.

What was it that tipped off Sol about Mae ultimately? He never said.

I hated that as Sol is grieving all of his friends, he takes a deep breath because Jedi have to keep control of their emotions. Can I just say again that the Jedi suck? The way Qimir is fighting them is evil, but he's not wrong that they suck. There is something terribly broken in the psychology of this group of sociopaths George Lucas insisted to the audience were the actual heroes. It's fucking infuriating.

I like it. I thought it was damn good drama. 4 stars.

This show shares something in common with The Book Of Boba Fett. I think both shows would have been better received if they had dropped all their episodes at once.

This was NOT the right point in the season to get an entire flashback episode, especially after last week's cliffhanger. The whole thing could have worked however if we had been allowed to binge one episode right after the other.

I feel like the episode is going for watershed, but absolutely nothing in it was a surprise. I might be inclined to call that a failing, but I can't really bring myself to talk TOO much shit for a show seeding clues that clearly and following them to the letter. I don't tend to penalize predictable television so long as the story goes down the way it is supposed to.

Whatever else we learned, it is VERY clear the Jedi had no business being on that planet.

Here's something cringe about Sol. His instant obsession with Osha made me extremely uncomfortable. Whether pedo vibes existed or not, I was definitely feeling some Stranger Danger there.

First Star Wars anything to end with a pop song in the end credits. Some people will be pissed about it, but I don't really care one way or the other.

News flash: Just because George Lucas insisted a group of emotionless sociopaths are the saga's heroes, doesn't mean that they are. 3 stars.

That was interesting! My highest compliment.

I guess the thing I love is the idea that on this show the Jedi are the bad guys and the Sith are the good guys. Let's get into that wild idea in a minute.

To be truthful, the episode doesn't start off so hot for me. I think Sol telling Mae in the last cliffhanger she was going to listen to what he had to say, led to what was probably the weakest cliffhanger resolution in Star Wars history. I expected Sol to have decent reasons for doing what he did (it's not like the dude didn't have a decade to think of them) and in the end he can still offer no good justification. That felt like a failing at first, until the rest of the episode shows that's the entire point. Sol is a failure and loser and he always was.

Again, if it was an accident, why lie about it and blame Mae? Why never tell Osha? If it was the right thing to do, why the cover-up? Sol's bullshit excuses do not hold up to the slightest bit of scrutiny.

I like Mae's original idea of refusing to kill him, have him go back to the Jedi, and confess his crimes. And the hell of it is, if that had happened, and the Jedi were held to account for it, it's possible it all would have blown over and the Empire would never have been created because there would be no NEED for a Separatist Movement without Jedi overreach. And it still could have gone all right if the bald lady had admitted to the cover-up, and the entire Council's culpability. Instead she blames Sol alone for the killing spree, and attributes his actions to that of the Lone Wolf. And nothing about that corrupt organization has changed.

That ending pissed me off. I'm betting a lot of fans were excited to see the back of Yoda's head, but since I fucking HATE Yoda with every fiber of my being, it gave me new reasons to do so. What did that rat bastard know and when did he know it? Was he a part of this cover-up this entire time? Sadly, that seems likely and on-brand for what a purely shitty person Yoda has always presented himself as to me. The Disaster Order indeed.

I love the Senator played by David Harewood. He decries the Jedi believing they profess to control an uncontrollable element, and the bald chick is like, "We don't control the Force," and he's all, "I wasn't talking about the Force. I meant your emotions." He rightly noted the idea was bullshit (Sol is a poster boy for how bullshit it is) and said things would crash down hard when one of the Jedi "snapped". We sure the dude doesn't have Force Witch blood in him? As far as prophecies go, he has a better batting average than they do, probably because his correct guess is based on reason instead of mysticism.

One last thing about Sol, that I very much hope I am not the only one to point out. The level of love and protection he insisted he felt for Osha is not touching. It's creepy as hell. Sol gives off this huge pedo vibe because of it. I don't know if that was a deliberate choice on either the producers' or the actor's end, but it can't just be me who finds his entire reaction to these twin girls deeply troubling and disturbing. It strikes me as sick.

Why did the Jedi fall? The answer is given here finally, but it's not a surprise, because I've been saying it for years. They fell because they deserved to fall. They weren't an organization of heroes (as they billed themselves) but a cult / organized religion that shuffled the pedo priests to different parishes every time an accusation against them was made. I appreciate The Acolyte because I believe it shows that I understand the actual troubling message of the Lucas era better than Lucas himself did.

Before I close this review, I need to again to reiterate that this specific show has the best light saber / Force battles in the entire franchise's history. It's amazing, and can actually be done on a TV budget.

Prediction: George Lucas probably hated that. Which is more than enough reason for me to approve of it and love it. 4 1/2 stars.