When most of the internets most mediocre people are all spouting the same opinion, I usually don’t pay it any mind. So I never took the criticism of The Acolyte I was peripherally aware of seriously. But I also haven’t been truly excited about any Star Wars in between KOTOR and Andor (and I was a little late to the Andor party) so I never watched the show. But recently I heard The Acolyte was going thru a bit of resurgence and decided to see what’s up. This is the frank unpolished review of someone who doesn’t hate women, minorities, harp about Woke all day, etc and really isn’t familiar with previous criticism of the show (apart from how vitriolic it is)
Spoilers ahead.
Star Wars Reloaded: starting the episode with Carrie-Ann Moss doing Matrix- style kung-fu didn’t feel like an easter egg or fan service (for better or worse), it just felt like an out of place distraction. And it wasn’t even very entertaining. Then they ended it by nerfing the Jedi Master to give her a wholly unsatisfying death. Deflect the throwing knife thrown at the bar tender and sense danger in time to defend yourself is what most Writers would have done in the moment, then find a better way to kill the Jedi.
I can’t tell if the Green Jedi Master is acting badly or just struggling with bad writing. Maybe some mix of both.
A Jedi Master is killed in battle and the order sends a Knight and a Padawan to bring the suspect in. Couldn’t someone capable of killing a master do the same with a knight and a padawan?
The Jedi have prisoners on a ship and seemingly take no precautions against their escape like disabling the cyborgs’ ability to hack droids and having walls rather than bars to isolate the prisoners from guards and each other. Also, an alien having a massive incredibly strong tentacle that can hide in it’s body before springing forth and growing many times in size has more of a Men In Black vibe than a Star Wars vibe. Anyway, the prisoners escape in pods with seemingly no plan for step two. Predictably they are all recaptured. But incredibly quickly and brought almost instantaneously to Coruscant. Which brings me to my last criticism: the pacing was way off. This may just be a byproduct of them trying to fit too much in the first episode but they could have benefited by adding another plot thread or stretching out the ones they had.
It wasn’t all bad though. Visually, it mostly looked good. And I liked Amandla Stenberg in the starring roles. I saw some potential moving forward. It felt like a foul ball rather than a swing and a miss.
I was blown away by Manny Jacinto in his role. I only ever saw him in The Good Place before this so seeing him in this role was completely different. He was the reason I was hooked on this show and mad when it was cancelled.
Same here.
Him also being ridiculously hot is a welcome side benefit.
If this is your opinion in the first episode oh boy be prepared for an adventure. The amount of times that things happens because someone wrote that happens just accept it is worse than episode 9. 90% of acolyte is like this or dumber with some characters and fights that are salvageable.
It was definitely a different point of view on the jedi. They are liars, whiny, impulsive, arrogant, self-absorbed and myopic. That makes for good drama, but it feels out of place for Star Wars.
If you think about it from the perspective of future tales about how corrupt the Jedi were to explain the purge, it makes sense. Like until now we’ve mostly seen Jedi from the perspective of training padawans and acting all wise and masterly. What if that was survivor bias and rose-colored glasses, and the Jedi were a bunch of aloof assholes?
Idk. Seems to be a show featuring nothing but calm and wise masters of the force would be boring as fuck, but that would be a more canonical take. Maybe the whole thing was ill-conceived in the first place.
Parts of it were worthy. I just found I hated all the Jedi except one. I suspect which one is obvious and needn’t be said to avoid spoilers. But anyway that’s a big problem when 80% of your characters are Jedi.
It was definitely a different point of view on the jedi. They are liars, whiny, impulsive, arrogant, self-absorbed and myopic. That makes for good drama, but it feels out of place for Star Wars.
I don’t know. I think helps drive home the ideas suggested in the prequels that the Jedi are seriously compromised. The whole High Republic series is about how the Jedi becoming an official part of the Republic weakens them. It kind of mirrors what happened with things like Christianity, where its more radical edges were sanded off once it became “imperial.” Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the Jedi at their true “height” on film anywhere.
I don’t think the problem was the concept and a good show with these elements would be well received. The execution and the main plot that is weak.
Agreed. I’d go back and watch a supercut of all the fight scenes, but other than that there wasn’t really anything worth remembering / revisiting. Didn’t stand on it’s own as a good story or add anything good to Star Wars canon overall.
I can’t tell if the Green Jedi Master is acting badly or just struggling with bad writing. Maybe some mix of both.
A bit of both, I think. She’s also a nepo hire, being the showrunner’s wife.
Same issue with Hera in the live-action Ahsoka; Ewan McGregor’s wife.
Nothing is ever going to change my mind that it’s some of the most amazing saber combat in the franchise. Especially in live action.
Yeah, can’t deny that. I said that when watching the show too, specifically, that it’s some of the best Star Wars live action saber choreography I’ve ever seen.
I enjoyed the show. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t garbage. Not everything can be Andor.
But can we please, for fucks sake, stop with the flashback episode near the end of the season that could’ve been 3 lines of dialog and left some sense of mystery?
Sorry. Pointless spoiler: Just as you start to actually give a fuck about what’s going on, they throw in a flashback episode to kill the momentum.
That’s where I gave up on the series. Episode 1 was close but I had a little hope. The flashback episode killed what was left.
They had dropped enough clues to be able to piece it together without the episode. Plus, the writing in that episode was just…bad. All the nuance of a hydraulic jackhammer.
I have positive things to say about Acolyte. I have negative things as well.
After only the first episode, I would agree it was fine.
I won’t spoil anything, but I think having watched it all it’s clear why it was cancelled. I think there are elements that are interesting and worth continuing on some form in the future, but as a whole I don’t think the season worked (and you’ve pointed out some of the problems already).
If it’s canon, stick with it, or base your story on another force sensitive group of characters to drive your show… But please don’t try to redefine everything with a weak plot.
Acolyte (all episodes) spoilers
Qmir and his story is the one I want to continue.
Unfortunately after the end of Acolyte his current story is tied pretty directly with the rest of the Acolyte story. But if we wanted to jump forward a few years, we could probably pick it up again. Just have the Acolyte story “not work out” and we pick up his story later on.
Although honestly at a high level, Sith teaching Sith, is a story we’re already getting in Maul Shadow Lord. Although Qmir is a different character, and linked to Darth Plaugeis, which is also interesting, so there are a lot of different options.
I’m also game for something focused on the Night Sisters. Much of Star Wars is Jedi vs Sith, which is great, but I’m a fan of exploring other force users that are neither Jedi nor Sith. I think Ahsoka (the series) will continue to explore this, and they have already, so this might be covered.
I feel like following the “sith’s” side would have been a better move for a series like this. Granted if it still had the same writers we’d still have the same problems. I just hope they keep the choreographers for other shows.
