The Acolyte (Disney+)

[Jeff]

The review of last night’s episode over at JTA is just brutal. 

Wait - you're telling me that JTA, notorious haters of Disney era Star Wars, had nothing nice to say about The Acolyte?  #shocked


I'll admit that this show isn't GREAT but it isn't the trainwreck that some make it out to be.  Not every show is going to be able to be a Breaking Bad or The Sopranos or Mad Men.  Sometimes you have to decide whether you're going to just enjoy the ride or you're going to quit watching.  That's a personal choice - trying to tell other people what they should or shouldn't enjoy is a waste of time.

I'm watching The Acolyte.  I'm generally having fun and enjoying the 30-40 minutes each week watching with my daughter (who is also enjoying the show).  I guess that's all I want or need from this show.  Could it have been better?  Sure.  It's not Andor, but it's also not Book of Boba Fett.

[P-Siddy]

The review of last night’s episode over at JTA is just brutal. 

Perusing those reviews reminds me why I no longer visit that site: toxic

[Matt_Fury]

Last night's episode was arguably the weakest episode of the season.  Admittedly, Torbin was messed up by the witches and it lead to the events that ultimately killed off the coven (except Koril...she's still out there), but was it bad enough to send Kelnacca into self-imposed exile, Torbin to retreat into the Force and Sol to have such guilty feelings?  If the answer is yes, the director and writers did not effectively show that.

As for the witches exploiting a vergence in the Force to create Osha and Mae and actually spitting one personality into two people....I feel that required a little more time to flesh out.

One more episode and it should be a banger to wrap up everything.

[Dave]

Agree with most comments here.  This show is not great, but not terrible.  My daughter and I have been watching it and she thinks its fine.

I do think it was odd to revisit the destruction of the coven and not really reveal anything new.  I would have liked to see something that was clearly controversial that would leave a deep regret with the Jedi.  Sure Torbin and Sol shouldn't have gone back, but what option did Indara have to resolve the situation once Kelnacca got "possessed"?  Sure you might feel bad that it ended that way, but it didn't seem controversial.

I thought they were developing an interesting dynamic with Qimir and Oshi as she considered becoming an acolyte.  To just drop that story line completely and go back to the coven story line seemed like an odd choice.

It'll be interesting to see how they wrap this up and if they leave it totally open ended.  I guess there haven't been any statements as to if this is a one and done season or if there will be more seasons, but it doesn't appear a second season has been green lighted yet.  Maybe it'll depend on how the show does from a viewership perspective.

My recommendation would be to take the $ they're spending on this show and try something different vs. do another season of this.

[P-Siddy]

I thought they were developing an interesting dynamic with Qimir and Oshi as she considered becoming an acolyte.  To just drop that story line completely and go back to the coven story line seemed like an odd choice.

Yeah, it felt like there was some flow building and this flashback episode disrupted that.  It might have made more sense if Sol went to the Council and confessed to the events that happened since he's the sole survivor in a 5-minute monologue with some scenes intersperse in it than a whole episode dedicated to another version of previously seen events.

[EdSolo]

If they don't have a named Sith Lord in the last episode, this will be a gigantic failure.  At this point, they have skated around the "Sith have been extinct for a millennia".  I suppose events haven't been reported to Council.  "Darth Teeth" seems to be a lot more powerful than a Knight of Ren.  I would certainly say he seems stronger than Darth Maul or at least TPM Darth Maul.  I have no problems with him kicking the crap out of the Jedi.  You have to remember the Jedi have become quite arrogant by this time.  This series ties in well with the High Republic stuff.  The Jedi's arrogance has blinded them to threats against the Republic.

I keep wondering if the green Jedi woman is Sith.  They could obviously hide in plain sight based on the prequels, but I wonder if they would go as far to plant themselves in the temple.  I also keep going back to the "I have no name" line.  I was thinking, sure you do, your master gave you a name.  However, I wonder if he is just repeating what has been done to him.  He has put Mae on a quest of revenge, that she must kill a Jedi without a weapon.  We haven't seen a lot of canonical Sith lore, but one of things explored in the post Disney comics, is that a Sith must kill a Jedi and take their saber kyber crystal to bleed it into a red crystal to make their Sith lightsaber.  I wonder if Teeth's master has been doing this to him and thus he was passing some of this on to Mae.

What I have wanted in Star Wars for quite some time, is a canonical Sith lineage from Bane to Sidious.  This show could fill in part of that.  This could be a way of showing the apprentice trying to take over from the master.  That Teeth is the acolyte of the apprentice and is recruited to help him kill the master.  I like the James Luceno Plaqueis novel, but the one thing that surprised me is that Plaquis was still the master going into the events of TPM.  I figured Sidious had been the master for some time by then.  It also made it seem like Maul really wasn't a Sith.  His birth name was Maul and Sidious just gave him the title of Darth while Plagueis was still alive.  Hence why I want a lineage.  I think it could be done via novels and comics for the most part.

We will see where this ends up on Tuesday, but it better not be another flashback episode.  I'm expecting a Sith Lord in their full power kicking someone's butt.

[Jeff]

I know its not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it.

It was definitely not the best TV show I've ever seen, but certainly not the worst show I've ever watched.  I liked the lightsaber battles and I got enough out of the story for me to find it worthwhile time spent.

I'd watch Season 2 if they decide to make it.

[EdSolo]

Knowing Disney, they will probably leave this completely open and drop it like a hot rock.  However, they left a ton of questions to be answered.  I think we were robbed of an after credits sequence that could have named a certain character that seems to have made a brief cameo.

In other lore, I can't believe it took me this long to actually identify the green jedi.  She was in several of the High Republic novels and comics.  She even makes her lightwhip in one of them and hides it from the council because she is worried they wouldn't approve.  She was knighted at age 15 and took on her own padawan at age 16.  They say she is 115 in Acolyte so the original High Republic stuff is 100 years before the show.  I'm so far behind in my reading.  Part 2 of High Republic goes even further back in the timeline.

At this point, we have to have a continuation, or they just wasted our time.  They could have at least had Osha ask her new master what to call him with a reply of you can call me Darth whatever.  At least the entire kill a jedi without a weapon storyline had a payoff.

[Matt_Fury]

Didn't hate it, but didn't love it.  Interesting cameos and I thought the final episode was done well.  It played out mostly how I predicted.

There are a few questions I want answered, so if there was a season two, I'd watch.

[McMetal]

Palpatine: Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

Anakin: What, that Homeless Guy that lived in a cave?

 

[Dave]

Yeah, not the greatest, not the worst.

Overall I was left feeling mostly unsatisfied. 

I really think the story could have been a lot tighter.  There was just too much unimportant stuff going on and too many characters.  There were too many tangents that they spent a lot of time on.  If they had taken the 8 episodes and told a cleaner story I think it could have easily been 100% better.

For example, the Jedi spent the first few episodes figuring out who Mae was.  Then the Jedi were figuring out her plan and what her motives were.  Then the Jedi were trying to figure out who Qimir was (looks like he got away without any witnesses other than Vernestra sensing him).  And then in the last few episodes the writers were teasing if Qimir was really the master and what his relationship was to Vernestra.  I think they should skipped through all that backstory and spent a lot more time on Qimir, Vernestra, and the creepy dude hiding in the cave.  I know they kind of wanted to tell the Osha becoming an acolyte story, but I'm not sure I buy Osha going to the dark side with the way they told the story.

And that tracker weasel was annoying.  Can't Jedi just use the force and figure out where other Jedi are?

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

Final take... this feels like Star Wars Twilight. Not the awesome Twilight ship, but a weird soapy production that was poorly conceived, and odd characters and bad dialogue.

[Rob]

CANCELLED.

https://deadline.com/2024/08/the-acolyte-canceled-no-season-2-star-wars-disney-plus-1236044233/

[Ryan]

Not sure how I feel about this yet. I guess it’s good Disney listened to feedback and admitted a mistake, but this feels like an L. I worry it means that will take fewer risks and just go with more AI-driven OT era stories all in the same old format.

I didn’t love or hate the show overall, but I am disappointed to not see the loose ends tied off or get some payoff from the final cameos.

This is the real tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise.

[P-Siddy]

This is the real tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise.

Love it.

This show had more action figures made than some of the sequel movies, too, and in a timely manner. Hopefully, we’ll still get Kelnacca and Qimir/The Stranger.