It has been over 4 years since The Acolyte was first announced, and here we are halfway through the show after production delays, logo changes, and marketing messaging alterations from “It’s a Sith-led story” to “An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past.”. The story thus far has been… Scattered. Unclear. It raises new questions each week, but are they good questions? After Episode 3 was lambasted in public for being “the worst Star Wars production ever”, The Acolyte had the impossible task of trying to right course if it wanted to live up to the hype when it was originally announced (2020 was a different world…)

All in all, when we refer to the original announcement of the show, “The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era”, does it stack up to our expectations so far? I think it’s clear that Headland had an overarching vision for a Star Wars show and was able to live out her dream of bringing it to life. It’s also clear that the nature of Disney+ forced the show into an unintended format that is causing many viewers to feel disjointed in their experience of watching the story unfold. So without further ado, let’s tackle The Acolyte - Episode 4: “Day”.

Pacing and Structure

With the intro and credits removed, we are left with 26 minutes and 52 seconds of scenes here. Out of 61 Star Wars live-action TV episodes, this marks it as the second shortest episode ever made, only surpassed by The Mandalorian S03 E04 “The Foundling” (the raptor creature steals a kid episode). I’ll just say it upfront: This runtime is horrendous. Somehow this episode manages to feel both excruciatingly slow as the crew wanders aimlessly through a forest without any plot development, as well as give off a “blink and you missed the entire episode” vibe. It’s hard to even evaluate the pacing because this is clearly an incomplete episode. It was forcibly broken up into two mini-episodes at the demand of a streaming service’s subscription expectations. I don’t have anything else to say other than that this is a terrible idea for the proper development of a storyline, and the pacing in this episode is simply non-existent. They had to pad it with unnecessary scenes to meet the bare minimum runtime, but not reveal too much in these scenes because the actual plot development was intended to occur in the “next episode”. This pacing was the worst of the season.

Aside from the lack of an ending in favor of a frustrating Cliffhanger trope, the episode is structured decently. The structure of showing Mae ahead of the Jedi investigation works, as the Jedi meet and prepare for their next move, Mae moves ahead with the advantage of Qimir’s knowledge. However, the Jedi have a tracking advantage with Bazil and quickly catch up. This culminates as both squads end up in the same spot as night falls, and the Sith shows up. Overall, it’s a good idea on paper, but again, this episode is so artificially cut in half that it has to get a negative score in this category. The feeling I got watching this was one of, “To Be Continued… Right Now.” However, the screen stays black instead of coming back in 2 minutes from the commercial break. This episode concludes not on an anticipatory and quality Cliffhanger, but on a plain old annoying one that has “Big Corpo Intervention” written all over it.

Dialogue and Writing Quality

The dialogue continues to be serviceable but still comes off as stilted, somewhat boring, and overly explanatory. When you look for it, you can’t miss how every character has to always explain exactly how they’re feeling in the clearest terms possible. There is no nuance, it is always stated plainly as fact and without reflection or hesitation. I mentioned this before as this is actually akin to how George wrote dialogue and I appreciate the subtle Star Wars charm in this cadence of speech, but it is missing one very key aspect to the delivery. Rhythm. When George spoke on the critiques of his dialogue, he was quite self-aware of it sounding rather unnatural, but ultimately defended his choice by saying, “I’m not known for my dialogue. I think of it as a sound effect, a rhythm, a vocal chorus in the overall soundtrack.” The dialogue of The Acolyte is not functioning as the chorus of a beautiful song, it is functioning merely as a tool to deliver exposition that the characters, environments, music, emotions, themes, etc, are not delivering themselves. If you are trying to emulate the odd-mastery of “Wooden Dialogue” that George coined, you better have all of the pieces around it to make it function, and The Acolyte misses on other marks which makes the stiff dialogue stand out.

When I analyze the Writing Quality, I do so on two fronts: 1. As a self-contained storyline, inconsiderate of its placement in the Star Wars universe 2. As an ever-important story told in the intricately woven web of Star Wars lore and mythos. First, on the mystery crime-thriller front. The episode begins with an ominous setting that generates intrigue as Kelnacca lives in solitude, seemingly connected to Mae with symbology painted on his walls. The anticipation for a showdown with a Wookie Jedi Master is palpable. Unfortunately, we are immediately bogged down by a poorly written conversation between Osha and Jecki where the former has doubts about continuing the mission and the latter tries to persuade her to join. It’s a waste of time because I think we all inherently know that Osha isn’t going to get left behind and written out of the next couple of episodes. Her doubts last all of 50 seconds until Sol once more validates her self-confidence and she’s back on the squad. This same exact conversion has occurred in past episodes, as well as will occur again in 3 minutes when Yord again has to bolster her confidence. I believe this is all written as an attempt to show that Osha is struggling internally with her sister being alive and a “should I save her or kill her” conflict, but that can be communicated in many other ways other than 5+ 60-second conversations with surrounding Jedi rehashing the same exact premise.

On the flip side, we start to learn more about the interesting dynamic between Mae and Qimir, and these conversations carry the episode through a long slog through a forest. There really isn’t much to say about the majority of this episode as it truly is just scene after scene of the contested groups walking and occasionally giving updates on their geographical location. Unless the anticipated duel next week ends up back in the Beetle forest section, that whole scene was very pointless and added only time padding, as well as an eye roll of “Why the hell would you touch that” and the odd conversation of Osha feeling morally distraught for the flesh-craving bug dying, yet we just previously established that she is now mentally prepared to kill her sister in a few minutes…

Before addressing the events that led to the Cliffhanger, I need to move to the Star Wars front of analysis and examine the Jedi Temple scene. The Acolyte is up against a huge wall with rules established in The Phantom Menace. It is attempting to tell “a Sith-led story” from the perspective of the Jedi/former Jedi in a time when no Jedi is allowed to know about the Sith. I knew there would either have to be a cover-up, a lot of deaths, or a plot hole. I think we start to see the roots of all three of those happening in this scene. I’ll start with the worst offender here… Ki-Adi Mundi. Not only did they decide to rewrite his age by 100’s of years (In Legends, Ki-Adi wasn’t born for another ~30 years after this show’s ending, yet in this show he’s already old enough to start graying), they had to completely alter the nature of the Cerean species to take their average lifespan of ~70 years to 250+ years. I have to forcibly ask, “Why?” There are so many other Jedi who could have functioned in the role the Ki-Adi plays in this episode. Yoda, Yaddle, Oppo Rancis, Even Piel, Plo Koon, Tera Sinube, a new Jedi, etc. I think they went with Ki-Adi because he is specifically the one who comments on the Sith in TPM, but his presence in this scene is the opposite of what they should have done to handle this. Keep every single major Jedi completely away from this sequence of events so they have actual deniability instead of bringing them in but making them look like morons by overlooking this threat. I need to see more to know how it plays out, but I will be returning heavy-handed to this plot point if the Jedi are massacred by this supposed “Master and his Splinter Order” and Ki-Adi NEVER makes a connection to the Sith. Unfortunately, I sense this is the trend as the writers have begun trying to defend their storyline by simply saying Ki-Adi “doesn’t know anything about the Sith” here and making jokes about it while ignoring the fact that he should not even be born yet.

I have a major writing critique about Mae’s decision to surrender to the Jedi, but will leave that for her section in my Character review, so let’s move on to the best writing in this episode. The lead-up to the Cliffhanger. Mae’s inexplicable 180 aside, the last 4 minutes of the episode are bone-chilling and save the entire experience. The twist of Kelnacca’s premature death is the perfect kind of subverted expectation, though unfortunately I was left wishing we got to see that. Somehow, this confrontation was initially in the script but (NOTE: this writer actually deleted this Tweet during the time I was writing this review, so caution that this image may provide spoiler-y information for a future plot point)
cut out of the $180 million budget…. The best shows I have ever seen never skip the big moments. Breaking Bad, early Game of Thrones, and House of Cards, all let the viewer experience nearly every moment of drama and don’t use cut scenes as surprises to reveal new information. This disappointment aside, the directing of the arrival of the Sith is executed perfectly. I would go as far as saying it was the most emotion I have felt in any episode of this show so far, and has me more excited for the next episode than at any point of this series so far, even pre-release (granted, this isn’t saying a ton, but it’s an improvement for sure). Overall, the writing here was downhill for 90% of the episode with a few well-written scenes sparsed throughout such as the conversation with Yord and one of Mae’s talks with Qimir before a huge spike in the ending. It’s not good but was certainly saved from disaster at the end.

Production Quality and Creative Direction

The quality of the sets and creature designs continue to be all over the place, some sticking out as B-movie quality and some impressing with their believable as real-life execution. The wide panning shots of the environment look great, and I appreciate how they transformed a generic Earth forest into feeling like an alien world with the use of high-floating fog, unique sunset lighting, and the use of both mountains and trees. Every wide shot looked incredible, but it did not hold up to closer inspection. The show is having trouble with the synthetic practical effects, and it is very easy to spot plastic/styrofoam props. From the bugs on the trees before they turn into CGI, to the obvious fake plants and tree trunks scattered about, to the visible bald cap on Vernestra, to the glue on Jecki’s horns and fading face paint, this simply does not hold up to the budget it was given. Kelnacca’s costume and the Jedi robes still look stiff and fake, however, his hut and Basil both look fantastic. It’s really been hit or miss on a lot of set pieces.

The planet Khofar was well-designed on paper and the attempt to make alien fauna was welcomed and only held back through poor texturing and lighting on the prop placements. Coruscant and the Jedi Temple continue to look underwhelming, and the continued problem of overreliance on humans was especially evident in the Temple training and planning rooms. Compare to Prequel Temple sets and take any side by side to count up the aliens, background activity, and scale. I will give major props to the design team on Basil, he looked and sounded fantastic, and was a wonderful addition of the Tynnan species from Legends. His direction as an independent character was fantastic and also perfectly in line with Star Wars history. I will say that I am not at all a fan of the “Smilo Ren” mask. Unless this is an intentionally ironic/edgy costume from a tryhard Apprentice who will soon be humiliated, it just doesn’t play. Sith don’t dress like that… Especially in this time period of stalking in the shadows. However, the direction of his demeanor and costume outside of the corny smile is well done.

Performances and Characters

Though Sol carried the previous episodes, I think his deliveries were a step back this time, perhaps in part due to repetitive emotional expressions and dialogue. Mae/Osha continues to be a major weak point to me in terms of embodying their characters, Jecki remained as flat as possible, and the random Jedi lines were not inspiring either. Thankfully, Charlie Bennet actually really stepped it up as Yord and I thought his conversation with Osha was very well done and he felt like an actual in-universe Jedi. Qimir delivered a new range of emotions that were a fresh take in the show, so overall I’d say this category has stayed static at “not very good, but carried by a few solid performances from individuals.”

As we’ve reached the halfway point of this series, we should have some genuine connections to the characters and start to see the direction of the character arcs. Some are meeting this goal, while I think others are completely failing.

Osha - The primary traits I see in her are doubt, confusion, and lack of self-confidence. This is not a particularly fun set of characteristics for the main character of a show. Her motivations continue to be all over the place from scene to scene. She’s not presented as an emotional character; she is stoic, introverted, self-reflective, and anxious. She has flip-flopped numerous times on her decision-making process and I have absolutely no idea where they are taking her character, and not in a fun and mysterious way but in a way that the character feels like she is not communicating the mind of an actual person to the audience.
Mae -

Her character, like Osha, is a complete mess at this point. There are no indications whatsoever about where her motivations come from and she has already 180’d multiple times, worst of all in this episode when in a beyond bewildering decision, decides she’s had enough of murdering Jedi Masters and is ready as a young woman to spend life in a max-security Republic prison. Her “love” for her sister could not be more out of place, as we just saw in a flashback that Mae displayed serial killer behavior in torturing animals and trying to burn her sister alive in a locked room, yet 3 scenes later we are expected to believe that she is ready to be: A. tortured/killed by a Sith Lord, or B. tortured and possibly killed in a Republic prison. This decision was beyond defense, yet again the writer decides to do so by saying, “She’s not “good” in that moment she’s just super tired of this pointless (what she considers pointless) missions and errands her master is making her do.” Sorry, but this is not in any way a believable decision. Unless Mae is an imbecile with a death wish, it’s just not a sympathetic character arc. Did any of us look at this and say, “Oooh, that’s cool, I like how she developed that way”? Or did we all collectively groan, “Ohhh come on, you cannot possibly be that stupid”?
One side critique of Mae: I don’t think this writing team understands the Dark Side of the force. It is not merely a tool that you can tap into at will to gain enough strength to kill a Jedi Master and then go back to being a reasonable person who genuinely loves her sister. The Dark Side corrupts you spiritually. Headland touts that she is such a big fan of the EU and KOTOR, yet compare Mae’s flippant usage of the Dark Side to what the iconic Jedi Bastila Shan said of it, “The dark side is not simply giving in to anger or temptation to use the Force to destructive ends. These things only lead to the dark side. The dark side grows stronger and more insidious the closer you draw to it. It begs you to surrender to it, to release all its terrible power… and it becomes harder and harder to resist. And once you stop resisting, it is too late. It twists you up inside and turns you into a mockery of everything you once stood for.” My friends, how is it that a few sentences of reading on a screen can make me fear the Dark Side more than seeing ~2 hours of a character use it in live action? Let us hold storytelling to a high standard because high-quality Star Wars is indeed possible, it’s just not being presented in these TV shows.

Sol - Sadly, I think Sol’s writing is proving to be overly one-dimensional. His character was not developed in any new direction, he only rehashes his care for Osha over and over and over, but I am intrigued with the possibility of seeing him in action in the next episode.
Qimir - Perhaps I will eat these words soon and will retract this and apologize, but is it blatantly obvious that Qimir is “Masked Sith”? From the very beginning of Episode 1 when Qimir quotes the Sith Code, he was my #1 suspect for undercover Sith. I thought the same in every single scene since and was hoping this was good and intentional writing to throw us off the trail, but now I am worrying that it’s just extremely poorly disguised and bad writing. I don’t hate the idea of the twist, but it did not seem mysterious in any way other than being “This is the guy who you’re obviously supposed to believe is the Big Bad but turns out to not be”. Except… I am quite confident it is. His lines about lessons to Mae, his change of demeanor when she wants to quit, the sudden killing of Kelnacca when no one else knew his location… Not a mystery at all in my mind. I really hope this ends up not being the case because that means Qimir has his entire costume packed in his rucksack that he is clearly opening and digging around in front of Mae, he somehow breaks out of the trap, changes clothes, rushes ahead to Kelnacca at inexplicable speeds on an alternate indirect route, kills Kelnacca, then “flies” up into a nearby tree to await the others, all before either Mae or the Jedi get here. I get “a bad feeling about this” reveal in that it will be true but the details will not be explained or addressed in any way.

Conclusion

Saved solely by the final few minutes…

Rating: 5.4/10 (I’d call it “Fine”, but not “pretty good” or “pretty weak”)

Halfway point show rating: 4.2/10 (I’d call it, “pretty weak” but not “bad” or “fine”

Pros:

Great wide shots of Khofar
Bone-chilling thematic setting and entrance of the Sith
Basil was a standout alien design and plot integration

Cons:

Multiple characters have extremely confusing motivations and flip-flopping decisions
Practical effects look overly synthetic and don’t blend in
Atrocious runtime and disjointed pacing

Best scenes:

Sith entering the story
Yord talking to Osha on the hill
Mae and Qimir starting their venture into the forest

Worst Scenes:

Mae having a schizophrenic episode and a 180 of her character motivation (goes entirely against what we saw for 40 minutes in the flashback last week)
Journey through the forest where nothing happens (I stopped counting at double-digit wipe transitions between 30-60 second scenes of walking)
Jedi Temple planning scene (I am very concerned that this weak scene is going to be the only explanation of how the Sith stay in the shadows)