There were some more “watch minutes and engagement” streaming numbers for the Acolyte that came out this week from ReelGood, but that is a different company than the last drop of data, and one set says this is the second most watched Star Wars show behind Kenobi, and the other says it has far less viewers than Ahsoka… Third-party streaming data collection is not very reliable right now, so I’ll wait until the Nielson ratings come out before commenting further on the “performance”. Instead, I want to preface the review with a comment on Leslye Headland’s recent interview on The Mary Sue podcast.
In the interview, Leslye discusses how she wanted The Acolyte to explain why the Jedi are hesitant to train Anakin as an older child to give new context to the Prequels, “Is that why when Anakin shows up they’re like, ‘he’s too old to train,’ like, ‘we’ve learned that this doesn’t work.’ Those were the things that I was interested in.” She also briefly discusses the Ki-Adi Mundi “drama” and how she got approval from Pablo Hidalgo to change his previous Legends age to give new context to his line in The Phantom Menace. They’ve also done the same thing with Vernestra in this show, making her somehow still alive from the other High Republic books, extending her lifespan hundreds of years… All that to say, in recent years, Disney’s approach to expanding the Star Wars universe has frequently involved recontextualizing and providing new explanations for key aspects of the original Skywalker saga and other parts of their new Canon. The Ahsoka novel getting retconned for the Tales of the Jedi episode comes to mind. As does the Kenobi show rehashing the moment in Rebels with Ahsoka and Vader. Repeating plotlines and constantly trying to reference other moments has certainly become a prominent trend. While this tactic might seem like a way to add “depth” to other beloved narratives, it often results in unnecessary and shallow revisions that stifle the creative potential of these new stories. By revisiting and altering the context of pivotal moments from the original films and other works, Disney is at constant risk of diminishing their impact and alienating long-time fans who hold these moments on a near-reverent platform.
This type of “retconning” (sometimes only retconning Legends, but I’m also referring to the explaining of some new context for current canon), while intended to offer clarity, often feels forced and detracts from the originality of the current show/movie’s storytelling. From a big-picture view of Disney’s direction of Lucasfilm, this trend suggests a lack of confidence in creating fresh, compelling content that can captivate audiences without relying on the crutch of the Skywalker saga’s canon lore. As they’ve decided to bring in a ton of different directors and writers who seem to have a personal story they want to tell but need a way to cram it into the Star Wars universe, you lose the passion of wanting to purely tell a Star Wars story for Star Wars sake. It seems as though every new director wants to put their stamp on the universe by “adding” something, rather than personally taking a backseat and letting a story develop on its own.
Moreover, this trend of recontextualization can inadvertently undermine the narrative weight of what George first intended. Key moments and lines that once carried significant emotional and thematic heft that were very intentionally framed by Lucas are somewhat diluted by these added layers of explanation. How do you find a writer who is so passionate about Star Wars itself that they have a 3-6 movie/season vision for a story? Is that even possible in a post-Lucas era? This feeling of a one-off “demo” where a 6-8 episode season is released and then “We’ll wait and see if people want a Season 2” is a terrible storytelling model for the epic saga that is Star Wars, especially when there are such tight production timelines. We either need visionaries or we need adaptations of previous visionaries (Zahn’s novels, for example. Or Veitch’s Tales of the Jedi comics. Traviss’ Republic Commando series even, and as controversial as her vision of Mandalorians/Jedi may be, she had a long-term vision for her story). Is that Favreau and Filoni planning everything? A new leader? I don’t know, but it still feels like the problem with the Sequel Trilogy is occurring. Too many cooks in the kitchen each trying to interject their own take on the dish rather than a head chef bringing together a complimentary menu.
The Acolyte - Episode 6
Pacing and Structure
Not considering the intro and credits, we are up to 31 minutes and 9 seconds on the runtime this week. Still feels very short. While some parts, particularly the interactions between Qimir and Osha, are well-crafted and engaging as they slowly develop, the overall pacing often feels inconsistent. There are moments where the narrative drags, interspersed with rushed segments that fail to provide sufficient depth or context. The episode seems to oscillate between compelling character-driven scenes and seemingly superfluous content. The back-and-forth pacing of various plots detracts from the main storyline, which really needed to move forward this episode. The attempt to balance multiple plotlines, including Sol’s mysterious guilt, Qimir’s manipulative tactics, and the Jedi investigation, all left me feeling disoriented, especially about the timeline of the sequence of events that were going on. I am craving more cohesive primary storytelling rather than the quick bouncing around to slow or overly expository scenes. I will say it again, I LOVE slow, lengthy stories. But this show doesn’t have the length. It only has the slow…
Moreover, the pacing issues are exacerbated by the episode’s tendency to introduce new elements (Osha’s untapped “powers”. “The power of two” possibly hinting at a Dyad? Qimir’s scar. His reasoning for being a Sith) and characters (Vernestra’s apprentice), without adequate setup or follow-through. This all results in a sense of narrative clutter, where significant moments and character developments are lost in the noise of extraneous details. By streamlining the plot and honing in on the core storylines, the show could achieve a more engaging pace. Streamlining does not mean shortening the runtime. It can actually be done with more time on each episode because you can write larger stories, but take your time in getting from plot point to plot point.
The structure is hindered by an overreliance on mystery without delivering timely resolutions or adequate clues to keep me invested. This has been a recurring problem throughout the entirety of the series, and this issue is exemplified in Sol’s character arc. His guilt and past actions have been repeatedly hinted at for 6 episodes now, but they still aren’t addressed. We have had at least 4 conversations that I can remember where Sol tells Osha/Mae that he will tell them the full story and explain everything, but is either immediately interrupted or says he will explain when “the time is right”. Over and over and over he has promised that this story will clear everything up, but when 75% of the story has gone by and we still don’t have a clue what he is talking about, the constant teasing is not enjoyable. I suspect next week is another Flashback episode where we will actually get an answer, but the approach of saying a lot without saying anything continues to create frustrating problems with the structure of the season. It feels like the narrative is artificially prolonged to fill the episode count rather than naturally progressing toward a satisfying conclusion. Additionally, the balance of the A/B/C plots in this episode was once again a mess of transitions, often cutting away as soon as a moment started to become interesting. I think to the directing of something like Breaking Bad where you can watch a very slow scene play out for 15+ minutes straight with no cutaways at all, and it’s entirely engrossing and hypnotizing… You can do slow scenes in incredible ways, but the constant cutting around to different characters with no measure of time has not been an enjoyable experience. Again, since Week 1 it has felt like a ~3-hour movie plot that needed trimmed down to 2.5 hours but instead has been stretched to death for a subscription model. Akin to Mandalorian Season 3, we have two episodes left to wrap up a major storyline in a satisfying manner, and the task looks almost impossible.
Dialogue and Writing Quality
The dialogue in this episode was split between some big highs and lows. On the positive side, the exchanges between Qimir and Osha actually exhibited a nuanced understanding of Dark Side seduction tactics, drawing parallels to Palpatine’s manipulation of Anakin and other falls throughout Jedi history. These scenes were well-written, showcasing a methodical approach to turning someone to the Dark Side by exploiting their doubts and internal conflicts. However, these moments are contrasted by other lines where the dialogue falters. The dialogue has always felt like it’s saying something “deep” but it never communicates concrete or coherent points. The lines still feel like when you would set the spacing just a little extra on your papers in college while using as flowery of language as possible to meet a length requirement. Saying a whole lot, but it’s all actually a whole lot of nothing. It suffers from a lack of clarity, with characters acting in ways that seem driven more by “mysteries” in the plot rather than genuine motivations. It seemed like Sol didn’t realize that Mae was tricking him because that’s what the plot “needed” to happen rather than a natural outpouring of Sol into this scene. The same can be said about what he tried to say over comms. It feels like he should be screaming, “SITH! SITH! We were just attacked by a force user wielding the dark side and a red lightsaber and everyone is dead,” but for plot’s sake… he sends a moronic and unclear message and then leaves the system.
In terms of writing quality, this felt like Episode 4 where there really wasn’t a lot that happened. The episode spent a ton of time without any dialogue at all with scenic shots of the island and environments, Bazil walking around investigating, Sol trying to repair the ship a few times, and Osha sitting in quiet. The delve into philosophical discussions about the dark side and the Jedi was the highlight, and while some moments were intellectually stimulating, they often came at the expense of advancing the plot. Sol’s confession about his past sins to the Jedi Council is abruptly mentioned as we all continue to wonder how he can’t sense Mae posing as Osha, but then out of nowhere apparently Bazil tells him offscreen and he stuns her. This sequence of events lacked the necessary emotional weight and context to resonate fully as a satisfying conclusion to this mini imposter plot. Vernestra’s side story moving alongside Sol and Qimir’s was extremely confusing in terms of how it was progressing over time and felt like that entire segment could have been moved to a later point in the series rather than forcing it in so suddenly and having them just miss each other in the same system. The episode also suffers from its inconsistent tone. While the scenes between Qimir and Osha are at times tense and psychologically rich, other segments like Bazil doing “air karate” before nibbling on Mae and a droid squirting oil on her face in a gag moment feel out of place, disrupting the overall mood. This tonal dissonance makes it difficult for the episode to maintain a steady rhythm, as it swings between serious drama and seemingly unnecessary “filler” content that doesn’t lead anywhere. Did we really need to spend ~20% of the episode watching Bazil wander around the ship and plug the droid into a charger? Only to never even show a scene of him revealing his discoveries to Sol?
If the show had focused on exploring the Sith, showing how a Sith master/apprentice tries to turn and train a person who once had good intentions or corrupt a Jedi Padawan, it could have been really good. Qimir seems like a great evil protagonist. We could see how his Acolyte’s original beliefs get twisted as they fall further into the dark side, eventually plotting to kill their master and take their place, continuing the cycle of the Rule of Two. This is how the show was originally marketed before it morphed into this quasi-mystery about two “force prodigy” twins. Qimir, who was once a Jedi, seems to have been involved in the events 16 years ago, but it’s unclear if he was actually a Jedi or if he’s lying. He wants revenge on the Jedi, but the show is again vague about his true motivations. I suspect the scar on his back is from the lightwhip, hinting that Vernestra was his former master? Historically, Disney’s lack of overall vision and plan for a Star Wars narrative is evidenced in this show. I suspect it will continue the same MO of hinting at certain events or Legends connections (Plagueis, Tenebrous, Bal’demnic) and siphon small references but never actually commit to anything big because they genuinely do not have a bigger plan. Like “Project Necromancer” being hinted at and somewhat described in what, 3 or 4 different shows/movies now, but we still have absolutely no clue about the specifics, because Disney doesn’t know them.
Production Quality and Creative Direction
If the runtimes continue as they have, we are going to be looking at close to $1 million/minute in production costs. That is an astonishingly high number, and I am continually left wondering where that has gone. I think there may be some overinflated staff salaries occurring here, because I do not see anything in the show that justifies that cost. It still wavers between some sets, like the interior of Sol’s ship, looking very good, and other sets, like the interior of Qimir’s cave, looking absolutely terrible. I have to specifically mention this shot:
These rock steps look so unnatural and are easily seen as the typical styrofoam-ish/plastic that these synthetic set props are made of. This doesn’t look like a real-life cave, it looks like steps up onto a ride at a themed amusement park ride. And while I liked the design of Sol’s ship having that disconnected shuttle, the resolution and CGI on the ship in orbit were extremely low, looking more like PS2 cutscenes than a $180 million 2024 super-budget production. Bazil’s animations still look very good, and the new mini-elephant creatures had decent effects.
There really wasn’t much introduced in terms of creative art direction. The “Unknown Planet” (which I suspect is Bal’demnic due to the cortosis mine) visually resembled Ach-To to a confusing degree. It was quite empty, looked more like Earth than a galaxy far far away, and one tiny family of an alien species doesn’t feel very sci-fi. The creature looked great as a design, but to cut to that same group three different times just made the environment feel small and cheap. I wish we would see things on a larger scale. I’m not sure they properly utilized the environment and CGI as well because at one point Qimir told Osha she needed to start swimming if she wanted to make it to the ship by sundown, but the ship was CGI’d in only like… 100 yards away? It looked like she could get there in 3 minutes if she wanted. There was even a little bridge of rocks that appeared to go almost all the way to the ship. There was really nothing new or inspiring in this episode, lots of repeated sets that looked similar to the comments I had already made about them in previous episodes.
Performances and Characters
The performances in this episode are generally stronger than they have been prior, with some actors effectively portraying their characters’ complex emotions. Qimir again stands out as the highlight, showcasing a dynamic range of pain, desire, and psychological manipulation. Sol’s deliveries are on par with his excellent performance thus far, and Osha/Mae continues to lack depth. I have to say, Vernestra is the flattest, most wooden, and dullest character I’ve seen in any form of media for a very long time. Her scenes bog down the rest of the plot in this episode and her line delivery is extremely stilted and awkward. I believe she’s supposed to have played a large part in Qimir’s backstory, but it’s hard to care because she’s acted so poorly. And I can’t get over constantly seeing her human skin underneath the fading green face paint. She doesn’t really look like a Mirialan. Mog’s introduction and performance was some sort of gag-like character and I did not enjoy him whatsoever. Appeared unfit for the role and extremely foolish, intentionally.
Character motivations and development suffer due to the writing. I have massive whiplash trying to follow what characters want and why they are behaving the way they are.
Qimir - He has solidified himself as the most interesting character in the show. We need some concrete motivations and character drive soon though or else the mystery and intrigue will become tiresome rather than… titillating. They leaned into his physical appearance and visceral “draw” to the dark side, the opportunity to “live free”. Good characterization, but it needs development/conclusion or it will become as frustrating as the other constant overhanging mysteries.
Sol - Unfortunately, due to repeated foolish character decisions, my opinion of his character has greatly lessened. He was duped far too easily by Mae, he failed to reveal proper information over the comms, I have no clue what he actually wants anymore… Starting to lose me a bit with his character arc. Next week will be crucial to see how his revelation affects him.
Mae/Osha - Really nothing new to add here. Both characters are still incredibly indecisive and indistinguishable from one another. Bland performances and confusing character motivations lead me to dislike the characters thus far.
Vernestra/Mog - I would say this pairing is verging on being insufferable and a pain to watch. The stiffness and shallow performance of Vernestra (who was not at all like this in the books, from the little I’ve read) is terribly complimented by the intentional ineptitude and foolishness of her apprentice, Mog. It seems like both characters are here to do nothing more than make the Jefi appear incompetent. And they do it in the most boring ways possible.
Conclusion
This felt almost exactly like Episode 4 in terms of having a ton of time where nothing really happens in a way too short episode, except 6 lacked that “Wow!” moment that 4 had.
Rating: 3.8/10 (I’d call it “weak”, but not “very weak” or “decent”)
Pros:
Qimir’s psychological manipulation and application of the draw of the Dark Side
The discussions of cortosis and Qimir’s demeanor
Sol restraining Mae, at least he made the right decision finally
Cons:
Continued indecipherable character motivations
Tons of wasted time with Bazil and the slow development of overhanging unsatisfying mysteries
Vernestra
Best scene (I really can’t think of 3 unique scenes that I enjoyed, they’re all just Qimir and Osha in the cave):
Qimir manipulates Osha in the cave
Worst Scenes:
- Vernestra investigates with Mog
- Bazil wanders around but we don’t get to see the conclusion of his revelation
- Mae fails to do anything at all in Sol’s ship