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The Acolyte (live action series set in The High Republic era) - a general discussion thread — Page 10

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Do I even want to step into this minefield?

I was open-minded because I thought the concept had some potential. We haven’t had a movie or show go this far back in the timeline before, so that’s intriguing. Although I was also cautious due to the quality of the some of these shows. Unfortunately this show ended up being worse than I expected. I was expecting it to be okay or mediocre and it went below that. You can stop reading here if you don’t want to wade through my rambling mess.

Of the three episodes, I liked the first one the most. It wasn’t great, but I liked some of the fight scenes. Seeing martial arts in a Star Wars show was fun. That was probably the one thing that kept me watching. I was disappointed that they killed Trinity in the first scene. Seeing the Trade Federation was unexpected. I didn’t realize they’d been around that long. They were definitely trying to give it that Phantom Menace feel. Some complained about the fire in space, but I don’t give a shit. The last thing I’m concerned about in Star Wars is physics. I started to lose interest once I realized what the twist was. A good twin and a bad twin. Well that’s boring. Oh, and one of them is named Osha apparently. My reaction when I heard that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6M1OF_E0IA

The second episode was the one where I really started to lose interest. Way too much boring exposition. It started reminding me of The Phantom Menace again and not in a good way. And then it only got worse from there. The third episode I thought was abysmal. I was confused and stunned after sitting through it. The acting in the first two episodes I thought was mediocre (with the exception of Lee Jung-jae, he was good), but the acting in this episode was just atrocious and the dialogue wasn’t any better. The only part I found interesting was when the Jedi showed up, but even then it kind of just felt like they were doing the blood test stuff from Phantom Menace again. Space witches? Don’t care. I didn’t like the Night Sisters and they seem even less interesting than them. There was also little to no action in this episode, so on top of being confusing it was very boring.

The production also looked unimpressive, which is ridiculous for a show that cost almost as much to make as Dune: Part Two. Hell, apparently the first season of House of the Dragon cost less and from what I’ve seen it looks way better than this. This looks inexcusably cheap. The only thing that stood out to me as kind of interesting were some of the droid and alien designs, but they weren’t present much. The costumes, lighting, sets, and camera work were all subpar. Where the fuck did all the money go? Why do all these Disney Plus shows cost so much, yet look so lifeless?

But I’d probably be able to forgive those if the story or characters were interesting or fun, but they’re not. It’s very dull. I was liking the action, but not caring for the mystery. I just did not care about what was happening. The characters were not compelling to me either, they were bland to me. Lee Jung-jae was again the only saving grace as far as the cast went, and he’s good, but I’m not sure what all there is to do with his character.

Another thing I think that’s worth bringing up is that these shows are missing a very key element of Star Wars… John Williams’ music. That’s part (not all) of why a lot of these shows feel off. The music in most of these has been very forgettable.

I would say that this show is unfortunately more in the same category of quality as Book of Boba Fett or the Kenobi series. Hell, after that third episode, I was starting to think it might be worse. I was hoping after Andor the quality of these things would pick up, but I guess I was too optimistic.

Will I watch more of it? Maybe, but I don’t have “high apple pie in the sky hopes” to quote a Frank Sinatra song.

All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph!

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JadedSkywalker said:

rocknroll41 said:

New post up on my blog regarding the acolyte (and the state of the franchise in general):

https://henrynsilva.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-acolyte-past-present-future-of-star.html?m=1

Nice summation and without Hyperbole, but you didn’t mention Willow the tv series being erased from existence or Dial of Destiny flopping. And I disagree on Solo, I feel like Alden didn’t at all come off as Harrison. What Disney needs is a Star Wars film in the cinema that breaks a billion at the box office. If Dial can fail and Harrison was in it, what does that say about Lucasfilm? The same actor who was a draw when they made Force Awakens, couldn’t get people to see the 5th Indiana Jones film. And also the Rey movie isn’t going to have Harrison or Mark or Carrie to carry it, we shall see what the box office says on that one if it ever gets released.

As for the Acolyte itself I just got into the older shows on disc, when is Disney going to put out Mando season 3 and Ahsoka? Because I would have to sign up for Plus and other than some of the cartoon shows and maybe Light and Magic it doesn’t seem like all that good a deal at the price point for no ads.

I could see Luke’s ghost showing up in the Rey movie, but aside from that, I understand your points.

Forgot about Willow and Indy 5. That said, I was just talking about SW specially. Not Lucasfilm as a whole.

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As we’re ~12 hours away from Episode 4…

For those of you who liked the show so far, what are you hoping to see happen tonight? Which characters do you want to see in the spotlight? What are some plot developments you think would create more intrigue/excitement?

For those who haven’t liked it so far, what could they do storywise to turn ship for you? We’ve seen the production quality and that is what it is (not incredible, but not awful), so is there any way to recover your interest in the characters or plot?

I thought the flashback was a massive and unnecessary distraction and really took me out of the pacing of the first couple of episodes which I rather enjoyed, so I am hoping Ep. 4 can stay focused and deliver some genuine character connections here. Let me spend some time with our Jedi team, and give some well-written interactions between them. I didn’t like Episode 3 at all, but I thought it was the best-paced episode so far (aside from the lack of action sequences). I think the absolute worst thing they could do this episode would be to go back to the lighting fast pacing of Episode 1/2 and stay light on character development in favor of “we need to get this plot moving”. I feel like I’ve had very little time to connect with anyone yet, it’s like every scene is only the tiniest snippet of a person but I don’t actually know anyone.

Additionally, I think we really need to start seeing the Sith presence. I was hoping this show would tell the story from their perspective instead of making them the horror film monster that you barely see glimpses of… So I’m hoping the latter half of the show will bring one of them to the forefront. I think a very intriguing Sith could recover my interest, as we still have ~2.5 hours of scenes. Give me a good Sith movie and reasons to connect with the Jedi characters from here on out and I could become fond of it!

(The Force Awakens) Heirs of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Last Jedi) Fate of the Jedi | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Rise of Skywalker) Legacy of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Bad Batch) Cinematic Version | A More Mature Edit

(The Mandalorian+Boba) The Way of Mandalore | A Compilation Edit

(Kenobi) | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

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Acbagel said:

As we’re ~12 hours away from Episode 4…

For those of you who liked the show so far, what are you hoping to see happen tonight? Which characters do you want to see in the spotlight? What are some plot developments you think would create more intrigue/excitement?

The thing I want the most in episode 4 is that we need to see The Sith Lord, and not just a tease like the end of the first episode but an actual scene. Maybe that scene from the trailers of him confronting the Jedi in the forest, or some other scene but we need actual interactions and dialogue with some of the cast. I also want to see Mae and Qimir in more of the spotlight as I find them more compelling than the Jedi we’re following. They also need to continue doing more to differentiate how the Jedi work in this specific era compared with what we know they become during the prequels as the show seems to be poised to explain how the Jedi became that. Even though I like the show I think it will fall apart if the answers to the mysteries aren’t satisfying or compelling and I think they need to have the 4 Jedi Mae wants to kill actually to have done something terrible enough to warrant wanting revenge. Making it a misdirect or some trick by the Sith to make Mae think they killed her family would be really unsatisfying to me because it would be way more compelling if Mae does have legitimate justification for wanting revenge on them.

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this episode felt more like a filler, just like the 3rd episode, in a different way, it could be condensed into 10 to 15 minutes, they are putting extra stuff just for the season to have 8 episodes.
are they that 2 characters from the prequels ? i dont know but if they are is just a nothing fan service
and one more thing i just hope that the evil sister goes to that overused and generic star wars villans direction
overall just a mid episode

idk

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Skybatman said:

this episode felt more like a filler, just like the 3rd episode, in a different way, it could be condensed into 10 to 15 minutes, they are putting extra stuff just for the season to have 8 episodes.
are they that 2 characters from the prequels ? i dont know but if they are is just a nothing fan service
and one more thing i just hope that the evil sister goes to that overused and generic star wars villans direction
overall just a mid episode

Yes, I’m pretty sure that was Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plo Koon. Both of their species live long enough for them to be around 100 years before the PT.

EDIT: yes, the credits confirm that it’s ki-adi

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This is the episode that I’ve been the most conflicted on with this show. On the one hand, I think it’s the best paced episode of the season, but on the other hand, it’s ultimately too short and ends really frustratingly. It ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, but not the good kind of cliffhanger. It ends just as the Sith Lord appears and starts to attack the main cast right before ending the episode. It’s clear the intent with this cliffhanger is to get people talking and excited for the next episode by leaving it off with a shock, but I think it massively backfired here. It would’ve been way stronger if they let the confrontation play out to its conclusion, maybe ending on a character’s fate being unknown which would have worked.

Back to the positives though. The tone setting of this episode is strong throughout as the characters are traversing through the forest. The fog and increasing darkness due to the sun setting adds a really creepy and unsettling feeling leading up to the reveal. They’re really laying it on thick with the whole mystery of what the Jedi did on Brendok what with Sol’s conversation with Venestra, and then later on with Osha. Qimir continues to be my favorite character and the show really seems to be setting up as either a red herring for the Sith Lord, or to be the Sith Lord himself. Mae wavering from her mission and deciding to surrender to the Jedi, coupled with Osha feeling the dark slug insect creature through the force, is making me wonder if they’ll flip the two sister’s positions by having Mae come back to the light side, whilst Osha falls to the dark side. I also think this episode does a much better job of developing Jerrick and Yorde’s relationship with Osha. Having Jerrick smile and open up to Osha and Lorde display understanding and concern for Osha really helped endear them more to me. The next episode is going to need to really deliver on a lot of what the show has been setting up or I fear that this is not going to go down well. I’m thinking more and more like this show will benefit greatly from a movie fanedit as it unfortunately is feeling like it didn’t need to be 8 episodes.

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For me, this was probably the most enjoyable episode to watch so far. It focused mostly on the Jedi team, which has always been the most interesting aspect of the show. I liked the discussions on Coruscant, and the fact that we’re seeing a “middle management” level of the Jedi hierarchy rather than always focusing on the supreme Council. I also liked the dense forest setting and creatures, etc.

I think it was probably a mistake to have that teaser scene at the end of Episode 1 showing the Sith Lord (and having him ignite a lightsaber for no reason just for the audience). It would probably be more effective to see him for the first time here in Episode 4. The reveal in Episode 4 uses the Sith Lord as a horror movie monster, which I can imagine some people will find stupid, but I thought it was effective.

Unfortunately, this show does seem to contain some Filoni-style “writing wonkiness”, just in smaller doses than previous shows. For example, I feel like Mae’s mission is just really unclear. Her master wants her to kill 4 Jedi. But he also wants her to kill at least one of them - I guess? - without using a weapon. In this episode, Mae and Qimir discuss this, and Mae says she has so far failed to kill a Jedi without using a weapon, and even concludes doing so is impossible. Okay… but I thought she succeeded at doing that when she talked Torbin into committing suicide by drinking poison. So I guess poison counts as a weapon? Does talking count as a weapon? I mean… what counts as a weapon now?

Also, the monologue given by the Sith Lord back in Episode 1 did not imply that killing a Jedi without a weapon was some kind of test or challenge - rather, the speech clearly implied that it was simply not possible (or at least not feasible) to kill a Jedi using a conventional weapon like steel or laser, and therefore more subtle methods were required. (Either that or the Sith Lord was speaking about the Jedi as an institution metaphorically, which seems like a stretch). But now the whole thing really feels like a mess - almost like different writers wrote each episode, and never communicated or shared notes.

Anyway, the show seems to be hinting that Qimir might actually be the Sith Lord - with Qimir prodding Mae along and then conveniently disappearing before the Sith Lord appears. But I kind of doubt it, because it seems too obvious at this point. (Also did Qimir stash his cool Sith armor under a tree somewhere in advance?) I suspect the Sith Lord is either an entirely new character, or maybe one of the witches who survived, like the birth mother of Osha/Mae (who seems to be the same species as Darth Maul… maybe they’ll even imply she’s an ancestor of Maul - isn’t Maul connected to witches somehow in one of the cartoons? [/Internet nerd speculation])

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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 -

  1. 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”?

  2. 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:

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

Worst Scenes:

  1. 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)
  2. Journey through the forest where nothing happens (I stopped counting at double-digit wipe transitions between 30-60 second scenes of walking)
  3. 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)

(The Force Awakens) Heirs of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Last Jedi) Fate of the Jedi | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Rise of Skywalker) Legacy of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Bad Batch) Cinematic Version | A More Mature Edit

(The Mandalorian+Boba) The Way of Mandalore | A Compilation Edit

(Kenobi) | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

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Re the post immediately above, Pacing and Structure (don’t want to copy and paste a ton of text), Ep3 ends with Jedi Wookiester walking into his home essentially nekkid. Ep4 starts with him…walking home through the forest wearing his robes.
So…he went inside, put on some clothes so he could…walk back outside and then walk back inside of his home?

I like this episode a lot, had some great world building.

Something I did not like, however, and I will fault other brands for this sort of thing as well, is they bring in this cool character just to kill him off. Hey lookit! Wookie Jedi! Cool! Neat, huh? Ok he’s dead now.
I figure that there’s future flashback episodes where we see more of him but the way it’s playing so far is disappointing.
Oh and way too many wipes.

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I’ve seen lots of people online complaining about the supernatural conception of Mae/Osha via the Force, because they feel it detracts from the uniqueness of Anakin’s story.

I guess this is another symptom of the widespread “reevaluation” of the Prequels online over the past 10 years. But from my perspective, the whole virgin birth and “Chosen One” aspect of Anakin’s story was a completely stupid idea in the first place, so I really don’t care if some later story messes with it. Maybe the Acolyte writers will actually do something interesting with the concept, but I doubt it. The whole concept is just dumb.

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Channel72 said:

I’ve seen lots of people online complaining about the supernatural conception of Mae/Osha via the Force, because they feel it detracts from the uniqueness of Anakin’s story.

I guess this is another symptom of the widespread “reevaluation” of the Prequels online over the past 10 years. But from my perspective, the whole virgin birth and “Chosen One” aspect of Anakin’s story was a completely stupid idea in the first place, so I really don’t care if some later story messes with it. Maybe the Acolyte writers will actually do something interesting with the concept, but I doubt it. The whole concept is just dumb.

Preach brother, I’ve been of the same opinion on that since TPM came out, and I was only 11 at the time haha. Turning the Jedi into a messianic state affiliated religion and making Anakin into the chosen one was easily one of the least interesting story choices in the prequels (at least how it was written), and ironically, it’s also almost entirely inconsequential to Anakin’s character development. The Osha/Mae thing doesn’t bother me at all, and frankly, anything that makes Anakin less special is IMO actually an improvement in the lore. But anyways, yeah, fingers crossed they do something interesting with it in this show.

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4 episodes in and I think The Acolyte has supplanted Book of Boba Fett as the weakest Star Wars series for me.

At least Tem Morrison looked like he wanted to be there (giving lessons on how to ride a speeder bike) and there were a few inventive set pieces (the Tusken attack on the train was excellent).

Star Wars has always been rewatchable for me, but 4 episodes in and I think The Acolyte is the first which I’ll never revisit. I hold out hope that it might improve or that a fan edit might redeem it somewhat. There are some nice visuals to work with (even though this last episode had some bad fake jungle, there were some atmospheric and impressive wide shots).

Using the visuals and music (which are the strongest elements) it might even work better as a fanedit ‘mood piece’. Think Blade Runner or the movies of Denis Villeneuve, and try to restyle the clunky dialogue and charisma-free performances into something a bit more abstract and dreamy. Could work?

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Channel72 said:

I’ve seen lots of people online complaining about the supernatural conception of Mae/Osha via the Force, because they feel it detracts from the uniqueness of Anakin’s story.

I guess this is another symptom of the widespread “reevaluation” of the Prequels online over the past 10 years. But from my perspective, the whole virgin birth and “Chosen One” aspect of Anakin’s story was a completely stupid idea in the first place, so I really don’t care if some later story messes with it. Maybe the Acolyte writers will actually do something interesting with the concept, but I doubt it. The whole concept is just dumb.

Okay but then the show shouldn’t use its relationship to the prequels as a selling point. If you’re going to ignore the prequels, then ignore them. Don’t throw in Neimoidians and Ki Adi Mundi and prequel Jedi and all that stuff. I’m all for the prequels getting overwritten in a hypothetical alternate continuity but this isn’t that, it’s doubling down on the prequels and somehow managing to (intentionally or unintentionally) make it worse and more self-contradictory.

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Another new post up on my blog: https://henrynsilva.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-3-kinds-of-movie-youtubers.html?m=1

^Acolyte-related again

My blog: https://henrynsilva.blogspot.com/
My books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08SLGZJ11
My bandcamp: https://nunohenrysilva.bandcamp.com/
My SoundCloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/user-327161148
My playlists: https://m.youtube.com/@nunohenrysilva/playlists
My Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/goldendreamseeker/submitted/

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This show just isn’t worth all the attack, hype or defense. It’s just low rent, CW style cornyness. Watching some people try to defend the convolution and mental gymnastics is like watching 6 year olds debating that Godzilla would beat Thanos.

To me, at least, it’s not stop cringe. 🤷‍♂️

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Just watched acolyte episode 5. The tone of the show is a lot darker now. Pretty good, for the most part, but a couple of character motivations still aren’t really adding up for me.

My blog: https://henrynsilva.blogspot.com/
My books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08SLGZJ11
My bandcamp: https://nunohenrysilva.bandcamp.com/
My SoundCloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/user-327161148
My playlists: https://m.youtube.com/@nunohenrysilva/playlists
My Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/goldendreamseeker/submitted/

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Well, the one thing that you cannot say about The Acolyte after this episode is that it doesn’t take risks. This episode was an incredibly risky move. Sure the episode isn’t perfect and I have some issues with it, but this is clearly the best episode so far. The lightsaber battles were all really good, and it’s the only episode so far where the pacing doesn’t have big issues.

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this episode worked better for me because it was action focused, the 2 mayor deaths are actually nice and subversive, but the rest is not good mainly because i am not invested, the action scenes are kinda nice but sloppy in some areas

idk

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The choreography and combat styles are brilliant, I was very happy with the action in episode 5 and will happily rewatch those scenes. It’s just a shame the Osha/Mae plot is still the weakest part of the show. I think there’s enough to pull together a fairly decent feature length film, but not much else. It needs a lot of tightening based on what we’ve seen so far.

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I did not expect the show to kill off most of its supporting cast here, I expected either Yorde or Jecki to die but not both of them. It really ups the stakes and finally delivers on the darker tone that the series is clearly going for. Whether or not the series can keep up its momentum in the final 3 episodes remains to be seen, but I have a lot more confidence that it’ll end up sticking the landing in the end. If I had an issue with the episode it would be that I don’t think Yorde was developed enough as a character for me to care about his death, and that the reveal of Qimir being the Sith was too obvious. Still I think the reveal was very well done and the acting is really great here as well. Lee Jung-jae and Manny Jacinto are really killing it with their performance, but I think Amandla Stenberg is more mixed there are some scenes that she nails but others, like the ending confrontation between the twins are a bit stilted. I also don’t think the ending where Mae switches places with Osha to be too believable so hopefully they won’t drag out Sol and Qimir realizing it too long.

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With the major cliffhanger at the conclusion of Episode 4, it seemed that the intended “weekly discussion” that Disney was hoping would ensue would be about the identity of the Sith and excitement for the upcoming battle. I did see some of that, but it was overshadowed by a lot of conversations about the relationship of Canon v Legends, George v Disney, Ki-Adi Mundi’s birthday, etc… If you’ve followed me or my work on this website, you know that I’m a BIG EU guy. The movies made me love Star Wars, but the EU made it a near-spiritual and inseparable part of my life. I have poured into countless Novels, Comics, and Games from the ever-vast storyline that is now dubbed “Legends” by Disney. Even amidst my great love and preference for that time and universe, I still maintain to hold a healthy mindset about the state of things, both then and now.

Under the unique headship of George Lucas, whenever he added new information to Star Wars, the EU always adapted to try to respect what he said and made. No, he didn’t consider the EU to be top-level definitive Star Wars or part of his personally written canon that he wanted to keep consistent, but he checked off on every single big-picture story and said of the EU, “I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia, so if I want to come up with a name or something else, I check to see if it’s already been used… They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible.” George and the EU had a very symbiotic relationship because he knew how much it meant to the fans, it made him a lot of money, and he did genuinely think that there were some great ideas in it that he pulled from (and also some bad ideas that he did not like). Did you know that George took from the EU: Aayla Secura from the “Republic” comic series, Double-bladed lightsabers from the Old Republic “Tales of the Jedi” comic series, the name “Coruscant” from Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, Lightsaber blocking force lightning from “The Last Command”, etc. He skimmed through the comics from time to time as he didn’t have enough bandwidth to read novels entirely, but his creative team would come to him with general checklists such as: “Are you okay if someone writes a backstory on Yoda?” “No” “Are you okay if we make a game about Darth Vader having a secret apprentice in between 3 and 4?” “Yes” “Are you okay if Luke marries Mara Jade” “I guess, but I don’t know if I really like that” (paraphrasing quotes and answers here). All in all, some things he approved of immediately, some he outright declined, and some he needed to peruse more and never got around to a definitive answer. The mysterious mind of the Maker!

George personally created Darth Bane and the Rule of Two. He also made Darth Plagueis a Muun instead of a human. He was heavily involved with the storyline direction of Shadows of the Empire. Dark Horse wanted to kill Quinlan Vos but George told them to keep him alive. George also wrote the prologue in the “Shatterpoint” novel. So to outright say that “George didn’t consider the EU to be Star Wars at all” isn’t accurate, and neither is saying he held it to the same level as his movies. Again, they maintained a relatively symbiotic relationship. Compare that to how Disney has handled it, and I think you can see that perhaps they misjudged how much a large sect of the fanbase still treasures the EU, even to this day. 10 years ago, when Disney “decanonized” Legends, they stated, “…all aspects of Star Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected. Under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s direction, the company for the first time ever has formed a story group to oversee and coordinate all Star Wars creative development. ‘We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon’… This is just the beginning of a creatively aligned program of Star Wars storytelling.” In retrospect, this seems to be nothing more than PR talk as almost immediately their shows and books started contradicting each other. They hired movie directors who didn’t know who Darth Plagueis was. The entire Sequel Trilogy was written one by one without a plan… No, the EU was never perfect in terms of continuity either. I would venture to say that it is impossible for any franchise so large to be perfect. But there was symbiosis at one time, whereas now I see more of a parasitic relationship. Disney wants to skim off the top of Legends without committing to faithfully telling the stories, harming both their ability to truly have free reign while also upsetting longtime fans. Changing Mundi and the nature of Cereans, extending the life of Vernestra and the nature of Mirialans, these don’t seem to be decisions that are well crafted by a cohesive story group. They are cameo scenes made without much thought toward a larger lore.

Anyway, Acolyte Episode 5 was good. Let’s get into it.

Pacing and Structure

Like last week, with the intro and credits removed we are left with 27 minutes and 4 seconds of scenes here. A whopping 12 seconds longer than last week and still placing it in the bottom of the barrel for live-action show runtimes. I’ve made this point nearly every week so I don’t see a reason to continue in depth the same critique. Sub-30-minute runtime = very bad. It is nearly impossible to tell a quality storyline in an 8 episode season with these weekly releases. Outside of the lightning flash episode length, the pacing is quite good for the middle segment. The action sequence plays out in an intriguing manner, and the whole middle 15 minutes I was glued to the screen. Unfortunately, as soon as the fighting stops we are wrenched into some excruciatingly slow scenes of Mae and Osha that drag this section down once more. Overall, the pacing was better than in previous weeks, but still flawed in major ways.

The episode opens from the perspective of Osha recovering from unconsciousness as we miss the events immediately following the force push. We’ve missed a little bit of the battle as some Jedi are already dead, but within a minute we’re back into the action. Again, this whole idea felt like a contrivance for the purpose of weekly TV rather than something that felt natural in the momentum of the show, but from there on out we’re treated to a mostly great sequence of events. From the callback to the beetles making previous scenes feel more worthwhile, to the setup for the next episodes with new plot points, this episode is structured quite well in its placement in the season. I fear another looming flashback episode is once again going to derail the momentum we just built up, and I’m hoping it won’t consume an entire week like last time and perhaps simply be integrated into ~10 minutes of another “present-day” episode. Future structure aside, this episode did a solid job of organizing the fight into chunks, though it did struggle massively with balancing A/B plots and transitions, but more on that later.

Dialogue and Writing Quality

The dialogue was a small step up from previous weeks, though not anything great, perhaps the best of the season so far. That might be a bit telling as this was the episode with the least delivered lines… However, some of the conversations between Sol and Qimir did well at creating tension and intrigue. Though I still can’t call the dialogue “good”, because it continues to come off as a tad pretentious, as if it’s pretending to say something really deep and philosophical/meaningful, but it doesn’t hold up to logical scrutiny. Or perhaps its significance once again relies on future episodes to expound upon its meaning. Qimir carried the the episode with some haunting lines referring to Jecki as an “it”, Yord’s description of Qimir’s fighting style was well-phrased, but the conversation between Mae and Osha once more proves to be the lowest quality of the episode, delivering the 4th “What have you done?!” from Osha so far…

This episode is lighter on writing in favor of a long action sequence, but even amidst the battle, we see some story and character development. The highlight of this battle to me was the unique situation of Qimir attempting to both kill the Jedi who are attacking him in order to preserve his identity, as well as trying to kill Mae who is a third party who knows too much and is simply trying to escape. This plot setup led to some great moments of storytelling inside the battle itself and is a great example of how fights don’t just have to be solely for the sake of action. The best fights are multi-layered with intrigue and situations that complicate a standard 1v1 whack 'em duel. The writing of different characters intervening and the multiple situations occurring at once was done fabulously. The decision to execute key characters here was a bold move. I want to say I love it, and I can say I wholeheartedly approve of the brutality of the Sith that created the most shocking moments in the episode, I also feel slight disappointment that we are losing some characters that were barely scratching the surface of development. While the violence and deaths were well-directed in and of themselves, I didn’t feel any loss at seeing the deaths of these characters aside from a loss of interest in their previous scenes. I was only at the very beginning stages of starting to connect with the primary side characters, and now they’re gone. I would say the fault of this is more in the pacing and short episodic structure of the show rather than the writing decision to kill them.

As I heavily suspected since episode 1, the reveal of Qimir was unsurprising to any degree. The show marketed itself as a “mystery crime drama”, but I have not been the least bit surprised by anything that has occurred so far. The mysteries have all been very obvious in your face reveals, the lead-ups to resolutions have been more blatantly confusing than interesting, and I think this show would have been much more successful if it was written as a 2-part “action thriller”. With Qimir revealed as Mask Sith, we still are left with questions about his placement in the Rule of Two. Or perhaps he even has ties to another force cult, such as the Knights of Ren (did anyone else catch the Kylo Ren theme motif playing as he encountered Osha at the end?). His line delivery to Sol left this open-ended enough that future episodes could take it in multiple directions. However, I am not left greatly anticipating the answer in excitement, but I am merely peeved that we have watched ~63% of this show and still cannot say we have even seen a Sith yet. A much more exciting premise for the Acolyte would’ve been one where Qimir is the main character and we see everything from his perspective. Mae/Osha seems quite irrelevant to my interest in anything happening in this show.

Speaking of, the writing whiplash continues in the Twindom. I have no idea where they are going with those characters. The final stand-off between Osha and Mae could have used another pass (or five) in the writer’s room. Mae’s character continues to be unintelligible, somehow going from wanting to kill Kelnacca and all the Jedi, to wanting to surrender to the Jedi, to wanting to escape the Jedi, to wanting to live happily ever after with Osha after trying to burn her alive as a child. The show clearly wants to show us what “really happened” at a later point, so while the “Twin swap” isn’t a bad idea on paper, it doesn’t feel like it has enough consistency to generate intrigue because both characters are complete wild cards. There is barely a difference between their motivations since they both 180 every single episode. What is the distinction between them at this point? I am also left baffled as to how Sol can’t sense a difference between Mae and Osha, nor can he see the giant tattoo on Mae’s forehead… I suppose Sol is battered and unbalanced right now, but still, it seems quite obvious that “Osha’s” behavior has changed and it’s strange that Sol was so easily duped (and Basil smells the difference and is going to start squawking). The other writing critique would be the beetles easily overwhelming Qimir and flying him away. It felt extremely awkward and contrived as a way to extend the plot beyond its natural conclusion at this moment, and Qimir’s sudden onset of ineptitude to remove a flashlight off his back after murdering 7 highly trained Jedi did not add up. Overall though, the writing served to create a great battle sequence but didn’t measure up to that greatness in the moments of quiet.

Production Quality and Creative Direction

While some of the aforementioned forestry props are once again notable distractions, the VFX intermixed with the battle scenes very smoothly. The lightsabers shorting out looked realistic, the force pushes through walls and plants had great use of practical effects and CGI, and the progressive dirt and grime on the actors reflected the progression of a grueling battle. The ash-like material falling from the sky contrasted with the red dirt at the feet helped make this forest feel less like Earth. While the setting itself was small in scale, it utilized itself perfectly and made the most of what the area had to offer. The beetles picking up Qimir would be the one Red “X” I’d throw on this episode’s visual quality, but aside from that, everything looked great visually.

Dare I say this was the best lightsaber fight I have seen in live-action since May 19, 2005? I’ll be upfront here, the choreography was really good. I wouldn’t say it rivaled the Nick Gillard-directed Prequel battles, but it was the closest thing I’ve seen to them from Disney so far. I would say the Sequel Trilogy lightsaber battles were atrocious, so I suppose the only comparable duel would be Ahsoka v Baylan, but this certainly beat anything in that show. The use of the environment in the battle was incredible, with people flying through doors, foliage, the Sith’s unsettling movements around the forest, and the switches between lightsabers and hand-to-hand made for thrilling changes of pace. Not only was the setting properly utilized, but the lightsaber moves themselves were fast, coordinated, acrobatic, and executed with intent. There were a few moments where I could see gaps in what a character “should” do and their actor waiting on some cue to move, but those moments were few and far between. I was highly impressed with the visceral use of violence, especially in the kill moves. I did gasp at the brutality of Qimir against Jecki, which is the first time in a LONG time that Star Wars violence has made me do that. This whole fight sequence was a massive step in the right direction for Disney, and Christopher Clark Cowan should be commended for his action directing here, as well as major props to the actors involved in the training. This battle felt like Star Wars. I wish it were the standard for action scenes rather than the exception at this point, but what a great new standard it set. Here’s to hoping we see more of this choreography crew in future projects. I also want to credit the fantastic addition of cortosis from Legends, the integration into a suit of armor was a great creative twist to a traditional battle.

I’m not exactly sure where to place this critique because I don’t know who is handling this aspect, but someone at Disney/Lucasfilm desperately needs to go to wipe transition school. These lightning-fast wipes right in the middle of battles are unbelievably jarring, so much so that they genuinely make me laugh out loud when I see how bad they are. Two times we have Sol start to run at Qimir and out of absolutely nowhere, a 0.5-second wipe transition follows his back and cuts to some other slow-moving scene. It’s bewildering as to why this is happening. I know Star Wars is infamous for wipes, but certainly, someone is looking at WHEN those wipes occurred in George’s movies, right? How are they getting dropped in these episodes in such amateurish ways? The post-production editing is sloppy to the degree of seeming like a joke. That’s harsh, but I have no other way to describe it. I work in the TV industry personally (documentaries, sports, commercials), and using fast wipes between 2 active concurrent fights back and forth is… childlike. There was another circle swipe that simply vanished a few frames early and seemed like a visual glitch. It’s like the editing team was sent a “Trasnisiton quota” a week before release and realized they had come up short and hastily went through this show and dropped some into completely random places. It’s bad. I saw this happen at the end of the Mandalorian season 3 as well, some of the worst wipe transitions I have ever seen. So it’s a recurring problem that seems outside the writers’ ability to prevent. Something is going on with their mutually shared editing team that needs to be corrected ASAP.

Performances and Characters

Manny Jacinto stole the show with his unmasked Qimir. His casual portrayal of murder and mayhem was expertly performed. He truly embodied both the mystery of the dark side user as well as the strength of one. Major props to his choreography in battle and the dedication he put into perfecting this segment. I am more excited to see him on screen again than anyone else in the show based on his performance. Another standout was an excellent effort made by Dafne Keen as Jecki. Her movements in action were incredible, especially for her age. Extremely impressive, and while I was not so impressed by her regular line deliveries, she gave a perfect final act for her character that will leave a lasting impression on my perception of this show. Sol continues to excel at delivering emotions as we see a new unbalanced side of his character. Sadly, I say this nearly every week, but the deliveries from Mae/Osha are the stand-out weak point in the show. There is barely a detectable facial performance given, and the lines do not feel like they’re coming from an in-universe character. I know it’s not aided in any way by the whiplash character “development” they’ve had, but anytime these two are the main focus of a scene it never ceases to be the worst part of the episode. Amandla doesn’t have good chemistry with… herself, and even the videography of these scenes is poorly done as the two are almost never in a frame together. The acting and directing around their relationship are not good at all.

Qimir - Even with one of the most obvious reveals I have ever seen, this character instantly became the most intriguing person in the whole show. Every interesting question now revolves around him. Is he really a Sith? Master or Apprentice? Why does he want a new acolyte? What’s his background story? How does he know so much about Sol?

Sol - After my previous concerns that he was becoming too one-dimensional, I was glad to see a new side of him in this episode. It was a great decision to show his distress and “break” him to an extent. I am truly not sure if he will recover or continue to unravel, so I am happy to see that this character has depth beyond empathy.

Mae/Osha - I am lumping them into the same category now because these two are truly indistinguishable to me. Their motivations can change on a dime, sometimes they love each other and want to sacrifice their life to save the other, sometimes they hate each other and try to kill the other, sometimes they want to faithfully serve their friends, sometimes they want to betray their friends. Now that they’re role-swapped, it’s just as believable that Osha turns dark and Mae turns light? Again, it’s not a bad idea on paper, but the characters needed to have individual consistency before now for it to be executed well. Additionally, these characters are both exceptionally weak in the force, consistently beaten by almost everyone in the show. I half expected Qimir to offer Jecki a place at his side instead of Mae or Osha. Neither has shown abilities to be greater than a standard Jedi youngling, so I’m not sure why Qimir is so interested in them.

Other characters? - With no Yord or Jecki moving forward, all we have left is… Vernestra? That’s a really weird writing decision to only have 5 named and voiced characters at this point in the show. Sol, Qimir, Mae, Osha, Vernestra. Those are the only action figures left. I am hoping for a big new Sith reveal soon. There were signs of a David Harewood casting for the show, so I’m hoping that’ll be Tenebrous. Sooner, rather than later would benefit the story.

Conclusion

Rating: 7.1/10 (I’d call it “Good”, but not “decent” or “great”)

Pros:

Best live-action lightsaber choreography in ~20 years
Qimir stole the show with new character intrigue and Jacinto’s performance
Didn’t shy away from big character deaths and Sith violence

Cons:

Lack of an intriguing primary protagonist
A couple of confusing plot contrivances (Qimir and beetles, Sol can’t recognize Mae)
Continuously terrible runtimes, episode structure, and editing

Best scenes:

  1. Qimir v Jecki
  2. Qimir mentally breaks Sol down
  3. Qimir’s casual depictions of Sith violence

Worst Scenes:

  1. Mae and Osha talking on a hilltop with more character nonsense occurring
  2. Sol getting duped by fake Osha with a giant forehead tattoo
  3. Qimir gets confused by a flashlight and carried away by beetles

(The Force Awakens) Heirs of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Last Jedi) Fate of the Jedi | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Rise of Skywalker) Legacy of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

(The Bad Batch) Cinematic Version | A More Mature Edit

(The Mandalorian+Boba) The Way of Mandalore | A Compilation Edit

(Kenobi) | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit

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 (Edited)

Channel72 said:

Anyway, the show seems to be hinting that Qimir might actually be the Sith Lord - with Qimir prodding Mae along and then conveniently disappearing before the Sith Lord appears. But I kind of doubt it, because it seems too obvious at this point. (Also did Qimir stash his cool Sith armor under a tree somewhere in advance?)

Well… clearly I was wrong about this. I can’t believe it was actually Qimir. Like… they made it so obvious that I thought it had to be an intentional misdirect.

Anyway, I’m glad I was wrong, because Qimir is actually kind of awesome as a Sith. And the fighting style is unique and frenetic.

Probably the best episode so far. Still lots of problems though, like the Jedi ability to read minds is just frustratingly inconsistent. I’m wondering why they didn’t try to read Qimir’s mind back in Episode 2 when they interrogated him. Actually, why didn’t they arrest him? He was clearly an accessory to murder. This is a consistent problem with this show - the writing is just very sloppy sometimes. Mae and Osha have now switched places - just like in The Parent Trap! What wacky antics will ensue? And why can’t Sol sense that the person in front of him is not Osha? Whatever. Sometimes I wish I could enjoy a Star Wars show without having to question what’s happening every 5 seconds.

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Holy moly guacamole.

I will say, the way the creators of this show managed to build up this many characters in a few episodes that the audience is inexplicably invested in and subsequently devastated about… really effective stuff.

In all honesty, I think this is some of the best Star Wars made (I don’t care about ranking stuff anymore, I’m just saying this is everything I was hoping for and more). Leslye Headland understands myth and archetypes and that’s why the storytelling choices are so intentional and methodical, but thankfully there’s more to this than good writing - they’ve found actors who embody their roles, imaginative fight choreographers, and, importantly, people who can film fight choreography well, all these little things add up.

reylo?