THE ACOLYTE - 2024 Star Wars TV

[GerateWohl 5,160]

2 hours ago, dylanskie said:

But I do like Qimir. I'm enjoying that part at least.

Right. Qimir is so far the only enjoyable part for me.

 

2 hours ago, dylanskie said:

It's mostly been relatively nice underscore, but without any recognizable themes. Yes I know there are themes, but they're forgettable.

 

This is no better and no worse than Kenobi or honestly the many cheesy episodes of The Mandalorian.

It is much better than Kenobi. In Kenobi I frequently was disconcerted by the totally non-star wars sound of the score. Same as the first two Mandalorian seasons.

This is not the case here. And I appreciate that a lot.

I don't mind there being no catchy themes.

I am already glad not being annoyed by the bad music like in Andor or Kenobi (not talking about Williams' theme).

 

[Toillion 268]

I think this is the weakest score of all the Star Wars projects so far. And playing a song during the credits just felt off putting. 
Was the last scene of episode 7 supposed to be a cliffhanger? It just felt like it was cut off mid sentence. 

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

It was a weird editing choice, but they cut it because the conversation already happened in episode 3. So I guess they thought they could've cut it off. But it was weird.

[Jay 39,762]

The Acolyte 1x07 Choice

 

Well that didn't actually explain much did it?  We still don't know how Mae survived falling to her "death", nor how all the witches died.  They were all in like a trance to control Kelnacca, but when that trance got broke they shouldn't have just DIED, right?  I think all we really learned is that a "vergence" in the Force is what led to Osha and Mae being "created", and that also led to plant life returning to a thought-dead planet.  And I guess that they actually are a single consciousness split into two, which I don't know if that's supposed to mean anything relevant or not.  And I guess the bad thing Sol was trying to hide was that he killed the twin's mom, which, I dunno, seems like something he should have told Osha by now.  I did like the new force power they had where they could turn into black mist, and I also enjoyed the big lightsaber battle with possessed Kelnacca.  But other than that, man, there's a lot of ground to cover next week - I hope its more than 30 minutes long!

[GerateWohl 5,160]

I really don't get what was now the added value narratively by showing these events again from a slightly different angle at this point. I any viewer surprised? Is this a big turnaround? No. 

Why didn't they just tell the whole story in the first place complete like this in episode 3? This weird narrative Split in two episodes didn't add any value. The events between episode 3 and 7 would even have been more interesting knowing what Sol was hiding from Ousha. 

Maybe they thought if they showed too early what a bunch of jerks this pack of Jedi actually was, nobody would care anymore for this story.

[Jay 39,762]

Yes these episodes are so short, it really should have been four hour-ish episodes instead of these 8 half-hour-ish episodes

 

Episode 1 = current episodes 1 & 2

Episode 2 = current episodes 3 & 7

Episode 3 = current episodes 4 & 5

Episode 4 = current episodes 6 & 8

 

That would have been a lot better

[Gabriel Bezerra 423]

It feels like they wrote and shot this series not knowing how many episodes they would need to fill. It's weird.

 

About the twists and turns of the last episode. I truly believed that Indara was shady and Sol was innocent, and so I was very surprised. I don't think his mistake was only killing Aniseya, he escaleted the situation from the beginning because he weirdly obsessed with the girls, especially Osha (though he couldn't even tell them apart, he was obsessing over the idea of a padawan it seems). He could've prevented what happened multiple times had he calmed down.

 

I liked that it provided the context for Mae's 'attack me Jedi' and her hatred towards the Jedi. But, Indara was characterized differently in episodes 1 and 3, and Torbin doesn't really have a reason to take the poison from what we saw, he was impulsive, but Sol was more. And I guess there's a reason Sol didn't recognize Mae last episode, they are the same to the Force.

[Jay 39,762]

11 minutes ago, Gabriel Bezerra said:

I guess there's a reason Sol didn't recognize Mae last episode, they are the same to the Force

 

Huh.  I hadn't thought of it that way

[Toillion 268]

I thought this episode was going to show why the four jedi held so much guilt. Especially Kelnacca and Torbin. Sure, Torbin made a rash decision to rush in there, but is that really enough for him to go silent and eventually willingly take poison? Why did Kelnacca feel so guilty that he went into solitude? He didn't really do anything at all other than just being there. The worst thing that really happened is that Sol killed their mother but she appeared to be making an aggressive move first. 

 

You could argue that both sides acted out of self defense. 

 

The bad things the jedi did: Being there.
The bad things the witches did: possessed Torbin's mind, possessed Kelnacca's mind,  the black smoke magic, lied about the children, told the children to lie, Mae's fire which caused the most damage.

[Jay 39,762]

Yeah, it really feels like there's SO much to explain in the final episode, I'm just expecting a lot of this stuff to not be explained.  Hope I'm wrong.

[Gabriel Bezerra 423]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

We still don't know how Mae survived falling to her "death", nor how all the witches died.

Oh, about this, my best guess is that Mae did a big force push to cushion her fall, but I'm kinda past the need for a explanation of how a character in Star Wars survived a big fall, those never end well. The witches might not have been dead but the collapse of the temple might have killed them, I still don't know where that Zabrak witch went, she might be Qimir master and we get a explanation, but yeah, I don't think pushing them out of Kelnacca's mind would kill them.

 

6 minutes ago, Toillion said:

Why did Kelnacca feel so guilty that he went into solitude?

I've read his hut being covered with the witches' symbols as him being haunted by that night, seing as he was taken by an entire coven, haunted might be an understatement.

 

7 minutes ago, Toillion said:

The bad things the jedi did: Being there.

I mean, they did broke in twice. But Sol jumped to conclusions, kinda coerced Osha into passing the test (she was already coerced, but I think his intentions weren't that selfless) and then when the Council said to leave the witches alone, he barged in assuming they wouldn't let Osha go.

 

Aniseya's death is interesting. Because he saw her vanishing but also "Osha", so he knew she wasn't attacking them, but fleeting. So he killed Aniseya to keep her from taking "Osha" but when he realizes it's Mae, he kinda just let's her go. 

[Toillion 268]

3 minutes ago, Gabriel Bezerra said:

 

I've read his hut being covered with the witches' symbols as him being haunted by that night, seing as he was taken by an entire coven, haunted might be an understatement.

Yeah I think the only rational explanation is that the witches getting into the two jedi's heads messed them up long term. If that's the case, I don't feel like the show is portraying that very well. 

[Jay 39,762]

Agreed

[GerateWohl 5,160]

This futile try to make a story exciting or at least more interesting by just hiding back information that explains why the characters act like they act is nonsense. You can do such things more psychologically interesting if you tell a whole story from the perspective of one protagonist. But there is nothing like a protagonist in this story who uncovers what happened. Ousha could have been that. And it might have been something, telling the whole story from her perspective. But this script is meandering around between timestamps, characters and points of view, probably knowing that the plot is weak, so trying to make it more interesting by just hiding information from the audience. But that's not how storytelling works. All the attemps to lead the audiance into a wrong direction and then revealing the truth in a twist are so half-hearted and not convincing that non of these "twist" really twists anything. It just feels completely random when what kind of detail is revealed to us. There is no reasonable effective comprehensible structure to that.

 

 

[Andy 5,216]

3 hours ago, Toillion said:

 The bad things the witches did: possessed Torbin's mind, possessed Kelnacca's mind,  the black smoke magic, lied about the children, told the children to lie, Mae's fire which caused the most damage.

You forgot the line, “Witches! Arm yourselves!”  That was pretty bad. 

[Jay 39,762]

I still think the big problem with this show is the lack of variety in locations and action.  It was all just lightsaber battles in ordinary forests, jungles, and rocky beaches.  No outer space action, no vehicle chases, no exotic looking planets with cool creatures (just big moths).  Compare to the huge variety we got in the first two seasons of Mandalorian!  Heck, even Andor got some outer space action!

[Andy 5,216]

Not only that, but real innovation… imaginative designs for beings or tech or environments is really challenging when there is so much content that has come before. 
 

Using known characters, designs, etc and just building with those isn’t far off from what AI does. 
 

It’s not easy being really original when the galaxy is really well mined and it was built on other ideas in its inception. 

[Jay 39,762]

To set a show 100 years before all Star Wars content we've seen before, they really should have tried to show more exotic and unusual things!  Coruscant should have cool noticeable differences from the Coruscant we know, etc

[Mr. Hooper 3,550]

3 minutes ago, Andy said:

Not only that, but real innovation… imaginative designs for beings or tech or environments is really challenging when there is so much content that has come before. 
 

Using known characters, designs, etc and just building with those isn’t far off from what AI does. 
 

It’s not easy being really original when the galaxy is really well mined and it was built on other ideas in its inception. 

 

[Andy 5,216]

“When Wookiees Whack Weeds”

[Jay 39,762]

[Andy 5,216]

Not joking @Mr. Hooper I was gonna post that screenshot. Thanks for saving me the trouble. 

[Andy 5,216]

[Gabriel Bezerra 423]

It's weird that Young Jedi Adventures makes more use of its setting than this show does. I know that being a show for pre-schoolers it has to have that vibrancy and variery, but being a animated show, every new asset costs a lot, and they don't seem to spare any expenses. And with YJA it does feel like the same galaxy from the books, despite the threats not being there.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

Based on the interview with Headland below, my take on what there could be possible for the finale.

• Everyone is going back to Brendok.
• Mother Koril will return
• Osha will side with Qimir/The Stranger
• The Stranger is possibly associated with the Knights Of Ren in some way (hence the use of the theme).

 

https://nerdist.com/article/the-acolyte-showrunner-leslye-headland-interview/

 

I've enjoyed all the episodes in the show. I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people claim it to be. I can agree that it has flaws, mainly in hows it's structured for me, but I've still enjoyed myself over the last few weeks. I'm curious to see what happens next week, to listen to the 2nd volume of music (let's hope there's plenty on it from Ep. 5) and if they were to make more of this I would watch it.

[Jay 39,762]

Why would you want to spoil yourself like that?

[Doo_liss 6,639]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

Why would you want to spoil yourself like that?

Maybe he doesn't feel spoiled.

[Gabriel Bezerra 423]

They... they bet they are gonna have a second season.

 

I don't have the goodwill to watch a second season.

[Toillion 268]

I wonder if they actually go through with another season or if they just call it. 

After watching the whole season my opinion remains the same as it was after the first couple episodes. The show is okay but still one of the weakest of all the SW shows.
The high points were some of the fighting scenes and the characters Sol and Qimir. The story as a whole was interesting enough but nothing great. The low points are the editing (maybe the worst I’ve ever seen), the short runtimes, the score, Mae/Osha + other minor characters. 

[dylanskie 114]

I'd watch a second season. I hated Sol, and I'm 

Spoiler

so glad he's dead! As are the rest of the cringy Jedi, everyone except for Vernestra.

 

[Hego-Damask-II 52]

Sorry you guys couldn't see me too well but they told me to turn off the lights.

[bespinGPT 8,856]

BOOM!

(spoiler alert)
 

Spoiler

Ominous... Darth Ominous? LOL

My two cents...
 

Spoiler

So the first season is complete... It's all well and good, but it's like all the recent Star Wars series... the interesting parts are too few, too late. It still remains subpar entertainment completely devoid of appeal for non-fanboys.

I'm obviously intrigued by the appearance of Plagueis (who is so "The Wise" that he hides behind rocks, super subtle) in this series, especially since the plot revolves around an entity created by lesbian witches who manipulated the Force (we're talking about twins who aren't really twins, as we're told it's one being in two different bodies, a kind of artificial dyad). It's interesting because it's clear that the two twins represent a balance. It's a bit of a joke made by The Force in a way... One will always counterbalance the other, no matter which path they take. If one goes off the rails, the other will reason her, and vice versa. The experiment to form either one as an "acolyte" is therefore doomed to fail (sorry to break it to you)... So naturally, we can guess that what Plagueis will try to achieve is this result, a being born of the Force... but where the conflict between good and evil resides in ONE single living being... That will be Anakin.

The brief Yoda cameo in the final scene... lasting a mere two and a quarter seconds... is utterly pointless. On the other hand, given Yoda's prestige, I understand why they might have wanted to save money on not giving him the cachet of a speaking role.
 

The other very interesting aspect is the portrayal of the Jedi veneer cracking... Secrets, emotions, conflicts... inevitable when there's a state within a state... and when the power of these apostles of virtue escapes the laws of mere mortals... I draw parallels with the Roman Catholic Church (which still needs to be eliminated, as the Jedi were...).
 

That's not uninteresting at all... I'm obviously picking out the parts that interest me, as I'm keen on filling the gaps left by a prequel trilogy that left us all unsatisfied.

But it remains very poorly executed.

 

[Jay 39,762]

You guys don't have to spoiler-block your comments, we talk about the episodes as they air openly here

[bespinGPT 8,856]

48 minutes ago, Jay said:

You guys don't have to spoiler-block your comments, we talk about the episodes as they air openly here

Okay, so can I monetize my spoilers? I'll try to profit from them in that case.

[Mr. Hooper 3,550]

So, guys... 180 million well spent?

[bespinGPT 8,856]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

So, guys... 180 million well spent?

I admit that I would have written a better review if even a tiny fraction of that budget had been allocated to me.

[DarthDementous 1,250]

2 hours ago, Bespin said:

BOOM!

(spoiler alert)
 

  Hide contents

Ominous... Darth Ominous? LOL

My two cents...
 

  Hide contents

So the first season is complete... It's all well and good, but it's like all the recent Star Wars series... the interesting parts are too few, too late. It still remains subpar entertainment completely devoid of appeal for non-fanboys.

I'm obviously intrigued by the appearance of Plagueis (who is so "The Wise" that he hides behind rocks, super subtle) in this series, especially since the plot revolves around an entity created by lesbian witches who manipulated the Force (we're talking about twins who aren't really twins, as we're told it's one being in two different bodies, a kind of artificial dyad). It's interesting because it's clear that the two twins represent a balance. It's a bit of a joke made by The Force in a way... One will always counterbalance the other, no matter which path they take. If one goes off the rails, the other will reason her, and vice versa. The experiment to form either one as an "acolyte" is therefore doomed to fail (sorry to break it to you)... So naturally, we can guess that what Plagueis will try to achieve is this result, a being born of the Force... but where the conflict between good and evil resides in ONE single living being... That will be Anakin.

The brief Yoda cameo in the final scene... lasting a mere two and a quarter seconds... is utterly pointless. On the other hand, given Yoda's prestige, I understand why they might have wanted to save money on not giving him the cachet of a speaking role.
 

The other very interesting aspect is the portrayal of the Jedi veneer cracking... Secrets, emotions, conflicts... inevitable when there's a state within a state... and when the power of these apostles of virtue escapes the laws of mere mortals... I draw parallels with the Roman Catholic Church (which still needs to be eliminated, as the Jedi were...).
 

That's not uninteresting at all... I'm obviously picking out the parts that interest me, as I'm keen on filling the gaps left by a prequel trilogy that left us all unsatisfied.

But it remains very poorly executed.

 

Agreed completely except for the 'like all recent Star Wars series' since other than Andor there has been nothing remotely interesting to me in regards to live action

[bespinGPT 8,856]

1 hour ago, DarthDementous said:

Agreed completely except for the 'like all recent Star Wars series' since other than Andor there has been nothing remotely interesting to me in regards to live action

 

Oh, I see... so you consider 'Andor' a Star Wars series!

[GerateWohl 5,160]

Anybody understood why Osha joined Qimir in the end and didn't stay with her sister? 

[scallenger 577]

To create confusion!

 

"It worked."

[crocodile 8,610]

12 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Anybody understood why Osha joined Qimir in the end and didn't stay with her sister? 

I didn't quite get why Mae had to stay behind? What did that accomplish? 🤔To be honest, I am not half as cynical as some of you and I still don't quite get why characters are doing certain things in this series. Or most things, even. I have no clue what this series is trying to do. 😆

 

Karol

[bespinGPT 8,856]

14 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Anybody understood why Osha joined Qimir in the end and didn't stay with her sister? 

 

Thexual healing, as they say.

[Edmilson 9,134]

Let's Marvin Gaye and get it on

[Luke Skywalker 1,970]

On 23/5/2024 at 11:40 AM, Luke Skywalker said:

No Yoda? but if he is like 700 something years old by the series timeline... and he appears in the high republic cartoons already. (i think he will be used in the series, maybe as a hook to get interest in the second season.)

I knew it

[Jay 39,762]

The Acolyte 1x08 The Acolyte

 

Well I thought that was a pretty good ending.  A lot was explained, mostly satisfyingly.  What I wasn't expecting was how it does not wrap everything up like a miniseries would/should; They clearly want a second season, and left in several huge hooks in it.  I think I'd be down for another season, especially if the weaker aspects of season 1 are replaced with better ideas for a second season.

 

Almost right away one of my qualms of the season was attended to, with a nice chase through outer space.  That was so nice to finally get!  It wasn't particularly long or important in any way to the plot, but it looked pretty cool.  Still hope for more land-based chase scenes next season.  I also quite enjoyed all the lightsaber battles.  Sol vs Qimir was really cool!  Qimir popping out a tiny lightsaber from the hilt of his big one was kinda funny at first, but then I rolled with it.  Mae Vs Osha fist-fight was pretty good too.  The resolution of all that fighting was pretty interesting, with Osha being the one to kill Sol when no one's life was in danger or anything.  But I kind of like where things ended up, which is that Mae and Osha aren't really twins, and they aren't really one good and one bad; They're both good and both bad.  I also kind of like that basically, the witches here were able to tap into Force powers no one else has a clue about (creating life), but that the hubris of the Jedi got them all killed and now no one knows how to do that or what it all even means.  Well, I guess the guy lurking in the shadows is trying to find out, and will eventually create Anakin with this power?

 

I can't say I was shocked that Sol didn't survive the season, but I never found anything to like about his character anyway so its no big loss for me.  I was more surprised that Vernestra ended up sort of being the real bad guy of the season; Qimir's former master, covers up everything that happened here, blames it all on Sol, and then probably tries to lie to Yoda about it all?  Or can he see through her bullshit?  I wish the scene had gone on so we'd know...

 

Qimir is probalby the standout and best character of the season (besides the fun sidekick nature of Bazil and Pip).  Not only were all his lightsaber battles incredibly fun to watch, but I liked his silly helmet, and that we still don't understand a lot of what he's trying to really do (but I wouldn't want to go another entire season without learning everything).  I didn't understand why his eyes were turning black while trying to take his helmet off Osha; Was she doing that to him?  Or was the hiding in the shadows guy? Or something else?  And how did he learn how to wipe minds?  And it is permanent?  Also, since I'm not a book-reader, comic-reader, or cartoon-watcher, I had no idea what was going on with Osha's lightsaber turning red.  I mean, it was clear from context that it meant she was doing something evil now, but why that would cause a lightsaber to change colors is beyond me.  As just a movie-watcher, I always just figured that each person chose their own lightsaber color, nice and simple.  I guess some author at some point decided it needed to be more complicated than that for some reason?

 

So overall, not the best Star Wars show (Andor 1, Mandalorian 1, and Mandalorian 2 are all better), but not the worst either (Obi-Wan and Book of Boba are still at the bottom; Ahsoka and Mandalorian 3 are kind of tied with this as being in the middle).  If it does get a second season, I do think i has potential to be much better than this, now that some groundwork is laid, and feedback is received about what worked and what didn't.  We'll see if it gets it.

 

On to Skeleton Crew now?  Where's the trailer?

[Doo_liss 6,639]

8 minutes ago, Jay said:

The Acolyte 1x08 The Acolyte

 

Well I thought that was a pretty good ending.  A lot was explained, mostly satisfyingly.  What I wasn't expecting was how it does not wrap everything up like a miniseries would or should; They clearly want a second season, and left several hooks in for that.  I think I'd be down for another season, especially if the weaker aspects of season 1 are replaced with better ideas for a second season.

 

Almost right away one of my qualms of the season was attended to, with a nice chase through outer space.  That was so nice to finally get!  It wasn't particularly long or important in any way to the plot, but it looked pretty cool.  Still hope for more land-based chase scenes next season.  I also quite enjoyed all the lightsaber battles.  Sol vs Qimir was really cool!  Qimir popping out a tiny lightsaber from the hilt of his big one was kinda funny at first, but then I rolled with it.  Mae Vs Osha fist-fight was pretty good too.  The resolution of all that fighting was pretty interesting, with Osha being the one to kill Sol when no one's life was in danger or anything.  But I kind of like where things ended up, which is that Mae and Osha aren't really twins, and they aren't really one good and one bad; They're both good and both bad.  I also kind of like that basically, the witches here were able to tap into Force powers no one else has a clue about (creating life), but that the hubris of the Jedi got them all killed and now no one knows how to do that or what it all even means.  Well, I guess the guy lurking in the shadows is trying to find out, and will eventually create Anakin with this power?

 

I can't say I was shocked that Sol didn't survive the season, but I never found anything to like about his character anyway so its no big loss for me.  I was more surprised that Vernestra ended up sort of being the real bad guy of the season; Qimir's former master, covers up everything that happened here, blames it all on Sol, and then probably tries to lie to Yoda about it all?  Or can he see through her bullshit?  I wish the scene had gone on so we'd know...

 

Qimir is probalby the standout and best character of the season (besides the fun sidekick nature of Bazil and Pip).  Not only were all his lightsaber battles incredibly fun to watch, but I liked his silly helmet, and that we still don't understand a lot of what he's trying to really do (but I wouldn't want to go another entire season without learning everything).  I didn't understand why his eyes were turning black while trying to take his helmet off Osha; Was she doing that to him?  Or was the hiding in the shadows guy? Or something else?  And how did he learn how to wipe minds?  And it is permanent?  Also, since I'm not a book-reader, comic-reader, or cartoon-watcher, I had no idea what was going on with Osha's lightsaber turning red.  I mean, it was clear from context that it meant she was doing something evil now, but why that would cause a lightsaber to change colors is beyond me.  As just a movie-watcher, I just figured each person chose their own lightsaber color >shrug<

 

So overall, not the best Star Wars show (Andor 1, Mandalorian 1, and Mandalorian 2 are all better), but not the worst either (Obi-Wan and Book of Boba are still at the bottom; Ahsoka and Mandalorian 3 are kind of tied with this as being in the middle).  If it does get a second season, I do think i has potential to be much better than this, now that some groundwork is laid, and feedback is received about what worked and what didn't.  We'll see if it gets it.

 

On to Skeleton Crew now?  Where's the trailer?

She was bleeding the Lightsaber crystal channeling her hatred and suffering imbuing it with Dark Side energy.

[Jay 39,762]

Yea I could basically tell from context but I just don't get why some writer came up with an idea like that in the first place

 

It's not a knock against this show, as I'm sure seeing that happening was a cool moment for the lore-followers

[Doo_liss 6,639]

10 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yea I could basically tell from context but I just don't get why some writer came up with an idea like that in the first place

 

It's not a knock against this show, as I'm sure seeing that happening was a cool moment for the lore-followers

It's a concept orginating from the 2016 Ashoka novel by E.K. Johnston, and the Soule Vader comic

 

There was a "reverse" version (Red to Yellow) of this in a Legends novel (Riptide or Crosscurrent I think) around 2011.

[Luke Skywalker 1,970]

In legends i think the red crystals were all synthetic.

 

Jedi also had machines to create crystals. Luke found it in obi-wans hut and created his green crystal.

 

 

 

[Doo_liss 6,639]

1 minute ago, Luke Skywalker said:

In legends i think the red crystals were all synthetic.

 

Jedi also had machines to create crystals. Luke found it in obi-wans hut and created his green crystal.

 

 

 

I think Corran's second crystal in I, Jedi was synthetic too?