The Acolyte: An Honest Review

As a big time fan of the Fall of the Jedi Order/Galactic Civil War era, I was interested to see the High Republic in a visual medium. This show certainly had it’s highs and it’s lows, but overall it made for a decent show. It certainly didn’t pull any punches.

Episodes 1 & 2: Lost/Found & Revenge/Justice

The Death of Indara

While I don’t find killing her off an odd choice with the premise being that Jedi are being murdered, I find it odd that half of the marketing is centered around Carrie-Anne Moss’ Indara when she doesn’t make it past the first scene of episode 1. I get that Headland wanted there to be a shocking cold open, as stated in interviews, but we were promised Trinity with a lightsaber and got all of a couple of minutes of Indara’s lightsaber being drawn. At least in Game of Thrones, we got Ned Stark for 9 episodes before they killed him off. I’m definitely hoping for some flashbacks of the character so we can see more of her.

The Twin Complex

It came as no shock to anyone who has been following this show that Mae is a twin to former Jedi padawan Osha. I wonder if it was a slip-up with the closed captioning that gave away that Osha was a separate character or if it was intentional, given that it doesn’t seem overly shocking in the show. Yes, some characters were surprised, but they did not draw out the tension it could have created, but then they moved on rather quickly. It certainly didn’t seem like it was meant to be some big plot twist. Because we know who is playing their mother, I’m wondering if we will see her in flashbacks or if Osha and the Jedi that were stationed on Brendok were all shown a force illusion that didn’t actually happen, and Mae has spent the past decade and a half thinking the Jedi kidnapped and/or killed her sister.

Mae’s Fighting Style

Mae’s moves repeated for all three fights, even against Torbin, who was in a meditative state with a force shield around him. It always followed the same pattern: leg sweeps, jabs, and a tomahawk kick before swiping at her opponent’s lightsaber. This tells a lot about her character and whoever is training her; sparring is repetitive, so her muscle memory leads with the same moves. I’m very interested in seeing if she keeps the same pattern when fighting Kelnacca. I predict she will lead with the standard leg sweep and have to adapt immediately to something else because of the size differential. I kind of hope that he just takes the hit to the ankle and stares down at her. As for whoever is training her, either this tactic has worked in the past, or he has absolutely zero experience actually fighting a fellow force user in earnest.

Who is the Big Bad?

I find it most likely that this is someone new, but I definitely have hopes for the big reveal. I would personally love for, who I will refer to as Zipper Face until his identity is revealed, the overarching antagonist to be a young Darth Plagueis. In legends, he was born sometime between 147 BBY and 120 BBY, but no current canonical birth year exists. Headland has spoken multiple times about her love of the expanded universe, so it is not outside of the realm of possibility that this is Plagueis as a young man, training an acolyte as he plots to kill his master, Darth Tenebrous. I will be honest and say I have not read the High Republic novels, and they may give more insight than I currently have on who it may be. Do I think it’s going to be Darth Plagueis? No. Do I hope it’s Darth Plagueis? Absolutely. With Sol firmly believing Mae was dead, even stating he saw her lifeless body, this could be Plagueis playing with life and death.

Character First Impressions

Indara: Gone too soon.

Vernestra: Not who I thought she would be based on what I’ve read about her from the books. I expected her to be more hardened and certainly not surprised by Sol’s attachment to his former padawan, given her attachment to her own.

Sol: He is going to be a force to be reckoned with. His control is intense and fun to watch.

Jecki: Definitely the know-it-all little sister of the show. Hopefully it doesn’t get taken too far.

Yord: An absolute favorite. He gives off young Obi-Wan vibes, with a little bit of Gray from Fairy Tail mixed in.

Mae and Osha: Lumping them together because I think that’s the point of the show. Mae’s start to each fight was amusing with how awkward she was. Osha is still up in the air for me, but I’m interested to see where she’ll go. I anticipate the ability to use the force by the end of the show.

Qimir: Interested to see who he actually is. Not sure if he’s a Han stand-in or if there’s more to him.

Kelnacca: So utterly excited to see a Wookiee Jedi, especially after the end of episode 2. Even though we’ve seen Wookiees without clothes since Chewbacca first appeared on screen, it was weird seeing him without his Jedi robes on. He screamed drunken uncle, scaring off the neighborhood kids, and I loved it.

Episode 3: Destiny

The Witches of Brendok

Were these witches exiled from Dathomir, or is this opening up storytelling to have the Witches of Dathomir not the only witches in the galaxy? Are there actually the Witches of Brendok, and other planets as well? I definitely would not be upset if that were the case. I appreciate that they are more like the witches from The Courtship of Princess Leia and less like the ones Katie Lucas wrote in The Clone Wars. As someone who has read that book, the Nightsisters of the Clone Wars never felt correct, so this, in conjunction with the witches from Ahsoka, felt more in line with what I know and love about this sect of force users.

On a side note, Mother Koril being a true Iridonian Zabrak is so utterly exciting. Her personality was perfect for the race; she was just oozing with pure self-confidence and ready to fight at a moment’s notice. I’m questionable about the pointy ears, but I’ll take what I can get.

Procreation

After the episode was finished, I had to look into this one a bit further. Apparently, it’s canon that Nightsisters can procreate without needing a Nightbrother. I’m kind of meh on the matter at the moment. Hopefully, they go into this in a little more detail later in the show so I can formulate an actual opinion on the matter.

The Dialog/Pacing

It’s becoming a trend in this show that when there is conflict, the characters will argue, but whoever needs to concede for the story to move along will do so without much reason. It’s a fairly quick “I don’t want to do this thing,” “You need to do this thing,” “Oh, okay.”

I don’t know that an entire episode needed to be spent on that part of their past. I do think it’s important to Mae and Osha’s story, but it was fluffier than it needed to be, given that they only have eight episodes to explain exactly what is going on. I think the time would have been better spent giving half of an episode to that backstory and the other half to events happening in the present.

Prediction

No one died that day on Brendok. Mae was never there at their room, a fire was never started, and the clan fled somewhere else to hide. Aniseya and Koril created a force illusion, both to fool the Jedi, who would not have been expecting it and to give Osha closure so she would be better suited to the Jedi. Mind you, that didn’t work. Osha washed out because she could not let go of what happened to her family that day. I’m thinking that Aniseya believed if she closed that door for Osha, she could move forward without any regrets, except it backfired and now they will be found again.

Episode 4: Day

Familiar Faces

We get to see a young Ki-Adi-Mundi early on in the episode, which was exciting and confusing at the same time. He’s the one that specifies that the Sith have been extinct for a millennium, so that leaves me with questions as to where this show is going (not that I didn’t already have plenty of those). We also see a Kel Dor being quiet in the corner, but he didn’t get mentioned in the end credits.

Family

Yet again this show takes a perfectly valid argument and dismisses it. This time it was simple in Osha saying she wasn’t wearing the civilian robes, but then we immediately see her in them on the ship. While this one was meant to be a gag, it is happening too often. Sol pushing so hard on the family aspect was also a little odd, given he was taken by the Jedi at, I believe he said, the age of 5. He’s adamant that there is good in Mae, and he’s clearly dealing with a guilty conscience given he left her for dead after she fell (still don’t believe she fell anywhere). He’s one of the few characters that is truly 3 dimensional, so I like the character building.

Subtlety

Mae spends a good portion of the episode questioning why Qimir is there helping her. The hints they throw at him being Zipper Face are not subtle whatsoever, and I’m not sure which I’d rather it be. Either he’s Zipper Face and they made it blatantly obvious in an unsatisfying way, or he’s not and they’re trying that hard to subvert expectations rather than doing it in a way that makes it feel more natural.

Khofar

The forest planet of Khofar is beautiful, and the giant, flying rollie pollies of death are terrifying in the best possible way. It was amusing how everyone was shocked that the moth was attracted to light, though. I’m interested to see if they do anything with those fungal spores that puffed when Mae tripped and fell. I’m assuming that’s why it seemed Kelnacca didn’t fight back.

Mae’s “Change of Heart”

This was the best writing that has been in the show so far. They spend a good chunk of her time on screen having her scared of Zipper Face because if she fails, she dies. Her deciding she was going to abandon her lesson and her master to reunite with her sister, and the plan along with it, gave her some legitimate depth that she didn’t have before. I also appreciated her hiding in the cabin when she was being called to come outside, rather than taking the option of her joining the fight. It makes the villain actually seem like someone who we should be afraid of.

The Death

It doesn’t look like Kelnacca fought back at all. BUT! I also think those fungal spores I mentioned earlier have something to do with it. Joonas Suotamo has said that Kelnacca was a loner, but I don’t think he was the type to not report back for as long as he had, kind of loner. Joonas has stated he was extremely disciplined, on top of him just being a Wookiee, so him just sitting in that chair wouldn’t make sense unless there was something affecting him. We’ve never had a Wookiee Jedi in primary or secondary canon for a reason, they would be extremely overpowered, so how was he taken out so seemingly easily? I’m betting those spores were altering his mind in some capacity. Hopefully we’ll get an answer to that soon.

The Fight

I’ll be honest, as someone who has been in love with Star Wars their entire life, seeing all of those lightsabers was extremely exciting. I was a little less thrilled by Zipper Face just floating down to the ground behind Osha, but there are things that could explain that. Whether that will happen or not when we actually get to see the fight is up for question. I’m still hopeful we get answers to all of the questions this show has left in it’s wake.

This episode felt a little short (the fact that it’s been the shortest episode so far not withstanding). It actually moved the plot along in a productive way, started to legitimately merge the storylines together, and then it ended abruptly. Hopefully that means we start with a battle at the top of next week’s episode, and not that we’re getting more flashbacks.

Episode 5: Night

Cortosis

A familiar metal was seen in use by none other than Darth Zipperface in this episode! How do we know it’s cortosis? The metal is known for short-circuiting lightsaber blades that strike it, which is exactly what we saw happen multiple times in the episode. It was awesome to see yet another part of Legends brought into canon in a visually satisfying way.

Not Pulling Punches

In this episode, we not only saw several nameless Jedi die at the hands of Qimir, but also leads Jecki and Yord. While I think the audience cared more about Jecki, Yord’s death was especially brutal, just having his neck snapped rather than being bested with a lightsaber. My favorite line of the show so far is definitely Qimir’s response of “You brought her here,” in response to Sol telling him Jecki was a child.

Practical Lightsabers

The practical lightsabers, like you can find here at Ultrasabers, made the lighting absolutely stunning in a way that strictly adding them in post can’t accomplish. It gave a much better effect on Sol’s face, with half being blue from his blade and half being red from Qimir’s blade, than I thought was accomplished in Kenobi. It did seem to make them pull their swings a little more than we typically see (*cough cough* looking at you, Hayden *cough cough*) in lightsaber battles on screen when using metal rods for the blades.

The Parent Trap

Qimir (hopefully) knows it’s Osha, no matter the clothes. If he thought it was Mae, I think he would have killed her where she lay. If Sol doesn’t know he’s with Mae, then I am lost. He has demonstrated telepathy multiple times, and even if Mae was shrouding her mind from him, that on its own should be a dead giveaway.

Where is this going?

I hope this isn’t making the Jedi out to be the bad guys in the end. In episode 3, I assumed that a force illusion was used by Mother Aniseya, but now I’m not so sure. Mae indicates that they’re the only two left alive, but we still don’t know how everyone else dies. Did the Jedi actually wipe out the coven? Subversion to try to turn Osha to the dark side would be fine, but I’m not ready for the Jedi to be evil. Especially not Sol. Star Wars has always been beautifully simple in that you know who the good guys are, and you know who the bad guys are. There are plenty of people in between, but they don’t hold the title of Jedi or Sith.

Episode 6: Teach/Corrupt

Sol the IT Guy

One of my favorite parts of this episode was Sol turning the panel off and back on again to get the comms system to stop glitching.

Sol and Mae

Was I a little disappointed that Sol didn’t realise he was with Mae the entire time? Yes. Do I get it because he was absolutely rattled by losing his entire team against one person and had a dark moment that Osha had to pull him out of? Yes. That hug was beautifully awkward, and should have been the giveaway, but I’ll still give him some slack. I’m still not sure where they’re planning to take it in regards to what actually happened on Brendok, but Sol telling Mae he had 16 years to think about what he would say to her if he ever saw her again was beautifully done. Lee Jung-Jae has easily been the standout in this for me.

The Stranger and Osha

These episodes are just too short to fit everything they seem to want to fit. Yet again, we have Osha saying she won’t be so easily swayed to corruption, and then promptly attacks the stranger and feeds into her anger. More time would have allowed that to feel a bit more natural, but they’re working with what they have. For once, modesty wasn’t an issue in a dangerous situation like it is on most shows. When The Stranger walked out of the pool, Osha never took her eyes off of him, as well she shouldn’t have. I anticipated her looking away, but she stood her ground and stayed safe (or at least as safe as she thinks she’s capable of being in that situation).

The Infamous Lightwhip

I really hope that that split second of cutting an umbramoth in half isn’t the only we see of Vern’s lightwhip. That was what we got in the trailer, so we have no clue if we will see it again, or if it was just a short gimmick to get people excited.

Hyperspace Travel

All of the travel in this episode seemed way too quick, yet again the episodes being too short hurting the story. I did love the easter egg for Vern, though. In the books, she gets force visions when she travels through hyperspace, which is why she feels so unsettled by hyperspace travel.

What’s Going To Happen Next?

Everyone is theorizing that the next episode will also be a flashback episode because of the director, and I agree. Will it just be what happened on Brendok? Are we also going to see what happened to The Stranger?

What I want to happen: We get an explanation about Brendok that does not include Sol being a bad guy. We also get backstory for The Stranger, maybe even potentially being one of Vern’s previous apprentices who fell and that scar on his back is from her lightwhip (meaning we get to see it again).

What I expect to happen: I believe we’re getting an explanation on Brendok, no matter what it is, it will just be a matter of whether or not it is a satisfying explanation. Headland has mentioned plenty that she has ideas for season two, so I wonder if The Stranger is going to get left open ended. That, or we’ll finally get the reason for Kylo Ren’s theme being played in episode 5 (pushing the creation of the Knights of Ren earlier than originally assumed).

Either way, I hope these next two episodes have the time allotted to allow the story to unfurl in a way that isn’t forced.

Episode 7: Choice

Overall, I think this has been the best written episode of the season so far. It has cleared up a lot of questions:

Vergence

How were the twins created? A force vergence gave Aniseya enough power to do so.
Why did the Jedi not know the witches were on the planet? They were cloaked by the force vergence.

The vergence on Brendok explained both the fact that the Jedi didn’t know the witches were there, along with the manipulation that allowed Aniseya to create the twins. Vergences give the ability for force users to hide their presence, like Yoda on Dagobah. We are finally getting answers to some of the questions that previously felt more like plot holes.

Aniseya Breeding Her Own Destruction

Why would Torbin drink the poison so willingly? Because he was the cause of the whole debacle, thanks to Aniseya.

Torbin drinking the poison now makes sense. While I get that Aniseya was trying to protect her daughters and her coven, her entering Torbin’s mind and pushing him led to her own end. I want to know what power both Aniseya and Koril used to effectively teleport. Is it an older/different form of spirit ichor? Is it something completely new? I can’t recall anything like this ability, even with the Witches of Dathomir.

Wookiee With A Lightsaber

Are the Jedi evil now? Nope.
How did the witches die in a fire inside of a stone cave? They didn’t. They put all of their being into controlling Kelnacca, and Indara pushing them out lead to their demise.

I appreciate that not only did it take an entire coven of witches to mind control a Wookiee Jedi, but that his fighting was slugging because they weren’t used to controlling a body so much larger than their own. At least, this is how I interpreted that fight with Kelnacca. We also got the Trinity we had been promised, although in that moment she didn’t wield a lightsaber.

The Choice

Why does Sol feel so guilty about Mae falling? Because he didn’t have the strength to hold her and chose Osha over her.

My heart broke for Sol when he was growing weak and had to choose between Mae and Osha. Looking at his strength with telekensis in the present day episodes versus this flashback, we can see that he has definitely honed that skill further due to what happened. His character growth throughout this show has been an absolute standout, even if he is hardcore channeling Qui-Gon.

I expect next week we will learn that Qimir is some long lost apprentice of Vernestra, and her history with padawans will be the reason for the investigation into the Jedi.

Episode 8: The Acolyte

The Fights

This episode was jam packed with action sequences. The space battle in the asteroid belt was fun, and actually seeing them displace the debris was a beautiful touch. I get the feeling a big chunk of the huge budget for this show specifically went to this sequence.

Mae and Osha’s hand to hand combat was spectacular. They did a good job with the effects making Amandla Stenburg fight herself, putting her face digitally on the body double. This fight actually felt like it was at full speed without having to speed the ‘tape’ up to achieve it.

Sol and Qimir’s fight was beautifully done, far better done than the fight from episode 5. I don’t know the shooting order, but the lightsaber blades being practical seemed to be less of an issue in this episode. I enjoyed Qimir treating the sabers as boomarangs the first time around, but Sol pushing them away as they returned was probably the second most thrilling part of the episode.

Bazil’s Betrayal

I’m not sure what Bazil’s role was in the beginning of this episode. I feel like we would have been better off questioning why we didn’t see him than actually seeing him and wondering what in the outer rim he was doing. I appreciate him stopping Sol from shooting Mae’s escape ship down, but it leaves the question of why.

I can certainly theorize, like Bazil potentially working for Vernestra and wanting her specifically brought in alive, but that’s not actually answered anywhere. We have no clue about his intelligence level to be able to assume motive here.

I get that Headland wants a season 2, but this always should have been treated as a standalone given Disney’s history of not only dropping projects, but even scrubbing original content for the platform.

Sol’s Death

This felt…off. Did I expect him to die by the end of it? Yes, absolutely. Was the kyber crystal being corrupted in her hand a cool effect? Yes, absolutely. The acting/directing seemed a little weak here, however. Had Osha shown more anger, anguish, anything, this could have been a very poignant moment, but she just kinda stared intensely at him.

I get that he feels like he failed her, and he definitely did in some ways, but him just buckling and telling her it was okay to force choke him to death, allowing her to fall to the dark side did not feel natural. He could have explained further, but didn’t, which made this feel like yet another moment of rushing through conflict and forcing the story along.

Even with this feeling a little off for me, getting to see a bleeding crystal in live action while Osha held Sol’s lightsaber was absolutely epic.

The Padawan

My favorite part of this episode was Qimir sensing his former master Vernestra and immediately putting his helmet back on and running to hide. It was almost cartoonish in a good way. As most people guessed, those scars on his back were definitely from a light whip, but we still didn’t get any back story to that.

The Lies

I will admit I haven’t read the High Republic books and have no intention of doing so, this period of time in the Star Wars universe is of little interest to me, which means I don’t know Vernestra outside of a quick browse of her page on Wookieepedia. Is she turning into a villian? Was Qimir alluded to in the books? Was her lying about Sol an attempt to not startle the people of the Republic? I genuinely have no idea, and don’t think we will be getting any answers. No matter what, I found it infuriating. Is the point here that the Jedi are corrupt? What story does that serve if that is the case? This left too many questions.

The Cameos

I had almost given up hope on a Plagueis reveal, but (I think) we finally got it! The head shape was a little wrong, but it was also a mask rather than digital effects, similar to the issues with the look of the Grand Inquisitor in Kenobi.

We did get Yoda at the end, which opens up the same line of questioning that was opened when Ki-Adi Mundi knew someone was hunting Jedi. Vernestra throwing Sol under the bus at least closes the book on Mundi, but what did she tell Yoda? I will admit, I was far more excited about Plagueis than I was this reveal. We knew he was here somewhere, he just wasn’t allowed to be used for a pilot season with a brand new creator. I don’t see Dave Filoni allowing anyone to write for Yoda without extreme oversight, and he wasn’t involved in this show enough for Yoda to be genuinely present.

Final Thoughts

IF we get a second season, I hope Dave Filoni is more involved. I feel like that is what this show lacked more than anything, and that was his oversight and input. Sam Witwer would also work, honestly. Star Wars was always so cohesive because George was involved in some capacity in everything, with strict rules for the books. Not having Filoni involved, even as a executive producer, was noticeable.

Listening to some of the lead up to this show, I was excited that a fan of Star Wars and the EU (Expanded Universe) was getting to play in the sandbox, but this felt a little more like fan fiction. I understand that Dave Filoni and John Favreau are also Star Wars fans, but Dave Filoni was legitimately trained by George Lucas, which trickled down to John Favreau. At this point, I want them to give Sam Witwer a chance, if he wants it, and just stick to those three. I fully understand that Star Wars is a big sandbox to play in, but people are playing with new toys and breaking them before anyone can perform any quality checks and write a user manual.