Star Wars: The Acolyte

[Asta]

Placing The Acolyte within the list of Disney's live action Star Wars is easy, but the journey to those depths isn't so easy to chart.

From favourite downwards:


The Mandalorian Seasons 1 & 2

A series that captured the spirit of the OT and merged it with the Disney era.

Andor

A departure in tone from both the OT and The Mandalorian, yet worked in its own way within an accepted version of the canon.

Ahsoka

This one grew on me and warranted a second viewing which cemented its place here. Not perfect by any means, but it has something.

The Mandalorian Season 3

The spark had died, but it was still better than those below.

The Book of Boba Fett

There were some moments, though brief, but overall this one falls into the realm of comedy and absurdity.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Fewer moments, but again characterised by comedy and absurdity.

The Acolyte

Do they even Star Wars?

Whatever happened within the series was overshadowed by the creators. Acting, dialogue and story were very poor, with no sense that there was any love for Star Wars behind it. The franchise was merely used as a vehicle.

It's embarrassing to have read that Leslye Headland regarded this as her finest piece of art.

 

[Sithblade]

 

[Asta]

There were obviously some typos in the original post, so I fixed them to clear up any confusion...

Married Couple, The Acolyte Showrunner Leslye Headland & Rebecca Henderson who played Vernestra, they did an amazingly bad job on this series!

 

[wormlander]

So to summarize: this forum's about movies/shows, but no discussion or debate about the movie/show's intent is allowed, even if "socio-politics has been ingrained in the messaging" for the show.

And if you want to discuss the show's intent or messaging, it can only be done in hidden-from-view "dark rooms" that require special access.

Just give them some time and they'll get it eventually...

 

[wormlander]

Only real-life religions (e.g. religion's role in current events, discussions about it that can be viewed as divisive, proselytizing, etc).

Not only are you (all mods) making this site toothless, tedious and confusing to navigate, but now you (that's you specifically) also force me to go and look up words in the dictionary?! Not cool man...

 

[The Buffinator]

Why did Qimir's eyes go black when Osha wore the helmet?

Who was Green Nepo's sith boss she called on the speaker phone?

Never mind. Nobody knows, and nobody gives a ****.

Also, why was the editing so bad in that scene? Qimir's eyes went black and his face was distorted, then suddenly they weren't, then suddenly they were again. It was so wonky I had to go back and double check to confirm that's what I saw.

 

[Johnny1378]

So the mighty Darth Plagueis has his grand live-action debut and all they had him do was:

Yeah, before the series aired, I thought it was supposed to be about Plagueis and his rise to power. Instead it was basically about something completely different. But hey, they put him in the background like Waldo for half a second in episode 8, so I guess there’s that.

 

[The Buffinator]

Everybody just not telling Osha her mom went full demon smoke monster.
Sol would have been a rock star on Lost.

Yeah, this was quite irritating. It's filmed to suggest that Sol was reflexively striking at the evil looking ephemeral entity that their mother was transforming into (& which seemed to be simultaneously disintegrating Mae), yet then it's never mentioned again - even by Sol himself when he admits everything to Mae & Osha at the end? It makes no sense. It was such an extraordinary encounter that Sol would have definitely told Indara & Kelnacca all about it as soon as they were safely back on the ship. Obviously one of LH's heavy handed messages in this show pertains to the damage caused by "things left unsaid", but as @loki2371 says, make it make sense.

 

[chrisstbh]

Yeah, this was quite irritating. It's filmed to suggest that Sol was reflexively striking at the evil looking ephemeral entity that their mother was transforming into (& which seemed to be simultaneously disintegrating Mae), yet then it's never mentioned again - even by Sol himself when he admits everything to Mae & Osha at the end? It makes no sense. It was such an extraordinary encounter that Sol would have definitely told Indara & Kelnacca all about it as soon as they were safely back on the ship. Obviously one of LH's heavy handed messages in this show pertains to the damage caused by "things left unsaid", but as @loki2371 says, make it make sense.

Why would Osha care about the circumstances. It’s still her mother that was killed and he lied about it.

She wasn’t even going for Sol, she was going to teleport her and Mae away by the looks of it.

If someone killed your mother you probably wouldn’t side with them, especially if they lied about it to you for almost 2 decades.

 

[YoNoSe]

This show was 50% bad communication, 50% inexplicable character motivations.

With a sprinkling of Jedi forgetting they can use the Force. When Mae was stealing the ship I was literally LOLing that Sol didn't just hold the door open with the Force. Especially when Green Lady uses the Force nonstop for doors. Like to the point that I was wondering if she was a germophobe that doesn't like touching things.

 

[The Buffinator]

Why would Osha care about the circumstances. It’s still her mother that was killed and he lied about it.

She wasn’t even going for Sol, she was going to teleport her and Mae away by the looks of it.

If someone killed your mother you probably wouldn’t side with them, especially if they lied about it to you for almost 2 decades.

My comment wasn't about his trying to justify the act to Osha, but rather to point out that Sol probably had never seen anything like her transformation and likely saw it as a hostile act. Remember this was the same woman who earlier took control of the padawan's mind and threatened to wipe it if they didn't leave their home. Aniseya was just as guilty as Sol in this instance, waiting until her dying breath to tell him she was going to let Osha train as a Jedi. Maybe you should have led with that, sister. Aniseya's death at Sol's hand is the big secret that drove the show's entire narrative, so it's bizarre that the catalyst for Sol's action is so conveniently ignored.

 

[e30ernest]

My comment wasn't about his trying to justify the act to Osha, but rather to point out that Sol probably had never seen anything like her transformation and likely saw it as a hostile act. Remember this was the same woman who earlier took control of the padawan's mind and threatened to wipe it if they didn't leave their home. Aniseya was just as guilty as Sol in this instance, waiting until her dying breath to tell him she was going to let Osha train as a Jedi. Maybe you should have led with that, sister. Aniseya's death at Sol's hand is the big secret that drove the show's entire narrative, so it's bizarre that the catalyst for Sol's action is so conveniently ignored.

Last episode was good in my books because it was subtly different from what was shown from Osha's point of view in episode 3. In episode 3, scenes depicting the mothers are strict or scenes where they were teaching the twins looked more aggressive/abusive when Sol was watching in Episode 7.

We don't really know if in the end if those witches planned to do something bad to the girls. Episode 7's point of view definitely made it look that way (the use of the word "sacrifice"). So maybe the Jedi were justified in their actions there. Or maybe it's just a severe misunderstanding based on cultural differences.

Episode 8 was ok as well. It was pretty predictable though. I don't think we needed Plagueis or Yoda to be shown TBH.

Overall I think the entire series was just OK at worst. Definitely not as bad as Mando S3 and BoBF or as unnecessarily drawn-out as Kenobi. I'd put Ahsoka ahead of this (mostly because I liked the character along with the Rebels series)as well as Mando S1+2 and Andor.

 

[Mandible]

Only watched eps 1 & 3 - did they explain how the twins were created and why it was all hush-hush?

 

[YoNoSe]

Only watched eps 1 & 3 - did they explain how the twins were created and why it was all hush-hush?

Confusing discussion that they are one person..soul...entity? Divided into two bodies for unexplained reasons. No specifics but presumably mean green mom is still floating around in her totally not scary hell monster incarnation.

 

[Otomofan]

View attachment 713677

As if this cursed production hasn't committed several unforgivable sins against Star Wars....think about this for a minute.

Think about how George agonized during the production of the cantina scene. He wanted it to be so big and outlandish and other-worldly that it would knock your socks off. And it did! No other movie had ever showcased aliens like that before. And yet, it still wasn't enough...he wanted to top it in ROTJ, and he DID! Even MORE crazy aliens and species and bizarre lifeforms, never seen before by audiences.

Yet, the cantina even bothered him so much that twenty years later, he went back in and made changes cause he still thought it was too "cheap-looking." Specifically, the off-the-rack werewolf mask they used. It bugged him so much that anyone in the audience would think they cheaped out, or wouldn't be fully immersed cause of the quick shortcut they took on that one character.

And yet.....here we are. Almost 50 years later. And on a $180 million budget (2024 dollars).....

And one of the main characters of this epic odyssey of space opera is........


A bald ***** painted green.


George Lucas would have given himself ulcers if even one of the background characters you see for a split second was as lazy as just painting someone green.....and yet here they have it proudly on display as one of the main characters.

That just about sums it all up.

Shame. Shame. Shame.

 

[wormlander]

...The list of Disney's live action Star Wars... from favourite downwards:

The Mandalorian Seasons 1 & 2

A series that captured the spirit of the OT and merged it with the Disney era.

100% agree with the list above...

 

[Sassafras]

My comment wasn't about his trying to justify the act to Osha, but rather to point out that Sol probably had never seen anything like her transformation and likely saw it as a hostile act. Remember this was the same woman who earlier took control of the padawan's mind and threatened to wipe it if they didn't leave their home. Aniseya was just as guilty as Sol in this instance, waiting until her dying breath to tell him she was going to let Osha train as a Jedi. Maybe you should have led with that, sister. Aniseya's death at Sol's hand is the big secret that drove the show's entire narrative, so it's bizarre that the catalyst for Sol's action is so conveniently ignored.

Used to think MCU has the most questionable "big secret" e.g. Black Panther. Like, T'chaka WAS king, IMO the whole secrecy thing was dumb/weak.

This was way worse; like some sort of bullying Sol because he was the only one who really cared - I don't think he did anything wrong anyway - and THEN WTF - a skilled Jedi Master doesn't blow off a force choke attempt from someone untrained, I guess because he cared too much to lash out, or he felt so guilty - I agree with a Y-Tuber that the handling of maybe the only really likable character in the show was off-putting.

It's not like the plank of wood "special girl" was likable. Or even memorable. Enjoyed the duel a bit but at the same time WTF Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The green bean has about as much screen presence/charisma as reading an instruction manual for assembling furniture.

Bein' polite here, this show blew on so many levels it's hard to list them all. Then there's the whole take my hand BS a complete ripoff of KyloRey. Hopefully there is no S2 but this was all to imply that, like with Kylo, it's really a Master Sith who is pulling the strings, so it's A-OK that these people killed dozens?

I'll agree with a Y-Tuber here and there, there was a glimmer of what might have been. Instead of a big pile of rotting compost. The only Disney SW I won't ever rewatch, it's just rancid. Like having to stand in line at the DMV.

 

[Sassafras]

Yeah, before the series aired, I thought it was supposed to be about Plagueis and his rise to power. Instead it was basically about something completely different. But hey, they put him in the background like Waldo for half a second in episode 8, so I guess there’s that.

It's just membaberries and - rehash of Palps controlling everything, so in theory these serial killers aren't really bad people. A set-up for a potential S2.

This series was NEVER about telling an SW story with new characters (Mandalorian) or extending the stories of original characters.

It was about LH's personal problems, which is a big reason why it's a fail. There's other reasons like miscasts, money incomprehensibly wasted - must have been terrible for any SW fans on set - if any - having to work on LH's soap opera.

 

[loki2371]

View attachment 713677

You just know they scissored while she was in make up and costume....

RIght after that shot was taken, they got down to business....

This was Hedland's real motivation to do this show. To satisfy her fantasy of being with a green Jediess.

 

[Khev]

So is there literally anyone that the audience is supposed to actually root for in this show now that it apparently ended with the good twin murdering the good Jedi Master?

And I watched the clip of her choaking him to death. That took a long time. I can see that messing up someone like Padme but a Jedi Master? All he had to do is flick his wrist and send her flying instead of just standing there taking it for five minutes. Whatever. Who cares I guess.