The Future Is Uncertain with This One — The Acolyte Episodes One & Two

This may end up being the most divisive piece of Star Wars media since The Last Jedi. And that’s saying something. Spoilers for the first two episodes of The Acolyte.

Uh oh.

Turns out a new piece of Star Wars media is being called the best show ever, or a ‘woke’ piece of garbage. What a surprise. At this point, the incessant arguments of both ‘sides’ in this ongoing culture war simply bore me. With a watch of both episodes I already knew the arguments and points that people would make, and I already knew who would say them. And, as always, I find myself in the middle of these two whilst trying not to be grouped with either of the depressingly sad lowlifes who only seek to win. But I am simply approaching this as a Star Wars fan. So be patient, and let’s talk about these first two episodes which, for better or worse, are now part of the canon.

The first episode starts with a martial arts scene straight out of a Bruce Lee film from the seventies. If this scene alone was what the show would be based on, it would be a massive flop. Although the choreography is great, the sequence is incredibly dream-like and does not show off the acting skills of either Carrie-Anne Moss or our dual protagonist Amandla Stenberg. For a second I thought I was being punked, and then I thought it might actually be a dream sequence before it finally set in that this was it and I recoiled, thinking of what horrors awaited me in the rest of the show. Then we switch to Stenberg’s other character as she awakes (again, it briefly threw me) on a ship where she has settled after leaving the Jedi Order a number of years ago. Before getting dressed we have our ‘why is this character wearing clothes from earth circa the year this is being released’ which really weirded me out and threw me off. But it settles in nicely and we get set up of this protagonist, Osha, and her surroundings as a meknek. This is a new thing they’ve added to the canon where apparently humans working outside in space to repair ships is, for some reason, illegal. And only astromechs can do that job. (Shoutout to R2D2, this show knows me, for real, for real.) I like the idea of this meknek job but having it be made illegal by the Republic makes zero sense to me and seems like an unnecessary detail to add for the start of the show. Maybe it does become relevant later, but I’m going to assume not. This scene does do a great job though, of blending the prequel films along with some of the High Republic aesthetic in order to bring the idea of this being set near the end of that era whilst it transitions into the prequels. Then we meet the character of Yord Fandar, played by Charlie Barnett, who has the potential to be the best character in the show. He has an interesting setup as the ‘by-the-book’ Jedi who is initially very hostile towards Osha but starts to trust her a little more by the end of episode two. His story could easily develop into a ‘turn to the dark side’ storyline, or potentially already be there in a kind of spy-thriller type way. But most likely he will just carry on as he is and will only learn to relax a little when it comes to Jedi law. Either way, it will be interesting to see where this one goes and how involved he is in the story. Then I do have to complain a little, about a couple of things. One is a little bit of a Star Wars no-no when it comes to shot choices. The ship that takes Osha to Coruscant, after she is accused of killing the Jedi in the first scene, goes into hyperdrive as we are looking at it from a side-view. Then we immediately cut to Coruscant. This may have happened before but this particular shot made for something very jarring and unsettling. We usually see a shot from the back of the ship, or an inside the cockpit shot that uses the classic star smear with a ship entering hyperspace. The shot ends up feeling disjointed compared to the next scene. A feeling that ends up being repeated for a number of cuts and the two episode end shots. The second thing is bringing up the names of planets when we cut to them. I understand sometimes that this is helpful, and has been used in previous projects like Rogue One. But this is Coruscant. You don’t need to show us the name. Later on, in the second episode (I’ll talk more specifically about the second episode later), we have our antagonists talk about where one of the Jedi that Mae (Osha’s twin) needs to kill is located. They name the planet very clearly and then a few seconds later, we cut to that planet and immediately get the name we just heard displayed on our screens. It makes absolutely no sense and feels like the show is treating everyone like imbeciles.

Back to the first episode, Osha is being transported by the Republic on a droid-automated ship. Which seems like a fun and interesting choice until you realise that Osha is thought to have killed a Jedi, an very impressive feat that would surely have made the Order place a Jedi or two on the ship to make sure everything went smoothly. But then you see that an escape is made by the other prisoners and you realise that the script needs Osha to crash land on a planet and make some of the Jedi believe that she escaped on purpose. A little before this scene we are introduced to Osha’s former master and one of the Jedi being hunted down by Mae. Jedi Master Sol is played by Lee Jung-jae who a number of you will recognise from Squid Game. I have my own thoughts on Squid Game, but Lee does a much better job here which is crazy to say considering he learnt English specifically for the role. He very much fits into the Qui-Gon Jinn role which makes sense since he based a lot of his performance on Liam Neeson’s and it looks like the character may be following in the same kind of path. He portrays the nice mentor who bends the rules a little bit quite well and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a scene in this season where he ends up making a lot of us cry. His apprentice, Jecki Lon, is played by Dafne Keen who does a great job playing Sol’s current Padawan who looks to be growing envious of the old Padawan after they meet and after seeing Sol’s attachment to her. The pair, along with Yord, bring Osha in as she explains that it wasn’t her and she believes her twin Mae is alive after seeing her in a vision. They are very heavily pushing the idea of yin and yang with both Stenberg playing twins whilst they go on separate but very similar journeys, as well as a lot of characters very obviously being led down a road that will have a particular choice they will have to take. It would not surprise me if all characters end up making a major choice for themselves that directs them towards or away from either side of the force. The last little scene we get is Mae returning to her master and getting a little speech from them before the oddest cut to credits I’ve seen in a while. The best way to describe it is that there is no rhythm to this last scene. The character finishes their speech and you expect the cut to credits to be either on 0 or 1 but it ends being 3/7ths between the two acceptable points. It just makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable which is not really what you want your audience feeling at the end of your first episode in a brand new series. The first episode was a good experience, but with some obvious flaws that really don’t do much to elevate it.

Second episode is where the show becomes very laughable in many places. First of all we get another opening sequence of Mae trying to kill one of the Jedi from her past. This Jedi is Jedi Master Torbin, played by Dean-Charles Chapman. This is most certainly the worst casting choice of the show. They are going to be doing flashbacks to around sixteen years ago later on in the show, and from the shots we’ve already seen of that, he looks fine. But in this present day, he is placed in make-up and a fake beard/receding hairline which does just make him look like someone in their Halloween costume. The actor is twenty-six but he’s always looked much younger than his actual age and there is no believing this Jedi is not just a kid in a Halloween costume. But then on top of that we get a bizarre scene of Mae attempting to kill the master whilst he is in deep meditation. Apparently the master is in such deep meditation that he can’t be attacked and all attempts are blocked with the force. For some reason. This is an interesting idea, but would only have worked if the character could be taken seriously. Whilst laughing at the beard on the kid, the laughter gets amplified as Mae’s attempts to attack him are repelled by the force. Again this just sends me into a haze of thinking I’m watching a martial arts film from the 1970s. It might actually be the worst scene in all of Star Wars media. And I’ve watched Episode IX. Then, as the crew are taking Osha to Coruscant, they are contacted by the Jedi and told to go to the planet where the beard kid Jedi was attacked and investigate. Mae, with the help of Qimir who is played by Manny Jacinto, acquires a poison to use on the beard kid Jedi and successfully manages to give it to him. Mae talks at him until he comes out of the deep meditation and then willingly drinks the poison after expecting her and explaining that they thought they were ‘doing the right thing’. Although this scene falls a little flat with Chapman’s manly voice and Halloween costume, it continues the mystery thriller themes of the show quite well. The main thing that’s keeping me interested in this show is the plot that we will be shown in flashbacks, and what kind of implication this has for the canon. The others discover the body, with Osha there before anyone else. There is a little distrust and the local Jedi immediately accuses Osha before Yord sticks up for her and informs the others he followed her and the beard Jedi kid was dead before they arrived in the room. They find the local apothecary that ‘sold’ the poison and find Qimir who lets on that Mae is trained by a ‘master’ of sorts after Osha briefly pretends to be her twin. I actually started to warm up to Jacinto’s performance of Qimir after being a little cold on him in the first scene. He does a good job of a likeable scoundrel without it being too much like Han Solo and not injecting too much of his other comedic roles which would have easily ruined the character. They make a plan to catch Mae when she returns to get her things back from Qimir and another cool force fight breaks out between Mae and Sol before the former escapes. There are brief glances exchanged between Mae and her twin as the fugitive discovers her sister is alive. I was a little shocked and confused that Mae didn’t already know about Osha being alive but I do think it’s pretty obvious now that it’s more of the push of yin and yang, and that just as Osha is likely being lied to by the Jedi about what happened in the past, Mae’s master is likely doing the same. Then to round out the episode, the crew is recalled back to Coruscant to plan with the Council. We also see the teaser with Joonas Suotamo’s Wookie Jedi on the previously mentioned planet. We again get the weird cut at the end of the episode and since the directors were different for both episodes, it is clearly an editing problem. The episode was definitely worse than the first one but still has some of what the show needs to emphasise more to actually become a decent watch.

So overall, the show is off to an interesting start. I really won’t be recommending this show in its current state but it has a lot more episodes to prove its worth. I hope the talk around this show isn’t purely culture war nonsense. It deserves to be allowed to breathe and show what it can do. And we can judge it on that and that alone. We will see how these characters play out and how the canon is improved or impoverished by this show. But we know there’ll be action and conflict. After all:

Peace is a lie.