The Acolyte: High Republic SW Disney+ Show, June 4th

[elcaballero]

1 hour ago, Knights of Ren said:

They really need to consider dropping all the episodes at once for these Star Wars series.  Start Wars fans are too stupid and short minded to have season spread out.  Even if things make sense by the end of the season, fans will already have their minds made up.  

I do think it's partially their own fault here. Short weekly episodes work for something like season 1 of The Mandalorian, but not in a serialized fashion like this. The audience expects more (House of the Dragon was well over an hour this week). Feels like it was cut up somewhat haphazardly.

[PlatnumRoyce]

misinterpreted time limit point - seems like they meant that episodes 4 & 5 were intended to be a single slightly under 60 minute episode but it ran ~65M so instead of cutting 5 minutes they split it into 2 equal length episodes (with double credits)

Edited Wednesday at 01:19 AM by PlatnumRoyce
misinterpreted time limit point

[Porthos]

And a good thing they didn't cut a single minute of it as well, as this second one was easily the best episode of the season.

[4815162342]

5 minutes ago, Porthos said:

And a good thing they didn't cut a single minute of it as well, as this second one was easily the best 2/3 of an episode of the season.

 

Had to edit your post because the final several minutes just devolved into kinda nonsense for me

[4815162342]

The first 20 minutes were riveting and intense.

 

The final 8-10 minutes devolved into pretty bad dialogue and some eyerolling plot and character beats.

[Porthos]

As for thoughts, I do think it is interesting that they're not taking The Cowards Way Out over 

Spoiler

Master Sol not only finding out that this dude is a (self-proclaimed) Sith but that Master Sol (with Mae along side him [more on that in a moment] is getting ready to leave the area.

 

They've already set up that the Jedi of the current era and Master Sol in particular are all too willing to not tell people, including higher ups in their own order, things that they should have told them.  For the Greater Good, of course. 

 

Gonna be interesting to see just what Sol does with this info, how many people find out (if any) and if anyone believes him.

 

This straight out lying by omission being judicious with the truth is also following an undercurrent in the Osha/Sol storyline.  What we saw in episode three obviously wasn't the whole story and Keeping Secrets does seem to be a running theme of a failing of the Jedi of the era: Well Meaning, and Basically Good People, still sowing their own destruction by not trusting other people to be able to handle problematic news or difficult situations.  The dangers of paternalism, as it were.

 

As for Sol/Mae, I do find it... curious that he didn't pick up on Mae being different in the Force almost immediately.  But that might not be a specialty of his/he's under a lot of stress/SW is often... fast and loose with consistency in that department.  If it makes for a better story that is.

 

More thoughts, maybe later, but ever since Ep 3, this series has def been cooking with gas.

[Porthos]

14 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

The final 8-10 minutes devolved into pretty bad dialogue and some eyerolling plot and character beats.

 

I think I know where you're coming from, but...

Spoiler

if you're gonna have Identical Twins, isn't almost mandatory to have a character swap at some point?  I mean, given the pulp roots of SW that is.

 

I do have slight... issues isn't the right word so instead I'll just note a raised eyebrow at it as I mentioned in my previous post, but it isn't nearly enough to affect my enjoyment of the episode. 

 

[Knights of Ren]

I enjoyed what I just watched 

[Porthos]

9 minutes ago, Knights of Ren said:

I enjoyed what I just watched 

 

I do think if I had a critique is that the last three episodes have been far closer in tone from what what I was expecting The Acolyte to be (pretty heavy emotionally and not particularly Jedi centric) and that the first two episodes with a heavy POV from the Jedi side of things was something of a tonal disconnect of what I personally expected.   Which in turn makes me wonder if some of the mixed reception is from expectation clashes.

 

I suspect I get why it was done this way (start the tale with the familiar) and with three episodes to go, it can still easily be Jedi Centric once again, but I have to say these last three episodes is more what I was expecting to see when this series was announced, even if some have issues with the execution (and I'm not one of them).

[4815162342]

23 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

I think I know where you're coming from, but...

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if you're gonna have Identical Twins, isn't almost mandatory to have a character swap at some point?  I mean, given the pulp roots of SW that is.

 

I do have slight... issues isn't the right word so instead I'll just note a raised eyebrow at it as I mentioned in my previous post, but it isn't nearly enough to affect my enjoyment of the episode. 

 

 

That certainly got an eyeroll from me for a couple reasons, but I was more towards the complete whiff that was

 

Spoiler

the verbal confrontation between Osha and Mae. The dialogue was stilted and awkward, the line delivery from both characters was completely banal and without any emotion, and the actual content was baffling because every single thing you would think Mae would say to Osha just never comes up at all and instead it is just Mae re-stating her childish tantrum from before she threatened to kill Osha as a kid. You would think that if there was a moment Mae would try to set the record straight to Osha about literally anything the Jedi did wrong, and that she did not start the fire, and so on, THIS WOULD BE THE MOMENT. Instead, we get empty platitudes from Mae who doesn't attempt to respond to any single criticism or accusation Osha levels at her.

 

For a show that has been hinting for 4+ episodes that at least some of the Jedi did something bad or wrong on Brendok, at the moment where it makes the most sense to start to pull the curtain back, from the character who has the most to gain from doing so, absolutely nothing.

 

Just terrible writing and decision making that marred an episode that was cooking with gas for the first 2/3.

[ZeroHour]

I’ve not always loved the road to get here, but that was great television. Hopefully indicative of how the rest of this season will play out. 

[Porthos]

19 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

That certainly got an eyeroll from me for a couple reasons, but I was more towards the complete whiff that was

 

  Reveal hidden contents

the verbal confrontation between Osha and Mae. The dialogue was stilted and awkward, the line delivery from both characters was completely banal and without any emotion, and the actual content was baffling because every single thing you would think Mae would say to Osha just never comes up at all and instead it is just Mae re-stating her childish tantrum from before she threatened to kill Osha as a kid. You would think that if there was a moment Mae would try to set the record straight to Osha about literally anything the Jedi did wrong, and that she did not start the fire, and so on, THIS WOULD BE THE MOMENT. Instead, we get empty platitudes from Mae who doesn't attempt to respond to any single criticism or accusation Osha levels at her.

 

For a show that has been hinting for 4+ episodes that at least some of the Jedi did something bad or wrong on Brendok, at the moment where it makes the most sense to start to pull the curtain back, from the character who has the most to gain from doing so, absolutely nothing.

 

Just terrible writing and decision making that marred an episode that was cooking with gas for the first 2/3.

 

Fair enough, but that didn't particularly bother me that much.  Mind

Spoiler

The Reveal About What Really Went Down

had better work since they've passed up a couple of narrative points where it could be more examined.

 

[Menor the Destroyer]

Much of the episode was very good. Excellent fights (my favorite live-action duels since the prequels probably, love seeing a return to that fast-paced choreography), and very tense. 

 

Spoiler

The Qimir Sith reveal was very obvious but worked really well still, Manny Jacinto was excellent and sold the hell out of it. 

But yeah I have a similar criticism about the last 1/3ish of the episode.

Spoiler

I can be pretty forgiving of somewhat awkward line deliveries and dialogue if the heart is still there (in fact that goofiness is almost part of the DNA of Star Wars). But the reunion between Mae and Osha was just...dull. That scene didn't work at all for me and it's a scene where the emotions should have been at their highest. It's unfortunate that what should have been a killer episode became a pretty mixed bag for me because of this since this was imo one of the most important scenes of the show so far and was absolutely fumbled.

 

[Porthos]

*sees something on Twitter*

*verifies*

 

Huh.

 

Well then.  A certain plot point might have become more interesting/nuanced.

 

Spoiler

Namely that a reworking of Kylo Ren's theme was done at the end of the episode with Qimir and Osha (and perhaps at other points).

 

Pretty unmistakable now that I'm listening to it (it's at the 28:00 mark).

 

I wonder.  I wonder if the Jedi are gonna conclude that this is a Knight of Ren or if this *IS* Ren and the Jedi will find that out at one point and thus dismiss the idea of this being the reemergence of the Sith.

 

After all he said something like "you would call me a Sith" not "I am a Sith"

 

...

 

*checks*

 

Could work out as I check Wookiepedia.

 

@Knights of Ren might be interested in this wrinkle.

 

As I said: "Huh".

 

[Torontofan]

On 6/24/2024 at 8:49 PM, elcaballero said:

I do think it's partially their own fault here. Short weekly episodes work for something like season 1 of The Mandalorian, but not in a serialized fashion like this. The audience expects more (House of the Dragon was well over an hour this week). Feels like it was cut up somewhat haphazardly.

 

Yeah this is not some adventures of some jedi or sith show for 20-30 mins

 

This is trying to be some serious show and sort of misfiring as a result of short episodes. 

Edited Wednesday at 03:07 PM by Torontofan

[Youngstar]

Man that was an amazing episode. I have liked, but not loved Ep 1-4. But if they keep this up and stick the landing...

[ChipDerby]

I think it's a bit silly to think this is anything more than an additional jedi adventure show. That's exactly what it is, and exactly what it was sold as.

 

Loved this episode, my only issues overall with the show are the pacing has been very hit and miss. AND I am not a fan of how they're writing Mae. Just seems like it's a character they have no idea what they're doing with.

 

Spoiler

Why did she do the heel turn in the last episode, if this episode she's now doing another heel turn? They implied she did the turn because of Osha being alive, but now that she's alive she's... going to leave her stranded on a planet with a sith? 

 

Manny Jacinto is excellent and it was obvious he was going to be the master. I'm glad they didn't try to outsmart people with that.

 

[Youngstar]

53 minutes ago, ChipDerby said:

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Why did she do the heel turn in the last episode, if this episode she's now doing another heel turn? They implied she did the turn because of Osha being alive, but now that she's alive she's... going to leave her stranded on a planet with a sith? 

 

Manny Jacinto is excellent and it was obvious he was going to be the master. I'm glad they didn't try to outsmart people with that.

 

Spoiler

Well she confronted Osha and tried to reconcile with her, but she still blamed her and wanted to take her in. So now that the reuinion failed and she obviously doesn't want to go bacl to her Master, she will  probably become "good". I fully expect that by the final episode Mae and Osha to have fully switche sides.

 

[PlatnumRoyce]

59 minutes ago, ChipDerby said:

Spoiler

Why did she do the heel turn in the last episode, if this episode she's now doing another heel turn? They implied she did the turn because of Osha being alive, but now that she's alive she's... going to leave her stranded on a planet with a sith? 

 

I think this makes a lot more sense with the knowledge it's all supposed to occur within a single episode. The writing fails to really deliver on both ends (it's funny to see the script go out of its way to shoehorn in a bad Anakin Skywalker quote) but if it's a single episode, it plays much more cleanly as 

 

Spoiler

a crisis of conscience which is resolved by a tense standoff

 I think you can pretty cleanly sqint and see what they're aiming for even if the whiplash in execution is real.

[SnokesLegs]

Great episode, didn't even really have problems with the last third personally, although I can see the point of what’s been raised by the people in this thread.

 

Spoiler

Didn't expect the two main deaths at all, particularly Dafne Keen, that was back to back eyebrow raising brutality. I was actually scared they were going to go for the full sweep and kill Sol for a second.