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

[4815162342]

Both episodes were fine but as Menor said a little choppy. We really got thrown into the water at a couple points before getting a chance to wade in it with some of the characters.

 

A couple small scenes felt extremely like studio note inclusions, particularly the final scene of the first episode.

[ChipDerby]

Watched the first episode and I liked it. Weird final scene.

 

Felt a LOT like the prequel trilogy. In a complimentary way.

[thajdikt]

94% on RT😍

[SnokesLegs]

Really like this so far, it’s far more accessible than Ahsoka and I like how it’s a new story entirely with no callbacks to anything else, the best thing they can do with Star Wars now is to create new and interesting characters so that the universe doesn’t feel like it’s spinning around the Skywalkers all the time. Lee Jung-Jae and Amandla Stenberg are definitely the standouts after those two episodes.

 

Spoiler

Surely the opening scene isn’t the last we see of Carrie-Anne Moss though? I can’t imagine her signing on to something like this just to get the Drew Barrymore in Scream treatment.

 

 

 

[Youngstar]

this was a great 2 episode premiere. One of my favorite premieres so far. Really intrigued by the story and I already love the main cast. 8.5/10 so far

[Porthos]

Really be interested in getting some observations from @Inceptionzq, our resident THR expert about how it's already differing from the THR period of the books (some 100[?] years earlier than this show).

 

Jordan Maison was commenting in his Ep 1/2 review about how already there's a marked shift and, well, sphincter tightening already going on.

 

On the one hand, the Jedi by and large are still more loosey-goosey and free flowing than by the time of the prequels.  They are willing to very easily change their mind on things and pivot away from a rigid look at a situation.  That being said, there's admonishments about attachment, worrying about appearances, and in general a sense of not quite caring about Justice as much as one might expect.

 

Again, not nearly as far down the road as they were by TPM. But maybe at the quarter pole mark?  

 

The other thing I'm stuck by is how fast

Spoiler

Master Sol pivoted on the whole Mae is dead/alive thing.

 

Could be sloppy writing.  Could be... something else.  Don't think Master Sol is a baddie in plain sight, as hoooo-boy, would that upset people.  Do think it's decidedly odd that he just flipped like a dime though.

 

One other neat thing I haven't seen people mention?  Dual episode titles.  Reflecting the inherent duality of the show.

[Youngstar]

10 minutes ago, Porthos said:

  Hide contents

Master Sol pivoted on the whole Mae is dead/alive thing.

 

Could be sloppy writing.  Could be... something else.  Don't think Master Sol is a baddie in plain sight, as hoooo-boy, would that upset people.  Do think it's decidedly odd that he just flipped like a dime though.

Spoiler

I think he knew she was still alive, but wanted to keep it a secret. But after that it was so obvious that he really saw no point in lying anymore. I don't think he is a bad guy, but I think he and the others did something messed up back then. (Probably accidentally caused the death of Mae & Oshas Family)

 

[Daxtreme]

Liking it so far. Good start.

 

The main positive aspects for me:

• The action is actually pretty good. Not great, but pretty good.
• I love the prequel setting so more of that, in addition to not being shackled to existing storylines, really helps this show become something unique and interesting.
• The actors are pulling their weight fairly well. Lee Jung-jae casting was on point, his somewhat stiff yet warmhearted line delivery fits the character well. The lead actress is also doing her job well.
• I love the wipe transitions, it feels like watching an anthology movie to the prequels.
• The writing is good and leaves enough breadcrumbs in the mystery for us to be interested. It doesn't feel like it's directed cheaply/poorly like Kenobi and Boba Fett.

 

Negative aspects:

• It's a bit... weird? Hard to say how exactly but it's both interesting and sometimes off-putting at the same time.
• We're really thrown into the whole thing here, a few more minutes to breath with the characters would work wonders.

Some people online are review-bombing this probably because of the throwaway line about

Spoiler

her having "mothers" instead of a father and a mother

 

As usual some people will focus on the pettiest of stuff to be angry about.

[Potiki]

Only seen the first episode but I seemed to like it more than most here, felt surprisingly more OT than PT for me for some reason (in presentation not designs and such) 

 

Will watch the 2nd episode tonight and give more thoughts. 

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Potiki said:

Only seen the first episode but I seemed to like it more than most here, felt surprisingly more OT than PT for me for some reason (in presentation not designs and such) 

 

Will watch the 2nd episode tonight and give more thoughts. 

 

FWIW, I just did a rewatch on both and felt it improved on the rewatch. For me at least.

 

Spoiler

Still think Indara went down too easily, but not quite as forcefully as I thought previously.

 

Do have to slightly apologize to Venestra (fans) as I misplaced

Spoiler

which of them  specifically raised the specter of "political enemies" in the Sol/Venestra conversation.  Though clearly they both had the same concern, so it matters little.  Does deduct one Windu Point from her scorecard (and transfer it to Sol 😛).

 

Also, FWIW, I didn't seem to have any issue with pacing, nor the end scenes.  Seems like a stylistic choice to me that only might become fully apparent when the whole first season is in the can.

 

---

 

Ironically on the rewatch I'm less conflicted about 

Spoiler

Master Sol

 

though they're obviously hiding something.  

 

---

 

One other observation that I really like is the lack of mustache twirling villainy in the case of the main antagonist.  One of the things that SW has struggled from time to time is having a human edges on their main bad guys and gals. 

 

All too often they're just puppy kicking villains who not only relish in kicking puppies but actively go to a vet to kick newly healed puppies as they trot out the door.

 

So seeing  [first and second episode spoilers]

Spoiler

Mae actually stay her hand when she saw the child at the bar as well as having clear concern about her sister?

 

Very refreshing.  Curious.  But also refreshing.  As is her insisting on "playing by the rules" of her imposed challenge. 

 

Sure it's part and parcel of many martial arts movies (making sure to honorably challenge someone who you feel has wronged you), but it's an interesting dynamic that one doesn't see often in SW.  At least televised SW.

 

[Torontofan]

nah review bombing isnt due to prequel hate...

 

The dude bro star wars love the prequels more then ever now as the sequels were largely disliked by this group,

 

This is just people hating on disney products which is just the buzz these days.

 

and that how the response will be...anyone still open to disney star wars may like this show, if not then you wont likely. 

 

Personally i find it okay nothing special, i may tune in after 2 episodes 

Edited June 6 by Torontofan

[Potiki]

18 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

FWIW, I just did a rewatch on both and felt it improved on the rewatch. For me at least.

Trying to bump up those first 5-7 days viewership numbers that Disney will hopefully release I see 😜

 

As for the rest of what you wrote, I agree that there is some nice changes and am glad you enjoyed it more on a second watch. 2nd episode for me felt more like it's own thing, dove into the Murder Mystery angle which I enjoyed. 

 

As for the villain 

 

Spoiler

Agree that Mae is a much more conflicted villain, could lead to a Anakin/Vader redemption or could lead to her Turing into a full blown evil person I think either one could be interesting. 

 

I already had fairly high expectations for this and glad it met them, more traditional Star Wars than I was expecting with the opening crawl and even that opening episode felt familiar, which I enjoyed but seems like as the show progresses it should lean more heavily into those martial arts and murder mystery genres which will make for a nice change and hopefully something unique in Star Wars story telling. I am also hopeful this will get a more casual audience as it isn't directly linked to any of the other shows and only lonely connected to the prequels but mainly just from how it looks and certain locations. 

[Eric is Quiet]

 

[clockwork]

I'm gonna wait a bit till more episodes come out then watch them all at once. But I have to say it's very refreshing to come here see reasonable takes here as opposed to....certain other places on the internet I wont name.

 

I'm still holding out for a Darth Bane show, originally I thought this show was gonna tie into his story and the rule of two somewhat, maybe it will by the end. We really could use a show focused on the Sith and their grand plan because I feel there's material there that could make for a compelling story.

Edited June 7 by clockwork

[4815162342]

Plot thoughts in tags.

Spoiler

It's pretty obvious that something bad happened on Brendok/Brentok (sp?) and that the 4 Jedi were involved somehow to varying degrees. The official story is that Mae started the fire, which Osha believes, though we have not heard if the fire-starting was allegedly intentional or an accident. We know that at least multiple of the Jedi proactively did something that lead to the deaths, as indicated by Tommen from Game of Thrones saying "we thought we were doing the right thing."

 

So, we have a Jedi action that led to multiple deaths, done out of a belief of necessity/righteousness, and it involves a house that so happened to feature a girl who could train as a Jedi, and a girl who could train as a quasi dark sider sorta.

 

Seems to me a decent guess that the show is pulling from the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, which I never read but heard about, where the inciting premise was a handful of Jedi collectively had a vision of a coming figure that would bring death and destruction, but they could not tell who it was specifically, so they collectively decided to murder all of their apprentices to ensure that the future would not come to pass. Would not be shocked if they modify that here such that the 4 Jedi all shared a vision of someone looking like Mae or Osha bringing chaos/death/etc and because they could not figure out which it was, decided to take the whole family out pre-emptively. Sol feels regret afterwards which is why he brings Osha to be trained even though she's technically too old, Indara never trusts Osha which is why she's said to have been resistant to her being trained, etc.

 

I am not predicting this is the case, but I think it's not an unreasonable guess based on the statements we have and the fact that these SW shows like pulling threads and details from the old EU to remix into the new canon in different ways.

 

The one thing I do not think Sol is is an out and out bad guy, I think he clearly has a knack for empathy and insight that is a bit out of step with the Jedi orthodoxy, but I would not be surprised if younger Sol felt more militant about rooting out evil, and the events on the planet changed him.

 

 

As for Vernestra, she seems pretty clear to be the stand-in for the dogmatic bureaucratic procedural and also kinda underhanded Jedi leadership. For example her conversation with Sol in the first episode to me indicated that she was perfectly willing to disappear Osha without even a fair trial if it mean covering up any potential snafu for the Jedi.

 

[4815162342]

As for Mae

 

Spoiler

She's clearly angry, upset, driven by revenge, etc., but her words/actions in the first two episodes indicate that she's doing "bad" things out of a desire to achieve personal satisfaction, but also because she truly believes that she's dealing with "bad" people.

 

Sounds like someone who's a prime candidate to be told exactly what they want to hear by the actual bad guy and shaped/molded into a weapon who can be discarded the second she no longer serves the BBEG's purposes.

 

[4815162342]

One last thing

 

Spoiler

For Episode 1, Jodie Turner-Smith is credited, but we never see her face/voice on screen.

 

Which makes me believe very much that she is Red Lightsaber Person at the end of Episode 1, because that person's voice was clearly altered/distorted by the mask they were wearing.

 

Which makes sense to me in a way because in one of the trailers her character says something like (paraphrasing) "this is not about good or bad this is about power and who is allowed to use it"

 

Which on the surface sounds all well and good about someone on the face challenging the institutional hierarchy of who is entitled to wield power and for what purpose. But if you give it more than a second of under the surface thought it is 100% the sort of thing a villain would say to justify things or to try and convert people. "Who cares about morality" is 100% a villain line. Hell, it's pretty close to what Voldemort tells Harry at the end of the first Harry Potter movie.

 

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, 4815162342 said:

Plot thoughts in tags.

  Hide contents

It's pretty obvious that something bad happened on Brendok/Brentok (sp?) and that the 4 Jedi were involved somehow to varying degrees. The official story is that Mae started the fire, which Osha believes, though we have not heard if the fire-starting was allegedly intentional or an accident. We know that at least multiple of the Jedi proactively did something that lead to the deaths, as indicated by Tommen from Game of Thrones saying "we thought we were doing the right thing."

 

So, we have a Jedi action that led to multiple deaths, done out of a belief of necessity/righteousness, and it involves a house that so happened to feature a girl who could train as a Jedi, and a girl who could train as a quasi dark sider sorta.

 

Seems to me a decent guess that the show is pulling from the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, which I never read but heard about, where the inciting premise was a handful of Jedi collectively had a vision of a coming figure that would bring death and destruction, but they could not tell who it was specifically, so they collectively decided to murder all of their apprentices to ensure that the future would not come to pass. Would not be shocked if they modify that here such that the 4 Jedi all shared a vision of someone looking like Mae or Osha bringing chaos/death/etc and because they could not figure out which it was, decided to take the whole family out pre-emptively. Sol feels regret afterwards which is why he brings Osha to be trained even though she's technically too old, Indara never trusts Osha which is why she's said to have been resistant to her being trained, etc.

 

I am not predicting this is the case, but I think it's not an unreasonable guess based on the statements we have and the fact that these SW shows like pulling threads and details from the old EU to remix into the new canon in different ways.

 

The one thing I do not think Sol is is an out and out bad guy, I think he clearly has a knack for empathy and insight that is a bit out of step with the Jedi orthodoxy, but I would not be surprised if younger Sol felt more militant about rooting out evil, and the events on the planet changed him.

 

 

As for Vernestra, she seems pretty clear to be the stand-in for the dogmatic bureaucratic procedural and also kinda underhanded Jedi leadership. For example her conversation with Sol in the first episode to me indicated that she was perfectly willing to disappear Osha without even a fair trial if it mean covering up any potential snafu for the Jedi.

 

 

Spoiler

You probably know this, but the show runner (Leslye Headland) is a huge EU/Legends fan and from what I can tell is very familiar with KOTOR.  So it wouldn't surprise me at all to see her pulling from that story or ones like it.

 

[4815162342]

2 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You probably know this, but the show runner (Leslye Headland) is a huge EU/Legends fan and from what I can tell is very familiar with KOTOR.  So it wouldn't surprise me at all to see her pulling from that story or ones like it.

 

 

I'm aware. She's on record talking about her fascination with Kreia from KOTOR 2, who's definitely up there as a good example of a villain who dispenses useful and hard truths to sugarcoat her more problematic and social Darwinian ideas 

[SnokesLegs]

4 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

Plot thoughts in tags.

  Hide contents

It's pretty obvious that something bad happened on Brendok/Brentok (sp?) and that the 4 Jedi were involved somehow to varying degrees. The official story is that Mae started the fire, which Osha believes, though we have not heard if the fire-starting was allegedly intentional or an accident. We know that at least multiple of the Jedi proactively did something that lead to the deaths, as indicated by Tommen from Game of Thrones saying "we thought we were doing the right thing."

 

So, we have a Jedi action that led to multiple deaths, done out of a belief of necessity/righteousness, and it involves a house that so happened to feature a girl who could train as a Jedi, and a girl who could train as a quasi dark sider sorta.

 

Seems to me a decent guess that the show is pulling from the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, which I never read but heard about, where the inciting premise was a handful of Jedi collectively had a vision of a coming figure that would bring death and destruction, but they could not tell who it was specifically, so they collectively decided to murder all of their apprentices to ensure that the future would not come to pass. Would not be shocked if they modify that here such that the 4 Jedi all shared a vision of someone looking like Mae or Osha bringing chaos/death/etc and because they could not figure out which it was, decided to take the whole family out pre-emptively. Sol feels regret afterwards which is why he brings Osha to be trained even though she's technically too old, Indara never trusts Osha which is why she's said to have been resistant to her being trained, etc.

 

I am not predicting this is the case, but I think it's not an unreasonable guess based on the statements we have and the fact that these SW shows like pulling threads and details from the old EU to remix into the new canon in different ways.

 

The one thing I do not think Sol is is an out and out bad guy, I think he clearly has a knack for empathy and insight that is a bit out of step with the Jedi orthodoxy, but I would not be surprised if younger Sol felt more militant about rooting out evil, and the events on the planet changed him.

 

 

As for Vernestra, she seems pretty clear to be the stand-in for the dogmatic bureaucratic procedural and also kinda underhanded Jedi leadership. For example her conversation with Sol in the first episode to me indicated that she was perfectly willing to disappear Osha without even a fair trial if it mean covering up any potential snafu for the Jedi.

 

Keeping it vague because the spoiler button seems to have disappeared for me, but I think you’re onto something with the Jedi doing “something” to try and stop something bad happening. It’d make sense because based on the whole overblown “ep 3 does something that ruins SW forever” takes out there, what you’ve described is exactly the sort of thing that would piss off the people who couldn’t handle certain aspects of TLJ.

 

I’m all for it though! It’d be an interesting direction for the story to take.