Star Wars: The Acolyte promises something new, but it left me feeling empty.
Since Palpatine famously returned, I haven’t watched Star Wars. I have kept an eye on the discussion that has come with each subsequent project. From what I’ve observed, it is mostly Disney displaying pictures of familiar characters and everyone clapping.
The Acolyte, a new show unrelated to the Skywalker story and set in the golden era of the Jedi, was meant to be different. The golden age of Jedi was supposed to be a great series, but the first two episodes were boring.
The Acolyte tells the story of two twins separated when they were young after their home was destroyed in a tragic fire. Osha was a Jedi before she quit and became a meknek – an illegal freelance mechanic. Mae is the other one, and she seems to have been trained to use Force by some dark entity.
They both knew each other were alive but only realized it when Mae went on a Jedi killing rampage and Osha was arrested instead. Osha reconnects with her old Master, Sol (played by Lee Jung-jae), and they begin to investigate Mae’s murderous spree.
The characters and world of the story are sufficiently developed, but they don’t feel right. It’s also hard to explain the reason why — I can’t think of anything I found to be bad. But it doesn’t feel right.
I don’t really understand why I should care about anything. Mae’s dark side leader’s identity is still a mystery, but who he really is doesn’t matter. The person behind the mask is not interesting. He’s just a bad guy.
The relationship between Sol and Osha, as a master and a student, is interesting, but I’ve not spent enough time with these characters to feel invested in their relationship. If we had spent one episode with Osha, before she was thrown into all this nonsense and nonsense, her experiences would have been more impactful. We didn’t and it doesn’t. It left us feeling a little dull.
The writing is stilted, uninspired and predictable. The entire cast delivers it with great gusto, but I’m particularly impressed by Lee Jung-jae who is outstanding as Sol and Manny Jacinto who brings life to Qimir, the former smuggler that helps Mae in her quest.
The series is also visually stunning, with beautiful environments, fantastic lighting and costume designs that are a cut above the rest. The fight scenes are also shot with clarity and purpose. This is an added bonus in a series where Force-powered characters bounce and flip across the screen.
After an hour and half of Star Wars: The Acolyte I have almost no memory of it. The time passed, I was there, and then, it was done. The Acolyte was one of the few times I’ve watched something and felt so little emotion. I will probably watch a few episodes more, but I doubt I’ll stay with it very long if the next two are anything like the previous two.
