Mini Series The Acolyte 1.03 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I think you’re onto something.

Maybe it was intentionally made so cringy/torturous to our ears because the writers are trying to tell us the chanting is an evil act.

 

The inability for people to wait for the whole story to enfold before judging on the merrits of the story is just stupid. Shows like LOST would be trashed these days because they didnt expain every detail in the very first episode...

 

8 people gave it a 1? Not saying it isn’t impossible. But something would have to be god awful. Zero redeeming qualities for it to get a 1, hell I gave join the resistance a 3 and I think that book is the worst piece of fiction ever written for Star Wars.

we all have different ways of ranking things. As long as you’re not complaining about wokeness it’s probably a perfectly valid criticism. Probably

 

Rated it a 7.

 

Attention seeking post.

Why don't you give it a watch and form your own opinion or wait til the series is done and binge it?

 

While LOST had a bigger overarching mystery slowly unfolding across multiple seasons, each and every episode was self-sufficient enough and had infinitely more character work and development than any live-action Disney+ Star Wars series. Rich character interactions alone were enough to satisfy and fill a 45+ minutes episode time-slot. Acolyte manages to fill only 30 minutes, and it is comparatively so shallow and has very little to say. Oh, and also, LOST was a 20+ episodes PER SEASON show. This is just 8, and we're already almost half-way there. It also helped that the characters in LOST were actual multi-dimensional relatable human beings, as opposed to Mae, for example, who is just an evil psycho from the get-go. When you watch actual real TV-shows, each episode in and of itself is good enough on its own merit. It's not supposed to be simply a teaser for something down the road. D+ Star Wars shows often feel like that. I did not find this episode to be good on its own as a standalone piece of television.

And, frankly, I personally have been quite burnt on the recent tease-type mystery box Star Wars storytelling that usually never pays off.

 

We see very little of their society in the limited time we spend with them, and even within that time frame we see them do something VERY dark and seriously consider murdering four Jedi. Why would you assume that the story is lore breaking and inconsistent with prior established story? I think it is perfectly reasonable to assume that it IS consistent with prior storytelling, unless given specific cause to not do so. Why is it less likely that we are supposed to infer things based on prior knowledge of the setting than that we are supposed to infer things are a radical departure without cause?

ETA: One thing I forgot to mention in regards to the ceremony: they made it very clear that there are some dark things that are going to happen. Mae believes that Osha is just scared, which suggests that something scary happens - confirmed by Aniseya saying that the ceremony is about moving through fear. We also know that they will experience the power of the many, that they will give up a part of themselves. It is more than just a chant and a tatoo.

I think it is almost certainly an accurate portrayal of what happened (although I am feeling Mae on the catwalk may have been a shared vision or projection), AND it is almost certainly not the whole picture. A lot happens off screen - assumed, but unseen. There are certainly surprises to be had in these spaces.

 

The comparrison to LOST is lacking of course. In its core it was just something I did to make clear that mystery shows DONT show us everything from the get go. And when I watch the 3 frist seasons of LOST there are plenty and plenty of questions asked through the seasons which dont get answers until the very end.

It's not like you have to like Acolyte. I honestly dont even care if you do. But I am annoyed about the tonload of **** the show gets for stuff that is natual to shows like itself. People pretend like what we saw in this episode is set in stone. But I am fairly certain it wll be all cleared up in the next episodes. Plus all the toxic mancrybaby stuff thats thrown at the show because there some girls and not causcadian male in it.

I am so tired of this. Its that same BS every. single. time. Since 1999...

 

I will say it is somewhat ironic, or perhaps not, that Eileen Shim is the one Headland brought into the writers room who knew nothing about Star Wars and episode 3 sticks out like a sore thumb out of the three EPS released thus far. And it at the very least plays loose with established lore if not altering it altogether. (Guess that depends on your point of view) I mean she has a writer credit on EP 8 of House of Dragon and that episode rocked, although Ryan Condal the showrunner is the primary writer on that episode too so hard to say.

One thing that stuck out to me: this is a hundred years before episode 1, when the Jedi Order is thriving with countless members and younglings in a time of peace, four Jedi go and raise a big deal about training these two twins who are about the same age as Anakin.

So did age just not matter back then? Because last I checked Yoda made a big deal about Qui Gon wanting to train Anakin and he did the same thing with Luke.

 

Showing a darker edge to the Jedi, even choosing to train kids whom are older, even going out of their way beyond Republic space to do so, would fit a Jedi Order that has lost a lot of its members to the Sith. An era where the Jedi are desperate for new members. I wish this show had been set in an Old Republic era where the Jedi have experienced great loss. Light of the Jedi, a HR book, referenced past Jedi purges. It could also give us scenes of Jedi fighting Sith without worrying about how it affects the Jedi's view in TPM "They have been extinct for 1000 years", since said Sith would be pre-RoT.

 

I hear you but the Order isnt hurting for Jedi here. Sol tells Osha that there are an absolute abundance.

 

I think that the issue here is not only that the Jedi must (according to Republic's regulation) inspect all Force-sensitive for their suitability for the order, but to prevent them from being trained by a religious group dabbling in the Dark Side. I would say that four Jedi were the bare minimum necessary to confront a coven of competent witches.

 

You raise a lot of good points here. And the answer may simply come down to....because thats how Headland and the writers wanted it written. For better or worse dependent on how all that makes you feel as a fan.

I just hope at the very least for the sake of the story this isn't "Mae is mad because Jedi showed up so murder" the series. But it's a rock in a hard place. You either make the Jedi look like sociopaths if not all is as it seems or you make the villain's motivations appear flimsy and borderline nonsensical if mae did in fact cause the fire and is simply playing the blame game.

 

100% agree.

We also have to remember that those 4 Jedi lied in their report back to the council. They did not disclose the full details of what went down. Confirmed because Mae is not mentioned in their report.

 

Osha explicitly says her situation was unusual and the Jedi made an exception for her to be trained, so yes - age mattered back then. Presumably when the choices are to train a kid as a Jedi or let them be trained illegally (sort of) by a dark side cult, then they let the age thing slide.

 

I wonder if the age thing mattered since Dawn of the Jedi Order?

 

Acolyte is worse than the Sequels for me i never believed this could have been possible the only good thing in Disney Star Wars was Rogue One Andor Star Wars Rebels and TCW last season everything else is mediocre products Canon breaking Star Wars deserve something better but for me Star Wars ended in 2014 this new Star Wars is not for me

 

Not the place for it but I see less canon breaking and more lore expansion.

 

https://tenor.com/view/kurt-cobain-nirvana-gif-17835437529956232241

 

You dont seem to enjoy new era of Star Wars why dont you Breath and take a break

 

I thought the actor portraying Mother Aniseya did a phenomenal job and I’m intrigued by this Force cult and the Ascension ceremony.

I’m slightly frustrated that we only got part of the story in this episode. There was obviously more going on from the Jedi’s and coven’s pov that we weren’t shown. It’s tiresome to think we have to spend another 12.5% or 25% of the season finding out what really happened during this event in the past.

I’m fine with the twin’s potential creation by midi-chlorians, if that’s what happened. The Sith needed to learn it from somewhere and if Mae or Osha or Koril or Aniseya is part of the Sith lineage or came into contact with the Sith lineage, it’s just more rich lore added to the SW universe to fill in the overall story.

I’m hopeful we get answers next week.

 

Pre-PT, I was in favor of Anakin just being a "regular" guy. A very talented Jedi who goes bad and then sides with the Empire.

Post-PT, I'm fine with the inclusion that he was created by the Force to balance it. Or at least that as an interpretation that the characters hold within the story. I don't believe Palpatine, nor Darth Plagueis created him. Maybe they tried. Maybe they thought they were successful. But I believe that Palpatine is just trying to seduce Anakin into believing he was created to be a dark sider. That he has no real choice in the matter because this is his destiny. Anakin wants power that the Jedi don't allow, and Pakpatine is handing to him on a platter. Which is also a lie. Which is the same thing Vader and Palpatine try to do to Luke in the OT. Make him believe its his destiny to turn to the dark side, when in reality both Luke, and Anakin chose their destiny. The Force might have a destiny in mind for certain characters, but those characters still have agency and have to choose it, if they want it.

For this show, I just see it as more dark sider unnatural experiments. Perhaps these women, this Coven, was successful. That's certainly something that might unbalance the Force in the long run. And that still doesn't demean Anakin or his role as the Chosen One. Mae/Osha are not created to balance the Force, and they don't even seem to have that high a concentration of Midi's to compete. They don't even seem to be of the same level as Maul. Dooku, or any other powerful dark sider that we've seen for that matter.

I'm really at a loss for how some fans think this show is lore breaking or kills SW, or is even "political". Different religions exist on Earth, and so it makes total sense for different Force religions to exist in the GFFA and for people to view (and practice) the Force in different ways.

 

I am really loving Mother Aniseya, her warmth to her children and as the head Witch. Her learning the power to create life through the Midi-chlorians, same that Darth Plagueis is Known for. Did she search ancient Sith and witches texts? Its a dark and Unnatural power in the Force as Palpatine said. And how far Away are we from Darth Plagueis as an apprentice? 10-20 years?

 

That concept tends to vary depending on those with attachment to a particular idea.

For example creating children outside of Anakin doesnt break lore. Vader and Obi Wan fighting again between episode 3 and 4 doesnt break lore. Or Kenobi knowing Leia as a child. Even palpatine coming back doesnt break canon. Its an expansion.

Force childen doesnt change anything with Anakin. But it does mean the concept happened before Anakin and so it reduces the idea that he is the only one. While in concept its probably meant to feel like an expansion of lore. Which the showrunner claims she wants to leave their creation kinda vague.

This feels more like a red herring before the reveal. We think she is getting revenge for that reason. But she will then reveal that there was more to it. The suicidal jedi did not kill himself because of what she did.