Mini Series The Acolyte 1.05 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Don't we already know that the Jedi can't read darksiders very well?

Palpatine?

I'm sure the Sith have a variety of tricks up their sleeves.

 

I also thought the Jekki choreography was great. I just wish her and Yorde's characterization weren't so thinly realized so I cared more. If Sol died there I think I'd have felt more. Jekki just has had nothing to do in this show. I love the actor and I enjoyed her design, we just didn't learn much about her in these 5 episodes.

 

How does Hasbro not have an action figure of that pimped out Sith Lord on sale? Do they not like money?

 

Damn that was soo great of an episode. Poor Yord, but damn you all for Poor Jecki Lon.
Sith Qimir was a Master piece. Loved all the scenes of action. One of the best lightsaber fights. He is obviously the Apprentice.

 

Holy moly this episode did not pull its punches.

Yes, Qimir was the Sith Lord everybody predicted, so it basically turned out as obvious as a Scooby Doo episode. That said, Manny Jacinto absolutely sold the hell out of it. Instant presence and menace, yet I also appreciated how he retained some of the throwaway carefree nature of his smuggler self, but with a clear acidic bite. And if the reveal of his identity was kind of a foregone conclusion, essentially announcing himself as a Sith might have been the real surprise.

And jeeze, this really has to go way up the list of great saber duels in Star Wars, huh? It's easily the best from any of the live action series, especially because the consequences were so dire. Maybe there was a little too much cross cutting at times, but I got into its rhythm eventually. I was also a bit surprised at the couple times Qimir would disappear, but it became clear he was managing his priorities throughout the episode and he emerged the clear victor.

A couple nitpicks: Qimir killing all the other additional Jedi was kind of inevitable. I might have preferred it if we just had the smaller team of Sol, Yord and Jecki, which would have made the deaths of the latter two even more shocking. But then again, Osha seeing the dead face of the Jedi on the ground was a great way to kick off the action, and Qimir Force kabob'ing the Jedi onto his saber was as brutal as him killing Jecki and Yord later on. Also, maybe a few too many lightsaber hilt slash deactivation fakeouts? I wasn't quite sure what to make of those.

In any case, this is pretty clearly the best episode of the series so far, and instantly one of the best episodes of any of the other Star Wars series. And to top it all off, Mae swapping places with Osha is even more of a compelling cliffhanger than last week. I have no idea where it's going from here and it's thrilling.

9/10

 

That really makes me wonder if you have ever watched any Star Wars before

You mean Mae?

I cringed so bad with that line.

I think that literally every single lightsaber fight in the Prequels is much better than any lightsaber scene in the Acolyte tbh.

Well, not really but ok. It certainly cannot not be stupid though.

This was probably the best episode so far, and I think the reasons are:
(A) Qimir, who is carrying the show along with Sol. Intimidating and commanding presence. Everything was great about him.
(B) The low bar that the other episodes had set.
(C) The multiple action scenes, which this show does very well.

Having said that, sadly, the portrayal of the Jedi and the choices of the characters are totally nonsensical, and I feel there is a total lack of understanding of how the Force works from Leslie Headland and the rest of the writers. The script was much better in this episode (actually had good humor for a change), but the story still suffers a lot.

 

I think the word didn't mean anything to him at all. In fact, I am really starting to think the average Jedi doesn't have any knowledge of the Sith. At all.

Sol seemed to have no idea what they were facing. He said "you carry a Jedi weapon" without appearing to see any significance to the red color of the saber. He asked "what are you?", as though he truly had no idea, and then didn't react to the term "Sith" at all. No disbelief, no horror, nothing. He's pissed, certainly, but he didn't give the impression of someone being told the Jedi's ancient mythical bogyman was real.

Osha was with the Jedi for 10 years, and yet she asked "what is he?" and Yord had no idea. No speculation at all, just ... they had no clue.

I'm really starting to think that fans have made some assumptions about general Jedi knowledge that are going to turn out to be incredibly wrong. The last battles with the Sith were what, 1,000 years ago? One would think that was recent enough for it to be a generally known part of Jedi history, especially given the longer lifespans of some species. But, maybe for some reason it isn't general knowledge after all. Maybe it's restricted information for some reason. In TPM, who actually knew about Sith beforehand? Qui-gon, obviously, as he is the first to suggest that's what he faced after fighting Darth Maul. But Qui-gon also showed that he was into ancient prophesies. He may not be a good example of a typical Jedi in regards to this kind of knowledge. The Council knew what Sith were, even if they assumed the sect was extinct. But, they are the Jedi High Council. Maybe your average Jedi didn't know about the Sith before they reemerged, killed Qui-gon, and Maul was (not)killed by Obi-wan.

This of course begs the question of why would the average Jedi have no knowledge of the Sith. If it's been only 1,000 years, it seems highly unlikely that the concept would have been lost and unknown even if they were assumed extinct. Unless, the knowledge as suppressed for some reason. So, why would that be?

 

I've been trying to like this show thus far, but this episode was just a complete mess, and the lowest point of the show for me (thus far).

Firstly, it seems that all the Jedi in this episode forgot to use something called the Force. No Force pushes, jumps, runs, grabs... nothing, just lightsabers and... fists, yes fists! Wow.

Mae inexplicably says she wants to just turn herself in in ep4. Fine, whatever, let's see where it goes. Then when Jecki wants to actually arrest her, she resists. Huh? Feels like Abrams vs. Johnson vs. Abrams all over again.

Jecki then holds her own against Mae for quite a while (who killed a Jedi master in the first moments of the show btw), followed by Qimir himself -- in fact this little "padawan" literally outclassed all of the Jedi that came there (as a large group for reasons unknown)... then in the middle of the fight with him she pauses for like 5 seconds to look at her broken lightsaber... only for him to disappear instead of just killing her as he does a couple of minutes later.

Meanwhile Mae is running and running and running, keeps getting dragged back, only to run again. Jedi are falling like flies but somehow "the Sith have been extinct for a millennium" and supposedly nobody will have memory of this incident nor will it be recorded anywhere.

Now we come to Sol, who killed an innocent animal in the last episode when they could have just ran... is now faced with the enemy that literally killed several Jedi including his own padawan with a lightsaber to his throat, but chooses to just walk away? Not even try to arrest him? Only to have Osha question his loyalties after seeing all those Jedi sacrifice their lives... and then lure all those innocent animals to their deaths at the hands of Qimir.

Sure the choreography was fine and the photography was nice as others pointed out, but to me none of that really matters when nothing I'm watching or hearing makes much sense.

 

It might be the dumbest episode yet. Well articulated. The writing is failing this series. Great actors, bad writing.

 

I think the Sith just have that killer instinct, where a jedi may be hesitant to kill.

 

The writing is good at least better then Faveru and Filoni, lol. Mae is still within character. And Sol wanting not Sith to kill Mae.

 

On the Force Helmet discussion, two points:

1. Perhaps a Sith scientist found a way to impart Ysalamiri capabilities onto the helmet, just to protect the head at short range. #vulisen4life

2. This isn't the first time in Disney+ we have seen a Force artifact kinda defy what we know. Why is was the Dark Saber so heavy in Mandalorian hands?

Force artifacts with weird capabilities are not a new thing. Unlearn what you have learned.

 

Favreau and Filoni are high art compared to this. But opinions are like a******* and the such of course. Glad you're enjoying it.

But Mae's motivations seemingly flip on a dime. The best episodes are 1 and 2 IMO.

 

The Darth With No Name

 

She is still acting the same, the Sith lord come for her and she wants to simply run. She died if she is arrested. Its why she switch places with her sister.

 

Ahsoka, in plot, character motivations and actions made zero sense for like 90% of the show.

Even people that loved the Ahsoka vs Anakin dream episode disagree on what it was suppose to mean, on what Ahsoka was meant to take from it. (NO, DON'T TRY TO EXPLAIN IT HERE )

But yeah. Filoni is a such a great writer

I don't disagree that Mae is all over the place.

 

Both Ahsoka and Book of Boba Fett has weaker writing then The Acolyte and makes almost no sense. The Mandalorian season 3 is maybe little better.

 

I believe Favreau is a good writer, but Filoni is slowly exerting more influence on him with each new show he writes.

 

I don’t like the Jedi ignorance of what a Sith is.

The Sith have been referenced in the high republic before. In phase 2, the dark Jedi Azlin Rell referenced them.

Of course we know in the PT era when Qui-Gon Jinn mentioned the possibility of Maul being a Sith, none of the Council said “what’s that?”.

Jedi thinking the Sith are extinct…fine….even thinking this dude is just a dark Jedi, sure….but the whole….not knowing what a Sith is just bad writing.

 

I was cautious regarding the lightsaber duels in this episode. Well,


It was really great, especially since the Sith attacked not only on physical, but also ideological and emotional levels.

 

Sure, but last episode Mae suddenly flipped to saying Osha was her priority.

This episode she leaves her sister to die in the woods. Priorities change I guess.

 

I think he is a good writer but sometimes just writes a first draft. Like with Book of Boba Fett and Mandalorian season 3.

 

People have called the unmasking of Qimir a little underwhelming. Maybe that's because we already guessed it was him and he was a Sith. I never doubted that he was a Sith and not a Dark Jedi.
I expected the red shirt Jedi to die, but Jecki and Yord surprised me, especially only halfway through the series.
I'm only halfway through the episode so I'm going to keep watching.