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

It was a fun episode. I mostly agree with the general opinion that the fighting scenes were engaging.

As usual, a few comments:

1) I wish the "power levels" (in the lack of better words) were a bit more consistent. The Sith could easily handle all the Jedi combined, but then when Sol remains alone, somehow he manages to best him. Similarly, Mae turns out to be so weak vs a Padawan that Trinity really comes off as an idiot for perishing at her hands.

2) Lol at how they tried to make some big revelation out of Jacinto being the Sith. It couldn't have been more obvious hahah.

3) Of course they ended up making a twin swap, that's hardly surprising, though it felt perhaps a bit unearned, in the sense that Mae's motivations are a bit unclear and it doesn't look like she has a solid plan to justify taking such a risk. However, maybe she just wants revenge vs Sol, so I'm not too bothered by this.

4) I see people complaining against the writing... fair enough, of course I can't say the dialogues are brilliant, but I don't really see all this huge discontinuity with respect to the other non-Andor shows.

 

It was an observation. If there is action people in general like it even if writing is not better or worse. I guess many watch Star Wars only for brainless fun and that is okay I guess but I would rather see something better. Like Andor. Loved that show. Why they are not doing both?

Good action and sensible plot. I hate to hate this show since many have hated this show for purely racist and misogynist seasons or as protest against Disney in general. So far this has been the only episode I have hated since it just makes no sense to me. I don't care about skin color or sexual orientation of actors or characters if plot makes sense. But this just didn't. Action was rather cool at times. There were some good shots and visually nice lightsaber fights in the dark. But overall entire concept of having lone sith attacking 8 jedi and winning is laughable. Palpatine attacked 4 jedi and killed 3 but only because he had no choice really. This dude is just OP.

People are free to rank episode as high and as low as they see fit. We agree there. I have no power over other's decisions.

 

Internet critics aren't going to give this episode a fair shake, they must save face for their prior criticisms of the show. One YT critic I follow gave it a 3/5 and was very honest in his review. He believes the episode is still 1/3 trash, but this episode's fight scenes were good according him. I'm waiting for Star Wars Explained's review, Alex is a level headed reliable YTuber, guys like Star Wars Theory have they're own agenda, keeping their subs vitriol engaged and so forth... the only Collider guy I still follow is John Campea and Robert Meyer Burnett.

 

so we don’t know what happens yet. Sol
Only just got back to the shop, he hasn’t spoken to anyone. This info may not make it back to Coruscant, at least not a true version of it. Any of those light sabre deaths can end up being attributed to Mae and given Qimir picked up all his stuff, there is no evidence he was even there.

Sol may turn bad and cover it up or if Mae is blamed, the Jedi explain it away as a force sensitive girl taking revenge and it’s all over now.

 

I only accept it from a Star Wars property because of nostalgia. It's enjoyable despite the flaws because of the aesthetics and purely the fact that it's Jedi, Sith, lightsabers etc.

 

That is fair point his role in prequels was to represent jedi hubris. But still here 7 or 8 jedi were murdered at once so something extremely powerful must have been behind that. If not sith then jedi splinter group should've been brought up as option since all were killed by lightsaber.

Unfortunately I have limits how much I let nostalgia to forgive idiotic plotlines. This went beyond my treshold.

 

Campea and Harloff are both running their own individual channels now and are beginning to fall into the trap of saying things that will get them attention.

Campea has been a little miffed at Star Wars ever since all his Kathy Kennedy being fired rumors went up in flames.

 

Odds are Sol dies long before he can tell the Council about the "sith" and one of the sisters got framed as the one who killed everybody. Easy way the sith keeps on the down low.

 

Sol basically has to die before he can return to the Jedi for it to make sense

 

Yes, I agree especially Harloff... but I don't follow him anymore.

 

After all this was just one episode of one Star Wars show. Positive thing is that we at least now saw some sith versus jedi action on-screen. I just hope in the future it would make more sense.

3 episodes left of this show still. I will watch them all. But this episode was the first that made me clearly negative about this show. This has the same problem as Kenobi and Book of Boba Fett and we know what it is. Sure Star Wars has always had badly written dialogue, some nonsensical plotlines, character shields etc. But they should write less of them not more. There are ways how this episode could've easily been the best Star Wars ever but it fall short of my expectations and I can be disappointed about it. I don't need to like all things Disney produces.

I give them a chance and then say what I honestly think. I think it was unfair how many "fans" hated this show before it ever aired but too bad Disney still cannot create coherent Star Wars stories with all that money. So far only Andor has been seriously good. All other shows have been disappointing. I don't think Acolyte ruins Star Wars forever as more dramatic people have said but it certainly didn't fulfil my expectations. It had action, but I want characters I can care about in my action. Jecki and Yord were close, but they weren't enough to make me actually sad to see them die. They were almost there but not quite. They died before growing on me.

You thought this was good? I mean it is quite subjective. I didn't like this episode at all. Okay action was fine at times but I didn't feel anything for the characters so they failed something IMO. I want relatable characters I can care about. Sol is only one who is even close. I thought they are going to develop Jecki. But then she died. Osha is so dumb and Mae is psychotic and changes her mind constantly. Cannot really care about them. Osha is like character from horror movie. You expect her to die for her stupidity.

 

Whilst I think some of the characters motivations are (as yet) unclear, that's not really the same as being 'inconsistent'. The show is relatively consistent with what it depicts IMO, but I do think pacing and editing is an obvious weakness throughout the series (in my opinion as a direct result of the TV series template they are using).
In terms of how Qimir was able to kill all the Jedi (bar one), not only was it a plot requirement (given that many people were complaining about the Sith revealing themselves), but as posted in an earlier email, the Sith *have* to be more proficient at combat, stealth and manipulation... it is their modus operandi, and something that they've been honing and aggressively trained on for circa 1000 years. The Jedi have not. The Jedi are clearly not equipped to deal with a Sith Lord.

The budget of a show isn't always in the production values on screen (although I'd argue that The Acolyte is of a good standard), but instead can be consumed by the contracts given to writers, producers, actors, agencies etc. That's just the model that Lucasfilm have been employing. The theory is that the budget being expended buys better ideas, a higher caliber of showrunner or writer etc., but obviously that is not always the reality. I think Headland has done a pretty good job with this show, but whether the results/success reflect what she's being paid is debatable. Same goes for the actors. They could have cast complete unknowns, as most of the main leads/actors probably demand higher wages. It's ultimately a choice.

 

That’s excellent. Are you calling the character this or did you find out that’s what this Sith is named? quite fitting.

The Sith being alive is an impossible idea to the Jedi Order at this time and if Sol survives to report this the Jedi are likely to say it was imagined. Chimera indeed.

 

I don't understand why Mae is no longer willing to give herself into the jedi? She has killed 2 jedi so she is not innocent. 3rd one was not killed by her so for that she is innocent. Since sith appears Mae can just tell everything and they would probably believe her. But for some reason she no longer wants to give herself into jedi? Why? Why Kelnacca being dead changes everything? Why Jecki is not okay for her? I don't understand her plans at all.

Why she pretends to be Osha now? Is she going to kill Sol? Why not to do it immediately here and there? Why she no longer cares for her sister, last episode it was only thing that mattered. For me Mae is totally inconsistent character.

Still attacking 8 jedi for no reason was not a smart move since it was completely unnecessary. Qimir complains about jedi not allowing him to exist but that is just hypocrite since jedi have allowed him to exist so far. Only when he started killing jedi him being sith became a problem. He bring all this upon himself and acts like a victim. He is ridiculous man but apparently jedi of this era are so bad in combat one ridiculous man with cortosis mask can take out 8 of them! Dear god not even Palpy was able to take out more than 3 of 4 masters in ROTS. It's just everything Qimir does is stupid- he is so OP he would have easily taken over the galaxy by now if he can take 8 jedi at once if he wouldn't be stupid and inconsistent... He kills jedi without remorse but then suddenly he leaves Yord alive only to kill him later. Plot doesn't demand anything it's up to writer how plot goes. But there is so much "plot demands" moments here it breaks my immersion. They just couldn't write coherent immersive battle sequence but they had to remove characters in the middle of the fight for no reason to explain how 8 jedi cannot defeat sith together. I don't understand what the hell happened to Jecki and Sol? 4th episode ended with the Force push but some jedi flew kilometers away and some only few meters. Ridiculous plot device. If they would've had like a cliff it would've made more sense that those who fell down cannot join the fight. Making sith to attack in corridor or narrow space of any kind would've explained how he can take so many jedi at once. But no he is right there and still jedi cannot kill him since they are inept.

 

Best Lightsaber Sequence in the Entire Star Wars canon. [my opinion]
Really -- all those Jedi dead? All of them?
1 - Seems like a massive situation that you kinda have to bring up to the High Council
2 - Yoda wouldn't sense it?
3 - Just leave all the bodies? No bonfire?
4 - By droping the word "Sith" instead of random Force wielder - the cat is out of the bag, right?
5 - Is it possible Qimir is the apprentice... and thus looking for his acolyte to unseat his master?

 

The Sith Lord is Filipino double blades, Filipino Martial Arts, my style and also Ahmed Best's style as well!

Did Darth Smiley Face turn off the Jedi sabers?

Jecki is one with the Force, she did well though...

KMD cover up? Jedi Council cover up? Why are the Jedi so secretive? Do they want all the Power?

The witches have a point...

seeing the twins together... mind blown, must watch again...

its going to be a long week

 

She was gonna hand herself over to Kelnecca where even her master wouldn't be able to come to stop her. She states this quite clearly. Her master being there changes things signifficantly, she's be waiting to be killed if she let herself get arrested now.

As for Sol, this is her last change to kill a Jedi Master without a weapon, she can't just start a fight. Qimir reveals himself because Mae was about to spill the return of the Sith a century early. That's why every Jedi there needed to die. And please, there was one Jedi Master there, Venestra is clearly treated as Sol's superior and the Jedi High Council yet still is beyond her. There's still reason to hide even though he can dominate here. Comparatively Palpatine can kill 3 Jedi Council members in 3 seconds, Dooku can low def Obi Wan in 2 seconds. The Sith from the movies only ever really needed help with Yoda, maybe Windu. And that was a war hardened Jedi Council too.

 

I watch Harloff sometimes to get his feelings about Star Wars. He is negative about Star Wars now and fallen out of love for it. Campea too, even made a video in how to fix Star Wars, lol. Rocha is more positive.

 

Mae saw the Jedi can’t protect her. How does surrendering help Mae?

 

But there are 8 other jedi there. Why she doesn't seek protection from her master? If she believed Kelnacca would be able to save her why she suddenly thinks sith is going to kill everyone. Ok master is there now so she fears her but still it was weird how quickly she decided to forget her plan to be with Osha in the end of the episode...

Why she thinks her master takes her back anymore? She betrayed her already. Apparently she cannot just kill jedi barehanded yet like Qimir does. But okay I can accept this explanation somewhat.

But attacking 8 jedi alone is still tactically dumb decision. It would've been easier to take them of one by one. He hold all the cards yet he revealed himself.

But Palpatine is sith master and knights shouldn't be that bad in fighting. Padawan Jecki fought better than those temple guards. This just doesn't make sense anyway you slice it.

It's odd she knows before hand that jedi cannot help her. (8 jedi against one sith seems favorable to jedi) Sure jedi in this show are bad fighters but has she seen sith master killing 8 jedi before? If all she cares about is Osha as she claimed in the last episode she shouldn't have reason to resist Jecki so violently. I dunno her decision last episode feels even more senseless now... she should've known master is going after her anyway... sure him being on the same planet already made her to fear him more but still this was one of many things in the episode that felt inconsistent to me.

 

but they did. She doesn’t know Qimir survived unless I’m remembering the ending wrong

 

I loved seeing, presumedly cortosis, in a live action production, and acting like it should from the books. It also sounds like a variant of Kylo Ren's theme plays at the end of the episode

Saw an interesting observation from reddit:

"I noticed the red markings on Manny Jacinto's helmet were all red previously. After using his helmet to cut off the one redshirt's saber it left a blue marking. If the markings are from prior sabers, that means he had to have taken a red saber to the helmet at least once before"

That guy is a dick. I don't like him at all a real grifter