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

Or hey've been hating on this show since last August and no 'surprise' would negate their complaints. I'm sure the surprises coming in the final few episodes will be complained about too.

Some mysteries, are supposed to be figured out in advance, if one notices the clues. Not all mysteries are intended for SHOCK.

 

I would change my vote if I could. To much time to think about this garbage since it aired and to many YT videos breaking down the mess I picked up on in my only watch it’s ever likely to get out of me. 3 was way to generous.

 

Look the fact that people here keep complaining about the complainers makes me wonder how actually invested people are in the show itself

 

And this is where your criticism of the show is baseless, as you’re setting an arbitrary and illogical criteria for what you constitute a sensible ‘action’ on the part of Qimir... and using a novelisation to support that never helps an argument (maybe we should wait for the novelisation of The Acolyte?). Point being, Palpatine was willing to take risks to advance his position and plan. That sets precedent for how the Sith act. Their relative ‘power’ is offset by their overconfidence. That Qimir is overconfident is absolutely consistent with the Sith that come after him.

You don’t know what Qimir’s wider plans are… unless you’re privy to information none of us have? If so, please share.

You don’t know that Qimir is letting his acolyte target *any* Jedi…. and with respect, you don’t seem to be joining the dots. Qimir knows exactly who these Jedi targets are, they are not random but very specific. Qimir seems to know what’s going on, and I suspect he’s got some skin in the game of what went on at Brendok.

 

“Makes no sense” is usually a red flag in any critique. There’s probably at least some sense in whatever it is, and you haven’t bothered to consider it.

 

Yeah, my only real strong critique of the show is the structure, editing, and episode length.

6 episodes would have been much more effective.

 

I think the show needed another draft or two before filming.

 

I think this if this show had 10, hour-long episodes to roll out this mystery and its ensemble of characters, it could've been a masterpiece.

 

Well, I agree that longer could work as well if Headland was allowed to focus on the story and character as she would like to, but since Filoni and LFL have final word on the content, I would fear the extra time would be used for filler things, like wacky scenes of droids spraying fizz on aliens.

Headland doesn't seem to have had the same level of control as Tony Gilroy has been allowed.

I am unsure if Headland and her writers original content was longer or shorter than what we currently see. But I suspect that the narrative was shorter than it currently is, and that's why I say I would prefer a shorter version. Things feel very stretched out to me. It also feels like some scenes were cut out -- in fact, we know that some scenes like Kelnacca vs. the Sith were cut out.

But I admit it's just as possible the story was longer and more developed as you think it should be.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if they had wanted to make more - and longer - episodes, but had to compromise due to budget restrains.

 

This seems like the issue with most of the SW series.

Episode length, series length, edits, and where things fall in the mix of it all.

 

Yes, because SW is very expensive to make, but my response to this reality is that less episodes would equal better SW.

 

I agree. This has been a complaint of mine with most SW tv shows. But they mostly likely do it to make the show last 2 months.

I bet there will be a great fan edit of The Acolyte just like there is a Kenobi edit and a Book of Boba Fett and soon an Ahsoka edit. I have watched the Kenobi and Boba fan edits and they have both been cut to be movies of 2.5 to 3 hour lengths and it works great.

 

One of the first things to cut out is Episode 3. The worst episode by far, and they could have cut it up into flashbacks for the other episodes.

This episode long flashback really slows the pacing down.

And we'll probably be getting another one for Episode 7.

 

I don't know what they will do. But I have watched fan edits of the prequels and the sequels as well and it's crazy what some fans have accomplished to improve films and tv shows. Some of them must be professionals, like I'm talking about inserting pro visual effects, changing the soundtrack so fits with new cuts, for Rise of Skywalker I have heard AI voices being used to completely change the context of some scenes. And I could not hear that it was fake. It's crazy what people can do these days from home.

 

Maybe the flashback should have been the first episode. Or at least part of it. Then jump to the 'present'.

 

Yes. Creating a more linear structure would probably have worked better, but I still think the episode is too long and should just be cut up into a few key movements. Plus that limits the focus on kid actors.

There's a reason most shows use flashbacks in this way. It usually works better and create tighter pacing.

 

Its expensive to make because they allow it to be

 

The problem with the flashback episode, for me, was that is pretty much just showed us what we had already been told happened. That made it feel unnecessary, and a bit boring compared to the other episodes. I think the presumed second flashback episode would have played fine off of dialogue telling the backstory, and maybe a few small flashbacks.

 

Rewatched Episode 5 and the lightsaber action is indeed a highlight. But there are once again strange choices made in writing and I really feel this script needed review and rewriting.

Yord. He obeyed to get Osha out because the Sith was killing people left and right. Made sense. Then he goes back, because Osha confirms to him she has a feeling the Sith might kill everyone. Basically they go back because they are supposed to so the rest of the Episode can happen. That is just lazy writing. There were a thousand things they could have done better there. The twin switch … after a lightsaber haircut. They just wanted that to happen and Mae shouldn’t know enough about Osha to even portray her correctly. All this seems so rushed.

 

I swear, Headland probably turned in a 5-6 episode treatment, and LFL said, let's discuss how to stretch this out 2-3 episodes.

Oh, I know, two completely unnecessary flashback episodes.

 

Hmm well she heard child Mae say her name, which might be Mae or something else reaching out to her. I think there is a significant story beat there.

Yeah, the writer of episode 4 did say Day and Night were "written together", but Disney made them split the episode into two.

One of the producers on the recent X-Men '97 animated series said that Disney only allowed them to make 10 episodes. So, Disney clearly have some really strict guidelines for streaming content, but I haven't heard why.

 

It seems like the SW shows have been full-story movie plots that are clipped for TV episodes.

They hold up better on full watch instead of week to week.

 

It's pretty annoying. They seem to either limit the organic amount of the content, or stretch it artificially.

All stories have their own natural length, and cutting them down or stretching them for artificial reasons is very damaging to the story.

For instance, the complaints from viewers of Episode 4, Day, were almost universal. Audiences felt they were once again being ripped off from a full episode, and it turns out they were right.

So by the time people watched Episode 5, Night, they were annoyed and their perception of the show was one of failure, of what new misstep will the show take.

LFL-Disney really really needs to understand how negatively these short 30-minute episodes are perceived. They have a great story which they undermine through their own poor management.