The Acolyte sums up the good, the bad, and the ugly of Disney era Star Wars streaming shows. While I enjoyed the show more as the season progressed, there were a lot of rough patches to suffer through on the journey. I'm not going to be able to point out the issues with the show thoroughly, but all you have to do is read a review for any of the shows season 1 episodes, and you'll quickly realize the holes that exist in the show. However, it wasn't all bad, and some parts were quite good. To begin with, let's start with the aspects of the show that I enjoyed.
After seeing the first preview trailer for the show, I was excited. It is the first live-action show or movie in the Star Wars universe to take place outside of the Skywalker saga. I've always thought Star Wars had a bit of a Tatooine problem (meaning too many storylines center around the desert planet), and so I welcome any change of scenery. I've read a book featured in the High Republic era, but otherwise am completely unfamiliar with this part of the Star Wars timeline. With this in mind, the scenery and planets that were visited on the show looked fantastic. The action was great as well. There were unique light sabers, including a light saber whip, as well as saber throwing techniques as seen in Jedi: Fallen Order. One of the main antagonist fights with small knives. While I'm not a fan of over the top violence, I do like the more intense and mature fighting styles seen in The Acolyte.
Now for the bad and ugly, but first, a brief overview of the plot. In the High Republic era, 100 years prior to the Skywalker saga, the galaxy is in a state of peace. However, after a Jedi is murdered, the council investigates the murder to determine who the killer is as well as their motive. They quickly discover that the murderer is the twin sister of former Padawan Osha, who was trained by Jedi master Sol. As the plot progresses, it is revealed that Sol killed Osha and Mae's mother, who was a witch and feared for their safety, which provides the motive for the murder. Actually, Mae has an entire hit list of Jedi she wants dead, everyone who was present on the planet Brendok when their mother was killed. It's also revealed that Mae is training with a Sith and that Mae and Osha are actually the same person, created from a vergence.
All of this sounds like it should work to tell a story of the rise of the Sith, but unfortunately this is all built on a very weak foundation that just doesn't work out in the end. To begin, the episodes are too short. Most of them are in the 25-40 minute range (if you don't count the lengthy credits), and this just simply isn't long enough to have any character development or to develop any real attachment to the characters. More Jedi die in this show than possibly all other Star Wars shows combined, and for the most part it just doesn't matter because we don't even know who the characters are. The writing is pretty bad, as well. This could be a side effect of the short episodes because the plot is pushed forward at a quick pace, but the dialogue and interaction between the characters is oftentimes bad and cringe worthy at some points. It's difficult to cite specific examples in retrospect, as many of them were minor, but a large example is around the entire Osha/Mae character.
Osha is originally framed as the murderer, until we find out that Mae exists, and then we learn that they are the same people. Osha is originally portrayed as the "good" sister while Mae is the "bad" sister. Their interactions are awkward throughout the season, and once we learn they are the same person and they learn that Sol was responsible for killing their mom (although didn't Mae already know that? It's confusing), Osha is immediately able to kill Sol without a weapon. This was a challenge the Sith gave Mae at the very beginning, one in which she was not successful. At no point during the season did I really create any type of attachment to either sister. I thought their acting was not great, and the writing around their story was not great either. They are the main characters of the show, and you can't have their acting and the writing both be bad for the main character. Their interaction with the Sith was just weird, and at times pseudo-sexual. While their story provides motivation for the murders, and may go on to further explain the power of a vergence, I feel like this season would have been better without them. Again, this is a problem since they are the main character.
I could go on and on about my issues with this show, and it would have been easier to provide specific examples had I written a post about every episode. As it stands, I'm writing a big post after finishing the season and honestly it is difficult to remember all of the annoyances. If you want more specific details just pull up any of the reviews online. They all basically say the same thing. There were parts of the show that were good, and it is setup for a season 2 which could be interesting based on where this season left off. If season 2 happens, I just hope that the episodes are a little longer for character development and attachment, and I hope the writing gets a lot better. Star Wars fans deserve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment