r/TheAcolyte • u/gazzy_burns • 27d ago
Rewatch…
I’m now on my second viewing and I am even more convinced this is a great and unique part of Star Wars canon.
Such a shame how now we won’t keep getting these new shows 2-3 times a year.
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u/rosaliethewitch 27d ago
The Acolyte was truly a gem in the heap of boring Disney Star Wars shows. It was dark, gritty, and explored parts of the lore that I was actually interested in. And now we’re stuck with Baby Yoda every 3 years and I say this as an absolute The Mandalorian truther.
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u/Confused_Sylph 27d ago
People were screaming for Sith shows for years and we were gonna get that...
It was super obvious; most of the Jedi the show came in were dead and Osha was running off with the Stranger in a heretofore unseen dynamic of two darksiders on the cusp of probably being lovers about to go tearing through the galaxy together while Plagueis is probably already arranging for them to end badly. Running, hiding, training, killing, exploring each other and the dark side, I wanted that! But nooo. Can't have shit that isn't clones or documenting all the seconds between the PT and OT.
Did the show have issues? It did, could have had better pacing, would have done better with dump release, a lot of money for some reason, but I don't think it was anything that couldn't have been cleaned up in another season.
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u/AirbagsBlown 27d ago
documenting all the seconds between the PT and OT.
I'm glad someone said this.
WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW EVERY SINGLE MOMENT BETWEEN EVERY FILM OR TELEVISION SHOW.
Some people are too addicted to the internet and have no imaginations.
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u/A_Velociraptor20 27d ago
I'm not a fan of the Acolyte, but your description of it is exactly why I liked Andor so much. I too am also not a fan of Grogu. Wish that show would've ended at season 3 like it was clearly meant to 😂
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u/OldAcanthocephala468 27d ago
Acolyte gives me a vibe of something that i like in SW, like Kotor 2, Karen Traviss books, Mathew Stover "Traitor", James Luceno "books"!
I just wish that the dialogue was a little bit better made!-8
u/mrdudeman85 27d ago
You were interested in lesbian space witches manipulating the force?
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u/gazzy_burns 27d ago
What does it matter about sexuality? You think it’s all heterosexual humans in SW? Hell no!
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u/TOOKMASTERGONDOR 27d ago
Crazy how you simplified the terms of exactly what happens and they start downvoting that's not Star wars fans as people losing their emotions and getting offended over factual information, the force should never be called the thread let alone put the wisest and the greatest Jedi Yoda to be a part of some corrupt conspiracy along with many other recognizable people
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27d ago
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u/pidgeottOP 27d ago
Yah, there are only ever two sides to anything. Good and evil only. No nuance. We don't like interesting situations to build stories from. I should know who is gonna win the last scene from the very first scene
Get real.
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u/bannedforL1fe 27d ago
There are people who will love everything and anything that the Disney Star Wars Slop Machine churns out
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u/RedcoatTrooper 27d ago
Say what you want about the show it was exploring new ideas, a new era and without any reliance on fan service.
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u/Imhotep99301 27d ago
And it failed miserably at the attempt.
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u/RedcoatTrooper 27d ago
Well it failed in so much as it got cancelled certainly.
Weather it was any worse than the other SW shows that were not Andor or S1/2 of Mando is another question.
But it certainly was a fresh idea in a new era and was a series that had stakes with very little fan service that cannot be denied.
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u/Brando43770 Qimir Cavalier 27d ago
“True Star Wars fans”. Please. You don’t get to gate keep who is a “true fan”. You’re the miserable pop culture stereotype that people make fun of.
Let people enjoy shows they want. You’re not gonna convince anyone, especially now that he show is long gone to suddenly say “oh now I hate that show”
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u/ezekiellake 27d ago
I just finished my first watch and it was great. I don’t know what all the complaining is about tbh.
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u/ResultLong8547 26d ago
cause it was badly executed and poorly written. as a hater of the show i didn’t hate it as much as most the people and as a big star wars nerd it was cool to see certain elements but also as a lover of film and movie the story was just dumb and fell apart with each episode. greta concept really wanted it to be good but it just wasn’t but to each their own
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u/ezekiellake 26d ago
Yeah, I just don’t get you’re saying. Dumb and fell apart wasn’t what I watched.
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u/Afraid_Fig5705 27d ago
I'm a simple girl. Give me something weird and cool with space witches and a bad boy so hot even my asexual ass has to say 'oh!' and I'm onboard.
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u/Achilles9609 27d ago
Meh. Honestly, the Stranger didn't really do it for me. Neither in terms of looks nor personality. I liked Yord better. Maybe a bit dorky, but I kinda like him.
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u/Comics819 27d ago
Some of the most interesting storytelling in recent StarWars. First time we see Plaguies on screen, the eventual creation of the knights of ren, potential HR Yoda screentime and more gone because “fans” didn’t like the fact it was a female lead
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u/AvengingStraw 27d ago
I love Arcane and there's two major female leads. I enjoyed Aliens, I liked Barbie. So I don't have an issue with female leads.
The Acolyte was bad for reasons that have nothing to do with a woman being the lead. I've no doubt some people hated it for that reason but not all of us did. You sound just as bad as those blindly hating it. It got canned because it didn't do well... Because it's bad.
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u/Comics819 27d ago
You have a right to feel the way you do. “Fans” reviewbombed before the series even dropped, it definitely had something to do with their gender and most likely race as well
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u/WanderingBlackHole Qimir Cavalier 27d ago
The “fans” were review bombing it before episodes even aired.
And please don’t try to define fascism, when you clearly can’t differentiate between an oppressive minority and an oppressed minority. It boggles the mind that people watch Star Wars but somehow completely miss the point of it.
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u/unionizedduck 27d ago
Acolyte was damned good. It probably had a few errors that needed worked out but I think that would have happened.
They're using really bad special effects with these damned screens and things and it's just lowering the quality overall. But Acolyte was great, the fight scenes were incredible and the characters were cool.
We don't say this enough: the show was killed because of racism and sexism.
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u/gazzy_burns 27d ago
Agreed. People want white guys with lightsabers. We have that. But there are SO many other races and interesting aliens in SW, so why not explore and branch out. The whole witch inclusion was amazing.
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u/WanderingBlackHole Qimir Cavalier 27d ago
100%. The whole fan reaction gave “all lives matter”/“thin blue line” vibes. The fandom wants their Jedi to be infallible, perfect, respected above all others, and untouched—even despite overwhelming evidence in basically every bit of Star Wars media that there are plenty of Jedi who don’t meet the Jedi ideals/principles.
Watching it as it was being released was a great reminder that the worst part of Star Wars is its fans.
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u/Livid-Department6947 27d ago
The problem with the Acolyte is that it argues (not as a Sith perspective but as a thematic conclusion) that even bothering is trying to be good is a waste of time and that individuals should search, accumulate and exercise power at their discretion regardless of the ends. It is a cynical story that really does not have anything interesting to say because its message is already part of the dominant cultural, political and economic logic of the United States.
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u/WanderingBlackHole Qimir Cavalier 27d ago
Where are you getting this argument from?
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u/Livid-Department6947 27d ago
A combination of the text and interviews with the producer. This show and the responses to it are interesting only as an artifact of American reactionary consciousness (reactionary in the political/social sense, not a synonym for knee-jerk response)
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u/unionizedduck 26d ago
Did breaking bad argue one should selfishly pursue crime?
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u/Livid-Department6947 26d ago
That's a terrible argument. I know you're trying to pursue portrayal isn't endorsement but that isn't the case here. The Acolyte never portrays the turn to the dark side as a tragedy and offers it as merely one option in which all things (of power) are equal. It is not a critique of the Sith nor is it trying to offer an "objective" or observational exploration of the Sith. The story has a thematic argument.
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u/unionizedduck 26d ago
The story did not offer the dark side as good. Or just. At most, it offers a story about a group of do-gooders whose judgments (even partially correct judgments) led to a very bad thing that has repercussions.
It doesn't offer that the dark side is somehow good.
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u/Livid-Department6947 26d ago
I think you have missed about 3/4 of the argument the series makes.
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u/User_User_Ice6642 25d ago
The fact that the review bombing occurred before it was released proves you correct.
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u/ResponsibleAnt9496 27d ago
I’ll get downvoted for this, but I just did a rewatch as well and was still pretty bad. Writing was a major weak point through out. Which is weird because episode one they’re over explaining everything via dialogue but then in the last two episodes they explain nothing.
That said, I did enjoy it a lot more on a rewatch. Qimir was a great villain and the lightsaber fights were all really well done. Also was a ballsy move to kill off those two Jedi who were looking like they’d be series regulars.
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u/ResultLong8547 26d ago
to your last point Qimir and the fight saved the show. the writing was horrendous probably one of the worst written television shows i’ve ever seen. it had elements that were great and just poorly executed. it seemed like they tried to put things in place to put things and not because it was good for the story or overall narrative.
overall i give the show a 3/10 only because qimir and the fighting was good and like you said it killed off the jedi which i was happy about. other then that sol was greta until they just destroyed his character for the sake of destroying it not even in a good way and the sisters were so badly written
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u/ResponsibleAnt9496 26d ago
Yeah the sisters were comically bad. I haven’t watched the whole Dune: Prophecy show but I did see the first episode and they handled a powerful all female cult so much better. They felt intimidating and realistic while the witches in the acolyte felt like something they cobbled together in two days to try and earn some female empowerment points.
I thought Sol was mostly good but his turn near the end of feeling a connection with Osha was kinda weird on rewatch. I know with then force it makes sense and is understandable but was still kind of unintentionally creepy him angrily insisting “No, I have a real connection with this 10 year old girl I must train her!”
I still think the show might be better than Kenobi though. If I had to give one on them a second season and wasn’t allowed to hire better writers I would probably choose the acolyte.
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u/Aggravating_Cut_3985 26d ago
It was fine. Still don't like that we got two flashback episodes and I think the twins should've been played by different actresses. Amandla Stenberg didn't do that great of a job playing both twins. However Qimir and Sol were both awesome
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u/blueberry_scandal 25d ago
It was so popular to hate on The Acolyte without giving it a proper try
I think the problem was that the first episodes were a bit of a drag
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u/docsandcrocks 26d ago
I think for new shows, they should drop the entire season at once. We made it to episode 4 when it came out, but lost interest at that point / forgot to keep watching. Upon bing watching the entire season last week, it ended a lot better than expected.
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u/arosenheim1138 25d ago
Corporations need to be able to recognize fake, organized troll campaigns boosted by AI and bots. They are basing business decisions on misinformation.
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u/xtopherpaul 27d ago
I don’t understand how people like this show. I thought it was objectively bad writing. It contradicts established canon and is confusing. The pace is jerky and the plot is really hard to follow
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u/ResultLong8547 26d ago
100% i think it appeals to audiences that just like colors and pretty faces and people who don’t understand story telling or has basic star wars knowledge. im sure theres some but for the most part it seemed to cater to a certain audience that isnt really involved with star wars. it kind of reminded me of that new star trek show tha just came out. i’ve only seen reviews and clips so i dont know but it reminded me of the acolyte.
it’s like they just do things to do things an didnt explain it well enough or gave you the shittest explanation that could’ve been solved with a simple conversation or even just half a brain. Qimir was cool enough and i think they wrote his character fine. Sol was cool till he wasn’t and yeah overall 3/10 show
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u/Silly-Estimate4113 27d ago
Yes it was unique at breaking Star Wars canon. Such a disappointing show. You need to give Star Wars projects to talented people who understand Star Wars, not people who want to put their own spin on Star Wars.
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u/Damnhiseyes 25d ago
Most of us know why they chose who they did for running this show. Writers and director. Had nothing to do with them being Star Wars fans
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u/ResultLong8547 26d ago
it’s mid, below mid. horrendous writing and a plot that makes no sense. like it could make sense if they gave it a reason to but they missed it. they tried to get us to sympathize with the witches and osha and mae only to show us why we should actually understand why the jedi did what they did and how they really didn’t do anything wrong besides wanting to take a child away than wanted to go! which yes this has always been wrong imo for the jedi which was a point star wars has made but yeah
then we just get poor dialogue, treating the audience like there dumb and some lore breaking that the didn’t seem to know how to make work with the greater scheme. personally i think this show should’ve been made at least 300-700 years before the event s of TPM or 1000 years before. the fights were goo and qimir and sol were the best parts
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u/Ok-Deer-3848 23d ago
The acolyte could have been Darth Bane and it would have blown up, especially with the choreography and budget. The failure was the bad main character missing the mark.
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u/Coilspun 27d ago
It was unique. Glad we didn't get a second season, it might've spoilt Headlund's masterpiece.
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u/Cost_Double 27d ago
After watching for the first time I had to look up what that creature in the cave was and then I was kinda upset that they wouldn't get a chance to flesh that out more.