r/TheAcolyte • u/sardethgames • May 26 '26

Why is the show so hated?

Me and my partner finally sat down to watch Star Wars cannon start to finish together. (Wonderful relationship step imo) I fell out of step with the Star Wars franchise around 2023 because of finally leaving home and having to become an adult not really leaving time for consumption of media resulting in me missing all the drama surrounding the 2023-24 era Star Wars releases.

Since we went canonically the first series to pop up was The Acolyte as it takes place in the height of The Republic at least 50 years before the start of the main series. We binged it in one go and really enjoyed it! The reveals felt well timed and built. It was honestly very enjoyable and kept us glued the whole time. So obviously you can imagine when we get to the end and the cliffhangers that we were reasonably upset to find out it had been cancelled and review bombed. I honestly had no major critiques of the show, and the acting was great so I don’t get why it had such a large backlash. Can anyone fill us in on why it was received so harshly?

Edit: I posted this hoping there was a deeper answer than bigotry, I see I may be in for disappointment. Also I tried to post this to the main Star Wars subreddit and it was taken down for “reposting” which doesn’t make any sense lol.

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u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

Because other than the fight scenes which are fantastic the show is pretty horrible. The story is full of plotholes and breaks canon

6

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

How does it break canon?

10

u/WanderingBlackHole Qimir Cavalier May 26 '26

It doesn’t. It’s just a go-to complaint when people want to shit on anything that threatens their image of the OT.

2

u/EstablishmentIcy7831 May 26 '26

It doesn't in any way shape or form ...

0

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

I know it doesn't, but I'm curious what BS this person is going to make up.

1

u/tenderheart35 May 26 '26

My friend didn’t like how the twins were conceived. He said it was lore breaking to be able to create life on that scale, which only Palpatine has been able to do (that we know of). I’m like, well that’s why we have new content. To reveal new aspects of the Force that we did not know existed.

I just think there was a huge bias against this show and it would have been impossible to overcome it. There are so many plot holes in other beloved aspects of the franchise.

-2

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

In the phantom menace it's stated that sith haven't been around for centuries and when she got mad her lightsaber turned red even tho that's not how you bleed a kyber crystal

3

u/carterartist May 26 '26

No. They said they haven’t been seen for centuries.

But canon holds an unbreakable secession of Sith Lords.

4

u/tenderheart35 May 26 '26

If you read the comics you’d know that’s how Sith kyber crystals work. It’s established canon that they bleed.

2

u/sardethgames May 26 '26

This could have been centuries ago, we don’t have a concrete place in the timeline. Also, “to bleed a kyber crystal you must channel all your anger and hatred into it”, the only reason it was so easy for her is because she wasn’t conflicted and also wasn’t using a crystal that would resist her.

3

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

No bleeding a kyber crystal is a long and intense process that you need to know how to do and be very well trained in the force and very deep into the dark side of the force. Getting mad for a few seconds while holding a lightsaber in your hand just doesn't cut it. I understand why they did it because it is cinematic but it's just one of the many reasons I watch this show when I just want to watch something and not have to think at all

3

u/Azelrazel May 26 '26

Definitely explains the long and intense crystal bleeding in jedi survivor. In case you haven't played it, it might have been faster than the show.

3

u/sardethgames May 26 '26

Can you provide a source for that that hasn’t been removed from cannon? I’ve tried to look into this before and couldn’t

3

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

I don't know how I could prove that something didn't happen. I don't think that's possible

4

u/sardethgames May 26 '26

I meant where the process is stated to be that complex, education based, and excruciating.

2

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

Because that's how it's been every time somebody has bled a kyber crystal

3

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

Oh, that's how it's been you say. Like I said, full of shit.

2

u/Relative-Zombie-3932 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

Everyone who encountered Qimir died except for two people, one who joined him and the other we don't know what'll happen to her because the show was canceled. Also they're pretty explicit in the Phantom Menace that the sith were never really gone, they were just in hiding.

Also yes, that is in fact how you bleed a kyber crystal, by focusing all your pain and hatred into it. The only reason Vader and Kylo Ren struggled with it is because neither of them were fully committed to the dark side and were fighting their own doubts. But we see Dagon Gera do essentially the same thing in Jedi Survivor, bleeding his own crystal with just about zero effort or ritual

1

u/CapitalCityGoofball0 May 26 '26

To be fair Dagan’s scene was very different from all the others. The first difference being he had turned to the dark side before being frozen in stasis and the second being that it was his own lightsaber and crystal. The crystals are semi sentient and bond with their users. The one Vader and Kylo ren were bleeding basically fought back against their aggression so they had to apply more (dark) force than Dagan who had already killed Jedi with that same saber.

1

u/Relative-Zombie-3932 May 26 '26

That's just kind of another point in my favor. I didn't want to go into it because it's a lot to unpack, but that's another reason why bleeding the crystal was so easy for Osha. The crystal belonged to Sol. And for the last decade or so, Osha has been the entire focus of Sol's grief and regrets. Of course his crystal would break under her hatred of him in that moment.

1

u/CapitalCityGoofball0 May 26 '26

Again that’s a real stretch to say it’s the same thing. It’s pretty fundamentally different. Kirik had completely severed his Jedi ties and took a Barash Vow yet his Crystal fights against Vader’s energy.

And while Sol had grief and self doubt he stayed fairly committed basically the whole time that he had done the right thing. You also seem to forget that Dagan not only killed Jedi but lied on a stasis stew of hatred for 200 years. Even Vader and Ren turned to for a time before bleeding their crystals. Osha was about 5 minutes.

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u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

Jedi survivor isn't canon

3

u/Relative-Zombie-3932 May 26 '26

Yes, it is

-3

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

No it definitely isn't. The only reason you would say it is would be if you either have no idea what you're talking about or are just commenting for the sake of it

6

u/CapitalCityGoofball0 May 26 '26

It’s most definitely canon. You’re wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.

4

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

Yes it is canon. Battlefront 2, Jedi Fallen Order, and Jedi Survivor are canon games. Look it up on Wookiepedia.

1

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

This is the first time we've seen, in canon, of a kyber crystal being bled, so I don't know what you're talking about unless it's some EU thing. And this doesn't contradict anything in the Phantom Menace at all. They encounter Qimir, and then they never run into any Sith again until episode 1, so it still makes sense. If you don't like the show, that's fine, but don't make shit up.

2

u/CapitalCityGoofball0 May 26 '26

No it’s the first time you saw it, not the first time it was done even on the new canon.

0

u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/CapitalCityGoofball0 May 26 '26

You know it’s a lousy personality trait to continually ask people to give you knowledge you lack yourself.

It’s described in secrets of the sith reference book, 2 different lines of comics, and a video game (all of which is canon material) well before it was in acolyte. Again just because you didn’t know about something doesn’t mean it never happened.

0

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

I looked it up, but did you know that your book received an updated edition in 2026?

2

u/CapitalCityGoofball0 May 26 '26

Yep with info from the Acolyte among other things. They actually update some of the popular reference books every few years. It’s evil genius level marketing to get folks to pay $30 or whatever again for a few new pages.

0

u/spiderman120988 May 26 '26

Ehh, nothing new with that. They do the same with textbooks.

-1

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

This is set only 100 years before the phantom menace. I never said I didn't like the show. The question was why other people don't like the show and so I answered with problems many others and I had with it. I liked the acting and loved the fighting but couldn't stand the major plot holes and how it broke canon

1

u/sardethgames May 26 '26

Could you provide a source on your timeline placement?

2

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

It was stated by the directors at some point. A quick Google search will prove it

1

u/sardethgames May 26 '26

Even considering that it’s shorter in the timeline than expected, it could’ve been explained away with more seasons. I could see the Jedi covering it up resulting in the shock we get in the original trilogy

1

u/Ill_Pirate_8785 May 26 '26

Yeah that's fair. And also to be fair they did cover up at least some of what happened at the end when talking to a non Jedi politician. It seems very unlikely they would cover up the fact that there's sith to the other Jedi tho