It has been obvious for decades, but “The Acolyte” is the first in the “Star Wars” franchise to openly highlight how the Jedi Order is just as bad as the Sith.
Set roughly a hundred years before “Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” “The Acolyte” kicks off after Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) is confronted and killed by an assassin. A witness to a crime leads the Jedi to arrest Osha (Amandla Stenberg), a former Jedi Padawan turned mechanic.
The only problem is that the assassin is not Osha but her twin, Mae (also Amandla Stenberg), who is targeting three other Jedi Masters, including Osha’s former master, Sol (Lee Jung-jae). Pulled into the wild goose chase to bring her homicidal sister into custody, Osha is taken on a journey that reveals how a coven of witches—her family—died.
In a telegraphed galaxy far away
The word “telegraphed” does not even begin to capture “The Acolyte’s” story. Scenes move from one to the next, punctuated with action sequences, before they lethargically repeat, burning non-existent character motivations as a fuel source, like watching objects trail past on a factory conveyor belt.
Predictable right down to the identity of Mae’s Sith Master, there are no surprises to be found in the latest Disney+ series, let alone the sense of childlike wonderment and exuberance “Star Wars” is usually known for.
Early episodes are written with the intent to tease the real story behind Osha and Mae’s past, despite how obvious the reveal would eventually be. Actual themes only show up in the final episode, such as whether children should have free will and how good and evil are not black and white when it comes to the Jedi Order (and the Sith).
By that point, the season has ended, and any attempt to be deeper than the shallow pond it was throughout the previous seven episodes is a pointless undertaking.
There is also the matter of the dialogue. For the most part, the acting is fine, even in the third episode with the child actors that play Osha and Mae. It is also impressive that Lee speaks English throughout the series, despite it not being his native language.
He even demonstrates a deep enough understanding to know which words are important to stress through inflexion in his lines.
Where “The Acolyte” fails its actors and talent are the dialogue and the writing. Extremely stilted, the characters often sound like they are reading words off a teleprompter. No amount of dialogue coaching is going to help when the dialogue sounds AI-generated.
Seeing red
However, credit where it is due, “The Acolyte” has some good action sequences to break up the monotony of watching the characters talk.
The first fight between Qmir (Manny Jacinto) and Sol and the Jedi that he brings is very good, as it mixes the extremely choreographed lightsaber fights from the prequel trilogy with the more vicious, off-the-cuff choreography from the sequel trilogy.
It also firmly demonstrates how a lone Sith could overpower several Jedi back before the former even became a clear, present threat in the “Star Wars” galaxy.
At the same time, particularly how “The Acolyte” ends, it is very obvious the show’s bland story simply exists for one reason: to set up a potential second season that focuses on the Sith, which already sounds better than this hot mess.
“The Acolyte” is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
