This episode, in particular, has the weakest writing and dialogue so far. It's just bad in my opinion. Very, very bad.
Bad writing, bad art direction, bad set design and horrendous editing are some of the crap you will get with this show.
I gave it a 2 because Tommen held off on committing suicide.
[7.7/10] I love me some gray areas in my Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, the light side vs. dark side stuff. But as I’ve grown older, I appreciate stories, including Star Wars stories, that acknowledge our communities and our choices are rarely that simple.
So I like the fact that the Nightsisters (or at least some kind of presumably related witches’ coven) are presented as a counterpoint to the Jedi, not the villains of the piece. This flashback serves a number of purposes. It gives us some of that vaunted backstory, to help us understand where Osha and Mae and Sol and others are coming from. It fills in the gaps of the events that loom so large in the histories of our twin protagonists, letting the audience see them (or most of them) after being tantalized by only being told about them so far.
But most of all, it establishes a different, but no less valid alternative to the force-users we know. We’ve seen the Jedi. We’ve seen the Sith. We’ve seen the Nightsisters who, while sometimes sympathetic (hello Fallen Order fans!), also seem to be harnessing some kind of black magic. We’ve seen the Bendu, who’s more neutral than gray. And we’ve even seen the more passive and meditative Bardottans. (Aka, the species Jar Jar’s girlfriend is from -- no I’m not joking.)
But we’ve never seen anything quite like this coven led by Osha and Mae’s mother, Mother Aniseya. I love that they have a different take on the Force. The coven thinks the Jedi view the Force as a power to be wielded, whereas they view it more as a thread, a tapestry between peoples and events, that can be tugged and pulled to cause changes amid that weaving. Their perspective on the Force is a collectivist one, where their connection to it is given strength by the multitude, in contrast to the Jedi’s view on attachments. And they don’t view the Force as directing fate, but rather as providing for choices -- one of the core ideas of the franchise.
That is all neat! One of the best parts of The Last Jedi is the notion that the Force does not belong to the Jedi. It is, instead, something that flows through all peoples. Exploring that there may be different religions out there, different means of reaching and interpreting it, adds depth ot he world and adds complication to the binary. It’s nearly never a bad thing to add that kind of complexity and ecumenical spirit to your universe.
More or less. One of the other things I appreciate is that the Coven and the jedi view one another with suspicion, even though they’re mutually respectful at first. The coven sees the Jedi as arrogant, too focused on power, too individualistic. The Jedi view the Coven as dark, as corrupting, as dangerous. I’m always a fan of shows that don’t present one perspective, but rather explore how the different vantage points affect the different views groups may have of one another. (Shades of Deep Space Nine from the other major star-bound franchise!)
This is all to say that the Coven is different than what we’re used to, but no less valid. The Jedi as we see them here are different than what we’re used to, but not invalid. And their twin approaches, alike in dignity, come through in the fulcrum between the Coven and the Order: Mea and Osha.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room with those two. The young actress (actresses?) who play the earlier version of the twins aren’t very good. That's no sin. Giving a convincing performance as an adult with years of experience remains startlingly difficult. But the reality is that, though these young actors are giving it their all, there is a put on, stagey quality to the performance that can take you out of the moment. I dearly hope the fandom is kind to them nonetheless. It’s tough being a young performer, especially in a high profile role. But despite a nice moment from Osha when she realizes the gravity of what she’s lost, a lot of the acting from the kiddos is apt to take the viewer out of the moment.
Thankfully, the writing helps make up for it. Not for nothing, given Lucasfilm’s current ownership, much of this feels like the first act of a film from the Disney Renaissance. Osha could be your classic Disney princess. She loves her family and wants to do good and be righteous, but she has this yearning for something different, beyond the garden gate. The episode lays it on a little thick in places, but it’s a venerable story beat for a reason. There’s something compelling about someone trying to make the best of a family situation that doesn’t quite fit them but yearning adventure out past the horizon. (I mean, hey, it worked for Luke Sykwalker.) Osha is roughly one “I want” song from joining the little mermaid and company.
What I like about it, though, is that you feel for all sides of this situation. You feel for Osha. She wants to have an existence separate from her twin. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with the Coven. She doesn’t want to disappoint her moms or her sister. But she doesn’t want to lie. She doesn’t want to deny herself. She doesn’t want to give up this thing inside her telling her she wants more, or at least different.
You feel for Mae. She admittedly, has signs of being the “evil” twin. (Though I guess they both seem to use their force powers to freeze that translucent butterfly? I’ll admit, it was confusing who was who there at points.) She feels at home in the Coven. She loves the immediate family and the wider one. She has power and ease, and the confidence that comes from feeling that you’re where you ought to be. In the end, she does a terrible thing, but she’s an eight-year-old lashing out at an unfortunate situation. In the larger than life confines of fiction, it’s an easy thing for me to forgive.
You feel for Mother Aniseya. She is trying to protect her people. She wants to raise her daughters in her own proud tradition. But she also wants them to find their own path to it. But, from the vantage point of being a little older and a little wiser, she knows that what you want can change. What makes sense in the exuberance of youth can fall out of favor when it makes contact with the knots and tangles of that great ethereal thread. Wanting to protect your child, to instill your values in theme, while respecting their autonomy as young people is an impossible balance. Aniseya handles it with understanding and grace.
Heck, you even understand Mother Koril, who is the more strict and belligerent parental figure here. The cultural conditions are mostly implied, but it’s easy to intuit how the Coven has been marginalized, diminished, possibly by Force. The girls represent their future, and it seems to have required a great deal of her and her partner to make that happen. Why wouldn’t she do anything to protect her girls, and mistrust the Jedi who would deign to take their future away from her and her family?
And you also feel for Sol. The Acolyte already conveyed a very fatherly vibe between him and Osha,but this episode cements it. I have my qualms about what happens to the young woman, but Sol seems searnest when he tells her that she could be a great Jedi, when he imparts that courage means pursuing honestly what you want, when he embraces her in the throes of tragedy and wants to take her on as a surrogate child. The estranged relationship between them in the present is counterbalanced by this fraught but touching connection between them in the past.
Of course, that past is no less slippery. For one thing, there’s still much that's alluded to that we don’t quite see. Presumably there was some conflict between the Jedi and the Coven that Osha wasn’t privy to, which we’ll see down the line. Presumably, it’s part of what spurred Mae to take the actions she did. Presumably it’s why there’s great regret among the Jedi who survived the encounter. And that's before you get into the fact that apparently Mother Aniseya channeled some forbidden magic, or at least did something controversial, to bring the twins’ lives into being. There’s plenty of lore and intrigue yet.
But for now, at least, we have two cultures at odds with one another, in ways that question and complicate our sympathies. This is Star Wars. We know who the Jedi are. We’re apt to side with them, to see them as Osha does, as peacekeepers and heroes of the galaxy. (Even if we’ve seen their ossification and dissolution over the course of the Prequels.) When Osha wants to be a Jedi, and her witch family tells her to lie, to deny herself what she wants in the same of something she’s uncertain about, it’s easy to see Indara and company as rescuers.
And yet, it’s also hard not to see this different means of reaching the Force, that is apparently all but outlawed, and not have serious qualms about the equivalent of religious persecution. The notion that the Coven is allowed to exist, but forbidden from passing on their knowledge to children is startling. It’s clear that there remains animosity between the Coven and the Jedi, born of mutual mistrust, with ostensible peacemakers and instigators. And it’s hard to think of Republic law allowing the Jedi to test and, with some permission, take children away to be taught in their fashion, without thinking of real life colonial schools, and so-called “residential schools” in the United States, that have a checkered history at best.
So while the show makes things a little too blunt with Mae and Osha standing across from one another on a broken bridge, you get the reasons behind the actions and anguish between these two young girls, between their various parents, between Jedi and the Coven. This is not black and white, good and evil, light and dark. This is something more muddled and uncertain than that. And it portends deeper and more interesting things as the mythos of Star Wars evolves before our eyes.
(Speculative spoilers: My bet is that Mae’s master is one of her moms, probably Mother Koril. THough I guess it being the comparatively peaceful and forgiving Aniseya would be a bigger twist. The law of conservation of characters suggests it’s one of them, unless it’s secretly Master Vernestra or something. But one of the moms would be the bigger emotional gut punch, so I presume and hope it’s one of them.)
Felt like watching some Space witches show on the syfy channel. Terrible..
That was hard to watch
Did I really just watched a FILLER episode in 2024 as third episode of show with 180M budget?
Whoever came up with this idea to expand flashback which said everything necessary in first episode into whole 40 minutes should go and write podcast scrip instead of science fiction.
Little girl just ended whole civilization of force sensitive witches by one tiped over candle.
I was waiting for a shark to appear in a tornado.
Oh boy, the bigots are really going to hate this episode.
No, it’s not the same, it’s not as good, but at the end of the day it’s free extra Star Wars. Could be worse, look at Star Trek discovery :eyes:….
How does this at all related to the high republic period, we see nothing apart from these witches and stuff, so boring, the chanting part was like some musical, so cringe. Also witches supposed to use magic, not force, this is all wrong.
Good job making Jedi look evil and witches sweet & peaceful, what the actual f? Jedi never took away children without parents consent. Also kids are already too old, why would even Jedi test them, they are not supposed to be eligible at this age, why even bother?
So it was the Jedi who raided the place and burned it to the ground to kidnap the kids hence the guilt is it? What the f? Osha is super traumatized, conflicted, old, and too attached, 10 times worse than Anakin, why go this much effort for those boring twins? ZERO sense
Wookiee Jedi was the only good thing in this whole episode.
"The Power of One, Power of Two, Power of Many" chant during the Ascension ceremony was lame AF.
The point of this whole show is to fulfill Leslie's fantasy of lesbians being able to impregnate lesbians without the need of disgusting men. That's why it's so full of plot holes and crazy stuff like campfires on the hull of ships in the vacuum of space being put down by spraying CO2 (which functions by depriving the fire from oxygen, which is absurd in space) and Jedi killing themselves by poison that go through force barriers after being meditating nonstop for years, never occurring to him the idea of suicide until the protagonist/villain suggests it, and assassins boasting about Jedi drawing lightsabers only to kill while the next scene they use it as flashlights, or assassins boasting about the only way to kill Jedi is by not using weapons, cause "lasers" and steel don't work, right after a Jedi being killed by a STEEL WEAPON, etc, etc, etc...
None of that matter to Leslie and are just distractions that only nerds care about, all she really cares for is her RPG campaign where lesbians can make babies without the help of men.
It all makes sense through this lens.
The Jedi take Sol at 4 years old. Where did he get his accent from?
That’s it. I stopped halfway through. Not going to waste my time on it anymore. The writing is amazingly terrible. Story is uninspired. Acting is meh. The costumes look like low end child fan creations.
First, fuck the bigots.
Second, it really shows when a learned director like Kogonada guides the actors instead of a first-timer
Oh yay, yet another coven of "force witches" hell no, we can't have any original ideas!! first two episodes were ok, this one is just pure meh, and I suspect the story is headed downhill from here, sad was hoping for some cool high republic stuff, instead looks like we're getting the confused nonsense of Ahsoka again
I enjoy learning about the history of the force and the Jedi. Unfortunately, it's presented with horrible writing, forgettable characters and such a mixed bag of acting quality that the show struggles to keep my attention. Hopefully it gets better...
Slow but necessary episode. They could have
made it more emotional and intense though, it was pretty dry.
Wasn't as good as the first two episodes, but was some much needed backstory.
Not a perfect episode, but nowhere near as bad as the bigots on here make it out to be. I went in with low expectations (based on reviews) and surprisingly enjoyed it.
I can tell that most of the low ratings, screaming, and whining on here are just hateful people grasping at straws because they're too weak to admit what's really bothering them about the show. It's funny how the - to use their terms - "sensitive snowflakes" can't handle a show with two moms (one of them not even a human) without pissing and shitting themselves, foaming at the mouth and leaving a 1/10 rating because they didn't like the "plot". Yeah, buddy, I'm sure it was the "plot" that has you whipped into a seething frenzy.
The most-liked comment for this episode really goes to show the overall media literacy (or rather lack thereof) of the Trakt community.
Ah, "The Acolyte" – a show that manages to make the Force feel like it's been through a blender and then served with a side of existential dread. It’s like a Force-sensitive teenager trying to find its identity in a galaxy far, far away. Buckle up, my fellow space travelers, because we’re diving into the murky depths of Episode 3. :milky_way:
In this episode, we get a backstage pass to the coven that raised Osha and Mae. These witches aren’t your average broomstick enthusiasts; they’re more like the “I’ll hex you into oblivion” type. And guess what? They don’t call themselves “Force users” – oh no, that’s too mainstream. They prefer the term “Thread wielders.” Because why settle for a lightsaber when you can crochet the fabric of reality?
The Good:
- Philosophical Debates: Finally, a Star Wars show that makes you question your life choices as much as your allegiance to the Jedi. Episode 3 introduces more moral gray areas than a foggy London morning. It's like Plato meets Yoda at a tea party.
- Flashbacks: We get a peek into Mae and Osha's twisted upbringing. Raised by Force-sensitive witches, they're like the Addams Family meets Hogwarts dropouts. Osha's disillusionment and Mae's murderous vendetta – it's like a dysfunctional family reunion.
- Production Design: Brendok, the planet where it all goes down, looks like a cross between a medieval castle and a rave party. I half-expected a DJ Yoda to drop sick beats in the courtyard.
- The Force, But Make It Quirky: These witches redefine the Force. Forget the binary Light Side/Dark Side nonsense. They're all about the Thread – like cosmic seamstresses stitching fate together. It's like Yoda meets Martha Stewart.
The Bad:
- Child Actors: These kids make Anakin Skywalker look like an Oscar winner. Their emotional range? Somewhere between "mildly annoyed" and "I left my lunchbox on the bus." Lucluster indeed.
- Plot Holes: Apparently, a single book can torch an entire castle made of stone and concrete inside a mountain. Forget the Death Star – just give the Empire a library card.
- Writing Style: The writing stumbles like a drunk Tauntaun. It's as if the scriptwriter got lost in the Dagobah swamp and emerged with half-baked dialogue. Seriously, did Yoda teach them grammar or just how to lift rocks?
- Mae's Psychopath Scale: She goes from "I bake cookies for orphans" to "I'll rip your soul out with a spork" faster than you can say "Force lightning." Maybe she's got a Sith mood ring?
"The Acolyte" Episode 3 is like a Force vision after too much blue milk – confusing, unsettling, and probably prophetic. It dances on the edge of a Sarlacc pit. It's like Disney said, "Let's sprinkle some woke pixie dust on Star Wars!" Leslye Headland's agenda might be more twisted than a pretzel in a black hole. But hey, next time, focus less on agendas and more on storytelling. Because right now, the Force is strong with the facepalms. As for Star Wars, well, it's officially gone to the Dark Side. :new_moon:
Rating: :star::star::star: (Three out of 10 lightsabers – one for each act of confusion)
Remember, folks, even in a galaxy far, far away, bad writing can ruin more than just your day – it can ruin your franchise. May the Force be with us all. :star2:⁴⁵
This is truly horrendous.. Also the forced diversity stuff is just getting old and bad. If I remember shows when I was little then even if I would see this as a children's show then things like Power Rangers and VR Troopers were even better than this in terms of at least developing some depth. Also as a final note it feels like so many shows the last ~10 years are just "world building" endlessly, but then when that concept is created, the season is already over. It's endless useless suspension for something that never comes. They manage to make 6~13 episodes of something that is so slow that old shows from the early 2000's would put all that same content in the first 30 minutes of the first episode.
I thought this was Marvel’s Black Panther.
Brandok forever!
So, what really happened on that planet? I mean that fire was set up on the highest floor... and suddenly the whole fortress is on fire and everyone dead? If the explosion had been that strong then Osha should have died from it as well. What's the Jedi involvement? Did the witches kill each other in a (failed?) mutiny? Did the Jedi kill them - hence the guilt?
But honestly, I fail to connect with any of the protagonists here. The Jedi are their emotionless, aloof, arrogant selves, the witches... I don't know... Just how do 2 girls save the witches from extinction if there are no other children there? Both girls are mama-girls, and I don't really care about them either way. Don't know why but the good/evil twin/family member-plotthread, the heartless Jedi... it all has been done to death within the SW-universe.
And what exactly is the point of this series? Showing the decline of the Jedi order? Well, we had ample evidence of that in the prequels. So why set it in an interesting, because new political time frame... but not actually show anything save for the twins and some Jedi master?
Why even test the twins in the first place? They're too old - and now with that huge trauma, Sol thinks she's good padawan material? This doesn't make much sense at all.
So now we get a backstory episode on what this fire was. Mae seems like a really awful person. Seeing another "Maul" was neat. But the episode makes it seem like Mae is the cause of all the problems, as this episode is told from Osha's perspective, but I can imagine this will be ret-conned in a future episode to show the Jedi were the real cause of the destruction.
This may be one of the worst written and one of the worst acted episodes I have ever seen in the history of TV shows. How can Star Wars keep getting worse?
I was bored to death by this stinking pile of hot steamy shit.
Excellent background and character motivations. This is what I like in my Star Wars. In the same High Republic seen in young jedi, the high republic books etc.
What an absolute pile of bollocks, how does dropping a lantern set fire to rock and metal.... Just pure crap.....
What did I just watch?
Is it star wars or crap wars?
The acting and writing were really bad. They fail every time kids are brought into the stories. What is the fascination with/focus on witches? I did not like them in Clone Wars or Ahsoka. For f—sake, let's get back to the core of "Star Wars."
Hakuna Matata meets Star Wars. Some parts felt like a musical. Until now The Acolyted failed to impress. Let‘s hope the forth episode gets better.
We saw the past of Osha and Mae and what happened in their childhood that led to their separation. At the same time, we learned more about other groups, besides the Jedi, that are capable of using the Force. The episode was slower than the first two, but it is still too early to start judging the series.
NGL I was enjoying this show after the first two episodes and it looked like it was going to be a cool new story in the Star Wars universe but this episode killed a lot of my expectations. It was BAD bad.
Pros:
+Set/costume design
Cons
- Being a force baby is Anakin's thing, it's one of the reasons why he is an anomaly that the jedi have no idea how to deal with, copying this plot point doesn't make Acolyte better. It shows how the writers don't understand the world that they're writing about
-It's a background episode that should act as a foundation for why these two sisters are walking opposing paths but it doesn't give any explanation or interesting insight of this weird witch bullshit, it doesn't show us why either would choose the path they did, it doesn't give us anything to explain why the last Jedi poisoned himself willingly, and it doesn't give us a more full understanding of the story they began telling. All it does is show two feuding little girls making weird, unprovoked decisions that make no sense.
------ the fire part is laughably idiotic and contrived, I assume there's more to why the entire fucking village dies after burning a book in a room made of rock that will come later but even if it is retroactively explained it's at best wasted time
-Nothing remotely interesting happens in what should be a cornerstone episode for the series
- I know the two little girls are just kids but even ignoring them, the acting was awful. Unforgivably bad. Blacklist all involved bad.
This episode just killed all momentum the show had, they actually should have just scrapped this and went on without explaining exactly how they got separated
It is an adaptation of the same old theme, but unfortunately not very well executed. Perhaps they should have tried to space it out in two seasons to allow for a better development of the characters and the story. It could have been a good --if not very original-- series otherwise.
The adaptation of the old theme and the most likely identity of the Sith:
Replace Padme for Mae (the sacrifice), Anakin for Osha (the unsuspecting acolyte), and Palpatine for Indara (the Machiavellian executioner).
I doubt Quimir is the Sith, because he was not present in chapter 3, which is when the Jedis kill the witches and bring their place down (not Mae's fire). That would also explain why Torbin got that scar in his face at the end of chapter 3 and willingly drank the poison, and why Kelnacca goes into hiding to a remote jungle and becomes a hermit.
Alternatively, the sith could be Sol, but that would be quite a stretch. For that Quimir would need to be Sol's apprentice. Way too conveniently, he would put on the robes of his master after Mae leaves him hanging on a tree and later face Sol and the rest of the Jedis pretending to be the Sith Lord . It would also mean that Quimir is incredibly powerful, since he alone is able to throw back all the Jedis using the force and kill Kenacca.
This is the first time ever that I’d happily not bother watching a Star Wars production. Disappointing
I'm the odd one out here but I feel like this episode made me interested to keep watching. Wasn't sure about the series until now.
Ya know, I REALLY like the big questions and ideas that are being presented, but JESUS, those kids CANNOT ACT. They turned everything into an eyeroll exercise for me. Actively made the episode unenjoyable for me.
• Jedi as P.O.S. cops is interesting
• New witches are cool! (Except that chant… got what they were going for, but it did not work for me.)
• Jodie Turner-Smith was awesome
• Kids’ acting was so bad, and their conversations so repetitive that I wish they stayed in the fire so we never have to see them again.
P.S. Indara is definitely the Proto-Sith Master
Shout by Mike McCarthyBlockedParent2024-06-12T03:01:38Z
Scissor me timbers. That was a giant pile of poo.