Lost/Found

I love Star Wars. It's been a lifelong obsession and will stay with me forever. Have never got into the cartoons but I've seen every live action film and TV series multiple times. Of the new post Disney fare, I enjoyed The Force Awakens (but not Episodes 8 and 9 and certainly not Solo), and I loved the first 2 series of the Mandalorian, and adored every moment of Andor - for me the best Star Wars Universe live action output that's been created to date. Many of the other TV series have been damp squibs IMO - Kenobi, Ahsoka and Boba Fett (ruining my favourite SW character in the process).

How does The Acolyte shape up in the above context? I watched 2 episodes and this review combines them. No plot spoilers required.

For me there is a huge problem at the heart of The Acolyte which also affected Kenobi and Ahsoka and was similarly problematic for much of the Prequel Trilogy. We all love Jedi Knights. We love the Force. We love a bit of light saber action. But Jedi Knights are BY TRAINING calm and serene, relatively humourless and unemotional, no major mood swings or ups and downs, limited bitterness, anger, sadness, fear, passion - because those traits are trained out. At the extreme, dialogue between Jedi Knights is clunky, awkward, serious, worthy and stilted. I find Ahsoka a difficult watch because she plays every scene the same way - like a Buddhist monk in a Zen like state - no matter the peril, danger, etc. In The Acolyte we have dialogue between Jedi Knights for much of the story - where's the comic relief, where's the recklessness, where's the jeopardy and emotion? Much as with The Phantom Menace where dialogue between politicians is stilted, worthy and boring, dialogue between Jedi doesn't exactly get the juices flowing. For example, Dafne Keen is a brilliant actress (Logan, Dark Materials) but so far her dialogue and required Jedi delivery makes her comes across as simply reading lines.

I hope this series turns out well - as a SW junkie I'll watch every minute - but IMO a non SW fan would find this a boring watch. The original films worked so well because you had Jedi (telling us the background story and providing moral leadership) surrounded by reluctant heroes (Luke, Han), comedy turns (the droids, Han), brave leaders (Leia), scoundrels (Han again), evil types - it worked because of that mix. And, of course, cool creatures, planets, vehicles etc. I'm missing most of that here. Let's see how it all pans out.

I wanted to like this, the first 5 mins were the highlight and it went downhill from there. No interest in the characters and stories. Overall just pretty boring. The quality of the new Star Wars shows has been uneven. While some series like "The Mandalorian" have been enjoyable for their storytelling, characters, and production values, the acolyte falls into a second camp of not being able to meet these standards. Inconsistent writing, pacing issues, and underdeveloped characters lead you to think this show was more what Disney think Star Wars fans should like rather than what Star Wars fans actually want to see.

The beautiful thing about The Mandalorian and Andor was the discovery. "Here's a character, watch what they do, and you'll figure out the rest as you go along." They left us almost constantly in suspense, wondering what was going to happen next. What's this person's goal? Why are they doing this? What's their next move? The first episode of The Acolyte has decided to do away with all of that.

Right off the bat there's text on the screen explaining exactly when in the Star Wars timeline we are, and the plot is immediately laid out. What follows are 40mins of unsurprising, wildly cliché events with dull, obvious characters that are trying so heavy-handedly to make you feel something they alienate the audience completely. Sorry writers, but giving me less than 5mins to wonder why someone dislikes fire before flat-out telling me is super boring.

The episode's dull writing can't be saved by the mediocre acting, and it leaves me feeling disappointed that a project that could have been so promising and so interesting is off to such a soulless start.

Very much enjoyed the first episode, the action is well choreographed, sort of reminds me of the matrix and it does well to create intrigue with mystery and many different points of view. It does leave me unsure at this point in time what the necessity of this show will be, what it wants to tell us that we haven't discovered through previous projects, but I imagine in time we will find that out.

Lee Jung-jae fits so perfectly into this universe and his line delivery has you hanging to his every word. You can feel Master Sol's regret and sympathy for Osha and whatever the situation was and it will be interesting to see exactly what those details are. Yord comes across as a bit of a people pleaser, desperate for approval at the moment, I'll be curious to see more to better understand him and also his connection to Osha which so far we only know they had from their first on screen interaction.

Ep 1 attempts to set the stage for a new Star Wars adventure, but it feels more like a stumbling first step than a grand beginning. The narrative pace is sluggish, making it difficult to stay engaged. The characters, though diverse, come across as flat and unmemorable, lacking the depth one would expect from a Star Wars series. The visuals, while impressive, can't compensate for the underwhelming storyline and wooden dialogue. It's as if the creators were more focused on ticking boxes than delivering a truly compelling tale. Perhaps the series will find its footing in later episodes, but this debut is more of a misstep than a triumph.