The highly-anticipated next Star Wars TV series is upon us with The Acolyte. Does it live up to the hype? Let’s find out!
SPOILER WARNING! The following contains spoilers for The Acolyte Episode 1 “Lost/Found!” Do not proceed if you wish to avoid spoilers!
MAJOR POINTS
- The Acolyte assassin Mae killed Jedi Master Indara
- Mae’s twin sister Osha is a mechanic and former Jedi Padawan
- The bad guys appear to be based on Ach To
A purple-clad assassin named Mae kills Jedi Master Indara. Elsewhere, Mae’s twin sister and former Jedi Padawan Osha is apprehended on suspicion of Indara’s murder. While in transit to her trial, other violent thugs stage a jailbreak, leaving Osha and the ship to crash on a snowy planet. Osha experiences a Force diad message from Mae admitting to the killing.
Osha’s former master Sol believes her innocence and soon suspects Mae is the assassin. Fellow Jedi Master Venestra cautions Sol to keep things quiet so their political enemies don’t attack them. Sol rescues Osha while Mae meets with her master, who tells her an Acolyte must be unarmed to kill a Jedi.
MAJOR QUESTIONS
- What the heck is up with this family history? What horrible act is Sol remembering?
- Is the master Darth Tenebrous?
- Why must the assassin be “unarmed”? And why demand the Jedi attack first?
FINAL GRADE: C
This was a big heaping helping of something that was… just there. Don’t get me wrong, there is some pretty cool stuff that fits right in with Star Wars. The scene where droid pilots transform into seats is both hilarious and fitting. The costumes also fit with Star Wars, especially considering this High Republic Era shows more stylistic differences to Jedi robes. It makes sense that Jedi might have fancier robes while in the temple that they would investigating crimes on a snow planet.
This is not only the first episode but also in an era we have never seen in live-action with an entirely new cast of characters. Thus, I cannot judge whether it’s good or bad yet. The characters may need a few more episodes to grow on me.