The Acolyte

Anybody watched / watching The Acolyte?

SW stuff usually gets a little buzz here, but I haven't seen any chat.

I have opinions but I'll withhold them for a bit.

Been planning to watch it, guess I'll have to rush and watch some episodes now to give an informed review

Down with Kathleen Kennedy. 

I watched it. I really enjoyed it. Reading others opinions reminds me that no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans. 
 

As bit of advice, the pacing does not work well for a weekly release; however, it is very decent if you finish it over 2-14 nights. 

I watched the pitch meeting, I'm good.

In reply to NickD :

That was a pretty thorough and accurate summary of the issues with the show.

Watched it. Liked some of the concepts they introduced. Helped me understand some things I didn't necessarily understand before. Though, knowing half of the actors from other serieses first didn't help any AT ALL. 

Darth Bortles!

I enjoyed it, but went in with low expectations, partially due to all the review bombing.  I've also hit a point in my life where I look to get enjoyment out of something, rather than outrage.  I am sure there were lots of little canon breaking bits that would have annoyed me 10 years ago, that I am willing to gloss over now,  

It was nice to get a story in a different time than all the others, without any Skywalker saga baggage.  I would have preferred a few thousand years earlier, but the hundred or so beforehand had to do.  I thought it also did a reasonable job of showing the level of arrogance of the Jedi in general when they were the "primary" force wielders in the galaxy.

For some of the best fight signs using light sabers it's tough to beat this series. But, it's drawn out, weighed down by inconsistencies, and suffers from weak dialogue. They wasted Carrie Anne Moss. I felt like it was meant to lead to something, but I really have no idea. Sure, sure, they snuck a cameo in there for like 5 seconds to get us thinking of the rule of two, but that seemed wasted as well. Manny Jacinto was awesome however. I would have liked to see a story just about his character. Maybe next season if it gets picked up for a second?

Meh.....the last 2 episodes are good but it's pretty bad before that 

There's a bunch of weird character flaws that are pushed because the story gets clunky. I don't want you spoiler it but those that saw it probably will get it when I say throwing everything away and endangering people because you are homesick was a weird way to further the story. 

Also if I never see interpretive dance in a Star Wars show it'll be too soon

I think it might have been a better idea to binge this one, usually I don't say that.  But there were enough slow paced episodes that binging could have balanced it out.

I mean it's no surprise I love everything Star Wars.  100% card-carrying nerd since 1977 and even the weakest material makes me happy, so there's that.  I'm glad social media didn't exist back in the 80s/90s, I could enjoy stuff without bother.

Is this series awesome?  No.  Is it terrible?  No.  I'm looking forward to the next season, see where those cameos go.  (On to the next show for people to complain about, why not start now?  No need to wait for it to actually appear.)

Also, the review bombing was funny.  The bots targeted two other shows/movies called The Acolyte that had ZERO to do with Star Wars and commented the same dumb comments.

I ran across The Acolyte more or less by accident while checking D+ to see news on potential upcoming seasons of Mando or Andor.  I honestly hadn't heard anything about it, even though it was already in progress.  We watched it in several 2- or 3-episode chunks.  It was, as Jerry says, acceptable.

Some random thoughts:  SPOILER ALERT















 

• I couldn't believe they went with the "evil twin" shtick, but at least they didn't keep that up long.
   
• I didn't actually like any of the characters enough to care about them, and I actively disliked some of them - I hated Mae from start to finish, and I disliked Osha by the end; I liked Sol but it was clear they were setting him up to be the unwitting villain, or at least tragically flawed fall guy.
   
• I wanted something about Qimir's backstory.  He has an implacable hatred of Jedi and he's a proto-Sith.  Why?
   
• I'm not sure how I feel about the continued retconning of the Jedi into antagonists rather than protagonists.  I'm definitely disappointed by the post-Jedi characters like Rey Skywalker.  If someone sets up an entire order of heroes in their mythical universe, then you decide to shoot them down just because you can, it kind of feels a little edgelord if you don't replace them with something better.

It was... OK. As mentioned above, some really good lightsaber battles, but really weird inconsistent pacing, too many flashbacks, and too many characters that weren't fleshed out.

I'm just waiting for "Andor" season 2. That show was amazing.

eastsideTim said:

Darth Bortles!

I enjoyed it, but went in with low expectations, partially due to all the review bombing.  I've also hit a point in my life where I look to get enjoyment out of something, rather than outrage.  I am sure there were lots of little canon breaking bits that would have annoyed me 10 years ago, that I am willing to gloss over now,  

It was nice to get a story in a different time than all the others, without any Skywalker saga baggage.  I would have preferred a few thousand years earlier, but the hundred or so beforehand had to do.  I thought it also did a reasonable job of showing the level of arrogance of the Jedi in general when they were the "primary" force wielders in the galaxy.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that kept seeing Jason from Jacksonville. Also Jedi Trinity. 

I liked it. If you avoid social media and reviews then you'll be able to enjoy new SW content easier. People were leaving bad reviews without watching a second of it or before the episodes ever released.

As a huge SW fan, I do my best to avoid other SW fans as much as possible.

In reply to yupididit :

I don't pay any attention to reviews at all, and I hadn't even heard of this series before I started watching it.

I don't know or care what's "canon" or who half the cameos might be.  I haven't read any books or comics or watched any of the animated series.

I am strictly reacting to what is presented, at face value.

In reply to Duke :

You'll probably be able to like it for what it is vs for what you want it to be. I say give it a shot.

I need to finish Andor, I keep falling asleep on it.

In reply to Duke :

Spoiler:

For Qimir, (OH SNAP!) take a close look at his scars and Verneastra's unique light saber. 

In reply to mtn :

Did she appear in any other series?  The Wookiepedia has a lot more information than I could possibly have picked up from watching Acolyte.

In reply to yupididit :

Oh, I watched the whole Acolyte series already.

Duke said:

In reply to yupididit :

Oh, I watched the whole Acolyte series already.

 

Oh! I misunderstood your original post. My bad.

yupididit said:

In reply to Duke :

You'll probably be able to like it for what it is vs for what you want it to be. I say give it a shot.

I need to finish Andor, I keep falling asleep on it.

Me too, I tried to watch Andor many times and never seen to get super into it. I think I'm in the middle of Episode 2

I only watch love island and old reruns of Jerry springer.  Lesbian incest love triangles for the win!

I kid.  I'll give it a look. 

In reply to Antihero and yupididit :

I enjoyed Andor, and appreciated it.  But then, I think that Rogue One is the third-best (and maybe even second-best) out of all the feature-length SW movies, so it slots right into that.

When / if there is a second season of Andor, I will watch it.  But I think that series is more for the core SW fanbase than, say, Mando, which clearly has broader casual appeal.  So I get that it may be a little slow to excite.

NickD said:

I watched the pitch meeting, I'm good.

I realize it was done after-the-fact, but that is devastatingly accurate.

It does fall firmly into the "SW fans are the worst SW fans" category, though.