The Acolyte - full season
It didn’t take a Jedi Mind Trick to convince most who watched the series, or even the first episode, that The Acolyte was not going to see a second season. But why did it fail? What did the show do wrong? How could it have been better? What did it do right? And what was it baselessly accused of that lead to such negative press from proud fans?
Although The Acolyte had amazing potential, and although we did get a handful of cool things, just like we did from the Star Wars prequel movies, this show suffered from an overwhelming ignorance of almost everything that makes Star Wars, Star Wars. A few major plot holes continued seemingly unaddressed throughout the show as it attempted (poorly) to link the story to established Star Wars canon, which intentionally alienated lifelong fans. The show also needlessly introduced yet another coven of “witches” nowhere near as cool as the Witches of Dathomir.
With the exception of some shows and movies, it seems the Star Wars franchise is suffering from the same fate that plagued DC Comics’ live action content. In that case, the animated DC shows have been incredible, but maybe 50% of their modern live action productions retain any rewatch value. But I digress.
The Acolyte was by far the worst of the live action productions in the Star Wars franchise, next to Attack of the Clones and The Last Jedi. I’ll also add that half of The Book of Boba Fett and the last season of The Mandalorian were almost unwatchable and filled with nothing but action figure bait. It is obvious there are too many hands in the creative pot of Star Wars with nobody leading with any vision.
With every episode of The Acolyte having been filmed on a poorly produced and claustrophobic sound stage with bad green screen CGI and even worse acting, it comes as no surprise that the show was canceled.
So, what would have made this show better?
The Acolyte should have taken place thousands of years before The Phantom Menace when the Jedi and Sith made little difference to common folk living in the universe. Little would have been known about either faction, and the rules, politics, and religions we know from current canon were still being established at the time. The Acolytes would have been an elite, secret group of Sith planning the longevity of the dark side by using the force to create life and live forever. Why? “UNLIMITED POWAHHHHHHH!” (Insert Emperor Palpatine voice here). The show should have made no links whatsoever to established live action canon, but maybe provide some nods or Easter eggs to fans of the books and games of that era.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
I did love Sol…. Huge props to Lee Jung-jae who deserves all the praise for not only giving his all in every scene, working with what he was given, but also because he literally learned to speak English to play the character. I see huge things in his future, and recognition for him in this role is well-deserved.
What led to such a negative reception before the show even premiered, and continued throughout the season as it was released?
Relentless gaslighting of “anti-woke” bottom feeders reviewing the show on YouTube and social media. These reviewers have no issue using the Disney brand and it’s popularity to push their agenda of hate and misinformation to speak to the worst instincts in people. The truth is, these Internet personalities would be nowhere without riding Disney’s coattails. They hypocritically celebrate the cancelation of this show while also crying about “cancel culture” when it applies to things they do like. They don’t even know how to define “woke.”
The Acolyte did have diversity; it included characters of all races and genders, and it even made one lighthearted comment about an alien-wombat’s pronouns. How is any of that negative? Unfortunately, these bottom feeders found an audience that closed their doors early. It’s a shame we even have to get political or seem like “social justice warriors” over a show that had plenty to criticize without stooping to baseless claims from the anti-woke crowd.
Jokes on them, though, since The Acolyte was just factually a bad show.
