Star Wars: The Acolyte – Lost/Found review S1 E1
With Disney wisely taking a quality over quantity approach with its biggest franchises — Marvel Studios and Star Wars — there’s even more importance on that limited output connecting with fans. The Acolyte marks the first live-action Star Wars series since the well-received Ahsoka show.
Ahsoka has been a long-entrenched member of the Star Wars universe since The Clone Wars. A cameo in The Mandalorian didn’t hurt either. The Acolyte is an altogether new entry in the Star Wars saga with little of the goodwill of shows with ties to the Original or Prequel Trilogies.
It’s still early in the series, but Lost/Found largely starts The Acolyte on a positive note despite some frustrating narrative choices.
An assassin, Mae (Amandla Stenberg) has a Jedi hitlist and is going after them one by one. Director/writer Leslye Headland (Bachelorette) almost seems to set Mae up as The Bride character in her “Kill Bill by way of Star Wars” story. Mae’s first target is sure to get viewers talking and invoking some Scream comparisons.
Mae also further stacks the odds by going after the Jedi just from using small throwing knives. That doesn’t seem the best strategy for Jedi warriors who use lightsabers and the Force. Fortunately for Mae, the first Jedi prefers to fight on her terms instead of the arm slicing, quickly end the fight technique of an Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Headland’s efforts to do a little Crouching Tiger, Hidden Jedi with the fight scenes isn’t as compelling. The wire fu looks like a relic from every late 90s/early 2000 action film and seems out of place in Jedi battles. Sure, Genndy Tartakovsky incorporated more hand-to-hand combat in his Clone Wars micro series, but it looks far more stilted in The Acolyte.
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Beyond the Mae fight scenes, Headland mostly has the feel and tone of Star Wars down. From panel wipes, the distinct planets with their own unique visual flair and quickly defined personalities, Lost/Found offers a solid Star Wars foundation. There’s just the right amount of humor without feeling too forced for the sake of easing some of the tension.
Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-Jae, Squid Game) is shocked to hear his former apprentice is gunning for Jedi. Sol takes his padawan Jecki (Dafne Keen, Logan) and Jedi Knight Yord (Charlie Barnett, Arrow) to investigate.
Easily the most frustrating aspect of Lost/Found is the dynamic with Jecki and Yord. Yeah, it’s great to have a black Jedi Knight, but not when he’s being dismissed by a subordinate in padawan Jecki. This sniping would only make sense if Jecki was harboring some crush on Yord, but Headland seems to consider Yord the overly intense joke character to spoof the traditional main hero.
Diversity and inclusion are admirable goals, but not if it results in the same questionable and dismissive treatment of black men in this franchise that aren’t named Lando or Mace Windu.
If nothing else, Stenberg should become a favorite of Star Wars fans. Her character has the charm, personality and most importantly flaws of some of the memorable heroes in the saga. Jung-Jae exudes a coolness and presence as the mentor character that likely will make him the breakout favorite of The Acolyte.
Like other Disney+ series, The Acolyte doesn’t look like a small-scaled TV series. It’s got the polish and budget that visually it fits right in with any of the post-Original Trilogy films.
Headland sets up a clever twist and wisely doesn’t wait until the midway part of the series to reveal it. That provides Lost/Found with a stronger cliffhanger than the episode’s actual ending, which came off more obligatory than necessary.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney