Lyles Movie Files
star-wars-the-acolyte-day-review-yord-and-jecki
Television

Star Wars: The Acolyte – Day review S1 E4

Jeffrey Lyles , , , , , , , ,

The first two episodes of The Acolyte sparked off a somewhat compelling mystery. Last week derailed that momentum with a full flashback installment. Day doesn’t do much to get the series in a place for continued optimism. Yes, it played out and things happened, but nothing of any obvious importance.

What’s been a problem from the start is the arm’s length distance the writers have kept the characters. By the time the Millennium Falcon arrived at the Death Star there was no confusion about the motivations of the main characters. Luke Skywalker wanted to become a Jedi like his father. Obi-Wan Kenobi wanted to aid his old Clone Wars ally Bail Organa, rescue his daughter from Imperial clutches and train Luke to become a Jedi. Han Solo wanted a major payoff. Princess Leia had to get the plans to destroy the Death Star to the Rebellion. Darth Vader wanted those plans to seal the fate of the Rebellion. Moff Tarkin sought to crush the Rebellion in one swift stroke.

Compare that to The Acolyte. Sol, Yord and Jecki are trying to track down the Jedi killer that they learn isn’t Osha, but her twin sister, Mae. The twin sister twist was information withheld just until the second episode. Mystery solved. In the same way, there’s the belief that Mae has a real reason for wanting to kill the final two of the four Jedi on her hitlist. This reveal is also intentionally being delayed though not necessarily in the sake of good storytelling.

Say Sol and the other three Jedi did do something. There’s little incentive for them to keep their actions a secret now that a killer is gunning for them. It’s worse considering none of these Jedi seem capable of defeating an opponent who’s not using a lightsaber or a blaster. Creator Leslye Headland seems to want to make The Acolyte this big shocking series about the Jedi not always been good guys.

Again, in the first three films introducing the Jedi that’s clearly established. Obi-Wan lies to Luke in Star Wars. Yoda and Obi-Wan basically hype Luke up to prepare to fight and kill Vader even though they know they’re sending the son to kill his father. In Return of the Jedi, they try and gaslight Luke into seeing their manipulation from their point of view. In the prequels, George Lucas further showed that the Jedi and fallible, capable of some disastrous choices in their efforts to aid the greater good.

The Acolyte is operating on a Christopher Columbus mentality — discovering something that’s already been mapped, charted and fully explored.

Day finds Mae and Qimir on Jedi Master Kelnacca’s planet so Mae can take out her third target. Naturally this begs the question why she didn’t just keep pursuing Sol since she literally ran into him. It’s not like she has to go through the trouble of finding him. But the story doesn’t call for that confrontation now. Better to go against the loner Jedi who won’t answer his call.

MORE:

The dynamic with Mae seems off in that she’s being given the traditional hero path. Complete with a scoundrel-esque comic relief sidekick. Yeah, she’s a murderer and all, but she’s really nice and thoughtful too.

Osha thinking her job is complete is funny. But also, presumptuous that the Jedi would assume she’d want to stick around to see the resolution. Anyone else pick up some vibe of Jecki crushing on Osha, who was seemingly down for it? On the live-action front besides Ahsoka, there’s not many women who are friends in the Star Wars universe. Largely because it’s normally one woman around a bunch of dudes.

Seemed like a missed opportunity to have a BFF style setup like Luke and Han instead of Han and Leia. Was the best female friendship in Star Wars non-Rebels/Ahsoka category Ahsoka and Barriss Offee? Also, the development of this quasi-relationship was pretty much non-existent based on the minimal interaction between Osha and Jecki before Day.

The Jedi arrive on Kelnacca’s planet with a secret weapon, the tracker Bazil. See also the cute character that hopefully will sell a lot of merchandise like this Funko Pop. Bazil and Osha don’t hit off too well. She probably needed to stick closer to him as the extent of the action in Day is Osha nearly getting taken out by some hostile native creatures. Not exactly the most thrilling action sequence.

Sol and his crew of seven other Jedi (!) Osha asks Yord to take Mae out, but he suggests Sol wants her to face Mae instead of having someone else do it. There was a lot of walking in Day to the point it felt like it stumbled onto an extended edition of Lord of the Rings.

Mae has an epiphany now that Osha is alive. She doesn’t need the Sith lord or Qimir. She’ll surrender to Kelnacca and the Jedi. Sol promises to explain everything to Osha once they get Mae safely to the ship. Yep, that doesn’t sound ominous. Bazir manages to find Mae and the other Jedi track her down to Kelnacca’s home. He’s not in much of a greeting mode as he’s in a chair dead. Mae realizes her master is here. But how did he arrive without being detected?

The Master slowly creeps up behind Osha while the Jedi try to make sense of him and his red lightsaber. He Force pushes Osha away as the Jedi advance. But this crew has not learned how to avoid Force Dust powers even if it should be as simple as pushing it back? Anakin got that trick down in mid-battle against Asaaj. Sol or Yord are still baffled by the same trick twice?

Day offers plenty of talking and more teases for future episodes. At the halfway point of the series, it’s time for a clearer path instead of this incredibly slow burn that hasn’t earned much equity yet.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

As an Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

lylesmoviefiles