I am way behind the curve regarding the new show, I have been traveling so much it hasn’t left me much time for extra tasks. The latest Star Wars series, The Acolyte, premiered last week with the first two episodes. It’s going to be interesting for me to watch this series; I do not know that much about this era of Star Wars. I own the books, I just haven’t started reading them, yet. So let’s get into my initial impressions of The Acolyte.
I’ll start out by saying that I am really enjoying the series, so far. I will break this down into various discussion points. A quick warning, before I continue, this post will contain spoilers, so if you’re waiting until the series has been fully released then don’t keep reading but do come back.
Great Characters
Sol is my favorite thus far, he gives me Qui-Gon vibes and I’m digging it. Lee Jung-jae is amazing and underrated. Squid Games is the only other role I have seen him in and he was excellent.
Jecki Lon, Dafne Keen’s character, is a great character. Her species is a Theelin-human hybrid. We have seen a Theelin before, she was Rystáll Sant, a dancer in Jabba’s Palace in the Return of the Jedi Special Edition. This is a nice little callback to the original trilogy.
I’m not familiar with Amandla Stenberg’s other roles, except for little Rue from The Hunger Games. However, so far I think she is doing a good job portraying two different people. I wouldn’t say she is at Eddie Murphy or Tatiana Maslany‘s level but she’s off to a good start. Her Osha character gives me Doctor Aphra vibes.
Also, I think the twist with using twins is a tribute to George. George always loved to throw a little “family twist” into his Star Wars films and that’s what Leslye Headland is doing with Osha and Mae.
I’m a little disappointed that Carrie-Anne Moss’ character was killed off so quickly; I really wanted to see more Matrix/Star Wars crossover. There is hope, however, that she may be back for some flashbacks. Also, I’m not quite on the Yord bus yet. Charlie Barnett has some work to do to make up for his “Anakin blew up the Death Star” flub in an interview.
Here is a “How Much Do You Know” post for the cast of The Acolyte.
The Technical Stuff
You know I’m a big fan of the music. The composer for The Acolyte is Michael Abels and I’m not too familiar with much of his work. It looks like he does a lot of work with Jordan Peele. So far I am digging the music and I’m excited for more. I would even go so far as to say that he’s doing a better job than Joseph Shirley did for Season 3 of The Mandalorian.
You know what else I’m a sucker for? Martial arts. Granted we are not seeing Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee level of fighting in this series, but I’ve enjoyed what we have so far. In fact I think Sol’s “fighting-without-fighting” is one of the things I really like about the character.
I don’t know if I am going to do a weekly post for each episode. Most of the time I do that to point out neat cameo’s and easter eggs. However, given how little knowledge I have of the High Republic era, I’m not confident I will see anything worth pointing out. If there is something to discuss after the next episode then I will decide.
The third episode will be tonight, at 9pm EST on Disney+ (but I probably won’t watch it until Wednesday morning).
