Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
(First watched 2024-06-06) It's been a long time since we saw some live action stuff that isn't set +/- 10 years around the original trilogy. Or set later and wants to look exactly like that. And 25 years since we last saw Star Wars in an all-new era. So yeah, just nice to see a change in look, even if it still feels familiar enough.
So, twins? Guess that shouldn't be a big shocker in Star Wars. Even apart from previous notable twins, duality is a big thing in Star Wars. In this case even the episode names, apparently. But what's the deal with this other twin that was supposedly dead and now wants revenge on the Jedi? Did the Jedi see her as a danger and think they put her down, before taking her sister into their ranks?
102: Revenge / Justice 2024 June 4
(First watched 2024-06-08) Yeah, the Jedi definitely did something Bad if one of them was willing to kill himself with poison in exchange for forgiveness.
It seems that not only did the Jedi not know of Mae's survival, but Mae didn't think Osha survived either.
(First watched 2024-06-12) So did the Jedi kill the witches? It sure didn't seem like their bodies were on fire or crushed by rubble.
(First watched 2024-06-20) Mae doesn't seem very committed to her path, considering she tries to drop it almost as soon as she sees Osha is still alive. Not that that went very well. Was a pretty short episode, feels like there's not a lot for me to comment on here. Mostly people walking through the forest and having some conversations.
(First watched 2024-06-something) It took until this episode's credits for me to recognize Manny Jacinto from The Good Place, our secret bad guy who was right out in the open so I feel foolish. But beyond that, this episode is mostly people getting chopped up by lightsabers. Then Mae clumsily swaps herself with Osha.
106: Teach / Corrupt 2024 July 2
(First watched 2024-07-03) Manny has a weird scar on his back, and one of the Jedi higher-ups has a light whip. From her? Checking now I see this is Vernestra Rwoh, the same character with a light whip we saw as a much younger person in High Republic novels. Did she take a bad turn?
(First watched 2024-07-10) So we finally get the full picture of what went down on that mission so long ago, and... it came out making the Jedi look a lot better than I thought it would, considering it's been this big hidden thing all season and the Jedi involved are so ashamed. Yes they maybe overstepped by trying so much to help the kids, but the witches were the ones making all the aggressive moves. A bunch of them used their powers together to possess Kelnaca and... that seems to have killed them? Or left them unable to save themselves from the fire? Others were turning into mist (or appearing so). Mother's claim of "Oh well I was going to let Osha go" after she'd been stabbed. "Once again, something that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!" Really were I in Sol's place the #1 thing I'd have lost sleep over is his "Good Son" moment where he was unable to save both Osha and Mae and had to make a choice.
(First watched 2024-07-17) I feel like this is the weakest season of Star Wars TV yet, but it also feels the least complete. If it gets a few more seasons to do what it wants, maybe the setup of this season will seem worth it in retrospect.
What do we get this episode? Osha learns the truth and straight up kills Sol with a force choke. She goes with what's-his-face to become his new apprentice, while Mae has her relevant memories erased. Vernestra pins the murders on Sol and wants to use Mae to track down what's-his-face, who she says turned to evil but she seems full of a lot of shit in this time period so who knows what really went down between them. Also on the planet what's-his-face and Osha were stopped on we saw another creepy guy lurking around briefly, but no real indication who he was.