Star Wars: The Disney+ Empire Strikes Again and Again and...

I like how they’re obfuscating a thing that happened in the purpose of revealing the truth of what happened years ago to kick off the events that led to this plot, but the plot is a little loosey-goosey so far and doesn’t know if it’s developing characters or teasing exposition and ends up falling a little short on both. The addition of “bit there’s THIS GUY” at the end of the first seemed like a clumsy course correction

You know I love these little jedi/sithy tales, though

The Jedi are sooooo boring! Obi Wan was kind of cool in the first film and Yoda was ok but that was plenty. All the ones we have met since then have been snoozefests.

Having said that I watched both eps of this happily enough - whereas I didn't get more than 1 ep into the Ahsoka one.

every single Jedi who gets more than two minutes of screen time has beef with the order, is portrayed as a foot soldier or apologist of the order, or gets just flat-out eliminated in all the media, really. it’s a franchise that pays a lot of lip service to the nobility and neutrality of these warrior monks but that’s a pretty surface reading

This was fun and easy-to-follow without being simpleminded like Mandalorian can be. I don't really know my Star Wars or High Republic lore -- I haven't even seen the JJ trilogy! -- you could have told me this was set in the present and I would've been none the wiser.

I don't think the lead actor (Osha/Mae) is very good at her line readings, but it's not getting in the way of anything. I don't think they did her any favours putting her next to Carrie-Anne Moss's great cameo in the first scene.

But this feels miles better already than Mando/Boba/Ahsohka. Andor, which I'm starting to think is one of the greatest TV shows of the 2000s (and I'm not a Star Wars fan) is a whole other thing.

Did we all watch the same thing? i thought this looked fine but was clunky as all get out. Liked the kung fu elements but that's about it. The end of episode 2 felt very Krofft Super Stars/ Far Out Space Nuts.

I was originally not interested in watching this at all but once I saw that Leslye Hedland directed and looked at some of the cast I got kinda intrigued

I have to say I liked these first two episodes. Story is nice & contained & has enough tension & intrigue to keep me interested, characters are well defined but also fairly simply-drawn on the surface. no one stands around giving boring exposition-dumps & i don’t have to care about a fuckin magic sword or a trade embargo or a bunch of THINGS.

of all the spinoffs i preferred 1st season Mando or the Andor series … this doesn’t have quite the same level of uniqueness stamped on it yet but at least it’s not trying to make me watch a cartoon no-one cares about except Reddit nerds.

so yeah, i’m down for this so far.
:D

Huh. Not sure how I felt about that one

I rather liked it! I appreciate that we still clearly don't have the full story. I mean my running assumption here is that those four Jedi did a bunch of fucking war crimes and all.

That's the only way I'll come out happy with it in the end tbh.

I texted my friend JEDI ARE COLONIZERS during the ep

lol that’s exactly what I thought while watching it as well and I’m very much on board with that

I struggled more with the execution of some scenes and the abruptness of the ending. what I did like was the clear depiction that the Jedi were lying that they thought the planet was uninhabited, showing Sol clearly tracking the sisters in the woods, as well as the depiction of non-Jedi interpretations of the Force, which felt very similar to themes explored in Last Jedi

the 'power of 1, 2, many' melody was hilariously weak

the lyrics makes it a decent addition to the diarrhea song genre, however

Yea I have no idea why they'd throw something so low effort into the episode

almost like it slid right out of them with little resistance from the typical gatekeepers

Interesting...

https://gizmodo.com/the-acolyte-star-wars-power-of-two-music-1851542440

A proper cliffhanger ending for this episode, smart move! Salute the serial roots of it all.

yeah that was pretty good like ???

also that mask is cool as hell

force pushed the conclusion into next week

I will say that if, as they weren't entirely shy about suggesting, Qimir is in fact our bad guy in the mask, the idea that Jason Mendoza is an evil Sith lord is kinda fantastic, and I await the endless memes.

Darth Bortles

that’s what i’m hoping!

I think Jason Mendoza is a red herring and the real bad guy is the green skin bald Jedi. When she said they shouldn’t involve the high council all my alarm bells went off.

I accept this argument! Guess we'll find out!

My kids and I were debating whether this is the worst Star Wars tv show (they are easily swayed by the strong opinions of YouTubers). I argue that Obi-Wan and Boba Fett were both worse because not only were they generally unnecessary, but they also retroactively ruined or deflated parts of the original movies. This, at least, exists on its own merits and can be cherished or forgotten with relative ease.

Feels inconsistent that any one force user is strong enough to force push that many other force users at once. For Jedi masters, they kind of suck at everything to do with using the force?

(this show is way more fun than any other Star Wars TV series I've watched, because it's goofy and moves right along... Andor was better but also bleak and depressing)

I'm just happy w/ Acolyte because it's exploring a time period in the universe that is mostly just explored in the comics. like it's thrilling for once to not have a goddamn legacy character in the damn thing.

well until we find out the Darth is actually little Sheevy Wonder

Feels inconsistent that any one force user is strong enough to force push that many other force users at once. For Jedi masters, they kind of suck at everything to do with using the force?

― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Thursday, June 20, 2024 10:53 AM bookmarkflaglink

"these are show muscles, not go muscles" - basically

Given all the High Republic stuff so far in print/comics etc it does feel a little weird that their skills would have atrophied that quickly after the Nihil came through. But hey.

maybe their teacher was Gareth Southgate

Timely!

I want to see a fleet of brand new Millennium falcons , like the most current model

Yes, with an elon musk cameo

(this show is way more fun than any other Star Wars TV series I've watched, because it's goofy and moves right along... Andor was better but also bleak and depressing)

Agree. I feel like this show is the first Star Wars TV show I’ve seen with the zippy old school Lucasfilm adventure energy of the first trilogy. The other shows have been either bad and silly or good but too ponderous. Andor is the wonderful exception. Why don’t YouTubers like the acolyte, dare I ask?

not enough white people

Yeahhhhh! Darth Bortles, baby! Bring on the Force-powered molotov cocktails!

Finally got to put those dancing skills to good use

rare SW show that I wish had longer than 30 min episodes, every episode so far has felt so rushed. RIP Jecki and Yord, we hardly knew ye

Big ol' interview in Entertainment Weekly on last night's episode so only read THAT once you've actually seen it, trust me. (Small detail there: Headland is hoping for a season 2.)

this show's villain is scarier than Kenobi's. poor Jecki with the good horns

Damn this show stepped up! V good last 2...

I actually appreciate that Sol's annoying, pathos-soaked sanctimony is not given the usual Star Wars treatment of 'he meant well, he cared too much and made a mistake' and leaning more towards 'this dude is delusional and did fucked up things and still can't take accountability outside of the performative kind'. I'll be aggravated if it turns out he was either a) right all along or b) a victim of someone else's manipulation, which...might happen because Carrie Ann-Moss character

yeah this episode was great, v exciting

also really love the look with the vivid green forest & bright jedi swords, feels v 80’s a la Jedi or caravan of courage etc

xp Sol = "speed of light" = grimes ~= crimes. So I think we can safely say that guy's bad.

Darth NAKED

is this Porg Island

I enjoyed this ep but simultaneously aggravated that it seems they've padded things a bit as they're really dragging out some of the reveals. second straight episode of hinting at things without really giving you even a morsel to chew on.

did find the Osha/Bortles scenes the best. the Sol/Mae scenes felt like wheel-spinning.

the idea behind the helmet is intriguing, like it adds some more layers

i agree that Sol/Mae felt overplayed. but Osha/Bortles was great

was v weirded out by the nudity! like i felt v puritan suddenly
SIR this is Star Wars

but holy fuck he is a perfect dirtbag cult leader. like mmm yes i would for sure join your 2 person cult you hot weirdo