TL;DR – We move from intrigue to a very narrow path, but one that still has me interested.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Warning – depicts scenes that may cause distress.

The Acolyte Review –

If the last episode was an Amuse-bouche to get us ready for this world, then this week is, it is time to serve us up with an entrée, well, narratively speaking, at least. We are done speculating, and it is time to dive all into this world where the Jedi are hiding something.  

So to set the scene, Sol (Lee Jung-Jae), after securing Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and proving she was innocent because only Luke can be in two places at once. He takes his Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) and new knight Yord (Charlie Barnett) to the planet Olega, where Mae (Amandla Stenberg) has attacked another Jedi Master Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman). This time, she was unsuccessful in the kill, the first time, but where there is a will, there is a poison. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

This time around, it was a more interesting episode because we could not hide behind the wonder of whether Osha was really the murderer Mae because they couldn’t be in the same place at the same time. Of course, this is Star Wars, so that does not preclude several other Science Fiction-y or ‘somehow the Emperor returned-y’ reasons, but I like to take things at face value for now. That means that both sisters thought the other was dead for some reason, and Mae hates those four Jedi that were on her planet, and at least one of them agreed with her. A lot of what was dropped in this episode did start to point me to where this season is going, but it hasn’t removed all the possibilities.

What we did get was a slight broadening of the universe as we started to see what life was like under the Jedi Order, especially outside of the main planets. We also got to meet a Jedi with whom Mr Mime would like a word for appropriation reasons. Tonally, I am not sure that we got from the silliness of him being in a force box to him being willing to kill himself. Indeed, there is a lot of tonal awkwardness in this episode. Also, I am glad we got to see some of Khofar at the end, not just because it is good to see Joonas Suotamo back but because a lot of these planets were starting to feel the same only two episodes in.

The big and pleasant surprise this week was Manny Jacinto’s return to the small screen. This is a vastly different character than I have seen him play so far. He is not mysterious, yet there is something about him that I can’t put my finger on. I was captivated by every moment he was on screen, and I was very interested to see where he went from here. We also continue to get some of the most interesting action scenes in the series so far. I loved the back-and-forth between Mae and Sol in their battle, tenacity versus experience.   

In the end, do we recommend The Acolyte – Revenge/Justice? Yes, we do. I am not sure if they have revealed a little too much too soon. But I am still interested in seeing where they are going from here. If nothing else, the show clearly brings exciting characters into the mix each week, and I am here for the Wookie who is next.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen The Acolyte yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Acolyte
Directed by – Lesley Headland
Written by – Jason Micallef & Charmaine DeGraté
Created by – Lesley Headland
Based On – Star Wars by George Lucas
Production/Distribution Companies – Lucasfilm, Shoot to Midnight, Disney Pictures & Disney+
Starring – Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-Jae, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Manny Jacinto, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman & Joonas Suotamo with Archie Singh Swali, Nick Court, Ed Kear & Leah Brady