TL;DR – I thoroughly enjoyed this flash to the past to set the scene for the future.

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

The Acolyte Review –

We’ve met the players, worked out that it is twins, and even got a few hints as to what the Jedi were up to. However, since Revenge/Justice, there have been some questions about what the inciting incident was that threw this mess into motion. I thought we would have to wait for the rest of the season to see that answer delivered, and the show was like, nope, ep three, here you go.  

So to set the scene, around sixteen years before the events of Lost/Found, we find ourselves on the planet of Brendok, where a young Osha (Lauren Brady) and Mae (Leah Brady) are living with their mothers, Anieseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Koril (Margarita Levieva). Brendok is an abandoned planet seemingly outside of Republican control, but you soon understand why everyone is upset that some Jedi was found snooping around. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Well, three episodes in is an odd time to do a full-flashback episode, and I might be alone in saying this, but overall, I quite liked it. Part of this is that I think they did a fantastic job casting the younger Osha and Mae, which is important because they become the heart of this episode. The general thrust of twins, where one didn’t want to subsume their entire personality into the other, rang true, as did one of the sisters, who wanted to travel the galaxy and take the first opportunity that came across. I bought all of this even if Mae’s jump to murder felt a bit rushed on in the scheme of things.

 All of this week was really setting, which I love, getting to see the cracks in the world. Indeed, if Andor was about recontextualising The Rebellion, then it feels like Acolyte wants to take a spotlight to the Jedi Order. We get a lot of unreliable narrator moments as we see this exchange with the Jedi from Osha’s perspective, and if the events of  Revenge/Justice are anything to go by, I don’t think Mae’s fire did all the destruction. I have seen people complain about ‘more witches’, but I think that is missing the point. These are clearly a very different group of people than what we saw in Ahsoka. So why are they all called witches? Because they are women with power who live outside the systems of control. It does not matter if they differ drastically philosophically; they all get tarred with the same brush.

The visual stylings of this episode were a delight, and if you have watched Kogonada’s previous work like After Yang, then you will see some of those touches here, most notably in the ritual section. There is a lot going on under the hood. To start with, there is the de-aging work that has come leaps and bounds since that Luke mess in The Mandalorian. There are the implications about the Force and how different groups might have other ways of connecting with it outside of the traditional orthodoxy that has created the monoglot of the Jedi/Sith. Also, an almost throwaway line that may explain how the emperor learned something or that Jedi prophecy is balderdash.   

In the end, do we recommend The Acolyte – Destiny? Look, I know it is an odd place to put it. But overall, I liked what we got to see here this week. It was taking some time to flesh out our world and the people in it and I’ll take that when I can get it.

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 – Kogonada
Written by – Jasmyne Flournoy &  Eileen Shim
Created by – Lesley Headland
Based On – Star Wars by George Lucas
Production/Distribution Companies – Lucasfilm, Shoot to Midnight, Disney Pictures & Disney+
Starring – Lee Jung-Jae, Jodie Turner-Smith, Margarita Levieva, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, Lauren Brady, Leah Brady & Carrie-Anne Moss with Amy Tsang, Saskia Allen, Abigail Thorn, Deborah Rosan, Tabitha Alege & Barbara Fadden