The Acolyte sold itself as a murder mystery martial arts show, but it has unique interpretations of those genre tags. The martial arts inspiration is excellent. Its first action scene feels like an exciting dip into Wuxia wire-fighting in a Star Wars environment. The murder mystery element is a little less straightforward. Instead of hunting down the roving Jedi killer, tearing through clues to discover a scrap of their identity, the first episode of The Acolyte gives the viewer the killer and begs them to look for a motive.
Every Star Wars show that comes out will be measured against two existing pieces of media. One side of the spectrum represents transformative, excellent, unique pieces of art like Andor. The other captures forgettable, familiar, nostalgia-bait schlock like The Book of Boba Fett. The central question determining a new program’s position on the chart is whether it can find something new to say within the franchise. The Acolyte started closer to Andor than most of the franchise, but it still has a long way to go.
The Acolyte shows its killer early
|
Creator |
Leslye Headland |
|---|---|
|
Stars |
Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Carrie-Anne Moss |
|
Release Date |
June 4, 2024 |
|
Number of Episodes |
8 |
The aforementioned first scene of The Acolyte depicts the brutal murder of a Jedi Master. Amandla Stenberg’s masked figure approaches and challenges Carrie-Anne Moss’s robed peacekeeper. The fight escalates, but the masked assassin loses her disguise during the conflict. Fans see her face a few moments before she strikes down Jedi Master Indara. She even recognizes her killer. Moments later, an innocent witness identifies Amandla Stenberg’s Osha Aniseya as the murderer. It’s clearly the same person, but Osha is far too good-natured to have committed such a heinous act. Moments later, her response to a crisis proves that she’s not skilled enough in the Force to have won the fight against Indara. This seems to be the mystery at hand, pushing viewers to imagine an impostor, a doppelgänger, or perhaps some sort of alternate personality buried in Osha’s psyche. None of those are accurate because the show drops the reveal within half an hour.
Osha’s twin sister, Mae, killed Indara. Though Osha and her former mentor Sol believed Mae died many years ago, she survived and returned to seek vengeance against the four Jedi who participated in a mysterious incident on her home planet. The episode goes on to reveal that Mae is in league with a dark-side devotee who encourages her to carry out violence. Mae’s existence and survival are not treated as surprise reveals. They weren’t part of the series’ pitch, which certainly could have focused on this element. The show could have sold itself on the premise of twin sisters following alternate paths of the Force. Articles from the day before the show came out fail to mention this idea because the crew hid it, as if it were a massive reveal. It’s not necessarily a terrible decision, but it does have an abnormal impact.
The Acolyte is a strange mystery
Most murder mysteries focus on finding the culprit. The Acolyte could have introduced a dozen characters, dropped red herrings left and right, or let characters fight over who may have done the deed. It didn’t do that. It also didn’t take the Columbo method of depicting the killing in its opening scene and watching the detectives solve the case over the rest of its screen time. Instead, it’s a show that seems to have all the information but refuses to tell any of it to the audience. The show’s dialogue can be a bit clunky at times, but most of the main characters seem to know what’s going on before it happens. The remaining six episodes will be forced to explain the plot, but this early reveal felt like a big one to simply drop on the audience. The only two ways to read that choice are as a creative fumble or as a subtle glimpse at something much greater to come.
The Acolyte still has unanswered questions
So, fans know who killed Indara and Torbin. They also know who she’ll try to kill next. The card The Acolyteis still keeping hidden in their sleeve is her motive. Osha and Sol mention a fire that claimed the lives of her family. Mae’s four targets were the Jedi present during that event. When Mae challenges Indara, she mentions that Jedi don’t attack unarmed opponents. Mae cryptically assures her target that they do, in fact, assault those who can’t defend themselves. When Mae offers Torbin a chance at redemption through death, he knowingly drinks poison without an ounce of reservation. He must have done something severe enough to motivate a vow of solitude and subsequent suicide. The logical assumption is that a future episode will unpack the events that led Mae on her revenge quest. Leslye Headland mentioned Rashomon as an inspiration, suggesting a series revolving around various interpretations of the incident on Brendock. Fans will have to wait and see whether they handle that element properly.
The Acolyte didn’t want fans to wonder who killed Indara. The show’s decision to reveal Mae in their first episode has fascinating implications. It could be an open decision to avoid the kinds of tropes that could otherwise trap the series. The evil twin reveal might have been unfulfilling after several episodes of build-up, but dropping it with no pomp and circumstance also seems unusual. If every reveal in The Acolyte has this curious lack of impact, the show won’t work. If it’s saving up its real surprises for the following episodes, The Acolyte could still be something special.
Leave a Reply