The Acolyte Reveals Its True Villain…The Disney+ Episode Format

The Acolyte Reveals Its True Villain…The Disney+ Episode Format

What a comeback that was. I previously reviewed the first 5 episodes of the Acolyte when they came out here. The TL;DR is that I had very mixed feelings about the first half of the season. The concept was interesting, the lore was intriguing, but the writing was very choppy and inconsistent. After finishing the last three episodes of the season, which were excellent, I think I know why:

In a sentence, short episode runtimes combined with the “prove you deserve a second season” mentality. 

You basically have to tell your whole story as a standalone season in case you don't get renewed while also not cramming so much in that it ends up being so poorly received that it doesn't get a sequel. It's an impossible ask. If you get another season it's probably at the cost of your story.

This is not a novel criticism either. This has been raised as an issue since Disney began parceling out the Marvel Cinematic Universe into little bite-sized (mediocre) episodes of multiversal content that doesn't even try to maintain continuity anymore. Just pass it off as a different multiverse and you don’t need to be consistent, but I digress. There are whole Reddit threads from years ago pointing out this same issue and it only continues to bear itself out.

Having finished the Acolyte now, and having seen its ups and downs, Lesyle Headland and the writing team can craft a compelling story…when they are given the time to do so. Episode 3 showed us this. Episode 6 showed us this. The final episode has the coolest lightsaber fight since Duel of the Fates and, while it leaves some questions unanswered, it also answers many questions that the prequels left us with.

The showrunner has expressed regret at not exploring certain characters in more detail, but if given more time, perhaps they would have been delved into more fully. However, with episodes that end up being about thirty minutes of actual runtime after recaps and credits and titles, there isn't much to be done and the essentials have to be prioritized or, in some cases, clipped down to their barest form. Maybe season 2 will remedy this issue, if this show gets a season 2.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still minor gripes I have with the final three episodes of the season, but it really was starting to pick up in a cool way. My main issue with the show is no longer with the writers even though the writing was, and is, my main criticism. My issue is with the structure that has forced the writers’ hands into cramming a great story with significant crucial backstory into 8 thirty-minute episodes. At first I thought it was an issue with the writers, but now there is ample evidence that with the proper time and pacing, they are good storytellers.

Yes, some of the episodes feel rushed, inconsistent, and ill-paced, but the writers have a story to tell and they have been given very small windows to tell it. They have to rush because they may not get another season to elaborate. It’s a shame really, because conceptually the show deals with some extremely cool concepts (spoilers ahead). There are lightsaber whips, a brief cameo by Darth Plagueis, excellent fight choreography as explained by Manny Jacinto, force vergences, and a mind-possessed Wookie with a lightsaber. Pretty much every shot of Lee Jung-jae is great too. He is a true gem and I hope to see him in more future projects even if he has been written out of this show. There’s one scene in Episode 6 where it’s just 30 seconds of his face and his shifting emotions, each one distinct and discernible but subtle. Someone give him more work, he’s amazing.

When the show has time to linger on an emotional moment, a well-acted face, or an intriguing backstory, it does exceptionally well. Episode 7 does a great job of showing both how the Jedi were maybe rightly concerned for the twins (one of whom used the word “sacrificed” when referencing her potential future) but also definitely could have handled that concern with more care and less gut reactions. How it went down wasn't completely their fault, but it wasn't NOT their fault either. The final episode also does a great job of showing how an ugly truth can be buried, setting up a ripple effect that extends hundreds of years into the future.

In summation, I think the story was simply too much to fit into the time allowed per episode. It felt like two great stories, one about the past and one about the present, vying for limited storytelling space much like the past and present were in some ways adversarial to each other in the show. Each one could have been a great show, but instead we got two half-told stories. This explains the rushed feel in the first few episodes to set up why the backstory is important, as opposed to the “backstory” being a perfectly good standalone narrative. 

This is why even though I had many criticisms of this season, I do hope this gets renewed for a second one, which is unconfirmed at this point. I want to see what Leslye can do telling a story now that the backstory is in place. The Acolyte is two intriguing, nuanced, thoughtful story concepts. I just wish Disney would have given the writers more time to tell them both.

-Steve The Cleric

(@Steve_TheCleric on “X”)