It was a pretty common opinion among Star Wars fans to want this show in particular to be the second coming of Andor. I guess its promise of interrogating an existing power structure, in this case, the Jedi Order before its fall, was appealing in the same way as Andor's contempt for the Empire's space fascism. This isn't quite at those heights, but I don't think it necessarily needed to be. Despite the insane backlash, much of which came from bad faith actors whose opinions aren't really worth listening to anyways, this is still a good show. I think almost every franchise geared at children that goes on for long enough eventually runs into that dreaded writer who says "this is gonna be the one that explores gray morality and shows there are no true heroes or villains" and then delivers something that basically just amounts to a good vs evil story, except the villain is kind of right about one thing. In The Acolyte's case, it could have just had a villain who says all the bad things about the Jedi we already know but is also so evil that we're sort of forced to side with the Jedi anyways. The actual show we ended up with is refreshing and good precisely because it has bigger things on its mind. Because this could just be a story where the Jedi hurt some people and that's bad but it's all well-intentioned or an accident so the narrative expects us to forgive them. But it's doing far more than that. A phrase I've often heard is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But honestly, I'm not sure how much that's true. Another phrase I often hear is that everyone is the hero of their own story. This one, I agree with. And I think that latter phrase is what tricks people into believing the former. Everyone has their own way of justifying their actions to themselves. Anyone can make what they're doing *sound* logical, but the truth is, when what they're doing is awful, it reveals that their supposedly noble intentions were flawed from the start. It's not a desire to do good that lead them on the path to doing bad things, they just had a skewed idea of what's good to begin with. This is The Acolyte's playground. That is how the show is able to truly get away with being called a story that has no easy heroes or villains. Because everyone has their own flawed, biased view of the world. The central characters of the Acolyte were failed by every faction at play in this series in different, unique ways. Not because any of them acted with true malice, but because they all thought they were giving these young, impressionable figures what they needed. And in some cases, the consequences are dire. So when shadowy forces try to make their own pitch to one of our leads, it doesn't feel like manipulation. In their own way, they, too, are trying to give that character what they think they need. Neither Jedi nor Sith really look much better than the other in this respect. The central plot of The Acolyte revolves around the past, and this is both to its benefit and its detriment. To its benefit, we can look to the fact that everything that's happening now started when our main characters were young and impressionable, and thus we have to understand how all of these secondary characters shaped them into the people they inevitably became, for better and for worse. Everything that happens in The Acolyte really began 16 years ago. In a messy circumstance where everyone involved truly thought they were in the right, and so blinded themselves to the full picture, leading to dire consequences. It's fascinating in both how much it reveals the Jedi's flaws both as people and as an institution, but also in showing us how the dark side offers something the Jedi simply cannot provide. I want to gush more but I am trying to avoid spoilers here. To its detriment though, this focus on the past comes at a cost. 2 of the 8 episodes of The Acolyte are entirely set in the past, at those events 16 years ago. Each showing a different side of the story. But I think this approach fails for a few reasons. For one, I don't think these "sides" of the story are clearly established, either through a framing device or even just by grounding it in a certain characters' perspective. They just kind of show you the information most relevant to the story the show wants you to believe in the first flashback episode, and then in the second one, shows you all the things it omitted. There's no real rhyme or reason, just deliberate obfuscation. And again, I think that'd be fine if it were given some kind of framing device, a lie a character is being told, but they don't. In fact, we'll often see scenes the "main" characters of any given flashback weren't even present for. Another reason this just doesn't work is on a pure pacing level. 25% of this show is set during one day on one planet 16 years ago, telling the same story twice over but from slightly different angles. 8 episodes is already way too little, but I've ranted enough times on this website about how I think TV shows are too short these days, but essentially reducing the present day storyline down to 6 because of this really doesn't help. It feels like despite the interesting ideas at play, there are deeper places they could have gone to with more time. Granted, they are setting up a Season 2, but only after putting a pretty conclusive end to many of their Season 1 storylines that could have flourished with even more time and attention. Still, though, there's more to chew on than with any other non-Andor Star Wars show by a mile. It feels very much like a show for people who enjoyed much of the concepts The Last Jedi was toying with, but in a format that allows them to go deeper (even if, as I said earlier, not deep enough) into those ideas. I'd also argue that being set in the High Republic era, with an almost entirely original cast of characters, allowed this show to go to far bolder places then The Last Jedi ever could. Despite what people say, I'd argue that movie kind of held back a lot due to having to preserve Luke Skywalker's heroic image. This has no such obligations for Master Sol. Oh yeah, we've gotta talk about Lee Jung-Jae's performance as Master Sol in this show. Considering he learned English for this show you'd kind of expect that he was committed to this character, but still. Sol is by far the most nuanced character, the one most convinced of the way he sees the world, even if it doesn't become evident how exactly that manifests until much later into the show. Lee Jung-Jae brings a lot of warmth to this character that will endear you to him, even as the less favorable aspects of his personality begin to surface. He's easily the highlight of this show, though that's not a knock to the rest of this cast. I think Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto are killing it as well in their respective roles, but Sol is easily the highlight in terms of how much the performance shapes the character. I don't think this character would work nearly as well if he was played a different way. So, yeah, this is a show that's probably better in concept than in execution, but I think the execution is still serviceable enough to make this rise into the upper echelon of Star Wars TV. It's got some of the most fascinating characters this franchise has produced in years, if not decades (again, outside of Andor.) And I can't wait to see what's done with them next if this show gets that second season it's so desperately craving. Favorite episode: Night