The Acolyte Episode 5 Is Better, But Still Riddled With Problems 

Eric Kain is the perhaps the only noble knight writing for a mainstream publication who does not feel compelled to take the knee for Disney or any other major studio

your AI song is the best thing about acolyte so far

"It's just so stupid, it makes no sense" and that's the whole theme of this show but the show runner and her writers doesn't realize that! 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

‘Verisimilitude? Never heard of her!’ ~ Acolyte Writers.

These writers never understood what burnt hair smells like as they were never allowed matches (or glue, or sharp crayons).

Disney's aversion to amputations in Star Wars is intentionally crippling the writers because, in the Original and Prequel Trilogies, force users were disarmed (pun both intended and unintended) without killing them. In this episode alone there were two cases where people got away because of it. It also opens up story options where injured jedi or sith could still contribute to the fight despite missing limb or limbs. It is such a staple of Star Wars that it stands out now that it is missing.

To be fair, before I ever heard Drinker say it, I did say to my friend "why'd they try to make him look like Ezra Miller?" So... *shrug*

How unfortunate that the moths on this planet are immune to force pushes. Perhaps all those Jedi should have worn Moth cloaks

I'm really scratching my head about how much more story is really here. Aside from learning the Jedi's role in the death of the witches and why the Sith would even care about that, there's really no urgency or stakes. Okay, the Sith has Osha and Mae is now with the Jedi. But what of it? Is Qimir gonna flip Osha to the Dark Side in the last three episodes? Is Mae going to flip flop in her allegiances once again? Episode 5 really felt like is should have been the finale.

If they gave everyone equal screen time and made the twins just part of the ensemble instead of 80% of the show, it would have been so much better. It also feels like a wasted opportunity, that you had actually good female Jedi chracters in Carrie Ann Moss and Daphnee Keen only to waste them and put them to the side for 2 characters poorly written and acted.

the problem with your proposal to fix the plot is that it has things like character development and arcs

I think Erik and Critical Drinker need to write a Star Wars script together one day. And then cooperate with the folks who did The Hunt for Gollum and Born of Hope to find some actors and sets. If that was a Kickstarter, I'd certainly donate. Yes yes, I know. Licences issues... Well, the Olite people avoided that... Also it's just a fan flick, right? ;)

Sol could have used the force to sense the difference between Mae and Osha, or he could have just used his eyes and seen that gigantic fucking tattoo on her forehead lol.

I was typing out a point by point comment about my likes and dislikes from the episode, but then I realized you were hitting pretty much every one I had. I think these are straight forward easy observations to make for a lot of people, which makes me wonder why this script was approved. There are so many obvious improvements that could be made. Leaning more on the good and fixing the bad. Not to mention Dave Filoni signing off on this... why? Where were the notes? Concerning. Great video Erik! Also good use of AI music gen in the intro. Edit: The helmet and bracer are probably made from Cortosis ore, a metal mostly in Legends and I believe one Disney canon comic. It behaves in legends exactly as it does here; shorts out lightsabers and disperses blaster bolts as well. Notably separate from Beskar which only blocks lightsabers but doesn't short them out. Cortosis was said to be extremely rare, to balance out its obvious power.

That opening song is awesome!

Thank you for song bombing me with "give that wookie cookies" or however it went hahaha! Im gonna have that in my head for the foreseeable future :D

The entire premise makes no sense. Mae doesn't know his identity. Why does he reveal himself when he had already killed the Wookie and can just leave? Sol has already met him and talked to him in episode 3 when he didn't have his 'Magneto hat'. He reveals his red light saber but only when he loses his mask says they all need to die because they saw his face. You would think the red saber would be enough to make that necessary but even the Sith thinks it is unimportant. If he only wants to kill Mae why get side tracked trying to kill Osha. Why not kill Mae when he finally has her instead of using her as a hostage against a foe he has already beaten once. If his acolyte can infiltrate a Jedi temple can't he get to her anywhere they take her and kill her later? His actions and dialogue just don't make sense other than they really wanted a cool light saber battle where the Sith easily defeats the Jedi but somehow the twins survive. Giant Space bugs.

I enjoyed the moment where the lightsabers got disabled because that was a lore-based item. However, the problem with cortosis ore (especially how it's used here) is that once you have it, you should always use it. If you're legitimately trying to kill your opponent, then you block their lightsaber, disable it with the ore, and then kill your now defenseless enemy.

Y' know, it's weird, I don't watch positive reviews of current media....cuz I guess I'm already watchin the good stuff and don't feel the need to watch reviews of shows/movies I feel are good. Video games and music YES but not tv/movies. But I can watch endless bad reviews, in some kind of solidarity, and never tire. This episode was indeed the best of an horrific bunch. Still terrible but at least it has something. I even liked the headbutting (stupid though it is) cuz I'm Scottish and it looked cool but as soon as it tries to plot, it's just hilariously bad.

Oh you sweet summer child Erik 🙂,.. ... she's dead, but thats just one phase of super padawan's journey to being the most powerful force ghost in the galaxy

haha you're such a trend setter with the AI song, great idea Erik.

- Love that intro song! - A fair/unbiased review. You work at Forbes? 👀🤣 - I enjoyed the sith more than the jedi. - Can we get 2-3 episodes on the sith backstory? That'd be more interesting imo. - I bet every time Erik writes about SW, Paul's aneurysm grows a little more. All kidding aside, thanks for the video! (new sub)

Professional writers submitted this and it was approved. That’s what blows my mind. So disappointing.

Eric i found you during Night Country's run, you helped stave off the gaslighting i was getting to thinking it was decent. Love that even though you work for a mainstream sight you dont spout mainstream opinions, its refreshing. I wanted to recommend the apple plus show Dark Matter to you. It was so nice to watch a show focused on story and not checkboxes. Well wishes man, keep it up.

I expect them to make Mae go light too, but there’s a problem with that. If what we've been shown is even remotely true, Mae is a psycho. "I’ll kill you'" to her sister.

omg the music intro 🔥🔥👍 should post it as a response to Stenberg's video. lol

Sounds like this whole series could have been a good movie if they cut away the bad and only kept the good. I think they are forced to drag things out to make it a series.

I kind of wanted it to be the mother, I thought that would of been interesting. I was pretty sure it was that guy though.

I think there might have actually been a good story here, but at some point it was hijacked and twisted into a vanity project for Leslye. Inspired by the love between the sisters in Frozen... that is literally something she has said, so rip out everything involving Mae and Osha and we have what is left of the original script. And it is literally like two episodes at most, with the remsining three episides bring the stretched out remainder of the 70 minute movie.

Erik, with this episode, I’m at least now interested in finishing the show. I doubt it’ll be good, but I am curious to see how the series ends. Also, love the Smokey Robinson-esque intro!

SmileoRen's helmet is made from a material from Star Wars Legends. The same source that gave us Mundi's age. Kinda weird how they ignore a major detail only to use another as key piece.

That opening song wins the internet this week.

There's a absolute laundry list of problems, and all of them could have been fixed without that much effort. Episodes that run too short. Flat. Obvious. "I'm Gonna Do This" dialogue. Twin story that needs to be reworked heavily or outright rebuilt as something else as you described. Unclear motivations (Mae is the greatest offender) Stringing along the audience instead of giving substantial explanation. I'm so tired of Sol just continually hiding his past. Give us something already. And then we see some cool fights, a really neat sith character, and a time period all tied to a story I really don't like. I also can't stand the shock factor decisions (killing cast off without building them up to be likeable) that have no real weight. Look at Andor! The Aldhani Arc! We lose rebels that had their backstory explained and their personalities revealed. Even if they are minor characters, we get the sense they existed in the world, had their own tales, and lost their lives for a admirable cause. I'd take a really simple and straight forward story that is told well than this mess that is trying too hard. I don't know why this was released like this, when even just tightening the script up would have fixed a lot of this. (EDIT: Andor was so much better at communicating motivations. The characters don't go "I care about X". With Cassian, we hear him basically beg a hostess about information by explaining he is looking for his sister. Later, he is involved with Aldhani because he is getting paid a fortune. In addition, the memory of Clem sort of compels him to join the rebels on this mission. But Cassian doesn't say that, he merely states his cover name is Clem and we are granted elaboration on this aspect by the end of seaosn 1. When the Rebels are asking him if he's really here for the money, he says "Of course." That show took the time to explain why our protagonist does what they did. Money (as Andor reckons), and a deep and obscure feeling of duty that is brought out by the end.)

After ep4 I'd had enough so only keeping up by what others are saying. Seems to have been a wise decision. When a series loses a YT Star Wars content creator like Skyman then you know it has problems. The most likable, optimistic Star Wars fan out there reduced to a complaining cynic. The best of the five episodes by many accounts but I have the strong feeling that this is the seasons 'high' point.

Thanks again for the outstanding video. The introduction song was awesome !

Hey Erik! I was just wondering if you're ever going to make a video on your fellow Forbes writer (and youtuber) Paul Tassi who has made a lot of overly defensive remarks about both The Acolyte and the fans in general. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan but as someone who reads Forbes it's been interesting seeing two very different contrasting opinions towards this show as well as towards the fans. Do you have any plans to make a video on this or are you familiar with Paul's work at all?

on a side note I like that your "studio" is in constant flux has more detail that this show 😅

Would you ever guest on Critical Drinkers podcast if asked?

12:30 This is why you always carry a Swiss Army Knife

I cannot believe I enjoyed the AI tune at the beginning

Where can I purchase the MP3 of the "Power of Many"?

Thank you for watching this buddy so I don’t have to. Much love dude as always. Great reviews

Gotta check out Manny in that Brand New Cherry show that came out last year. Very bizarre show in the best way.

The tone is inconsistent, the story is convoluted, and the biggest problem is that the plot dumbness is enabling or forcing some absurd choices with character motivations. The characters are more like vectors, they change their minds, apparent motivations, and drives from one episode to the next, so you don't get a sense of an anchor motivation within which everything else can be made to make sense. Eg. what is Mae's motivation? It depends: grow up in security and love with family, kill sister, avenge something horrible, be a part of someone else's vengeance plot, kill jedi, reconcile with sister, kill sister, replace sister, then ?? Qimir's motivation is weird. He's too young and too male to have seen something traumatizing at space witch manor, so what's his deal? Is it a revenge thing, or a liberation thing? He says he wants to be free and practice his freaky brand of the force with padawans. Ok, so why go looking for trouble with Mae? How does he have kompromat on Sol, and want to seek accountability for Sol's past actions? This ep just had far too many contrived exchanges, and people running on and offscreen like a french farce, not even Scooby Doo is as busy and yet aimless. The script and direction just cannot make a cohesive scene, with a purposeful mini-narrative, vignette or exchange, and link it to something larger. The cuts in this were so jarring, and the more they cut, the more the audience thinks wtf where who what now? Overall, I didn't think they needed all that busywork to have Sol and Mae depart on a ship, and Qimir and Osha stay behind. That's the net result, but what is means is barely even hinted at - and this is a problem - we don't know the significance of the change. It's just swapping out cardboard cut-outs. Even if there were ONE hint, like Sol says "I must tell Vernestra", then there's stakes. At this point in the series the audience should be thing more than "ok, that happened. So what?"

I don't hate it either. I played a darkside game with a character who has a cotosis weave in their armor. Once a year we played an evil game around Halloween, D&D, or SW, or whatever. It's hard to play an evil game while playing Cthulhu. So when the opportunity arose my gaming group would indulge our darker side. In any case I knew exactly what was happening when I saw the lightsaber headbutt (pinky curled up at the edge of the lip) was that an "evil" helmet?

If they put episode 4 and 5 together it would have been much better - people complained about all the setups in ep 4 ("Why are they showing the stun gun/insects/...") that had a payoff in ep 5. Sith reveal in that episode and not a week of "Who might that Sith" be with the obvious and lame revelation coming. Getting rid of the twins would be like ripping the heart of the show. The essence of this show is about "good" and "evil", even the symbol of the witches is very reminiscent of ying/yang. So you need a "good" and a "bad" sister. Of course there is a discussion to be had what the core message of the show is supposed to be and whether that matches the core philosophy of Star Wars which definitely is about a battle of good vs evil while clearly taking a side.

From epic space opera to space soap opera - at least the believed to be dead evil twin doesn´t have an eyepatch yet.

I thought having “Occupational Safety and Health Administration” be impersonated by her sister “Month Before June” by cutting her hair with the lightsaber so awkward and cringe, it was shocking! Shocking that anyone could have thought of it, wrote it down, told other people about it, have it acted out, edited it…..and no one said “wait, that is SO stupid”. I would have expected Sol to sense they were not the same but could see that he might have missed it with everything going on at the time. But….Doesn’t May(e) also have a big “Force Brand” on her forehead from the initiation ceremony? 🧐

I liked that 70s style intro you had.

Using logic makes shows like The Ring of Power and The Acolyte so amusing. The scene with the moths kidnapping Qimir was the most dumb and anticlimactic in the last episode. I predict Osha will turn dark side, after being rescued by Qimir and learning "the truth" about Brendok. From the other hand Mae may turn light after learning Sol is good Jedii... She's changed her mind a couple of times already.

How the high council doesn't know that multiple Jedi Masters have died at this point is also stupid.

A few steps from greatness for sure. All the building blocks were there they just don't quite come together. Jecki and Yord were tragically under used up to this point. I think the twin thing is the biggest missed opportunity up til now they really haven't played with the concept of trust or mystery as to who is who. At least it's been instantly waived up to this point.

Its cortosis, if i remember correctly it is from legends pre disney star wars, and yeah it acutally was cool.

It is very strange to see in the last episode, how the Sith Lord takes Mae hostage and tells Sol to stop or he will execute her. WTF? They are both Jedi assassins. It is like Hitler took Mussolini hostage and told Churchill not to advance or he would kill the Italian dictator.

Episode 5 is definitely it's best... I liked the cortosis inclusion (even though the lack of Chekov's gun makes its inclusion rather awkward), the lightsaber fight was pretty cool. Manny Jacinto is hamming it up and giving the Jedi 'the Grievous treatment' (who were basically redshirts, let's be honest) was fun. Also, the fact the writers don't seem how to know how to use the Force in combat unless plot convenient is _absolutely infuriating._ EDIT: Didn't we establish in episode 4 that the mothbugs are attracted to lightsabers? And we had what, _NINE_ of them at the start of Episode 5? Why are the mothbugs only attracted to the scene when Pip goes strobe-light/discoball mode on Qimir's back?

I enjoy nature and loved how involved the trees were Mother Nature is beautiful

Why is the Sith guy so powerful? Who trained him? How did he know how to make a lightsaber? Let's see if the show even thinks to ask these questions let alone answer them in an interesting way.

Have you ever seen Headland's Heather's reboot that got cut to pieces by the studio?

Intro music rocks.

Jekee was a named character so,yeah, she would put up a fight.

Wait for one of the mothers to show up as the main antagonist. Why did sol leave all the fallen jedi and all their lightsabers, just leave a load of jedi weapons for people to pick up. Things like that are just infuriating. Also why did the sith not use this new metal in the future, would have come in handy for Vader.

You do realise eventually you are going to lose access to all the perks of being a mainstream reviewer if you keep providing honest reviews, right? Hopefully by then your RU-vid account will have a few hundred thousand subscribers.

Burnt hair? mixed with the smell of several burnt dead jedi and a few burnt dead moths...maybe not.

how do you know Smilo Ren killed the wookie? genuine question. what was his intention? to have Mae show up and her find him dead already? or did he go kill him after he was ensnared in Mae's Acme boobytrap?

Not bescar. They call it cortosis. It is canon at least (from books and comics etc).

Just thought of qimir and the possibility Keanu reeves shooting revan scene's. Since he worded it as a sith. What if he came across revans holocron and thats how he can say that.

I don’t know why anyone thinks he’s a Sith. He didn’t say he was a Sith. He was fairly clearly implying “I don’t label myself, but I’m different so you’d call me a Sith, because the Jedi think any non-Jedi powered person are evil.” Y’all need to remember that the overarching theme is that society/government oppresses certain group, using hypocritical and outright evil methods, but that this establishment is outdated and collapsing, and the oppressed groups will finally break free. It’s not an inherently bad artistic goal, it’s just been unbelievably incompetently executed.

If it was you or someone you know that wrote and performed the opening song, clearly you or they have more creative ability in your little finger than filoni, headlund or anyone over at Lucasfilm put together. I hope it wasn't ai, lol.

Clearly the implication is that OSHA Mae's mother was also Sith and they are now also stomping all over Rey's story.

The confusion is strong with this show...

I liked until I went back and listened to the dialogue. 5/10

Im not sure what the payoff for the qimir reveal is? How does that have anything to do with the first 3 episodes??🤣

Manny Jacinto is a great actor and doesn't look much like Ezra Miller in real life, and I rather like his character in this show, but you're fuckin blind if you don't think Qimir looks astonishingly like Ezra Miller.

My kids are not watching anything new of Star Wars. They are choosing not to, they prefer the old movies. And that to me says a lot.

Not for me. Fights were silly. We knew who the "sith" was. The bugs were silly. It all feel like a school play. But I liked episodes 1 and 2. Probably to old for this ;-)

I thought the action was great but the writing choices continue to baffle, the switcharoo at the end is next level dumb.

Just read some of the comments, confirming that ai wrote the song. Thus confirming ai is more talented than headlund, filoni, and Lucasfilm.

Going forward the story can only focus on the twins who are so poorly written & badly acted, it's going to be boring. Had the story been the actual murder mystery promised, this could have been - with good writing - a decent multi-series project. There's nothing wrong with a simple premise done well.

Hollywood is full of talented experienced writers and directors. Instead, KK gave a $18 million dollar budget to an LGBT activist showrunner, who then hired her LGBT activist friends and family. So, this is what Star Wars is now.

Just like The Marvels, The Acolyte was not made for me.

I do not believe he is a Knight of Ren or something as minimal as that. I think he is a disciple of Abeloth, she has that odd-looking toothy smile.

Star wars fans get a fun stars episode - still complain because thats all they do. Why do you people even watch Star Wars if you hate it so much?

Besides the story and dialogue. Its the main actress. Her meek talking etc worked for her as a.chikd in hunger games. But her voice is.barely "audible" through the season. She is the MAIN protagonist and has little to no screen presence. Coupled with her lines its just really bad. Its a really bad fanfilm.

28 minutes episodes is ridiculously short…also, 28 minutes episodes for this series is too long

No one cares about any of these characters- that’s the problem with the writing.

This show is not worthy of analysis

This episode SEEMED better because more action = LESS time for stupid dialogue. Really inconsistent logic in the fighting. You make sensible suggestions, but to be honest, not hard to see ways to improve this silliness. MOST folks can imagine better scenarios than what is happening on this dumb,dumb show. Back to the action stuff. Part of what gives SW fights weight is the stakes and caring about the combatants. Couldn't care less who lives or dies on this show.

Oh Lord, I understand it's your job, but these TV Shows are a perfect waste of time.

Don't know how you could say this episode got better. Each episode has consistently gotten worse. Series is trash

The bugs were at a different part of the forest. Its why Osha used the light to lure them to Quimir. When you guys keep nitpicking nonsense like this makes me think you're just looking for things to hate.

At this point, even the SW Holiday Special feels like "Citizen Kane" compared to this queer/diverse/idiotic garbage called the Acolyte...