This Show Thinks You’re Dumb | The Acolyte 

I had to cut "what's in the cup" because I became overly passionate and it got away from me. In my other Buc-ee's mug today is some Barry's Gold, recommended by a chubby Irish fella on Instagram called Garron_Music, and it's delicious, just as he himself claims to be. My fellow Americans, we're being lied to by The Islanders™️. They appear to still be a little butt hurt over the "harbor incident" and have decided to ship us garbage tea in retaliation. Your local grocer is full of trash tea. Bigelow? Twinings? Yogi? The wool has been pulled over our eyes for too long! I've been outside the cave, friends, and there are delicious teas out there waiting to meet your sweet American lips. If you want it to be, it's LITERALLY a land of milk and honey. Whole milk, though, don't use skim, you are fearfully and wonderfully made and you don't deserve skim milk under any circumstance.

Holy crap… your wife is a genius. It doesn’t make the show any better, but still. Good on you Greg, you really lucked out. Shame we can’t say the same about the show’s writers.

Is there a shred of explanation why Mae fights Jecki the Padawan when she tries to arrest her? A minute ago she had decided to turn herself in to the Jedi, now that one wants to cuff her she fights?

I'd argue its not only for kids, but its even more inclusive than we thought. Its for and made by people with learning disabilities and without object permanence... also kids

Disney makes very poor children's entertainment, but it is all they make.

Y'know, in retrospect this makes a lot of sense. If you read modern Marvel comics or if you've ever been on Twitter or Tumblr, you should already recognize that these are women who never aged past 14. Of course they made a show with the sensibilities of a child.

If your theory about this being a kid's show is true, then it makes Episode 6 kind of problematic.

Since D+ launched, I've been saying that the channel needs a way to signal what the intended audience is for each series. If Kenobi had been released on, say, Disney XD, it might've been viewed in a very different light by the fandom, just as The Clone Wars was. Andor and Acolyte clearly have different target demos, but as it is, they're both released as "Star Wars" on Disney Plus and must be compared against each other.

This is the most insightful review of this show I've ever seen. This guy's wife is a freaking genius!

Knowing who this show is actually for makes Disney's agenda even more deplorable and unforgivable.

Bingo. Disney doesn’t want to appeal to a modern audience; they want to create one

"This show is actually hypercompetently produced and acted if you consider the core demographic to be kids 10 and younger who want Clue Jr but with occasional light sabers." - Greg's wife, paraphrased This is probably the sickest burn I've heard of this show to date.

My rule is that my kids aren’t allowed to watch the Star Wars sequels until they are old enough to understand they are terrible movies

OR maybe writers and directors have the same mental age. 10 years old. Though 10 years old will grow, those people are already done growing.

"Increase your defense without need to strike." He literally just discribed blocking.

As a kid I thought Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling was high quality content. My parents loathed it. This all tracks with the Acolyte.

A diss track to the fans is unforgivable. Gina Carano was fired for much much less...

You made your wife watch this? If I knew where you lived I'd call the police for her. 😂

My 10yo daughter, directly mentioned that, Mae; has a tattoo on her forehead, acts differently, the Jedi Master should easily detect a difference with the Force, and the tracker knows that she smells different. Then we talked about the 'master' stating you can't kill a Jedi with lasers or steel but is fully aware that Mae used a dagger and poison, while he used a lightsaber. We started to guess that 'master' was that other character, I halfheartedly wanted it to be the green skin Jedi Master because 'swerve'.

The deaths in episode 5 were so damn funny to me. Leslye was trying to make it all tragic and emotional, but she forgot to make the audience care about the characters first.

I'm not being insulting when I say that none of the DisWars shows are written for anyone above the intellectual age of 12. They're purposefully not! The company's TV divisions across the board are geared towards the "I'm so Raven iCarly" crowd.

Greg, your wife is a genius because that's all Star Wars and Marvel has been feeling Disney is turning these franchises into ONE OF THEIR SHOWS The Disney channel show formula is growing on them like a tumor

I get your points about this show. I took my grandson to see the last Hobbit movie when he was about ten years old and he was amazed at that scene where Legolas actually runs up the individual stones of a falling wall, defying gravity as he does. He stared at me when I laughed out loud. He thought it was so cool. I found it silly and laughable. I couldn't take the story seriously after that, but he was engrossed.

Big brain move by disney: make a kids show disguised as a show for adults and while the adults are arguing with each about how terrible it is, slip in that agenda. 😳

That makes sense when applied to Doctor Who. The musical numbers, hyseterical over-reacting, cute monsters and nonsensical plotting and script suggests it's made for 12 year olds rather than a general audience.

The problem is that being a tween show isn't at all what KK and Lucasfilm were going for. But the writing, plot, and dialogue is so bad that it FEELS like it's intended for children under 15. This isn't by design. Don't give them that much credit.

This show reminds me of a joke: “What does a woman do when she gets what she wanted? She changes her mind.”

Being an avid hiker I love the "my skin is crying" line......bravo. Top notch haha

Greg has actually fresh takes on media that all the usual guys miss. I like it.

Imagine how someone who's worked very hard for a long time to finally get to work on a big Disney project like this feels for this to be the product. They have to tell friends and new people they meet that this is what they had been working on. I feel bad for them.

That “he’s from one of the movies!” was perfect Pitch Meeting 😂

God it’s so true. This is just aimed at small children. A bad show aimed for small children, but that’s the target.

Make that the thumbnail. "This show is amazing. You're just watching it wrong." Perfect. 1 million view.

Intended for children eh? And they proudly proclaimed it to be the "Gayest Star Wars, Ever"... Hmm... Groomer Disney up to their same old tricks!

felt like a 6 year old directed the show...

I thought the same thing… I was young when original Star Wars came out I went to afternoon showing on advice from my older brother. I came out of that theater a different kid that would go on to a high tech career after joining marines. No doubt would have joined the Jedi if I could have lol. And that’s what really worries about what’s going on with Star Wars now… it’s not like Disney is concerned with profits… that’s obvious now… what are they concerned with? Could it be they are more concerned with conditioning our children? I disagree on jecki I don’t think she was feeling anger I think she was feeling a self righteousness that leads to confidence… you see in kids when they start to have success it builds their confidence… she was becoming confidence she could fight him… I thought it was awesome! best moments in the whole series. Worries me they are teaching children the dark side is soooo strong! Kids have enough problems now days.

Dude, you honestly give some of the ABSOLUTE BEST reviews on YT. I find you to be very true and honest to your raw reactions but also going the extra mile to try and conceivably see how it can be enjoyed by others. When you said for episode 5 that you “have to turn your brain off to enjoy it” hit the nail on the head! Exactly! There’s stuff to enjoy in the fights but you really have to ignore ALL of the other issues in order to really enjoy and be immersed in a 15 min fight lol this channel is awesome and we need to blow it up

"Why does Disney think children deserve horrible stories with zero effort?" Umm...doesn't that describe the Disney Channel and Disney+ to a tee? (I confess that I've _always_ hated that cringey kid-focused, over-acting crap typically churned out by the Disney Channel. Every time I tried watching them as a kid I honestly felt my intelligence was being insulted.) [edit: and Yes, I liked my share of stupid kid content that, when I watch it again, is unbearably bad. But there was just something about how hokey and forced that Disney stuff was that disgusted me to the core. It's probably the part of me that semi-matured and learned to hate MTV movies (except for Old School) and productions (especially the pustulant venereal disease of Reality Shows) in my teen and young adult years, lol.]

Episode 5 is like the compound interest of stupid. It was stupid to let the apothecary go in episode 2 considering he helped murder a Jedi master AND quite obviously killed the previous shop owner. Every death in the show from here on out is officially the fault of Sol, and the stupidity compounds again because he didn't kill the guy when he had the chance. A SITH IS ONLY UNARMED WHEN YOU ACTUALLY CUT OFF HIS ARMS, PEOPLE! The guy literally just killed someone with his bare hands and he has force powers, he's not defenseless! I swear if you were able to make money like this show makes stupidity you could buy Disney and save us all from this misery. The best thing about this episode is when Sol is screaming at the Sith for killing his padawan and the guy shrugs and says "You brought her here." Absolutely savage.

My 11year old doesn't seem to be interested in this. But he said he heard Bob Iger was stupid😂😂😂

I'm going to be honest; I never thought Smilo-Ren would be Qimir because it was SO ridiculously telegraphed that I thought it had to be a misdirect. Only an absolutely awful writing team would be that obvious, I thought, so it has to be someone else. This marks another instance where I overestimated the basic competence of a writing team. The bar continues to lower..

OMG! You solved the mystery! Also, "Jedi of Waverly Place" sent me 😂😂😂😂😂

To steal an old Dennis Miller joke, being the best episode of The Acolyte is like being the valedictorian of summer school.

That dig at the writer given a job working on the next Assassins Creed game. Dang top notch burn! Well done sir!

Now that you mentioned it, I probably would have gone nuts over this at 10. But by 13 I would have thought it was dog water. Even I had standards by then.

My wife is going to love your comments about hiking

As an extreme SW nerd, I'm offended that you think I don't already know Ki-Adi-Mundi's name. I'm that weirdo who was thinking when you mentioned that the one girl is 'white Darth Maul', I was like 'while they are both Zabraks, the girl is an Iridonian Zabrak and Darth Maul is a Dathomirain Zabrak because female Dathomirian Zabraks don't have horns' Also, what the heck. Why is Ki-Adi-Mundi here?

That’s no show: that’s a giant money-laundering machine .

Yo Darth Shreds actually kind of slaps.

Greg- He (Ki-Adi-Mundi) was only there, purely, so the audience would go '"Hey he was from one of the movies!" Me- Well, they accomplished that! Also, Darth Shred sounds pretty good to me, especially if it's for tweens.

It is definitely a writing problem Little Platoon’s point-by-point dissection of the writing problems shows that much!

Honestly, it’s good that this is mismarketed then. Better we hate it than children learn to love it.

And then this happens…and then this happens….and then this happens….and then THIS happens! Dude, this show is so weird and feels like it’s a direct stream from a 5-year-old’s brain.

I think I’ve uncovered another issue with the show: there are no stakes. The worst thing that could happen is that a couple of Jedi I don’t care about could die, which I know isn’t a big deal, because it does happen and I felt nothing. Jason Mendoza has no plan other than to get an apprentice, and he doesn’t seem to have one anymore, so now he’s just an aimless bozo. He’s not gonna almost overthrow the Republic, or take down the Jedi Order, or anything.

This show makes the CW Flash show look like a masterpiece 💀

Darth Rip & Tear. He's ripped and he tears off his sleeves. And Doom references make everything better.

I remember watching a review for The Marvels, where the reviewer concluded the movie was basically a Disney Princess movie, not even for women but for little girls. I don't remember all the staples but I remember: Having a dancing scene, and the protagonist being married to a prince, making her... TA-DAM!!! A princess!!! She also mentioned the dialogue, the ilogic of some scenes, and the fact that the villain was not killed by the heroin. All spectacle, not substance or consequences

I swear this is one the best channels on youtube.

The Sith who easily defeated and killed several Jedi died from giant flying moths? Someone needs to get these writers a list of Jedi/Sith powers they can read minds so that the twin swap doesn't work against mind readers.

This makes all the shilling from "adult" Disney fans even funnier.

I can’t count how many times the characters would just stand there in front of an obvious threat and I would be yelling “run away you idiot!” At least Disney actually had the courage to kill the annoying boyband and alien girl duo. The Sith guy is probably my favorite character because he seems like the only one that actually does things

Remember that pose from episode 1? "Fight me, with all your strength". My reaction was like : "What are u, twelve?" And she did that pose and cringe words twice or maybe three, dunno

I just realized something. If Sol had gone with Yord's suggestion in Ep2 of going into Qimir's shop and mind reading him, instead of choosing Jecki's plan and embarrassing Yord, he might've discovered right then that Qimir is Sith and Yord and Jecki might still be alive.

If you've ever seen the finger puppet parody of Star Wars (it's called Thumb Wars), you'll understand how funny the line "I am your mother!" COULD have been. This show just got even LESS fun somehow.

If Dave Filoni was creatively involved, then Ki-Adi Mundi's inclusion is deliberate trolling. If not, I agree, it's laziness.

I think it was written by people with tween IQ levels tbh.

You have to address how they defeat him. Someone that took on 6 Jedi at once...gets owned by some random bags (for children indeed)

Legit question: is the media afraid/not allowed to ask Headland about her previous employers?

And leaving lights sabers on the ground for anyone to find them, and not bringing back the bodies of esteemed Jedi's to be displayed in fancy funeral on the home planet with all the honors like they always did. This episode alone had more then 60 things that made ZERO sense, two per minutes.

They only fridged those two young Jedi because they could have been able to tell Asha is not Osha on the spot.

My thoughts: 1) what's in the mug? 2) I gave up on episode 3 and apparently, I've missed nothing. 3) Better lightsaber fight scenes doesn't equal good. 4) The plot is all over the damn place 5) Sol's powers that he used in episode 1 should have ended this entire show in episode 2. 6) Stenberg is pretty, but her dance game is terrible. 7) ... there is no seventh point.

If Disney truly made the show for 10yr olds and completely disregard the core fans that grew up with Star Wars they did themselves a disservice. Because The adult fans are leaving in droves and unsubbing from Disney+, which ultimately leads to the 10yr olds never having the opportunity to see/like the show and become fans of Star Wars as well. They would have been better off trying to do something like what most of Pixar's movies do by trying to appeal to both tween's and adult fans who have tween's. However that would require better writing and imagination.

Counter argument. Where are the adult Star Wars / Marvel shows? Are both brands reduced to tweens only?

They may have overspent making a children’s show.

Bad kids shows are only good to kids, good kids shows make you want to show them to your kids when you grow up

Your wife and 10 year old are apt; this is a _DISNEY_ show in the disguise of Star Wars. Granted, the brutal violence says "Not just for kids!" yet the writing is written and intended for Disney's major demographic; children. Looking at it with this mindset only makes it worse as even great shows intended for 10-12 year olds actually had substance. This is just "look at the shiny keys being dangled!"

Maybe the goal of this movie is to persuade women NOT to be like men? By showing how boring it is.

@12:45 i came up with Darth Tren(Trenbolone) or Darth SARM(selective androgen receptor module) 😂

When I heard the incompetent guy turned out to be a masked badass who slaughters for 20 minutes straight, I immediately thought of Tobi/Madara Uchiha.

Actually i was shocked at how jacked the guy playing the sith was 😂.

The show is not made for kids, that's actually the writers iq and emotional maturity level. Look at the people that defend this show and all your questions will be answered 👍

"Darth Freddy"? Darth Springtrap"? Now that I'm thinking "kid's show" I keep seeing his mask as a FNAF character.

7:00 your theory is also reinforced by the line of dialogue she says about needing to take a break for a bit, and "i have to fight a wookie after this, i'm taking a break". that moment where she realises her motivations have been dumb this whole time, thats the most real writing in the whole show.

With Ki Adi Mundi, it's clear they wanted Yoda (I saw that the writer tweeted that they couldn't get Yoda for budget reasons) but had to select a different member of the Jedi council. Sam Jackson wasn't available and probably costs more than a Yoda puppet so Ki Adi Mundi it is!

Oh god. They actually made it space wizards for children? Great video, Greg.

"I feel a presence in the force I haven't felt for a long time." And "I feel a great disturbance in the force." They should have been able to sense a Sith from miles away."

Hiking sucks. I still can't fathom people migrating hundreds of miles on foot or being nomads. 😅

If this was a show for tweens, then why didn't Disney tell us that? Ever. And if it is, Disney is guilty of grooming.

It’s like they’re playing checkers but with chess pieces and calling it chess.

“I brush my teeth in the dark.”

Honestly, I liked Yord more than Jecky. Not really anything to do with Jecky the “character” more just the way the writers used her. She had all the plans, knew all the information, figured out everything first, defeated the evil twin who killed a Jedi master, and held out the longest on her own against Smilo Ren. She was just such a blatantly obvious Mary Sue. Yord was the annoying stickler for the rules, but at least he showed a soft spot for good twin, and real fear for the Sith. I was really rooting for him to just knock good twin out and get her to the ship because that would have been funny and he would have finally showed some backbone. But instead he just follows her like a lost puppy. Again. The using the helmet was smart but his momentary intelligence didn’t last very long. I really didn’t care much for the characters but I was more disappointed with Yord because at least Jecky got to look cool while dying. Yord died like an afterthought.

Temu-thy Shallamay, stealing that! 😂

The mum is definitely the main “villain”. She’s behind it all, and kills people and uses the dark side but for the “right” reasons. I have a fear X23 survived.

One time two of my friends lead on a hellish long walk/hike to meet one of their friends. It was awful and I was complaining about it halfway through. I was actually reconsidering my friendship with them. Unfortunately I learnt that we took the long way there because they forgot the other route. Eventually I became really good friends with the new guy, and forgave the other two but I learnt I hate hikes.

Greg clearly never used a public outhouse on a camping trip as a child. I can still remember that smell almost 30 years later. Hiking is a walk in the park in comparison.

My nine year old couldn't understand what they were saying. He said, "This isn't Star Wars". Then he watched Phantom Menace again. LOL

This is the best take I've seen and I've watched alot of these for some reason. Makes sense. I'm not even a Star Wars fan. Just something so interesting about watching something epic get destroyed in real time. I imagine it's the same that people had watching thr hindenburg without all the death

I noticed a lot of Disney+ shows don't follow a three-act structure for their episodes, so they feel like never-ending fetch quests where nothing gets resolved. The best serial dramas, like Lost in Space, Game of Thrones, One Piece, all contain three acts in each episode while also telling the overall story in a much larger three act style. So you can watch an episode or two, feel like something indeed happened, but still be excited for the next episode. The Acolyte is so amateurish, and you hit the nail on the head when you said it's for 10 year olds, but I swear it feels like it's written by 10 year olds. "And then, and then, and then..." with no structure is exactly how they tell stories.

Damn, my dog just left a big pile of acolyte on the carpet!

If someone is unironically watching the show despite knowing everything and is liking it, they probably are dumb. So, this is pretty reasonable.