Why The Acolyte's Terrible User Review Scores Matter 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Critic Score: 84% Audience 87%

The Expanse did “strong female” characters perfectly. Obviously that show benefited from amazingly strong source material, but the execution, screen writing, and performances were loved by the same audience that gets labeled bigots. Content is king. Deliver a good product and people will support it.

Erik dropping the completely rational take again! I love how he can explains things in such a well thought out and straightforward manner. Right now, he’s hands down one of the best tv and movie reviewers here on RU-vid. He’s also one of the best media critics on the internet nowadays.

The thing is mainstream media calls it "review bombing" whenever *anything* from a big corporation gets bad reviews. What if the show was just bad and people just didn't like it and they just rated it poorly(See Rings of Power). However every single time it is labeled as "review bombing" and its never the show just being bad.

Also, "Watching for hours every week"??????? The trolls spend hours every week watching a show where each episode struggles to make it to 27 minutes of actual content. SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE Mary Sue, see ya there friendo.

If my feed says Erik Kain, I click on it. It’s that simple.

100% agreed about reviews. Criticism/feedback are very important in any industry. Are there trolls? Of course. Are there A LOT of ppl making very valid arguments that team Disney is purposely mis-labeling as attacks/racism/hate/etc? Abso-freakin-lutely.

I've been a fan since ESB came out. I made some comment on the action sequences in the Obi Wan show and immediately got called a racist, and was criticized for my white privilege. I'm Asian and living in Southeast Asia.

I liked that you read that in a “royal” accent because those folks look down on the audience as plebs.

User Reviews are the modern equivalent of the old fashion Complaints Department

15:42 like the Mario movie. Critics hated it. It was an ok movie. But fans loved it. It was a fantastic MARIO movie. It nailed it with its target audience. They made a show for people that loved it.

Sometimes when I close my eyes I can't see

You can hate review bombing because it "ruins" them as a metric for general reception, but then you probably ought to point out all the times that user reviews are artificially inflated by bots and the like. And unfortunately, I don't see that criticism as often from the media and that seems to be FAR more prevalent (maybe more for consumer products than media but it certainly exists).

I loved the part when you realised the author basically repeated herself

Great example with Andor! I loved it. I saw a Grace Randolph video where she was so puzzled why the “toxic fans” loved Fallout with diversity and a female lead. Amazing to watch her try to figure this out like it’s so mysterious and elusive. You just explained it perfectly. I hope people like her will finally listen and break free from the narrative programming.

These thoughts you've had are almost exactly what I was thinking myself. I would go further to say how insulted I have been with a huge amount of articles coming out on The Acolyte trying to say that, because I don't like the show, I am subjected to the idea that I hate diversity. Me? I hate diversity? They have a pre-determined notion that I am a part of a toxic fan base that can't seem to grow from the dominated white male media platform? The earlier articles were so insulting towards the Star Wars audience, it's mind-blowing. Your statement of "armor" is correct. Their repeated excuses for writing and producing a terrible, nonsensical product is not landing with the people they depend on to support their product. "It's their fault the audience doesn't like my creation because they are toxic." or "They hate diversity." . Seriously? The Acolyte is a project fulled by ego and arrogance. I see so many mistakes that should be clear on how to write a story. These obvious mistakes are not attempts to try something new or pioneering a new, inventive ways to write a story. They are clearly mistakes experienced writers should know not to make. It isn't revolutionary. It isn't "different". It's just plain lazy. The amount of money spent on this project is embarrassing. To me it feels like Disney's Star Wars franchise is now a vanity project for the egotistical narcissists who inadvertently hinder the progressive movement by claiming their awful renditions of the Star Wars universe are only for fans who can accept diversity. I am insulted and horrified.

The show is just terrible. It's bad. Bad writing, bad characters, lack of coherent story, lack of direction or mystery. Aimless and meandering with many characters as stiff as boards that are hard to care about either way. This isn't "star wars" it's Disney star wars.

The lightsaber battle ( and really there's only one good battle) is the only thing I thought was pretty cool. I wanted to like this and the first two episodes were ok but the third episode left me super lost. The dialogue is awful. The story itself and the characters are not well written and the poor actors I don't think can get past it if they wanted. The twins story is awful. Nothing was developed and thoughful. I think it's much worse than Kenobi. I thought the battle between Vader was good and I also really like the flashbacks and dialogue between him and Anakin. Just me maybe. Thanks for your insight and comments.

"Leslye's" voice = CHOICE! LMAO

I don’t know who said it, but, Bees don’t waste time convincing flies that honey is better than shit.. Great video, man. May your next meal be delicious

I lost all respect for this show when I found out that "OSHA Mae" is actually the name of a soap.

the accent had me 💀

The problem with talking about “review bombing” is that rarely people talk about “review fluffing”. It goes both ways, some people drop a 1 on something without giving it a chance, AND some people drop a 10 on the same thing without giving it a chance. Because of this reviews tend to be closer to even, especially Disney shows which seem to get a disproportionate number of both types.

I don't understand the tone of the show where they go from creepy sith Lord to a farting space beaver in one episode.

Seriously loving your take on this whole thing.... and it's refreshing to hear such a realistic view (not an agenda-led, one way or the other) on the problems with modern media... it's not that there's no great story-writing, it's just being drowned out by the crap that's being pushed down people's throats that is clearly - very sub-standard. And I loved Andor, but after Boba Fett, Kenobi and the last season of Mandalorian I just gave up on Disney+ because it was just laughable crap. And it's fantastic that this is coming from someone that has a corporate backdrop as well.

I love when you recite the articles using haughty British accents.

Imagine removing the poor reviews from airbnb

Love the narrator voice btw, there's no such thing as over doing the R-roll =) It's also refreshing to hear a more rational take on a very messy situation. Rotten Tomatoes has always felt misleading, as most of what their displayed critic score is more just a Positive/Negative Ratio, when you click it looks like the Critics are about 6.8/10 which feels more accurate

The voice acting in this was S-Tier, Bravo Sir! 10:05 Really allowed me to envision the heinous witch that is Leslye Headland.

I actually found your channel after perusing the critic scores, looking for more critical voices on a show that degraded rapidly. I've enjoyed your coverage and find your perspective to be an essential watch. I hope you continue to cover the show, documenting your opinion and insight, because it's worth watching.

Erik is SINGLE HANDEDLY bringing CREDIBILITY and reason to FORBES Pop Culture topics! Also laying down the SUCCINCT British Accents! 😅

I really appreciate your work Erik, I absolutely despise the soylent green like corporate garbage that comes out these days... but when I'm trying to vent online, almost all the content I can find on youtube is hogs screaming about how afraid they are of trans people... It's getting to a point where I can't even enjoy that ironically anymore... so it's great to see someone with some sense giving it an honest shot.

Erik Kain calling out the disingenuity of journalists' chosen narratives is vital. I wish more voices were doing it. No less than journalistic integrity is at stake in today's culture war.

"Representation" can be a two-edged sword. The Acolyte has portrayed Black children as lacking fathers, and easily turned towards the Dark Side by the sight of a naked man.

There is a lot of culture war hate and drama that is exposed in reaction to Disney products. When I read some of the audience reviews there is no doubt some of them are part of that irrational hatred. But also some reviews point out that The Acolyte is a lousy show with deplorable writing and uneven performances and direction.

Thank you Erik! finally somebody says it! "Critics" are too afraid to be honest when it comes to content made with DEI or LGBT as if they are they get "called out" online so it easier to just give a good score and be done with it however as you have pointed out if you actually read the "positive" review it not always so positive

I loved the Monty Python voice.

What's so depressing is how the Progressive left has turned into its own form of the Religious Right. Ideology plays out in the real world is similar ways, as it does in art where the ability to be objective is removed, what determines if something is good or bad is the message. For the Right, its the religious message, and for the left its identity and the view of power dynamics. Left views these shows and movies through diversity and the progressive message. For either side, the actual quality of the acting, picture quality, story, editing, etc go out the window. What's worse with the Left is the added aspect of how many of the things we would measure objectively as seen as tools of white supremacy, thus bad or evil. So if you criticize this show, or see it as bad, you're seen as a bad person

I was thrown for a loop when John Campea finally said he's done and not watching the rest of the show. His complaints have all been centered around it being a bad show and poorly written. He's even been pretty aggressively dismissive of complaints of lore and canon, calling people who were angry about that utter idiots. He was pissed off that people were being outraged over stupid things like that when the show itself is bad and that's getting a pass as a result of what he seems to see as geek nitpicking.

There's no such thing as a pr push to assert viewer reviews don't matter when you honestly believe viewer reviews don't matter. Also, I've looked at the reviews on metacritic and RT - the one liner weigh ins are 5 star and 1 star in equal measure, the former giving a 5 star review with the tag " I don't know why all these trolls hate women, this show is brave and refreshing" or some such. The number of substantial reviews that support the show might be 5% of the total. The number of reviews that give substantial reasons why the show is subpar iat least 20%. Anyone can check my observation on that, but the ratio of one liner culture signal boosts is about the same, and a hell of a lot more dislike this show. The show people know this and are being dishonest. Or else they are delusional, in which case they should not be trusted with money.

People just want good stories. Doesn't seem like too much to ask, but apparently it is.

I just wish they just didn't make a tv show on political views. I just wish they would make a story that's good even if it isn't in lore. For me personally it would just be nice to make something off of the knights of the old republic, instead of just hammering together the puzzle pieces of the aspects of good storytelling and saying it's great when it is obviously an issue. I honestly loved what you said in a past video, where is could have been almost like a detective show because honestly that would be such a new main plot to star wars it would have probably made something amazing if it also had good storytelling of course.

100% spot on once again Erik. This is precisely how I feel about all these new shows/movies that come out lately. Contact is one of my favorite movies of all time. Very strong female character as the lead. Jodie Foster is absolutely incredible in it. The current wave of Disney female characters just isn't it though lol These writers simply don't get it. Great video and commentary. Thanks

I’m bewildered what has happened to “critics”. I stopped paying attention to critic scores years ago. Many I can only assume are paid or bribed with access, they seem to heavily weight diversity (even when it is just blatant tokenism) and pretty visual scenes, but seem to completely ignore whether it’s just a good, engaging, compelling story. If the audience score is low its a better gauge to whether it’s worth my time because to audiences - whether it’s a good story is the baseline for scoring. The critic score has seemingly become filled with bias and disingenuous praise with no actual critique. I genuinely don’t get it. What has happened?!?

Fan reviews... Where there's smoke... Prolly some kinda fire

Great breakdown Erik, amd some excellent points by other commenters here about how necessary this "shining of the light" on the disingenuous nature of this narrative. Thanks!

But almost every other news site says it doesn’t & we’re the problem 😣

Erik, if this show was performing anything like expectations they wouldn't give a damn about a few thousand negative audience reviews. The failure of this show was already baked in before it released from the absurd interviews, marketing and statements that was dumped on a fanbase already jaded from sub-par Disney Lucasfilm productions. Ep1 didn't attract the giant fanbase on Disney from the beginning. Worse numbers than even Ahsoka. The majority of the fanbase available through Disney don't pay much attention to RT or metacritic. The older generation and their families. They had already made up their mind not to watch and they were right.

What is most amazing about all these articles defending this TV show is the notion that viewers have to like it in some way. That disliking it is somehow wrong or bad or false. No, it's a crap product and people should say so. Who cares what the press says? These authors are part of a larger group of people who have been lying to us about Biden and a billion other things for decades. What possible value can their opinions be? Only the consumer score matters.

11:24 you're completely right. I find so stupid when conservatives call all this movement in arts something "marxist/communist". It's all about corporate HR discourses, as when they think right kind of consumerism will save the world

What everyone is overlooking is that Leslye Headland is borrowing most of all from the twin brother storyline of Arcann and Thexan, in the video game “Star Wars: Old Republic.” That is really the extent of her knowledge of Jedi lore and where (in addition to “Frozen” and “Kill Bill”) she is cribbing from the most, for lack of talent and storytelling ability.

Omg! Hitman, thank you. I thought it was just me.

Review bombing is absolutely real, BUT: Most of what they refer to as "review bombing" in regards to The Acolyte is simply viewers showing up and casting their vote on RT. Contrary to what they claim, RT's rotten/fresh score is actually not well suited for the kind of review bombing that they claim is happening. With IMDB, users can watch a show they like - Maybe it's a 7/10 - But they want to "support the team" - So they give the show 10/10. OR, if they dislike something, they can do the opposite. - By doing that, their vote will have the value of many honest votes in setting the average. With RT, their primary metric is only "Rotten/Fresh" - Everyone's vote is thus equal in terms of setting the score, regardless of user attempts at manipulating the average. Actually knowing how it RT's score works (reading FAQ) is one of the reasons for why I don't even have an account there. If a user rate a show 3/5, that score is "rotten" according to RT - For RT, 3,5/5 is the minimum for user score to be considered "fresh". That is unreasonable. If a user gives it a 6/10 (3/5) OR a 1/10 (0,5/5) MAKES NO DIFFERENCE on RT's SCORE! Going by this metric, most 80's classics on IMDB would be certified "rotten" on RT. If users gave reasonable scores (which these people claim they want people to do), many, if not most, shows would have equally rotten RT user scores.

You wonder why trust in critics has plummeted. Who are these reviews even for? Star War fans have already watched the show. The people it was going to draw in have already watched it

Just finished the finale. The whole show was complete garbage.

Thank you so much for your objective honesty in your critique of this show! Unlike...your colleague Paul lol.

Your channel is great and also enjoy your articles on Forbes. I respect your opinion & everything you've recommended we've watched and enjoyed. Cheers from South Africa!

Basically we’re supposed to clap and smile whenever Disney releases something new 😅 sounds awfully like North Korea 😂😅

The reason Andor wasn’t review bombed is because no one cared about Andor. Obiwan made so many people including me just walk away. Go look for reviews of Andor, they are few and mostly non existent from the usual suspects. Andor didn’t go out of its way to break canon. The Acolyte kicked the hornets nest because it went out of its way to break canon and make the Jedi the bad guys. That angers fans of the prequels because Anakin is not special and the Sith returning is a non event since they returned in the lifetime of many Jedi of the prequels. This caused many people to seek out reviews dunking on this show. The ratings show no one is watching the show but they are watching reviews so they know what happens. Why this show? Because it messed with the past and made it irrelevant, it was a blatant attack on fans. This show tells people, “you know the good guys, well they are really bad guys, you have been fools, stupid idiots.” The sequels killed the OT and this show murdered the prequels. 14% is far too high to be honest.

You should also talk about all of the puff peices that CBR, Inverse, etc seems to be mandated to write on the acolyte and why it's "awesome".

I wouldn't say "a lot" see review bombing as trolling. Only some bubbles.

It's helpful to look at the average score. It's a mediocre 60-70%. The threshold for " fresh" (on individual reviews) seems arbitrary. Regarding disregarding the audience: Imagine if the creators of "Sonic" dismissed the fans that slagged the initial preview.

We know they are lying. They also know that they are lying. They also know that we know they are lying. We also know that they know that we know they are lying, but they are still lying.

8:29 83% is from the people whose job depends on movies. The 14% is from the people that invest their time to enjoy something. I know which one I will go with.

Why do I dislike the finale worse than all previous episodes? I’m starting to believe it is me- it’s not you- let’s just be friends. But privately- I could not stand it

@erik why is it that RU-vidrs dont run Ad blockers for websites is that something YT enforces 🤔

Review bombing wouldn't be an effective tactic or a real problem if critics were just honest, and did their job.

Pretty sure they will eventually get rid of audience scores altogether pretty sure CEO of RT used to work for Disney so of course they want to run interference for them

I would never care enough to review bomb. I'll give my views to people who speak truth

The Rotten Tomatoes score is inherently problematic, though. If everyone gave the show a 1, it would have a 0% score, and if everyone gave it a 3, it would have a 0% score.

Thanks for giving a level-headed take on this thing.

clearly 14% is too low but 87% is also too high. So why the official critics rates so high the show ? maybe they have not seen it, maybe some of them have commercial ties to Disney (direct or indirect). Truth probably lies in-between but clearly clother to 14 than 87. If only there was another show with the nearly the same budget and the same number of episode to compare ... oh ! HotD !!! 1hr episodes that are outstanding (yes, a bit slow but I love it) VS the acolyte that struggle to make 25 minutes episodes where acting, writing, ... are very problematic. Oh and in HotD there are womens too, I even think they are the main characters and yet it seems it is not a problem, wonder why !

perfectly said

Fighting with your fans isn’t a good strategy. Disney doesn’t have unlimited money… but SW fans can wait decades. Disney will tap out before the fans.

This is the beginning of the end for rotten tomatoes. People will turn to IMDB i suspect.

Watching your vlog is like going on an adventure 🌍

I trust people who paid to see something, not people who get things for seeing something. so i trust the audience more than the critics.

I always felt that the critic reviews were supposed to focus on the movie making aspects of the movie. How it compares to other movies because they are experts on critiquing movies. The audience score was focused on the desired audience. Because they are experts on the content. You bought Star Wars to make Star Wars movies for Star Wars fans. At least you should have. Why buy an audience to alienate them?

More importantly is their 180 million bucks budget a form of money laundering if we don't see that kind of value in the show?

Using the term ‘Review Bomb’ today is like using the term ‘Racist’. Both terms have lost their power due to being way overused. Both terms illicit a ‘Here we go again’ 🙄 out of most people. As you were.

A question about scores, Erik. Fourteen percent seems to be very low so there may be some deliberate effort to push the score down as much as possible. But imo audience scores on sites like RT usually have higher scores than I believe most shows or movies merit. I'm not some kind of high brow type like Roger Ebert or Rex Reed where I look down on everything that isn't high art but most products today are mediocre at best so really at least half the audience today will give a thumbs up to anything.

I really wanted this show to work but it's so disappointing. Biggest disappointment of 2024 on the TV front for me

1:35 why isnt the House of the Dragon being reviewed bombed - strong female leads, diverse cast? maybe the truth is the Acolyte is a terribly written shite . headland got her ikea furniture from the same Disney prop department that had ikea furniture for Obi Wan 10:37 how does Headland have a pretentious british female accent

Or its just poor writing and a waste of $190 million . Kathleen and Leslye are gaslighting fans that said anyone that doesnt like the series, are not real fans, bigots, homophobic, racists. Fyi some of my favourite characters in the SW universe were Leia, Ahsoka, Jyn Erso, Padme, Fennec, and Bo-Katana. To say there was no strong female characters and too male driven stories in SW is demeaning to those characters and actresses.

Is this Forbes' Erik Kain? Is he going independent? Remember reading his stuff since GG, nice to see.

I love the accent 😅

But.. but.. critics reviewed bombed it.

So is it CRITIC BOMBING if they give a show a bad ‘score’ and the viewers like it? ‘They’ can’t have it both ways. As you were.

I haven’t seen any of these shows, only clips. The clips of this show I’ve seen are ridiculous. The writing, acting, the sets. It all looks utterly terrible. Are the other shows really this bad too?

The writer that you're referring to in your break down here, is "loading up" her comments in reflection first, Right before she lays the last section on you, because it's being written by AI.

Upvote, because good video and good commentary.

Ugh, it hurts my soul that my favorite franchise has turned into this. The media using lazy defenses of labeling people something just because we critique a crappy show. Star Wars has turned into a franchise that is driven by people that are dead set in tearing down what actually made it great in order to prop up, and turn it into a vessel for their own personal politics. It's just going to get worse from here since Lucasfilm has the media and a new fanbase that protects them from actual criticism. Nothing will change because they don't want it to. Get used to this ultra progressive Star Wars that the majority of the fans don't want. It's not going anywhere. To quote the golden rod, "We're doomed."

Review bombing is similar to when people organize mass protests. Often times the final incident that sparks the protests is trivial, but the backlog of pain has been there all along waiting to explode.

Unless it's from bots it's 100% legit and I've seen no evidence the negative reviews are not from real people who actually dislike the show.

It is called a DEI Agenda! This is the 2nd time RT has done this for Disney!! It isn’t Trolls!! Its is reasonable ppl who are pointing out the wrong with the show. Explain why each time we review an episode Lisa has an excuse for it!?

Saying the Acolyte brings refreshing and unique takes on Star Wars is like saying Josef Mengele brought a refreshing and unique approach to pediatrics, or Pol Pot had a refreshing and unique approach to urban planning. The negative scores are undoubtedly disproportionate to the middling quality of the show. But they are exactly in sync with the frustration of the fanbase in being ignored and derided for years now. This has been going on since TLJ. It's not just the current old fans, or the earlier old fans, its THE FANS. And we're chafing against a monolithic bureaucracy - we expect market power to have an effect, but it's not, so that's deeply frustrating. I suspect it's because DIS cannot allow itself to openly market to different segments - the adult base, and the kid base, and differentiate the story and product. That would mean a conceptual challenge: not all themes and Messages can be the same.

This show is why critics are a dying breed. Even if you turn off your brain, this show is at best mediocre. And critics have it rated as one of the best shows of all time. I just can’t think anyone watching this show would say it’s a 9 or 10 out of 10. I enjoy the Godzilla movies but turn my brain off, enjoy it and realize the movies at best are a 5 or 6 out of 10. This show was positively review bombed by critics which make critics unreliable at best. You can enjoy something but also be reasonable about why you enjoyed it, acknowledge its faults and rate it accurately. The 83 critically review is way too high.

Pretty straightforward really: don't make a shite entertainment product and don't get review bombed. While I'm certain there are samples, showcase quick the great program that is legitimately solid and got review bombed?

people are making an example out of it because we demand better shows. its disheartening how the studios refuse to engage with criticism and wont adjust and do better in the future, they just scream racism and run away

If they make an awesome show or even have good writing review bombing doesn't happen. Andor and mandalorian 1 & 2 are evidence of that.