Welcome to the Jungle, We've Got... Not Much Going On
Following last week’s disastrous attempt at storytelling, The Acolyte had a lot to prove going into episode four. Yes, episode three was flawed with every frame of its execution, but it was a backstory episode from beginning to end—a deviation from the larger story.
The best bits of The Acolyte so far have been the larger mystery at play, the fun action scenes, and Amandla Stenberg’s dual performance. Ostensibly we were returning to all of this with episode four, but I still can’t say I was all that excited for it.
Despite watching the episode more out of a sense of obligation than actually being invested with the story, this is by and large a vast improvement over what happened last week. That’s really not saying much, though, is it?
Mae is on the hunt, aiming to kill the Jedi Knight Kelnacca, for reasons that either have or have not been explained in the previous episode (really, I can’t tell if we’re meant to think the story was only half-told, or if that’s all we’re getting). Armed with this knowledge, the Jedi, lead by Sol, attempt to stop her, but of course they need to make sure Oshi comes along so she can appeal directly to her long-lost sister.
Just don’t make her wear civilian clothes!
…
…
(This is a joke about how Oshi only agrees to go with the Jedi so long as they don’t make her wear ‘civilian clothes’ and then in the next shot she’s huffing because she’s wearing a robe that we’re supposed to gather is ‘civilian clothes’. No, you are not missing any important context that would make this ‘joke’ funnier than it is. The writing is simply that toothless.)
From there, the narrative circles its own tail until Disney had enough footage for an episode. The two groups separately make their way through the jungle planet where Kelnacca lives. There’s no chase, no sense of urgency. Mae and her assistant discuss their Master obliquely in a way that’s supposed to create a sense of mystery, but it’s so belaboured and joyless that I couldn’t find a reason to care.
Oshi wakes up a weird bug creature and Master Sol kills it with a lightsaber one second later. The last few minutes of the episode offer something in the way of tension and stakes, but the cliffhanger ending is beyond frustrating. Ducking out just when things start to get interesting really highlights just how boring the rest of the episode is.
Honestly, I’m running out of things to say. This episode is well acted, and the characters have a clear goal. One character even makes a tough decision! In this way, it’s better than the last episode, but this is as boring as the episode three was borderline insulting.
My excitement for this show has well and truly run dry.
***
Thanks for reading my review. If you liked it, consider buying me a cup of coffee at https://ko-fi.com/kieranobrien
Comments