The Acolyte 2-episode series premiere review — Better than ‘Obi-Wan’ but far from ‘Andor’

The Follower brings Star Wars back in time to a setting known as The High Republic, during the final days of that era. An era of peace is coming to an end as a new and mysterious threat emerges. We open our story with an assassin who appears on an alien planet with one purpose: To kill a Jedi.

This Jedi is Master Indara Jedi (Carrie-Anne Moss Matrix fame) and the killer is a mysterious young woman named Mae, played by Amandla Stenberg. The big twist here — and it’s not hard to see coming, but this is the spoiler — is that Stenberg also plays Mae’s twin sister, Osha, who we find out was once a Jedi. May has been presumed dead for 16 years after an incident on their homeworld involving their family and the Jedi Order in which things went terribly wrong. What exactly happened is one of the great mysteries here.

The other really important characters we meet include Jedi Master Sol (played by Lee Jung-jae of Squid Games, pictured here with his superior, Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) a Mirialan:

Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon (played by Logan star Dafne Keen):

Jedi Knight, Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) who is essentially the Paladin character here:

Finally, there is Qimir (Manny Jacinto) an ally of Mae who is hiding things:

There are others, including a Jedi Wookie. Of the cast, my favorite characters so far are Jedi Master Sol and Padawan Jecki Lon, who both seem to have the best heads on their shoulders.

As for the story itself, in the first two episodes we learn about the assassin and her mission, but we never fully understand what happened in her story that makes her so vulnerable to the Dark Side and her mysterious Master.

The show itself is definitely a step up in quality Obi-Wan the boba fett, but I wouldn’t call it great — even though I’m only two episodes in. It could go either way. I like that you don’t have to have as much knowledge of previous cartoon shows as you did Ahsoka, though overall I’d probably put this series on the same level as that show. It’s fine – leagues better than season three The Mandalorian-but not as good as the first two seasons of Mando, and certainly not as impressive or exciting as Andor, though there are a lot more Jedi battles, and Jedi battles are a lot of fun.

It is also obviously the most diverse Star Wars appearance so far, although it can come off as almost parodic at times, and I suspect we’ll be getting lots and lots of YouTube content about it in the coming weeks. I personally believe Andor handled diversity best of all Star Wars show until now, creating a more diverse lineup with nuance and authenticity.

The Follower it is not as subtle as Andor and honestly, that’s okay. I didn’t expect it to be. It’s not the same type of show (nothing inside Star Wars it’s really like Andor, but, except Rogue One, and even that pales in comparison). Star Wars it’s mostly a series about space knights with laser swords, and you’ve got a lot of them, and it sure looks like we’re going to get a lot more.

Where The Follower projects:

• Lots of interesting aliens and cool compositions.
• Some really good fight scenes.
• It is located in The High Republic which is nice. We break away from the Empire and the Skywalkers and get a look at a different time period, similar to what we see in the prequels but not during the rise of Palpatine.
• I love the Jedi robes and the alien makeup work is great. (More on this below).
• There is a Jedi Wookie.
• Jedi Master Sol is great. I could see myself getting into several of the other characters as well if they were given the depth and complexity needed (or just the personality and spirit needed) to make us care about them.
• I’m definitely interested in learning more about this world and the characters and the story.

Where it stumbles:

• Some of the story beats feel a little clumsy. Jedi shouldn’t make the mistakes they do (I hate how, in other shows, the New Republic is portrayed as super incompetent, and some of that happens).
• I like that the villain is a woman. What worries me is that they will give her exactly the same redemption arc as Reva Obi-Wan. Again, of Andor Deedra Meero might be the best female villain Star Wars series. I’m not sure I trust this show to commit.
• I think Stenberg does a great job as Osha/Mae but . . . why do they have exactly the same hair? They haven’t seen each other in almost two decades, but they have the same haircut and style? It’s clearly about the big twist in episode 1, but come on.
• The dialogue can be a little awkward. Nothing as outrageous as what we’ve seen Mandalorian Season 3 or Ahsoka, but nothing particularly great. Also, Easter eggs are getting a little old (or I’m just too tired). Yord’s “I have a bad feeling about this” seemed silly to me.
• This might be a screen issue—I’ll have to watch it again in the Disney+ app—but the production values ​​usually look okay. It’s good, but I’ve heard a lot Andorra-Production values ​​are people talking and that’s just not true. A big part of me just wants to Star Wars to feel more alive and much of what we see in the first two episodes is like Star Wars on a movie set rather than the dusty, dirty world(s) that make this franchise feel real. So you can throw money at it, but if you make everything look Good instead of making it feel real, well. This is not enough.
• I’ve also glanced at a bunch of reviews that use phrases like “thrilling mystery” or “thrilling thriller” and I’m just . . . not sold on it and it’s something similar at this point. It’s not what I’d call “shaking” either Star Wars formula — not that you need it! What we need is a compelling story with good action and characters we love.

Basically, my mind is not made up one way or the other at this point. enjoy The Follower, but it is far from great. Maybe it will be incorporated into something truly amazing – the ‘Frozen meets Kill Bill’ co-creator Leslye Headland sold it as. Perhaps the dark path so many Disneys follow Star Wars series followed. We’ll see.

I’m two episodes in and will have further thoughts later, as well as recaps/reviews for each of the next six episodes (for a total of eight). Tell me your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook.