Star Wars: The Acolyte Ep 4 Review
Whenever I review something, I always try looking at the positives first. I don’t want to watch something and feel like I’ve wasted my time! However, every so often, I come across something that leaves with an inescapable truth: I don’t like it one bit. I made it clear that I’m not interested in Star Wars: The High Republic, and thus far, The Acolyte has done little to change my mind. Not helping matters is the fact that Mae isn’t a good antagonist or even an anti-hero, and this episode proves it. At this point, I think it would’ve been better for them to focus on Mae’s Master from the get-go.
Regrouping
In the aftermath of their failed attempt to capture Mae, Sol and the other Jedi regroup at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Now that they know that Mae is hunting down the Jedi she deems responsible for what happened on Brendok, Sol, Yord, and a group of other Jedi realize they need to head her off. Thus, they have to make it to Kelnacca, the Wookie Jedi, before she does! And Osha is coming along. Reluctantly.
One would think that Osha would be invested in capturing her sister, but she isn’t. She likely has nothing but bad memories about Mae and wants nothing to do with her, and I don’t blame her. When they were kids, Mae didn’t see Osha as her own person. She thought that them being twins meant that they were supposed to always do everything together, leading to the events that ultimately split them apart. However, no matter how bad things are between them, and what Mae has done, Master Sol points out that they’re still family. Family and the bonds it creates are one of the central themes behind Star Wars, and one that’s incredibly hard to break. Thus, no matter how much she doesn’t want to, Osha is convinced to help Sol and a group of Jedi apprehend Mae.
Speaking of Mae, she’s already made it to the planet of Khofar where Kelnacca’s staying. And with the help of her poison man, Qimir, she’s already got a headstart. And unfortunately for us, the titular acolyte starts second-guessing her life choices.
Mae Is Not Meant to be a Villain
As previously stated, Mae isn’t a good antagonist. Her threats are sub-par, she’s not as smart as she thinks she is, and her motivations are contradictory. She blamed the Jedi for killing Osha and destroying their home, but she also started a fire with the intent to kill her first! It doesn’t make sense! And her decision this week does her few favors: she decides to bail.
Now that she knows that Osha is alive, Mae loses all her motivation to keep going on this test her Master gives her. Thus, she decides to turn herself over to the Jedi in the hopes of making some sort of deal with them to protect her from her Master. However, that decision proves to be a flawed one for two reasons. First, if someone like her Master is capable of staying under the Jedi’s radar, how can they hope to protect her from them? Second, when she gets to Kelnacca’s hut…he’s already dead. The slash marks on his chest are still fresh from the lightsaber that did them.
Does Disney Not Know How Lightsabers Work?
This…wasnt that good of a scene. Firstly, if Kelnacca is really dead, then Disney just wasted a perfectly good badass. Wookie’s are already incredibly powerful thanks to their raw strength, longevity, and crafting skills. Make one Force-Sensitive, and one would think that’d make them a one-person army! George Lucas was even reluctant to make a Wookie Jedi because they would be so overpowered. But this pretty much ruins the potential that Kelnacca had. Secondly, it also muddles how deadly a lightsaber is. We’ve seen people survive getting impaled and cut in half by lightsabers, but this killed a Wookie Jedi? Its inconsistent at best, poor writing at worst.
The one good thing is that it makes it no secret who killed Kelnacca. It was Mae’s Master. They’re on Khofar…and they’ve already made contact with the Jedi.
The Master, Darth Teeth, the Sith Who Laughs
I’ve seen several memes regarding the Master spring up since their introduction. Due to their unique helmet sporting a vicious grin, people are calling them “Darth Teeth,” and “The Sith Who Laughs.” I’m still not sold on the idea that the Master is a Sith Lord, and I’ve seen Sith with scarier designs, but not bad. And they have the power to back themselves up. The Master faces down an entire group of Jedi, and proceeds to send them reeling with a shockwave!
The bad news? The episode ends immediately afterward. A cliffhanger at the worst possible time.
I didn’t like the last episode all that much, but I could respect what the show was trying to do. However, I dont appreciate this blatant kind of teasing from Disney. They finally introduce a real antagonist, and then leave us hanging? That’s a terrible feeling! Pull it together, Disney. You are losing your older fans!
Speaking of the fans, we need to talk about how they’re reacting to one part of the episode, in particular.
Get it Together, Fans.
This week’s episode included a surprise cameo from a Jedi Master from the Prequel Trilogy, Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. This is despite the fact that this takes place a century before the rise of the Empire, meaning that Ki-Adi is now more than a century old. While Star Wars is full of sentient species capable of living centuries, Ki-Adi’s people, the Cereans, have never shown any indication they were one of them. Thus, some fans have a problem with this. Especially since it was confirmed that the writers for Wookiepedia, the Star Wars wiki, changed Mundi’s birthdate as the episode aired. Now fans are so mad, they’re trolling the site and sending its staff death threats.
No, I’m not joking. Threats have been made to people. In addition, Wookiepedia has fired back, blaming toxic fans and influencers for letting this happen. One person in particular that they singled out was Star Wars Theory, a longtime YouTuber with potentially the biggest Star Wars channel on the platform. In response, Theory posted a video saying he would consider taking legal action for defamation.
Real talk: knock it off, guys. I understand we may not like The Acolyte. I’m one of those people right now. However, I’m not going to send death threats to my fellow fans. And that is what the people at Wookiepedia are: they’re fans. Fans who want to give us an accurate database for the franchise. Thus, if the canon gets changed, they have to change things on Wookiepedia. That doesn’t mean they like it any more than we do. They have no control over the canon, and blaming them is misaimed and unfair. If anything, blame people at Disney for making the call on this.
