The first two episodes, directed by Headland, sputter a bit just to get this branch of the “Star Wars” universe, and our characters, all set up. The dialogue is still a little clunky in that heightened, thee-and-thou way (“Attack me with all your strength,” Mae boasts to any of her potential targets), and even these game actors struggle to imbue their Jedi with a whole lot of personality. Lee, however, acquits himself exquisitely as Master Sol, a world-weary Jedi whose guilt at Osha’s origins and her falling out with the Force lend him some decidedly melancholic dimensions. As for Stenberg, she does a fine enough job differentiating the more laconic Osha with her fanatical sister, though the confines of the story often leave them bereft of much agency. (Mae is particularly stone-faced as an antihero, though she’s aided by a rogueish smuggler and ally named Qimir, played by the always-charming Manny Jacinto.)
But the show really flowers in the third episode, directed by “After Yang” filmmaker kogonada, which flashes us back to the circumstances behind Osha and Mae’s rift. Here, we’re greeted with an entirely new world, subculture, and story that calls into question all preconceptions that fans have about the Jedi and the Force—a subtle but gripping fable about the destructive and liberatory power of our personal choices, the loss of childhood innocence, and what happens when we break from tradition. It also casts the Jedi in a far more morally ambiguous light, and we see the line where their stoicism borders on cruelty. It’s a staggering hour that gives you more to think on than any recent “Star Wars” installment outside of “Andor.”
It’s such a brilliant hour that the rest of “The Acolyte” suffers a bit alongside; it’s hard to return to the main story’s comparatively more wooden characters in the fourth episode after getting such a satisfying, self-contained tale. Even so, there’s potential in this series and its slower, more contemplative direction, even as Headland and crew pepper in one martial arts-infused Jedi fight after another to break up the tension. The show looks great as always, with production design, sets, and costumes that feel right at home in “Star Wars” but hearken back to a more pristine, ancient age. Michael Abels’ score hums along in that John Williams mode but commits itself to subtler hues than the typical bombast. But it’s the ideas that flourish in “The Acolyte”—mining the rich mythology of the universe to explore how our childhoods scar us, and what we do with that pain.
First four episodes screened for review. First two episodes of “The Acolyte” are currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes weekly.
