By Lucas Camacho
It’s been a week since the thrilling conclusion of the latest Disney+ original Star Wars series: The Acolyte. One thing you can definitely say about Star Wars fans is that they are passionate with a capital “P”. So naturally you’ll hear different opinions about the show from fans all across the spectrum. After taking time to reflect on the run of the series, I’ve come up with five reasons for anyone to truly enjoy The Acolyte. I will try to avoid giving too many spoilers.
The Setting
The setting of the story is unique as it takes place during the High Republic era of the Star Wars timeline: approximately 100 years before the events of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The majority of Star Wars films and tv shows have taken place during “The Skywalker Saga” (which means the span of Episodes One through Nine). This gives us a glimpse into what the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order was like during, what can only be described, as a “golden age”. This gives plenty of material and possible new stories to tell a new generation of Star Wars fans.
The Similarities
From what we learned during these episodes; we have gotten a clearer picture of what the Republic looked like before the rise of Darth Sidious. As previously mentioned, the show seems to paint the picture of prosperity and peace for the Republic. However, there is not so subtle hints that not everything is as good as it appears. There is not-so-obvious signs of abuse of power and political struggles between the Jedi and the Senate. It created some parallels to the United States in the “Roaring 20’s”: a perceived notion of peace with political machinations behind the scenes. Like in real world history, the Republic is doomed because of economic turmoil (but instead of a stock market crash, it’s the taxation of trade routes) that give rise to a tyrannical dictator (a Sith dictator as opposed to a Nazi dictator). The writers did a brilliant job in creating this story, which I would call “The Great Gatsby meets Star Wars.”
More Witches!
We don’t just go further in depth into the Republic and the Jedi, we also go a little more into another important group in the Star Wars universe: witches. This is the second coven of such practitioners of witchcraft, the more famous coven of course being the Nightsisters (who featured prominently in recent years in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Ahsoka). It isn’t clear if this coven is associated with the Nightsisters in any way, but their abilities do draw comparisons between the covens. Both covens are shunned by the galaxy and considered dangerous. Another obvious similarity is Osha [SPOILER AHEAD] going from the coven to the Jedi Order to the Sith (similar to the Nightsisters who had Asajj Ventress on a similar path). Considering the obvious allusions to the Nightsisters, maybe these witches in The Acolyte are the precursors to the Nightsisters in some way. There is a lot to explore in this part of the Star Wars timeline, so it’s possible we’ll see this coven again in some way or form.
The Blurred Line Between the Jedi and the Sith
As S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers have HYDRA in the Marvel comics, the Jedi have the Sith. While trying not to spoil it too much for those that haven’t watched this series, we can tell you the Sith plays a role in the story. For those that follow Star Wars, the Sith had been decimated for many years at this point in the timeline (before returning in the form of Darth Sidious). However, this particular Sith doesn’t have a Sith name (Like Darth Tyrannus or Darth Maul) and is just credited as The Stranger. There is also a different aspect in this eternal conflict as the line between the Light of the Jedi and the Darkness of the Sith gets a little blurred. It’s important for the Star Wars saga as a whole to show the Jedi aren’t always in the right and the Sith aren’t always in the wrong (almost similar to some events happening in the world today). The main takeaway from this is that the Jedi are clearly blind to the fact that the Sith aren’t as extinct as they thought because this is important for the Skywalker Saga. The Sith remain in the shadows in this part of the series, and we also got a glimpse in the last episode of a very prominent Sith: the much-mentioned Darth Plagueis.
Yoda is Back!
The best part of the series is at the end where we see a glimpse of a very popular Star Wars character: Yoda! Due to the time setting of the story, it was assumed that the show would name drop or mention Yoda in some way, as it has been established that Yoda trained Jedi for over 900 years. However, the series took it a step further and showed the familiar form of Yoda: ears and all. Granted it was from behind, but it’s always important for fans to get little easter eggs of the original series (like every time someone says the line “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”).
The Acolyte stars Amandla Stenberg, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dafne Keen, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Joonas Sutotamo All episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+.
