{"id":5676,"date":"2024-07-19T05:21:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T11:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/?p=5676"},"modified":"2024-07-19T05:21:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T11:21:52","slug":"we-have-to-talk-about-the-acolyte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/2024\/07\/we-have-to-talk-about-the-acolyte\/","title":{"rendered":"We Have to Talk About ‘The Acolyte’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm\u2019s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Let\u2019s not draw this out: The Acolyte<\/em> failed.<\/p>\n

The first season of Star Wars\u2019<\/em> latest series (now on Disney+) did not fail just because of its Force-powered witches. It did not fail just because a couple of those witches were, well, a couple<\/em>. Those elements might\u2019ve earned the show scorn from both Star Wars<\/em> purists and conservative viewers (many of whom voiced their displeasure before the show even aired). But its biggest issue\u2014simmering throughout the series\u2014truly crashed the ship in this week\u2019s season finale.<\/p>\n

The Acolyte<\/em> failed because the show\u2019s creators forgot what Star Wars<\/em> was and is and should be: A clash between good and evil, between light and dark. For all the betrayals that take place in the show, the viewers themselves might\u2019ve felt it the most keenly.<\/p>\n

\"Osha<\/a>
Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) and the Stranger (Manny Jacinto) in Lucasfilm\u2019s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If You Only Knew the Power of the Dark Side \u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A quick Acolyte<\/em> refresher:<\/p>\n

The story revolves around Osha and Mae (both played by Amandla Stenberg), apparent twins that grew up in a coven of Force-wielding witches on the isolated planet of Brendok. When the girls are about 8 years old, a quartet of Jedi come a-calling, insisting that the girls be tested for their Force sensitivity. The girls\u2019 mothers aren\u2019t thrilled with this unexpected visit, and they\u2019re certainly not eager to have their daughters taken away from them. And Mae certainly doesn\u2019t want to be taken.<\/p>\n

But Osha feels the pull of the Jedi. She passes the test. Mae refuses to let her leave, however, and soon sets the whole coven compound on fire. After that, things get a bit hazy. But soon enough, Osha wakes up on an unfamiliar ship and is told by a Jedi, Sol (Lee Jung\u2014jae), that Mae\u2019s fire pretty much killed everyone, including herself.<\/p>\n

But turns out, Mae survived the blaze and is now out for blood. Under the tutelage of a shadowy Force-wielder, Mae\u2019s been killing off the Jedi who came to Brendok, one by one. Why? Because Mae\u2019s apparently just a bad egg. Sol and Osha must reunite to stop Mae\u2019s killing spree before she gets to Sol himself.<\/p>\n

(If you haven\u2019t seen the last couple of Acolyte<\/em> episodes and want to, I\u2019d recommend you do so now. I\u2019ll wait.)<\/p>\n

But wait! In episode seven (\u201cChoice\u201d), we learn that Sol has spent the last 16 years lying<\/em>. He doesn\u2019t feel great about all those lies, but still. Seems like Mae has a legitimate beef, which Qimir\u2014Mae\u2019s Sith-like master (played by Manny Jacinto)\u2014has leveraged to full effect. But then Osha and Mae switch places, and so, it seems, do the show\u2019s loyalties. Qimir\u2019s not such a bad guy, The Acolyte<\/em> tells us: Just an angry young man trying to take the corrupt Jedi down a few pegs. Sol, he\u2019s the real<\/em> villain here. And in the end, it\u2019s Osha, not Mae, who kills Sol, and she and Qimir skip off the stage, almost literally hand-in-hand. Just two crazy kids with a only a dream \u2026 and a handful of murders on their ledgers.<\/p>\n

\"Sol<\/a>
Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) in Lucasfilm\u2019s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What Is Truth?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Acolyte<\/em> has a lot going for it. The fight scenes can be spectacular. Some of the imagery is unforgettable. (Qimir\u2019s helmet might hold a place of honor in many a horror movie, as would those nasty flying insects.)<\/p>\n

And the show\u2019s moral conundrums aren\u2019t inherently off-putting, either. Honestly, I like<\/em> a bit of ethical complexity, even in the black-and-white galaxy of Star Wars. Andor<\/em>, filled with a palate of murky gray motives and questionable decisions, just might be one of the franchise\u2019s all-time best offerings.<\/p>\n

But The Acolyte<\/em> lost me when it suggested that the Jedi order itself was built on a lie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Jedi are a massive system of unchecked power, posing as a religion,\u201d rails a galactic senator to Jedi bigwig Venestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson). \u201cA delusional cult that claims to control the uncontrollable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t control the Force,\u201d Venestra reminds the senator.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the Force,\u201d the senator says. \u201cYour emotions<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s music to many a 3-year-old\u2019s ears, I would imagine. If our emotions were indeed uncontrollable, I wonder how many tantrums I might\u2019ve thrown just today.<\/p>\n

But the show\u2014at least at the close of the season\u2013seems to sympathize and agree with the senator\u2019s take. And that doesn\u2019t just undercut , which would in turn undercut many a hero\u2019s journey in the Star Wars<\/em> saga.<\/p>\n

I have no idea what showrunner Leslye Headland intends for the rest of the show\u2019s run (if, indeed, it even gets a second season). And certainly, it\u2019s always dangerous to read purpose into anyone else\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

But we do know that Headland grew up with a very religious upbringing; that she\u2019s lesbian and currently married to Rebecca Henderson; that she has said (as quoted in Bounding Into Comics<\/em><\/a>) that \u201cThe concept of religion is such a really oppressive one, especially for people like myself and many, many others.\u201d It\u2019s not too much of a stretch to see a little Osha in her\u2014disillusioned with (what she might characterize as) the religious box she grew up in and its denial of her own same-sex-leaning feelings. Perhaps it\u2019s not just Qimir who wishes to tear down the self-righteous, self-denying Jedi. Perhaps it\u2019s Headland herself, using the Jedi as a stand-in for our own religious institutions.<\/p>\n

And for those of us who\u2019ve grown up loving Star Wars, it feels as though the Jedi deserve better. And so does faith itself.<\/p>\n

\"Osha<\/a>
Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) and the Stranger (Manny Jacinto) in Lucasfilm\u2019s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Semantics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In his classic book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton offered some thoughts on self-limitation and control. \u201cIf you draw a giraffe, you must draw him with a long neck,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIf in your bold creative way you hold yourself free to draw a giraffe with a short neck, you will really find that you are not free to draw a giraffe.\u201d<\/p>\n

For The Acolyte to give us a fallen Jedi in Sol, and to surround him with duplicitous accomplices, feels both fair and narratively compelling. Absolutely corruption and deception could filter into the Jedi order. Certainly, our planet\u2019s own religious history is filled with corruption and deception and sin and abhorrent behavior.<\/p>\n

But The Acolyte\u2014at least at this juncture\u2014goes further. It doesn\u2019t just give us Jedi who fail to meet their order\u2019s lofty goals. It suggests that those very goals are suspect. Self denial? Self control? Forget about it. It\u2019s impossible anyway. Do what you want. <\/em>And in so doing, The Acolyte redraws the Jedi in its own warped image\u2014and it ceases to be what nearly 50 years of lore have taught us what being a Jedi means.<\/p>\n

At one point, when Qimir tells Osha to embrace her emotions to more fully utilize the Force, Osha initially rejects him. It\u2019s the path to the Dark Side, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSemantics,\u201d Qimir answers.<\/p>\n

But when I heard that one-word answer, it brought to mind Isaiah 5:20: \u201cWoe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, the Force in Star Wars owes more than a little to the Eastern spiritual ideals of Yin and Yang, the balance found between light and dark. But those ideals of self sacrifice and self control resonate with Christians, too. The Bible is filled with references to both.<\/p>\n

\u201cA man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls,\u201d reads Proverbs 25:28. \u201cFor God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control,\u201d we see in 2 Timothy 1:7. The Bible repeatedly tells us to make ourselves living sacrifices to something higher, something better. Certainly, none of us can claim to always succeed in following those lofty ideals. But the ideals? When we do follow them, we find that we can do some good in the world around us. We can both give and forgive. We can love better and live better. It\u2019s not the sort of power that can fire up a lightsaber, but it\u2019s where I think it\u2019s in self-sacrifice that we find real truth and beauty and goodness.<\/p>\n

Star Wars has long offered us hints of that truth and beauty and goodness. And Darth Vader\u2019s own arc\u2014from one of pop culture\u2019s most notorious villains to a guy saved through love\u2014is perhaps Star Wars at its best and most resonant. If the \u201cDark Side\u201d really is just a matter of semantics, as Qimir says, that spells trouble not just for The Acolyte, but for the franchise itself.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s not draw this out: The Acolyte failed. The first season of Star Wars\u2019 latest series (now on Disney+) did not fail just because of its Force-powered witches. It did not fail just because a couple of those witches were, well, a couple. Those elements might\u2019ve earned the show scorn from both Star Wars purists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":5679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[365,20],"tags":[1056,73,4],"class_list":["post-5676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-television","tag-acolyte","tag-disney","tag-star-wars"],"yoast_head":"\nWe Have to Talk About 'The Acolyte'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Acolyte failed because the show\u2019s creators forgot what Star Wars was and is: A clash between good and evil, between light and dark.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/2024\/07\/we-have-to-talk-about-the-acolyte\/\" 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