tek's rating: ¾

The Acolyte, on Disney+
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This series is set about 100 years before The Phantom Menace. There are a lot of plot developments that I don't want to spoil, so I'm not sure how much of an idea I can give you of what happens throughout the series. It starts with a Jedi Master named Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) being attacked and killed by a mysterious badass assassin, who we eventually learn is named Mae Aniseya. However, her twin sister, Osha, is initially blamed for the crime, as Mae was believed to have died 16 years ago, when they were both children. Osha is arrested by Jedi Knight Yord Fandar and his padawan. Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh sends Master Sol and his padawn Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen), as well as Yord, to retrieve Osha after she crash lands on a planet following an escape attempt. Osha has a vision that Mae is still alive, and Sol, who was her teacher until she left the Jedi Order six years ago, believes her.

Mae is on a mission to kill four Jedi who were stationed on her home planet of Brendok sixteen years ago. They include Indara, Sol, Torbin, and Kelnacca. Mae blames them for the deaths of her mother and the rest of their coven of Force-using witches, even though it was Mae herself who started a fire that killed them. We learn more about what happened on Brandok through flashbacks in a few different episodes. In the present, Mae has some interactions with a smuggler named Qimir (Manny Jacinto, whom I knew from The Good Place). Meanwhile, Sol leads a team of Jedi to planet Khofar, where Kelnacca lives, hoping to stop Mae from killing him. There is a battle between the Jedi and Mae's master, who wears a sensory-deprivation helmet made of a metal that is resistant to lightsabers. His identity is soon revealed, and it was just who I thought it would be, but I won't spoil it.

Beyond that, I'm not going to spoil anything, so I'm leaving out a lot. If the show gets a second season, I'll have to reveal some more things about this season, I suppose. I hope it does, as I rather enjoyed the series, and there are some unanswered questions and dangling plot threads. There were some really cool battles, and some interesting concepts, including the fact that Jedi can be corrupted, even when they're trying to do what they believe is right. And there's a senator who believes the Senate should have more oversight over the Jedi, whom he considers too powerful and too independent. And... I don't know what else to say.


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