Star Wars: Five Times ‘The Acolyte’ Writers Knew The Setting Better Than The Haters
Star Wars: The Acolyte is over. Despite some complaints, the showrunners have proven they do know Star Wars.
The Acolyte has wrapped up, and it was… pretty good, actually! It’s maybe not the best Star Wars we’ve ever seen, but it was a solid show and a better entry than some of the Disney+ shows (looking at you, Bob Feet!).
It had some great action, cool force powers, and a lot of lore cuts. However, the show has drawn a fair bit of ire online. Mostly, this seems to be from bigots and the like trying to push their own agenda. Indeed, many of those attacking it have clearly not seen the show. Considering some of the complaints, I’m not sure they’ve seen Star Wars at all.
Now, look, the show isn’t perfect, but it’s sad that any real criticism of it is buried under bad-faith attacks. So today, let’s take a look at a few of the times people complained about the showrunners not knowing Star Wars when they clearly know it a lot better than the haters.
Warning Spoilers For The Acolyte Season One Ahead
5. The Writers Made a Space Fire
This was the first real big attack on the show. It basically boiled down to people complaining about there being a fire in space in episode 1 of the show. Now, this is such a silly argument that I wrote a whole article about the many space fires we’ve seen in Star Wars.
It is, in fact, a long-established trope in Star Wars. However, the scene also shows off a deep knowledge of Star Wars. See, the entire scene in episode one is called back to a scene in Episode One. This is during the escape from Naboo when the Trade Federation fire causes a fire to break out on the Royal Naboo ship.
In this scene, the Trade Federation causes a fire in another ship’s shield generator, and droids, per the laws of the time, are sent out to fix it. For the Acolyte, a Trade Federation ship has an issue with its shield generator (due to cheapness).
In some kind of Old Republic OSHA violation, droids are not dispatched. Instead, Osha herself is sent to deal with it because, again, the Trade Federation is cheap and does not care about people. It’s not only a great OSHA joke, but it actually demonstrates a clear knowledge of Star Wars. And that’s why this fire gets top place as one of the most influential fires in all of Star Wars.
It’s a great bit of visual storytelling, and it also helps show that the issues of the Old Republic were old and had a long history. The Trade Federation was cutting corners and ignoring laws long before The Phantom Menace. It deepens the setting.
4. THE SITH WERE GONE!
As soon as someone with a red lightsaber showed up, even before he claimed to be a Sith, people again accused the show of breaking canon. He can’t be a Sith, they said. As you may remember, in one scene in the Phantom Menace, Ki-Adi-Mundi states, “Impossible. The Sith have been extinct for a millennium.” So, clearly, this broke the cannon for the Jedi to find a Sith only 100 years after Mundi stated these words.
Of course, these complaints were made halfway through the show. We now know that none of the Jedi who saw the Sith or heard him claim to be Sith survived. So far, there are no witnesses. What the Jedi do know is that a fallen Jedi led the attacks. But beyond that, it’s just possible that Mundi lied or told the truth from a certain point of view. The Jedi do that, and the show seems willing to show that they will cover stuff up.
3. Let’s Talk Mundi
The Acolyte actually introduces us to a younger Ki-Adi-Mundi. To some, this was a cool easter egg. To those wishing to attack the show, it was another way it broke the cannon and destroyed Star Wars. You see, originally, Mundi was born in 93BBY, but the show takes place in 132BBY- so he shouldn’t be alive. Checkmate Disney!
Of course, the big issue with this is that Mundi’s 93BBY birthdate was from Legends and not canon anyway. And you know what? If Star Wars wants to change a minor character’s birthdate, who gives a crap? So, canonically, they’ve moved his birthdate back, so he is around in this era.
OK, fine, but why even bother to use Mundi? Well, there are two very good reasons to have him make an appearance. The first is a nod to his, mostly EU, past. See, Mundi is a Cerean, and in the older stories, his race had such a low birth rate that it was endangered. To help with this, he was given an exemption from the normal Jedi rules and allowed to have a family. In fact, he had five wives and seven children and loved them (though supposedly wasn’t attached to them, yeah, right). Yet it makes a lot of thematic sense for him to show up in a show that deals with families, and families and attachment.
On top of that, you have the above-mentioned quote of him saying the Sith are extinct. It’s not very interesting that it’s him specifically who claims this. His inclusion in the show makes us wonder if he was part of the cover-up. Or is he just repeating the official line, one that will be reinforced at the end of the show? Either way, it makes sense to have him around.
2. The Force Birth
One of the big reveals in the show is that Mea and Ohsa were created by the Force and are the “same person.” This again raised people’s anger. Because Anakin was supposed to be the first Force birth and created by either Palpatine, Plagueis, or maybe just the Force in reaction to their meddling. Having some Force Witches do it first ruins everything. I guess?
Now, of course, nothing ever said that Anakin was the first such birth. It’s merely stated that Plagueis discovered this knowledge and that Papa Palpes learned it from him. The Acolyte supports this, bringing in what seems to be Plagueis at the end. His involvement with the show and twin draws a direct line between them and the refining of the process to make Anakin. It is, in fact, all connected there.
Does this take away from Plagueis/Palpatine in that they didn’t come up with the idea, and some Force Witches did? Well… no, no one ever said they invented the idea, or in fact that the Witches did. On top of that, Plagueis is a f’ing SITH. They lie, they steal, they take the easy road. This is how they would get knowledge!
1. The Writers Made the Jedi Bad
Another argument you’ll hear is that the show has made the Jedi the bad guys. They can kind of come off as the villains of the show. And, like… my dude, have you watched Star Wars? That’s always been true.
The Jedi in the show aren’t evil or bad; they are flawed, and that’s a theme throughout Star Wars. I mean, Jedi after Jedi falls to the Dark Side. Jedi lie (Darth Vader killed your father), hide the truth and mislead people. They take children and turn them into child warriors. The Jedi follow the will of the Force and do what they think is best, but they are not always “good.” This has been shown time and time again.
In The Acolyte, the Jedi always think they are doing the right thing. Sol makes mistakes, but he does what he thinks is right. The Jedi suffer from thinking they can’t do any wrong. And this is born out throughout Star Wars.
The show shows us where the Jedi of the Prequel – weak, misled, kind of stupid, and too involved with politics – started their fall. They are forced to do things and cover up things because of senate politics. This isn’t just a nod to the Prequels but also to old Legends stories that had the New Republic senate fighting with the Jedi over the question of oversite.
This kind of issue, the Jedi being well-meaning but flawed, is one of Star Wars’ core ideas. The show doesn’t make the Jedi bad; it humanizes them in a way consistent with the rest of Star Wars.
Let us know what you thought of the show in the comments!
