This will just be a micro review, since episode four of The Acolyte airs tonight and this episode has been out for a week already. In a surprise move, episode three, titled Destiny, flashes back sixteen years, showcasing Osha and Mae in their childhood, right when the Jedi came to their planet.

I found this an odd episode. Not due to any of the vapid online backlash, there’s tons of people hating on this episode for political reasons. No, I found episode three an odd time for a flashback episode. This show is the first High Republic story to be told outside of the books, so we’re just getting introduced to this era and these characters. Right when the show is starting to build some sort of foundation, it flashes back in time to give us some backstory.

Oddly enough, we didn’t learn too much. Mae and Osha are confirmed to be born of the Force, much like Anakin was, only this time they’re born into a coven of witches who refer to the Force as the Thread. I sense a Plageuis lurking in the shadows here. But apart from that, what was the point of the episode? I don’t think this episode presented all of its information, as we’re left with no reason why Mae would want to kill those four Jedi on her homeworld if she was the cause of the fire that killed the coven. So why withhold information from the audience and give us so little to go on? What we did see, we did already know in some capacity already, such as Sol thinking Mae died in the fire. And if this truly is all of the information and context that’s given, then that’s a major problem as there’s a ton of holes in this narrative. I can’t help but think this is how The Acolyte should have opened, or kept the flashback until at least episode six. Three just felt so early as we’re not invested.

Much like the first two episodes, a common criticism seems to be that the writing of the show isn’t the best. There’s some weaker dialogue and some wooden acting. While there’s some impressive establishing shots, the sets themselves still felt like corridors, even when in open-spaces.

In the end, I found this an odd episode. It was out of place and incomplete. Let’s see what happens in the fourth episode then.