The Acolyte has been making headlines for weeks, though most of those have related to possible review-bombing and so-called continuity errors which somehow disrespect the wider Star Wars franchise.
Simply put, there's an awful lot of noise out there and it's overshadowed what's shaping up to be one of the better stories told by the Disney-owned Lucasfilm. While the next few weeks will be crucial in cementing the show's legacy, there are plenty of reasons you should give The Acolyte a chance.
In this feature, we take a deep dive into why The Acolyte is a must-watch for Star Wars fans, delving into what it does right and why many of the complaints you've heard aren't necessarily valid. Be warned that some spoilers do follow.
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5. It Expands On Existing Star Wars Lore In Important Ways
When we first learned that The Acolyte was set during the newly introduced High Republic era, it became hard to shake the feeling the series would be largely unimportant to the wider Star Wars franchise.
Instead, the opposite has been true. While we still don't know just how important The Stranger is to the Sith lineage, there's a very good chance he's the founder of the Knights of Ren and, beyond that, we're seeing how the Force can be wielded by more than just the Jedi.
That could be crucial for what plays out on Peridea in Ahsoka season 2. Equally as important is the fact The Acolyte is explaining much of what we saw in the prequel trilogy.
Even north of a hundred years before The Phantom Menace, we see a Jedi Order desperate to avoid scandal and eager to stop anyone else from using the Force. It's no wonder then that Emperor Palpatine so easily managed to end them in Revenge of the Sith and this series provides vital context even without a big-name character like Darth Plagueis taking centre stage.
4. It's Also Something New For Star Wars
The Star Wars sequel trilogy is rightly criticised for playing it too safe. The Force Awakens was a retread of A New Hope and the Resistance battling the First Order was just the Rebel Alliance versus the Empire all over again.
Hell, The Rise of Skywalker even brought back Emperor Palpatine!
Other Star Wars movies and TV shows released by Disney have stuck to that post-Return of the Jedi period or familiar spaces like the years between Episode III and Episode IV. The Acolyte, in contrast, dares to do something new by exploring a time which hasn't been shown on screen before.
It's a refreshing change of pace and one which has introduced new characters (without familiar names), planets, and weapons. If you want something new from this franchise, then The Acolyte is most definitely for you.
3. It's Not As Bad As The "Reviews" Would Have You Believe
Is The Acolyte being review-bombed? That remains up for debate, but there's simply no denying that there's an unusually large number of negative reviews hitting websites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
There are plenty of fans with legitimate grievances. Then, there are the prolific YouTubers who make a living from telling a certain subsection of "fans" what they want to hear. Adding to that are the people who see a series without a white male lead and immediately cry "woke," making it their mission in life to expose the mainstream media for daring to feature people not like them (basement dwellers).
Many of the complaints just don't add up. The Acolyte hasn't broken canon; it's barely contradicted the Expanded Universe, a wave of storytelling which meant nothing to George Lucas (he hated Mara Jade, folks) and was scrapped years ago.
Perhaps the most eye-roll-worthy moan is how "bad" the writing is, as if the Star Wars franchise has ever been anything more than hokey, silly sci-fi. It's true The Acolyte isn't Lucasfilm's strongest effort but it's leaps and bounds ahead of The Book of Boba Fett, for example.
2. The Action Is Top-Notch
Ahsoka was criticised for lacklustre lightsaber battles and fight choreography, a harsh assessment of what we felt were some pretty solid action scenes. However, if those were lacking for you, then The Acolyte more than makes up for it.
Right from that first battle between Mae and Master Indara, this Disney+ series has been firing on all cylinders since the start. Some can cry and whinge about fire in space (because we've never seen that in Star Wars before), but they're overlooking some of the franchise's best fight scenes.
This week's fifth episode delivered perhaps the greatest lightsaber duel since the prequels, with The Master/The Stranger decimating the Jedi who dared face him. He even made use of Cortosis, a lightsaber-nullifying material pulled from the Expanded Universe Headland supposedly hates so much.
With three episodes left, we're hoping the best is yet to come on this front.
1. The Best Villain Since Darth Vader?
Well, not quite, but The Master/The Stranger is still one of the more compelling baddies we've spent time with in the Disney-owned era of Star Wars.
Mysterious, imposing, and most importantly, formidable, he's no knock-off Darth Vader (sorry, Kylo Ren) and doesn't feel like cannon fodder for The Acolyte's heroes. Whether he'll end up being someone important to the wider franchise is up for debate, but we're loving spending time with him.
Manny Jacinto's switch from the bumbling Qimir to "Darth Teeth" was a blast to watch and this is a character we're eager to see more of. It's unfortunate that there are no plans to explore his past, though we're sure novels and comic books can be used to fill in any gaps.
Star Wars is a franchise that's always been defined by its villains and this series has a very good one. In the weeks ahead, he may well be cemented as a great one...