Star Wars: The Acolyte got cancelled and you have to be careful, so here I am.

I have to admit, I was looking forward to another season of brutal reviews. In fact, the end of the series is one of the reasons I’m not online as much anymore. (I’m also considering a new book, but that’s still a while away.)

Nevertheless, I think it is worth mentioning that this morality is not only based on a morality of pure evil, The Acolyte is typical of so many movies and TV series we watch these days. Let’s count the failures.

No setup, no payout

I have said before that the curse of our time is the inability of authors to combine structure and effect. Usually a lot of structure is done, often over many years, but the effect is ultimately lacking. The epitome of this was game of Thronesbut the Battlestar Galactica Refurbished and burnt out, and before that The Matrix The series also slackened on the home stretch.

The Acolyte actually went above and beyond those productions by providing neither a build-up nor a payoff. I had a lot of fun pointing out the “subverted expectations” and what arguably could have passed for farce, but the fact was that the show was too incoherent to give the audience anything to latch onto. Character motivations changed seemingly at random, complicating any attempt to craft a plot based on the characters. Development impossible.

With nothing at stake, it was no surprise that the season (and series) finale was the lowest-rated show on Disney’s streaming lineup. Nobody cared about the ending, so nobody watched.

Unfortunately, this is all too common in today’s entertainment.

The “worldbuilding” excuse

More and more often I see professional critics and paid shills (but I repeat myself) arguing that terrible shows and supposed franchise premieres should be given a chance because so much time was spent on “world building.”

“We have to set the scene,” they argue. “You can’t judge until we complete the story arc.”

This is utter nonsense and is the result of an industry dominance of nepotistic, diversity-focused hiring decisions that believe they should not be held accountable for their creative failures.

It also reveals a colossal ignorance of how legendary shows and film franchises came to be. The opening sequences of star Wars, ForeignerAnd Blade Runner all of this created an instant otherworldly experience. Good storytelling combines the discovery of what JRR Tolkien called “the second world” with the introduction of characters and the development of the plot.

Pretending that the entire opening scene or the first season of a series is necessary to set the stage for “serious” storytelling is an egregious example of special requests. Essentially, modern writers are saying that every other writer for thousands of years has had to do something – set the scene. while The ability to tell the story exceeds their capabilities and it is unfair to make any quality demands on them.

Yet these same people scoff at the morals and beliefs of their forefathers and call themselves the smartest generation ever. Hollywood’s smug, arrogant incompetence is the reason it is doomed.

Finding an audience vs. finding a plot

Another excuse is that it takes time to find an audience. There is some truth in that, but to be renewed, a series has to show some signs of life. There are many examples of shows that didn’t really take off until the second or even third season, but even the first season had a lot to offer. This is in contrast to shows that were big hits from the start and later faded into obscurity (Twin Peaks is a great example of this.).

The problem with The Acolyte was that it started off bad and got worse with each episode. I mean, that was good business for the Youtubers, but not so much for the show. I never watched breaking Badbut I saw how much positive feedback it generated immediately, and everyone who compared it The Acolyte it has absorbed near-lethal amounts of shooms.

The bigger question was what potential audience Disney was looking for. I have said this before, but the star Wars Ghetto is increasingly isolated from mainstream entertainment. I used to be quite Star Wars Nerd who can master the Trivial Pursuit game based on the original movies, but there’s so much product out there that I have no desire to keep up with it. I hated the prequels (so much I re-wrote them), haven’t seen most of the sequels, and didn’t care that Disney exploited the IP and filled the resulting hold with toxic waste. Sorry Leslye Headland, but your member berries and fan service are wasted on people who haven’t spent 100+ hours consuming product.

Yes, YouTubers do that, but they get paid for it.

The core audience is therefore already tiny and Disney made it a point to annoy them as much as possible.

All that remained were paid decoys and the Reylo-spinners, whose idea of star Wars is soft porn with lightsabers. In fact, several internet jokers noted that hardcore porn parodies of the original series were actually closer to the source material.

To put it simply, there weren’t enough greedy cat ladies or housebound gays dreaming of Smylo Ren to keep the thing going.

Participation trophy film production

Unfortunately, Disney isn’t the only one who says mediocrity is to be praised, and anyone who doesn’t enjoy dragging, random events thrown together with wooden acting is toxic. Zack Snyder, who once knew how to make a good movie, uses the same lame excuses for his pretentious super-slow-motion garbage. (Props to Disparu for stitching it together Combine harvester in Rebel Moon grain sequences. I think he increased the video’s traffic tenfold.)

The Acolytes Some fans also seem to accept the idea that if enough boxes are ticked and enough variety is shown, quality is no longer relevant. The rest of the audience sees it differently and votes with their eyes.

I mean, yes, we should all applaud Amandla Steinberg’s heroic, brave and stunning performance as an American of Danish descent. I mean, how many Danes do you see on the big screen these days? She really brings diversity to Hollywood.

Be that as it may, her potential as an advertiser for Carlsberg beer is not a sufficient reason to watch an eight-hour series, let alone ask for another one.

These people have no right to endlessly squander other people’s money. That is the government’s job.

Your weird, mentally ill superfans are also welcome, your My little pony To finance this nonsense, shareholders have to raise money, but layoffs are already underway and there is only so much space left in the basements of American parents.

The death of The Acolyte is therefore a welcome sign that financial reality is finally setting in. Let’s open a Carlsberg and toast to that.

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