August 23, 2024 • 42 mins
This week we’re continuing our look into "The Acolyte" by focusing on the actual story behind the controversial series and what it means for the future of Star Wars.
In our last episode, we shared our overall thoughts on Season 1, but now it’s time to break down the plot. From the political intrigue surrounding the twins Osha and Mae Aniseya to the dark secrets that could unravel everything the galaxy believes about the Jedi Order, we’ll discuss the key moments and major themes that define the show.
How did "The Acolyte" handle its characters, and what could Lucasfilm have done differently? We also explore whether "The Acolyte" stayed true to Star Wars’ roots as a feature film franchise or if it fell short in translating the saga to the small screen. Tune in to hear our take on how the story was presented and why it may have missed the mark with audiences.
Subscribe now on Substack for weekly updates, in-depth exploration, and a vibrant community of fellow pop culture enthusiasts. Don't miss out—let’s get started!
Subscribe to our SUBSTACK to stay up to date (completely FREE).
Looking for more episodes? https://podfollow.com/tatooine-sons-a-pop-culture-podcast/home
Join our Facebook Community SPECIFICALLY for Star Wars Dads! > https://www.facebook.com/groups/starwarsdads
In our last episode, we shared our overall thoughts on Season 1, but now it’s time to break down the plot. From the political intrigue surrounding the twins Osha and Mae Aniseya to the dark secrets that could unravel everything the galaxy believes about the Jedi Order, we’ll discuss the key moments and major themes that define the show.
How did "The Acolyte" handle its characters, and what could Lucasfilm have done differently? We also explore whether "The Acolyte" stayed true to Star Wars’ roots as a feature film franchise or if it fell short in translating the saga to the small screen. Tune in to hear our take on how the story was presented and why it may have missed the mark with audiences.
Subscribe now on Substack for weekly updates, in-depth exploration, and a vibrant community of fellow pop culture enthusiasts. Don't miss out—let’s get started!
Subscribe to our SUBSTACK to stay up to date (completely FREE).
Looking for more episodes? https://podfollow.com/tatooine-sons-a-pop-culture-podcast/home
Join our Facebook Community SPECIFICALLY for Star Wars Dads! > https://www.facebook.com/groups/starwarsdads
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey tatooin Sun's Family. This is David. Just a quick
update on some changes that are coming to the release
schedule and cadence in format beginning next week. This week
we'll have our three Monday, Wednesday Friday episodes, but the
reality is school for Nathan starting college and work things
(00:22):
has caused us to make the decision where we are
going to retract back to a one episode per week
format and that will begin starting with a release next week.
And we're actually going to shift our release day back
(00:42):
to what it was for quite a long time, back
to Tuesdays, and so beginning on August twenty seventh, we
will return to our a little bit longer format hour
long roughly episode, but that will be coming out once
a week. And then I did also want to give
you a quick update and let you know that there
will be no episode after we go back to this change.
(01:04):
There won't be an episode on September third, on that
Tuesday because we will be the previous weekend. We will
be spending Labor Day weekend in Orlando at Disney World
as a family vacation, so we will not be able
to record on Monday the second, So then we will
(01:24):
return to our normal release schedule again on September tenth.
Thank you guys so much for being a part of
the Tattooing Sun's family, for being a part of what
we try to do every week. We appreciate you. Hopefully
getting back to a weekly released schedule will allow us
to have a little bit more consistency and allow us
(01:45):
time to do some other things, which would be some
promoting and some things that we're doing in substack, and
also open up the door for the schedule to allow
for us to do that Christian mythology podcast that we're
talking about when we reach one hundred subscribers. But that's
for an update. Let's get to the episode. This is
Tattooed Sounds a pop culture podcast, the only pant podcast
the name of Cannon, Star Wars Creature and to be
(02:08):
endorsed by the writer and the director of The Last Jedi,
Ryan Johnson. Last week we shared our overall thoughts both
positive and negative. Negative never I'm very rare for us
about season one of The Acolyte, but what do we
think about the story itself? This week will explore more
of what happened and what it means for Star Wars.
(02:30):
This is Tattooine sons. It's true. True was the name
of the pork and the millennium falcon Force, the strong
in my family. What do you think his name is?
It's a big moment.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I have a Jedi like my father before me.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Maybe I'll do not please do try Turbis Pablo.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
If you're listening to this live stream, bat Porg's name
is now Turbis.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's a good Star Wars name.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
We're not done yet. These guys recorded Boso podcast, so
everybody listen.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
It's birthday.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, we had a birthday party already watching a tenant.
We did watch Tennant. How's it. It's a great moting.
We're doing some stuff this week. We're gonna have it.
We're gonna go. We're gonna have some steak next X
your actual birthday, chicken nut, Mom's homeadechicken nuts. It's great
with anything else. We're gonna do fun for your birth.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I don't think I think that's pretty much it chill,
which is fine by me.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, you're you're more of it. Let's let's keep things
low key kind of yeah very much. So well, happy birthday,
but thanks very appreciating. It's pretty cool to be nineteen
years old to get ready to start college. It's amazing
to have so many people that are listening to this
right now have literally heard you grow up. Yeah, that's crazy.
With this it is welcome to Tattooed Suns of pop
(04:16):
Culture Podcast. We believe that pop culture is the mythology
of this generation, that there is a story, it is
written on our souls, and that these myths speak to
this story. And that is why we're looking closely at
the overarching story of season one of The Acolyte, along
with our thoughts on the themes and the major characters.
(04:36):
What do you think real quick before we get into
the details, I'll start with you, Sam overall, taking production stuff,
writing stuff, presentation stuff out of it. What are your like,
what's your initial reaction to the story of the Acolyte.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I'm trying to like, remember, it's been a minute since,
you know, we watched the whole thing. It was okay,
it was okay, It just maybe I don't know if
it's a presentation. I'm not even really entirely sure what
the story.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, this is a problem, and this is what we'll
reconcile a little bit too. I think that might be
part of the problem. All right, Nate, what are your
thoughts on the story of the Acolyte.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I'm a I'm a big story guy, and just I
don't know. It was I mean kind of like a
we went through eight episodes? Why we need to go
through eight episodes kind of situation, Like why did we
need this show? It was the same issue I kind
(05:39):
of had with bad Batch.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Okay, all right, Well, we're gonna hopefully at least understand
the story a little bit more, talk a little bit
about the themes and some of the characters in it,
and some of the things we're gonna have a lot
to talk about and some we're not gonna have much
talk about. And that's part of the problem I think
with this show. But what we would like you to
do is be a part of our community, and we
build our community most consistently on substack. We are trying
(06:05):
to find a place that's got a little less drama
than Facebook and Twitter or x or whatever that thing is,
where people actually have conversations about things that they like
and or if they don't like it, they can have
conversations without turning it really weird and evil and ugly.
And that's what we here, We have found substack is
being that place, and so we want you to follow
us on substack. You can follow, subscribe to our newsletter
(06:26):
that comes out on Fridays, you can engage with us
in our substack chat community. All of that is free.
We don't charge a penny for anything that we do
on substack, and we want you to be a part
of that. So hop on over there and follow us
there and we'll be looking for you. Join us, Yeah,
join us. All right, but enough talking about what we're
(06:47):
going to talk about. Let's talk about what we're talking about. Okay.
So let's do this in like bite sized chunks. I
want us to start with like what would be Okay,
here's here. I'm just going to pull back the curtain
for you guys as well as the listeners to understand
how we did this. What I did was I took
the entire plot summary I found online and these were detailed.
(07:13):
This would have been thirty or forty pages worth of content,
okay for this episode, and I put it into chat
GPT and asked and asked it to summarize things so
that we can get as summaris the summary well as
if it was one cohesive story front to back, and
(07:35):
what would be the logline, what would be a plot
synopsis for this, and then what would be like the
most important things based on the entire story that happened
in each episode. And it's really interesting to read these
episode summaries where chat GPT is analyzing the entire series
and saying, well, these are the important things that happened
(07:56):
in this episode. As a result, I think that's where
it's going to be curious on this. But let's start
with just the log line of this. In the Shadow
of the High Republic, two estranged twins navigate their intertwined destinies,
with one embracing the dark side, the other caught between
the light and darkness as they uncover secrets that could
shatter the galaxy's perception of the Jedi Order. Okay, here's
(08:19):
here's what I want to ask going into this series.
That was not what the log line would have been
for this series. No, I don't even quite remember what
it was, but that's a very accurate description of.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
It's satisfied all those points pretty much.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Would would you have coming into this series if that
had been the log line, because that's really what the
story is about. Would how would that have shaped and
crafted the way that you viewed the series coming in
I'll start with you, Sam.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I mean, I again, I don't really remember what it
was going into the movie, so I can't exactly say.
I mean, it's still an interesting you know, just taking
if before the series came out, if I had read this,
you know, still.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Probably would have watched the show, you know, that's Star Wars.
But I mean it's certainly an interesting concept. We well
looking at this though this long line though, if you
you know, going into this series, we had no idea,
I mean that we didn't know it was twins. We
didn't understand like the Galaxy's perception of the Jedi Order.
We didn't kind of you know, some of these things
(09:28):
we weren't prepared for at all. Yeah, coming into this series.
Do you think being prepared for these things maybe you
can can look at addressed this name. Do you think
being prepared for some of these things a little bit
more coming into the series would have helped you with
the way that you received each episode going forward.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Kind I don't even know if I can say kind of,
because there was a lot of mystery and intrigue going
into this series. And then pretty much most of it
was laid out within that first episode, first couple episodes,
so oh yes. I mean, if this was kind of
the build up they were trying to do throughout the
(10:05):
entire series, then then maybe. But I feel like we
pretty much got this log line within the first couple episodes,
so they didn't shape it any different because we pretty
much knew it from day one of watching it. We
just didn't know it before, so I don't think it
changed too much. Okay, well, let's look at it from
a little broader plot summary. This is the way that
(10:28):
the chatch Ept sort of summarized all eight episodes into
one plot summary with it the first season of Star Wars,
the act Lite unfolds against the backdrop of political intrigue
and hidden agencies or no suit I can't read. Like
I said in the previous episode, I have bad eyes again.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Okay, let me start it where the first season is
Star Wars. The act Lite unfolds against the backdrop of
political intrigue and hidden agendas, focusing on the tumultuous journey
of twin sisters Osha and may Aniseya. The story he
begins with the murder of Jedi Master and Dara by
a masked assassin who was later revealed to be May.
This sets off a series of events that drag Osha,
(11:08):
a former JEDII Jedi padawan turned corpse sec mechanic, back
into the conflict. What are your reactions to that? More
as a plot see fair? I mean, that's that's a
plot summary of the first episode. I'd say more than anything,
but yeah, that's pretty much it. Your reaction anything? Does that?
Does that color anything differently for you? Saying no?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I mean, like Nate said, that is just kind of
the intro to the series, that first episode.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Okay, now here's where it gets really interesting because when
you start asking chat GPT to take the really in
depth plu plot description of each episode, like four or
five paragraphs for each episode, then whittle it down into
one paragraph for each episode, with focusing on the events
that happen in those episodes that impact the larger story
all the way through. It's interesting how it comes together.
(11:58):
So we've got the first episode one, which is one
of those dualistic titles, right lost found with this that
it start. The description is given. The season opens with
Jedi Master in Dar's death at the hands of May,
who escapes. Osha, initially suspected of the murder, is apprehended
(12:19):
by Jedi knight Jord fan Dar and crash lands on
Karlac After an escape attempt by other prisoners, Jedi Master Soul,
OSHA's former master, along with Jord and the padawan Jeckie
Loan finds Osha, who reveals that May, her twin sister,
is the true culprit. The Jedi decide to keep Indara's
murder secret to avoid political fallout. Pretty accurate. Anything you
(12:42):
would add.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, there was there was nothing really else that
you could add to this. This description, I feel like
it's pretty much what you can gather from the original.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I'm trying to think of what I can recall, and
that seems to to kind of cover.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
What was your reaction after the first Oh, actually, this
wait till because the episode's the first two episodes released together, right,
So let's let's give the next episode and then we'll
ask about like reaction from this at this point of it.
So episode two, Revenge Justice, again one of those dualistic
titles with it. It says May's vendetta against the Jedi
continues as she targets Master Torbin with the help of
(13:21):
a smuggler named Kaimer, who provides her with a lethal poison.
Despite Soul's assurance that Osha is an ally, Yord remains distrustful.
May successfully poisons Torbin and evades capture, with the Jedi
learning about her Sith Master. The episode delves into Osha
and May's strained relationship, hitting at a tragic past involving
(13:44):
their family feel accurate. Anything you would add to it
color with it. I can't think of anything that kind
of hits all the bases. I mean.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Really, it's just the only thing I would say is
maybe that you see yours dedication to rules.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I guess, Okay, he gets a little bit more fleshing
out of there, and Jackie as well a little bit
of that. But that's such a small thing. I'd say. Overall,
it kind of hits all the points there.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, it pretty much does. This hit all the points again.
The thing with this series is it's not hard to
summarize the plot because it feels like it. It didn't
want to jump too much. It didn't want to you
had a goal. The series successfully succeeded in telling a
(14:36):
story of that goal. But it doesn't feel like we
get much outside of it. So you can pretty much
summarize every episode within these a few sentences, and then
you'll be like, yeah, that's that's it. That's pretty much it,
and you can do a broad view of it and
feel like, okay, yeah, I got the series that point.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
So my question then, is this was the first release
segment right we released They released these app episodes on
opening night. We came into this very excited about New
Star Wars, very excited about the timing of this. Where
when this episode these, this series is taking place, the
idea of a prequel to the prequels, lots of hope
coming into this. What looking back, do you recall kind
(15:18):
of what your thoughts were after the first two episodes
of this. I'll start with time, I needed more. I
remember that was how I thought. I was like, okay,
in a good way or a bad way. In my gosh,
it was awesome, I need more or was it like, oh, okay,
I'm hoping I get more, try to understand what's happening better.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
It wasn't a bad way. It was just unsure. It
was like I think I'm enjoying when I'm watching, but
I don't know if I really like it yet because
I again, there wasn't much to it to these first
two episodes. It felt like it really could have been
reduced down to one episode, which is an issue we've
(15:59):
we've brought up about this series before.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
So all right, Sam, what was your initial reaction after
the opening first two episodes premiered.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I think mine was was very similar to Nathan's. I
mean it was a very kind of I guess neutral
stand standing. I didn't dislike it. I couldn't say it
was like great either. I just needed to see more
to see where it was going to be able to
form an opinion, you know, Like Nate said, not a
lot happened, really. I mean, we saw a couple Jedi
(16:29):
get killed by May and OSHA's you know, and now
looking for and you know, there's some hints to some
tragedy here and there, especially with Soul and things like that,
but I mean that's about.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Trying to figure out why May wants to kill Ndara, why,
and of course Soul.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So you know, there's a little bit of intrigue there,
But there was nothing in those episodes that was like, oh, okay, yeah,
I need that, I need that next episode, like right now,
there was no big, you know, big intrigue like that
for me.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Third episode is where things started to kind of I
think for a lot of people, us especially, We're like, okay,
what are we doing here? Was this? This was Destiny
now again not a dualistic title. We're gonna get the
other half of that dualistic title as a later episode
with it, which we talked about on the previous episode.
(17:22):
It might have been better for them to do those
two together, but anyway, it says Episode three Destiny at
flashback episode Yeah reveals the twins upbringing within a coven
of fourth sensitive witches on Brendoc. During a Jedi raid
led by Soul, Torbin Kelnaka and Indhara, May accidentally starts
a fire that devastates their home. Osha, determined to become
a Jedi, is rescued by Soul, while May seemingly perishes.
(17:47):
The episode highlights the bond between the twins and the
tragic events that set them on divergent paths Now, let
me say this. I've shared my thoughts on this episode
in depth because I was a guest on the Star
Wars Underworld. In the reaction episode, they did to this
to this episode of The Acolyte, and we reposted it
(18:09):
as an episode on our show. So if you guys
want to know my thoughts in detail on this episode,
I liked a lot within this episode. I thought there
were some good things within this episode, but my reaction
overall was okay that production wise for me, this one
I struggled with in a major way with it. But
story wise, start with you, Sam, what were your thoughts
on this episode and what did you kind of have
(18:30):
How did you feel coming out of it from what
you recall. Yeah, I don't know if.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Maybe the production side of things ended up sullying my
perception of the rest of the episode. This is hard
to kind of get through some of those things to
be able to form an unbiased opinion on the rest
of it. I know that there were certain aspects that
felt weird about the episode. I was very apprehensive to
(19:01):
the idea of them being like the twins, being like
the word created by well, like being like an Anakin thing. Yeah,
that I was not a fan of to begin with,
and I think it was revealed later on that that
wasn't the case. There was a nuance with some like
cloning thing so I'm quite right, So I know that
(19:23):
kind of was weird. Other than that, yeah, I again,
I don't know how much happened with it. You know,
we saw that there's more character development between Osha and May,
we saw more of their dynamic. We learned a little
bit about their where they came from, which points to tragedy,
and we end up seeing that a little bit or
(19:45):
one side of it. There's that whole It was a
vergence they bring that kind of brought up point in
there and that was kind of critical for later points
in the series. But other than that, you know that
there wasn't a whole lot.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I guess what about Nathan.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah, I mean, this is one of the longest episodes
of the season, and it feels like we pretty much
get nothing from it.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It was, Oh, I don't I disagree with that. But
there's a lot that happens. There was about the twins
being born, we talk or there, you know, where they
come from. We find out about the witches, We find
out about some type of a tragedy that causes things
to go on.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I mean, there were things, but didn't need to be
this long for them to tell a story and did
what came up with choice need to be as long
as it did coming tying into it.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Choice being the to this.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
One that answers some of the questions.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Great. I love that they answered some of the questions
and choice, But we go into this episode already hesitant
and they give us an episode that feels like we
are going backwards. But we did go back We literally
went backwards, but I don't feel like we move forwards
any with the plot coming from this episode. And again
(21:02):
that's why I was a firm believer that this entire
season should have been dropped at the same time. It
would have made it a lot easier to enjoy. Well,
we can talk about that next week when we talk
about like the production and the delivery of this a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And I think that overall, this episode just it It
was kind of like, Okay, it felt like may Andosha's episode.
It definitely was, But to this point, I don't know
if many of the people watching it really cared about
Mayosha and their story. At this point, we just wanted
(21:34):
to know why we were watching this series in the
first place, and then it kind of felt like it
was Mayonosha that we were watching it for. But then
it turned out it really kind of wasn't but was.
It just raised a lot of questions without answering.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Next episode, episode four, day, Osha, struggling with her past,
joined soul Yord, Jeckie and other Jedi on a mission
to protect kal Naka from May. In the jungle of Kofar,
OSHA's connection to the Force is tested as they are
attacked by creatures. Meanwhile, May plots to surrender to Kalmaka,
but finds him already dead, killed by a helmeted Sith
(22:11):
lord who ambushes the Jedi. Reactions to this episode, Nate,
it didn't do much, but the ending. I think we
all read.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
The last like two minutes. It was really good, and
it was for the first time in this series where
I got really excited to watch the next week. But
you talk about the rest of the episode and it
does not feel like there was much to it at all.
And I understand it was one of the shorter episodes
of the season. That makes sense. It checks out, but
(22:42):
it goes back to how probably Day and Night should
have been one episode together. I don't care if it
comes out to be an hour long. We're big boys,
we can handle it. You gotta have something a little
more to it. And this goes back to what I
think I said on the last episode. At times this
show was I went fast when it should have been slow,
and it went slow when it should have been fast,
and then this episode really does this.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
The first twenty minutes of this episode feel like it's
going really really really slow, and then the ending is
like way too fast.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
And then you bring in May's character, and this goes
to the story. I mean, writing is the story when
it comes to TV, and it feels like the writing
of May's character in this specific episode felt really off.
The entire episode, she's talking about how she needs to
be a Sith, needs to please her master with Kamira,
and you're just detailing all of that, and then like
(23:33):
five seconds after she's discussing how she's going to kill
kal Naka, she's like the wait, I need to I
need to turn myself in. I've had a change of heart.
And there was no like hints that she might be
considering otherwise. She was devoted to it the entire four episode,
three and a half episodes to this point, and then
she just switches. And that comes down to the story
(23:55):
that comes down to the writing. It felt off, it
felt like whiplash, and it didn't genuinely make too much
sense overall. But that was the struggle with the episode.
And then you bring in Darth Smiley at the end,
and it's all kind of better because he was really cool.
He was he was an awesome part of this episode.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
So Sam thoughts on this.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Yeah, I mean it was largely the same mindset. I mean,
it just kept dragging and nothing was happening, and then
all of a sudden, it just all like happened one
at one time. And that's it's tough to watch because
you know, you kind of mentally check out there in
the beginning, and then all of a sudden, you gotta
be like, oh, wo okay, now I gotta like figure
(24:34):
out what's happening, and you know, because I was kind
of bored and you don't know what's happening, you know.
So it's tricky with those episodes and with things like that.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, next episode, episode five night, the Sith Lord revealed
to be Kimeer, Massacre massacres the Jedi, killing Jeckie and
yord May, trying to protect Osha, ends up in a
confrontation with Soul. The episode exposes Kimer's true identity and
his dark intentions. OSHA's conflict intensifies as May assumes her
(25:05):
identity to deceive Soul. Sam, what are your thoughts on
night best episode of the series easily? Why is that
the best episode? Cool fights?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean that's part of Star Wars.
Let's just be honest. Excuse me. Yes, the fights were awesome,
some of the best fights you've gotten in Stars.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I'll say that over and over again. But we also
got some real intrigue finally. You know, in episode four, Camire.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
His his character felt really weird, like overly like almost
like jar Jar Binks, but just stupid, like overly stupid,
I guess is the way to put it. You know,
he's putting on a front right, and it was weird
in a vacuum in that episode, it was so odd.
So you have I think we really liked Kimier in
(25:59):
a so two he was he was fine to it.
I think that in episode four we're kind of like,
why is he Why is he acting the way that
he's acting?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It was so really bad. Yeah, I thought him like this,
he's just a really bad writing.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, and then we get this episode and we're like, ah,
it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
He was putting on a front. He's actually a very
interesting villain, one of the coolest villains we've gotten in
Star Wars. There's some intrigue. He's saying some stuff to
Osha and May that is like hinting to some dark
secret that we don't know about.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
We get the cortosis stuff. Yes, interacting in the battle,
and so there were a lot.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Of really good moments and some The important thing is
some intrigue. And I think, you know, the issue we
had with Kmire in episode four would have been remedied
had this been one episode, because it would have been
a very quick Oh he's acting stupid for a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
That's weird. Ah, that's why he was doing it. As
it goes to waylow and it should be fast. Yep. Okay, Nate.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, it was a great episode. Love the fight scenes,
and I thought that it ended for the first time
where I was like, Okay, I can actually have like
I want to theorize about what's coming up next week,
like for the first time. You know, May and Osha
switching places was cool. It was interesting. It's a good
change of pace for this show, and it was well done,
(27:23):
and then it feels like they tipped their hand too
much in the next episode because.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
I remember, yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk about
that episode. Episode six, Teach Corrupt, so it's a dualistic
title again. Osha wakes up on an unknown planet with Kaimer,
who begins to manipulate her soul. Attempting to warn the Jedi.
Cancel faces technical malfunctions and betrayal for Neestra Rowe, a
Jedi master, initiates a rescue mission to Kofar, suspecting Soul's
(27:48):
involvement in the massacre. The episode delves into OSHA's internal
struggle as she begins to question her past and the
Jedi's role in it. So, Nate, you know, as we
moved into this episode, things shifted again.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, it was it was like, Okay, Osha is now
having to deal with this, you know, being in past,
the Jedi, May is having to deal with being a
scyth and now dealing with the Jedi and all that stuff.
It was really great, And you know, I feel like
their big reveal, their big moment at the end of
this series was that Osha became a Sith and kind
of in May kind of became that that good guy eventually,
(28:23):
and I feel like that was supposed to be the
big reveal at the end of the series, and they
tip their hand way too much for that in this episode,
because I remember watching this episode and predicting that like
halfway through was going to be a big part, and
I thought it was going to be brought up in
this next episode, and then they were going to deal
(28:44):
with it in the last one, and they make it
the big part in the last one, and then you
bring up just the general story contained in this episode,
and again it feels like we don't really go anywhere.
Like you said, it goes too fast when it should
go slow, and too slowman, it should go fast. We
bring into this past episode that really felt like we
(29:06):
were going somewhere, and we should have kept that momentum,
and it feels like we had a hard stop. This
feels like a travel episode and a lot of dialogue,
which I'm not against dialogue. I love I love exposition, but.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
A lot of this could have happened at the end
of an episode or the beginning of the next and
then moved into the more stories.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yeah, this could have been a fifteen minute like segment
of an episode, and I feel like that that ties
into a lot. It feels like, like, you know, we've
had this discussion before when a pastor takes a two
minute illustration of a sermon and it makes it into
a thirty to forty five minute sermon. You feel it.
You're watching it, You're like, I agree, I like this,
this is good, but man, I am bored. And so
(29:50):
that feels like where this episode really started.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And Sam, what did you think about six? Episode six? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:56):
I don't remember this episode a ton for whatever reason,
I I don't know. Maybe it's because of Nathan's point.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I thought the whole.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
You know, it was that very typical thing we've seen
in Star Wars, the sith Master trying to corrupt the
good guy, you know, that whole thing, but we actually
see seeds of it, like working in this much like
with Anakin. And so it was cool and we got
more you know, intrigue with the whole cortosis thing being
like a sensory deprivation tank. But for the force and
(30:28):
stuff it was, it was it was some interesting stuff.
But like Nate mentioned, you know, it probably could have
been shortened up a little bit for this episode.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Okay, then we go back in time again. Episode seven Choice,
another flashback to Brendock reveals the true events of the
night the Witches were attacked. The Jedi searching for a
force Virgin's discover the twins and confront Mother n Assea,
leading to a tragic misunderstanding and the Witch's deaths. Sold
is forced to choose between saving Osha or May. Ultimately
(30:59):
chose Osha, and this revelation sets the stage for the
final confrontation. Sam thoughts on Choice when we could go
back to the flashback.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
There, Yeah, that was I mean again, it was in
some interesting stuff. I I just I'm still not.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Sure how I feel about like the whole Witch's thing,
like the whole that whole subplot, or that whole setting
and stuff. It's weird.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
I mean yeah, Night Sisters were weird too, So I
can't exactly like say this all in good conscious, but
this just felt weirdly weird for Star Wars, And I
don't know if that's just me. Some of the Jedi
motives and the way they handled things felt out of character,
even for corrupt Jedi, Like, yeah, we know that the
(31:52):
Jedi's messed up, and we've seen some of that, but
they would always do things in a sort of for
the ultimate better good, and.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
This was just it was for selfishness. It was very selfish,
it was fit. It just felt weird, especially for a
time that it's supposed to be the height of the Jedi.
Like this whole episode just again, I feel like I'm
saying the same thing over again. But we pretty much
got a lot of this and Destiny we understood a
(32:22):
lot of this. And the big revelation from this episode
is that Soul had a misunderstanding and killed the mother,
which it feels like if they were just you know,
mature adults and had sat down and had a conversation,
this entire series would be resolved.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
But that doesn't happen understandably, so Star Wars you got
to have that happen.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
But you know it's it's what Padme says in uh
Revenge of the Sith. You know that you know this
is a failure to listen or I guess that's an
episode two it is.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
I thought that was what Anakin said. It's like people
should be you know, sit down in a room and
have a discussion. He's like that's what we do. I
just don't always agree, and.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
We get this episode and it's just this feels like,
like like Master Torbin, he's supposed he's young, hot head,
but it also seems like he just really misses his home,
which feels like such a strange motivation. Yeah, it feels
like they specifically wanted the plot to move a certain way,
but weren't really sure how to have the plot move
(33:25):
that way, and so they just bring in this he
misses his home and wants to go home, and he
feels bad that he's on a mission, which I don't
feel like you should be a Jedi if you aren't
okay being on missions for extended periods of time. It
feels like the motivations a lot of these characters were
a bit iffy. And then in Dara, there was a
lot of consideration of like, ooh, is there something else
(33:46):
going on with her? But in this episode it just
feels like she's She's just a normal Jedi at this point.
So there is seen and then you know, you bring
in the Soul like that was the last ditch theory
that Soul was this big villain, and no, pretty much
in this episode, it confirms He's just a chill dude.
They had a misunderstanding with the person that was seemingly
(34:09):
merging or sucking the soul out of this person that
was he was wanting to be a Padawan Soul in
the right here, at least I believe, so he was
defending somebody else from a completely unknown aspect. Anybody sees
what's going on with that weird misty soul ghost thing,
(34:33):
your first reaction is probably going to be defense or
at least finishing this. And then that big reveal is
that that's the main issue is that May saw him
kill his which I understand she's under a kid, but
it feels like after some time you should probably consider
that was a really weird situation. So it just feels off.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Final episode the Acolyte actually the namesake of the series
as well. Osha, now connected to the Force through Crimer's helmet,
agrees to confronts May and Seoul on Brendoc. May breaks
free and heads to Brendock, pursued by Soul. The climactic
battle reveals deep secrets and leads to Soul's death at
OSHA's hands, turning his kybercrystal red bleeding it, which was
a fun, cool moment. Venestra arrives with reinforcements, framing soul
(35:18):
for the massacre. Oshan, now fully embracing the dark side,
becomes Kaimeer's acolyte, setting up future conflicts. Nate, how did
you feel about the finale of season one?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
It wrapped up their story, which I feel like was
already weak to begin with, but it it finished it
to an extent. You have Plague gifts show up for
like five seconds and you're a little bit concerned about that.
You have Ocean and came here now on whatever that
planet was apparently going to be training. You have May
(35:49):
being forgotten by Osha or having her memory wiped out
everything and now being part of the Jedi orders, so
she'll probably be trained. And then you have Yoda being
brought up, and you have a lot of peak around
the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have a lot of
things being set up for a second season that you
don't know is going to happen. When you were already
(36:09):
personally already like unsatisfied with the answers we already got
from the weak questions that we already have asked. You
have May and Osha being switched places and you feel
like you're pretty much back at the start. They just
switched and so you're like, Okay, that could be an
interesting second season, but we don't know if that's happening.
(36:34):
At least make this first season intriguing enough to carry it.
You have some great fight scenes between Soul and Crimeer,
great stuff. That is a highlight of this series. There's
no doubt there. And again you kind of feel really
bad about how Venestra makes Soul the scapegoat for the
(36:57):
Jedi's faults. You know, you bring that up and it's
the option of the Jedi. And while I'm okay seeing
the Jedi being corrupt and then taking different paths after
episode three, I think when we're supposed to be at
the height of the Jedi, I don't really want to
see that happening in this situation. I want to see
the Jedi be good, because it's honestly pretty rare than
(37:19):
we haven't seen that yet. That's what we were excited for,
and I'd like to see it in live action. I
know I can read the books of the High Republic
and get that, but I mean, when we're getting a
Higher Republic show, I kind of want to see that too, So.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Sam, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (37:32):
Yeah, I mean part of what you said, we didn't
get anything in this show that made it High Republic.
I mean, let's just be really honest here. It was
just another.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Star that could have been set in the prequels.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Yeah, I mean, there was nothing about it set it
apart to be High Republic, and that was kind of
disappointing because it's such an interesting time period and setting
and we didn't explore it any.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
But yeah, I mean this episode it did what it
had to do. I guess the fights were cool, they
were good. The little cameos with Plagueias and Yoda felt.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Cheap.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
You're looking for is forced? Uh No, I just felt cheap,
like they were throwing it in there to get a
little bit of a reaction. And after that whole series
you're just still like all right, cool.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Like, but nothing happened. You know, Why should I get
excited about about that? If those had been maybe more
central somehow, or more intrigue instead of just Plagas reaching
around the corner. I mean, we're still kind of speculating
that it's Plais.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Nobody said it is has been confirmed, Okay, but it's just.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Yeah, I'm with Nate. I don't want more corrupted Jedi yet,
I want to see some good for once that we
brought this issue up in the last episode of that
when we were talking about the Acolyte. Nobody was good
or bad and that whole series, I mean, the two
main characters switch places, souls revealed to be kind of iffy.
(39:08):
Camier's kind of got some good points. Venestra frames her
friend for things or so she doesn't have to deal
with problems, you know, like there's all.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
These weird that she gets called to the principal's office. Yeah. Right,
So there's all these weird moments. You're like, Okay, who
do I care for? Like, who's on those right side here?
Speaker 3 (39:28):
No one?
Speaker 1 (39:28):
And then the characters that seem to have the most
I mean, other than Master's Soul. I know, people loved May,
they loved OSHA's characters, people loved Soul, people loved Kimer.
I get all of that, but like, the two characters
that seem to get the most emotional reaction from people
were Yord and Jeckie. And they get killed off right,
and they had no bearing on this show whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
No, No, it felt like they were going somewhere for
character development with Yord in that second episode, like we mentioned,
and then he's killed off and pretty much in the
next section.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Felt like, you know, it felt like it was it
was just a shock value type.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Of thing, right, and Jackie was fun. Jackie was interesting
enough and felt like had a connection to Osha, and
then we just get nothing with it, and so it
didn't even give motivation for Osha.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Well, we had a lot more that we were going
to talk about on this episode with characters and with
themes in this I think we're gonna save that for
a conversation in a later episode. We're going to move
next week into literally talking about the production. Here's a
question I hope that maybe you listening can consider over
the next week. I want these two guys to consider this.
(40:40):
Would this series not only have been better to be
dropped all at once in the binge format, but would
have been better as Star Wars animation. All right, well,
thanks for listening. Our weekly release schedule is pretty simple,
and Monday's we talk about whatever we're excited about. I
think next week we're gonna end up talking about the
new m Night Shaimalan movie Trap, which is getting some
really negative man peril like bat like Uh, contrasting opinions.
(41:07):
Either people love it or they absolutely hate it. Nathan,
you and I saw.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
It last Do you want to give you a quick
letterbox review? I love brating for and a like I'm
foreign alike too.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
All Sam, you're gonna be seeing it this afternoon, I will,
and so you'll be able to give that. Next week,
we're gonna talk about that movie. I think we're gonna
have a lot to talk about with that. Wednesday's New
Comic Book Day, we talk about what we're reading, what
new comic books came out, and how that relates to
all the other things that we talk about. Next Friday,
we're gonna talk about The Acolyte. We're gonna talk about production.
We're gonna talk about the packaging, like how was this
thing delivered and could they have done them things differently
(41:38):
in order for it to be different received differently. Follow
us on Substack weekly recaps, in depth exploration, community engagement,
trying to get to one hundred before we have something
special that we're going to release to you guys we
talked about before. I think that's going to pretty much
do it. For this week's shows, anything else you guys
want to say, manifour to be with you, me, force
to be with you, with you alway, party is over.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Mokie, don't get take you with me, Joy, please
Hey tatooin Sun's Family. This is David. Just a quick
update on some changes that are coming to the release
schedule and cadence in format beginning next week. This week
we'll have our three Monday, Wednesday Friday episodes, but the
reality is school for Nathan starting college and work things
(00:22):
has caused us to make the decision where we are
going to retract back to a one episode per week
format and that will begin starting with a release next week.
And we're actually going to shift our release day back
(00:42):
to what it was for quite a long time, back
to Tuesdays, and so beginning on August twenty seventh, we
will return to our a little bit longer format hour
long roughly episode, but that will be coming out once
a week. And then I did also want to give
you a quick update and let you know that there
will be no episode after we go back to this change.
(01:04):
There won't be an episode on September third, on that
Tuesday because we will be the previous weekend. We will
be spending Labor Day weekend in Orlando at Disney World
as a family vacation, so we will not be able
to record on Monday the second, So then we will
(01:24):
return to our normal release schedule again on September tenth.
Thank you guys so much for being a part of
the Tattooing Sun's family, for being a part of what
we try to do every week. We appreciate you. Hopefully
getting back to a weekly released schedule will allow us
to have a little bit more consistency and allow us
(01:45):
time to do some other things, which would be some
promoting and some things that we're doing in substack, and
also open up the door for the schedule to allow
for us to do that Christian mythology podcast that we're
talking about when we reach one hundred subscribers. But that's
for an update. Let's get to the episode. This is
Tattooed Sounds a pop culture podcast, the only pant podcast
the name of Cannon, Star Wars Creature and to be
(02:08):
endorsed by the writer and the director of The Last Jedi,
Ryan Johnson. Last week we shared our overall thoughts both
positive and negative. Negative never I'm very rare for us
about season one of The Acolyte, but what do we
think about the story itself? This week will explore more
of what happened and what it means for Star Wars.
(02:30):
This is Tattooine sons. It's true. True was the name
of the pork and the millennium falcon Force, the strong
in my family. What do you think his name is?
It's a big moment.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I have a Jedi like my father before me.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Maybe I'll do not please do try Turbis Pablo.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
If you're listening to this live stream, bat Porg's name
is now Turbis.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's a good Star Wars name.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
We're not done yet. These guys recorded Boso podcast, so
everybody listen.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
It's birthday.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, we had a birthday party already watching a tenant.
We did watch Tennant. How's it. It's a great moting.
We're doing some stuff this week. We're gonna have it.
We're gonna go. We're gonna have some steak next X
your actual birthday, chicken nut, Mom's homeadechicken nuts. It's great
with anything else. We're gonna do fun for your birth.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I don't think I think that's pretty much it chill,
which is fine by me.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, you're you're more of it. Let's let's keep things
low key kind of yeah very much. So well, happy birthday,
but thanks very appreciating. It's pretty cool to be nineteen
years old to get ready to start college. It's amazing
to have so many people that are listening to this
right now have literally heard you grow up. Yeah, that's crazy.
With this it is welcome to Tattooed Suns of pop
(04:16):
Culture Podcast. We believe that pop culture is the mythology
of this generation, that there is a story, it is
written on our souls, and that these myths speak to
this story. And that is why we're looking closely at
the overarching story of season one of The Acolyte, along
with our thoughts on the themes and the major characters.
(04:36):
What do you think real quick before we get into
the details, I'll start with you, Sam overall, taking production stuff,
writing stuff, presentation stuff out of it. What are your like,
what's your initial reaction to the story of the Acolyte.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I'm trying to like, remember, it's been a minute since,
you know, we watched the whole thing. It was okay,
it was okay, It just maybe I don't know if
it's a presentation. I'm not even really entirely sure what
the story.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, this is a problem, and this is what we'll
reconcile a little bit too. I think that might be
part of the problem. All right, Nate, what are your
thoughts on the story of the Acolyte.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I'm a I'm a big story guy, and just I
don't know. It was I mean kind of like a
we went through eight episodes? Why we need to go
through eight episodes kind of situation, Like why did we
need this show? It was the same issue I kind
(05:39):
of had with bad Batch.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Okay, all right, Well, we're gonna hopefully at least understand
the story a little bit more, talk a little bit
about the themes and some of the characters in it,
and some of the things we're gonna have a lot
to talk about and some we're not gonna have much
talk about. And that's part of the problem I think
with this show. But what we would like you to
do is be a part of our community, and we
build our community most consistently on substack. We are trying
(06:05):
to find a place that's got a little less drama
than Facebook and Twitter or x or whatever that thing is,
where people actually have conversations about things that they like
and or if they don't like it, they can have
conversations without turning it really weird and evil and ugly.
And that's what we here, We have found substack is
being that place, and so we want you to follow
us on substack. You can follow, subscribe to our newsletter
(06:26):
that comes out on Fridays, you can engage with us
in our substack chat community. All of that is free.
We don't charge a penny for anything that we do
on substack, and we want you to be a part
of that. So hop on over there and follow us
there and we'll be looking for you. Join us, Yeah,
join us. All right, but enough talking about what we're
(06:47):
going to talk about. Let's talk about what we're talking about. Okay.
So let's do this in like bite sized chunks. I
want us to start with like what would be Okay,
here's here. I'm just going to pull back the curtain
for you guys as well as the listeners to understand
how we did this. What I did was I took
the entire plot summary I found online and these were detailed.
(07:13):
This would have been thirty or forty pages worth of content,
okay for this episode, and I put it into chat
GPT and asked and asked it to summarize things so
that we can get as summaris the summary well as
if it was one cohesive story front to back, and
(07:35):
what would be the logline, what would be a plot
synopsis for this, and then what would be like the
most important things based on the entire story that happened
in each episode. And it's really interesting to read these
episode summaries where chat GPT is analyzing the entire series
and saying, well, these are the important things that happened
(07:56):
in this episode. As a result, I think that's where
it's going to be curious on this. But let's start
with just the log line of this. In the Shadow
of the High Republic, two estranged twins navigate their intertwined destinies,
with one embracing the dark side, the other caught between
the light and darkness as they uncover secrets that could
shatter the galaxy's perception of the Jedi Order. Okay, here's
(08:19):
here's what I want to ask going into this series.
That was not what the log line would have been
for this series. No, I don't even quite remember what
it was, but that's a very accurate description of.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
It's satisfied all those points pretty much.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Would would you have coming into this series if that
had been the log line, because that's really what the
story is about. Would how would that have shaped and
crafted the way that you viewed the series coming in
I'll start with you, Sam.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I mean, I again, I don't really remember what it
was going into the movie, so I can't exactly say.
I mean, it's still an interesting you know, just taking
if before the series came out, if I had read this,
you know, still.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Probably would have watched the show, you know, that's Star Wars.
But I mean it's certainly an interesting concept. We well
looking at this though this long line though, if you
you know, going into this series, we had no idea,
I mean that we didn't know it was twins. We
didn't understand like the Galaxy's perception of the Jedi Order.
We didn't kind of you know, some of these things
(09:28):
we weren't prepared for at all. Yeah, coming into this series.
Do you think being prepared for these things maybe you
can can look at addressed this name. Do you think
being prepared for some of these things a little bit
more coming into the series would have helped you with
the way that you received each episode going forward.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Kind I don't even know if I can say kind of,
because there was a lot of mystery and intrigue going
into this series. And then pretty much most of it
was laid out within that first episode, first couple episodes,
so oh yes. I mean, if this was kind of
the build up they were trying to do throughout the
(10:05):
entire series, then then maybe. But I feel like we
pretty much got this log line within the first couple episodes,
so they didn't shape it any different because we pretty
much knew it from day one of watching it. We
just didn't know it before, so I don't think it
changed too much. Okay, well, let's look at it from
a little broader plot summary. This is the way that
(10:28):
the chatch Ept sort of summarized all eight episodes into
one plot summary with it the first season of Star Wars,
the act Lite unfolds against the backdrop of political intrigue
and hidden agencies or no suit I can't read. Like
I said in the previous episode, I have bad eyes again.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Okay, let me start it where the first season is
Star Wars. The act Lite unfolds against the backdrop of
political intrigue and hidden agendas, focusing on the tumultuous journey
of twin sisters Osha and may Aniseya. The story he
begins with the murder of Jedi Master and Dara by
a masked assassin who was later revealed to be May.
This sets off a series of events that drag Osha,
(11:08):
a former JEDII Jedi padawan turned corpse sec mechanic, back
into the conflict. What are your reactions to that? More
as a plot see fair? I mean, that's that's a
plot summary of the first episode. I'd say more than anything,
but yeah, that's pretty much it. Your reaction anything? Does that?
Does that color anything differently for you? Saying no?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I mean, like Nate said, that is just kind of
the intro to the series, that first episode.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Okay, now here's where it gets really interesting because when
you start asking chat GPT to take the really in
depth plu plot description of each episode, like four or
five paragraphs for each episode, then whittle it down into
one paragraph for each episode, with focusing on the events
that happen in those episodes that impact the larger story
all the way through. It's interesting how it comes together.
(11:58):
So we've got the first episode one, which is one
of those dualistic titles, right lost found with this that
it start. The description is given. The season opens with
Jedi Master in Dar's death at the hands of May,
who escapes. Osha, initially suspected of the murder, is apprehended
(12:19):
by Jedi knight Jord fan Dar and crash lands on
Karlac After an escape attempt by other prisoners, Jedi Master Soul,
OSHA's former master, along with Jord and the padawan Jeckie
Loan finds Osha, who reveals that May, her twin sister,
is the true culprit. The Jedi decide to keep Indara's
murder secret to avoid political fallout. Pretty accurate. Anything you
(12:42):
would add.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, there was there was nothing really else that
you could add to this. This description, I feel like
it's pretty much what you can gather from the original.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I'm trying to think of what I can recall, and
that seems to to kind of cover.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
What was your reaction after the first Oh, actually, this
wait till because the episode's the first two episodes released together, right,
So let's let's give the next episode and then we'll
ask about like reaction from this at this point of it.
So episode two, Revenge Justice, again one of those dualistic
titles with it. It says May's vendetta against the Jedi
continues as she targets Master Torbin with the help of
(13:21):
a smuggler named Kaimer, who provides her with a lethal poison.
Despite Soul's assurance that Osha is an ally, Yord remains distrustful.
May successfully poisons Torbin and evades capture, with the Jedi
learning about her Sith Master. The episode delves into Osha
and May's strained relationship, hitting at a tragic past involving
(13:44):
their family feel accurate. Anything you would add to it
color with it. I can't think of anything that kind
of hits all the bases. I mean.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Really, it's just the only thing I would say is
maybe that you see yours dedication to rules.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I guess, Okay, he gets a little bit more fleshing
out of there, and Jackie as well a little bit
of that. But that's such a small thing. I'd say. Overall,
it kind of hits all the points there.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, it pretty much does. This hit all the points again.
The thing with this series is it's not hard to
summarize the plot because it feels like it. It didn't
want to jump too much. It didn't want to you
had a goal. The series successfully succeeded in telling a
(14:36):
story of that goal. But it doesn't feel like we
get much outside of it. So you can pretty much
summarize every episode within these a few sentences, and then
you'll be like, yeah, that's that's it. That's pretty much it,
and you can do a broad view of it and
feel like, okay, yeah, I got the series that point.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
So my question then, is this was the first release
segment right we released They released these app episodes on
opening night. We came into this very excited about New
Star Wars, very excited about the timing of this. Where
when this episode these, this series is taking place, the
idea of a prequel to the prequels, lots of hope
coming into this. What looking back, do you recall kind
(15:18):
of what your thoughts were after the first two episodes
of this. I'll start with time, I needed more. I
remember that was how I thought. I was like, okay,
in a good way or a bad way. In my gosh,
it was awesome, I need more or was it like, oh, okay,
I'm hoping I get more, try to understand what's happening better.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
It wasn't a bad way. It was just unsure. It
was like I think I'm enjoying when I'm watching, but
I don't know if I really like it yet because
I again, there wasn't much to it to these first
two episodes. It felt like it really could have been
reduced down to one episode, which is an issue we've
(15:59):
we've brought up about this series before.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
So all right, Sam, what was your initial reaction after
the opening first two episodes premiered.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I think mine was was very similar to Nathan's. I
mean it was a very kind of I guess neutral
stand standing. I didn't dislike it. I couldn't say it
was like great either. I just needed to see more
to see where it was going to be able to
form an opinion, you know, Like Nate said, not a
lot happened, really. I mean, we saw a couple Jedi
(16:29):
get killed by May and OSHA's you know, and now
looking for and you know, there's some hints to some
tragedy here and there, especially with Soul and things like that,
but I mean that's about.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Trying to figure out why May wants to kill Ndara, why,
and of course Soul.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So you know, there's a little bit of intrigue there,
But there was nothing in those episodes that was like, oh, okay, yeah,
I need that, I need that next episode, like right now,
there was no big, you know, big intrigue like that
for me.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Third episode is where things started to kind of I
think for a lot of people, us especially, We're like, okay,
what are we doing here? Was this? This was Destiny
now again not a dualistic title. We're gonna get the
other half of that dualistic title as a later episode
with it, which we talked about on the previous episode.
(17:22):
It might have been better for them to do those
two together, but anyway, it says Episode three Destiny at
flashback episode Yeah reveals the twins upbringing within a coven
of fourth sensitive witches on Brendoc. During a Jedi raid
led by Soul, Torbin Kelnaka and Indhara, May accidentally starts
a fire that devastates their home. Osha, determined to become
a Jedi, is rescued by Soul, while May seemingly perishes.
(17:47):
The episode highlights the bond between the twins and the
tragic events that set them on divergent paths Now, let
me say this. I've shared my thoughts on this episode
in depth because I was a guest on the Star
Wars Underworld. In the reaction episode, they did to this
to this episode of The Acolyte, and we reposted it
(18:09):
as an episode on our show. So if you guys
want to know my thoughts in detail on this episode,
I liked a lot within this episode. I thought there
were some good things within this episode, but my reaction
overall was okay that production wise for me, this one
I struggled with in a major way with it. But
story wise, start with you, Sam, what were your thoughts
on this episode and what did you kind of have
(18:30):
How did you feel coming out of it from what
you recall. Yeah, I don't know if.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Maybe the production side of things ended up sullying my
perception of the rest of the episode. This is hard
to kind of get through some of those things to
be able to form an unbiased opinion on the rest
of it. I know that there were certain aspects that
felt weird about the episode. I was very apprehensive to
(19:01):
the idea of them being like the twins, being like
the word created by well, like being like an Anakin thing. Yeah,
that I was not a fan of to begin with,
and I think it was revealed later on that that
wasn't the case. There was a nuance with some like
cloning thing so I'm quite right, So I know that
(19:23):
kind of was weird. Other than that, yeah, I again,
I don't know how much happened with it. You know,
we saw that there's more character development between Osha and May,
we saw more of their dynamic. We learned a little
bit about their where they came from, which points to tragedy,
and we end up seeing that a little bit or
(19:45):
one side of it. There's that whole It was a
vergence they bring that kind of brought up point in
there and that was kind of critical for later points
in the series. But other than that, you know that
there wasn't a whole lot.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I guess what about Nathan.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah, I mean, this is one of the longest episodes
of the season, and it feels like we pretty much
get nothing from it.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It was, Oh, I don't I disagree with that. But
there's a lot that happens. There was about the twins
being born, we talk or there, you know, where they
come from. We find out about the witches, We find
out about some type of a tragedy that causes things
to go on.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I mean, there were things, but didn't need to be
this long for them to tell a story and did
what came up with choice need to be as long
as it did coming tying into it.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Choice being the to this.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
One that answers some of the questions.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Great. I love that they answered some of the questions
and choice, But we go into this episode already hesitant
and they give us an episode that feels like we
are going backwards. But we did go back We literally
went backwards, but I don't feel like we move forwards
any with the plot coming from this episode. And again
(21:02):
that's why I was a firm believer that this entire
season should have been dropped at the same time. It
would have made it a lot easier to enjoy. Well,
we can talk about that next week when we talk
about like the production and the delivery of this a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And I think that overall, this episode just it It
was kind of like, Okay, it felt like may Andosha's episode.
It definitely was, But to this point, I don't know
if many of the people watching it really cared about
Mayosha and their story. At this point, we just wanted
(21:34):
to know why we were watching this series in the
first place, and then it kind of felt like it
was Mayonosha that we were watching it for. But then
it turned out it really kind of wasn't but was.
It just raised a lot of questions without answering.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Next episode, episode four, day, Osha, struggling with her past,
joined soul Yord, Jeckie and other Jedi on a mission
to protect kal Naka from May. In the jungle of Kofar,
OSHA's connection to the Force is tested as they are
attacked by creatures. Meanwhile, May plots to surrender to Kalmaka,
but finds him already dead, killed by a helmeted Sith
(22:11):
lord who ambushes the Jedi. Reactions to this episode, Nate,
it didn't do much, but the ending. I think we
all read.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
The last like two minutes. It was really good, and
it was for the first time in this series where
I got really excited to watch the next week. But
you talk about the rest of the episode and it
does not feel like there was much to it at all.
And I understand it was one of the shorter episodes
of the season. That makes sense. It checks out, but
(22:42):
it goes back to how probably Day and Night should
have been one episode together. I don't care if it
comes out to be an hour long. We're big boys,
we can handle it. You gotta have something a little
more to it. And this goes back to what I
think I said on the last episode. At times this
show was I went fast when it should have been slow,
and it went slow when it should have been fast,
and then this episode really does this.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
The first twenty minutes of this episode feel like it's
going really really really slow, and then the ending is
like way too fast.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
And then you bring in May's character, and this goes
to the story. I mean, writing is the story when
it comes to TV, and it feels like the writing
of May's character in this specific episode felt really off.
The entire episode, she's talking about how she needs to
be a Sith, needs to please her master with Kamira,
and you're just detailing all of that, and then like
(23:33):
five seconds after she's discussing how she's going to kill
kal Naka, she's like the wait, I need to I
need to turn myself in. I've had a change of heart.
And there was no like hints that she might be
considering otherwise. She was devoted to it the entire four episode,
three and a half episodes to this point, and then
she just switches. And that comes down to the story
(23:55):
that comes down to the writing. It felt off, it
felt like whiplash, and it didn't genuinely make too much
sense overall. But that was the struggle with the episode.
And then you bring in Darth Smiley at the end,
and it's all kind of better because he was really cool.
He was he was an awesome part of this episode.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
So Sam thoughts on this.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Yeah, I mean it was largely the same mindset. I mean,
it just kept dragging and nothing was happening, and then
all of a sudden, it just all like happened one
at one time. And that's it's tough to watch because
you know, you kind of mentally check out there in
the beginning, and then all of a sudden, you gotta
be like, oh, wo okay, now I gotta like figure
(24:34):
out what's happening, and you know, because I was kind
of bored and you don't know what's happening, you know.
So it's tricky with those episodes and with things like that.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, next episode, episode five night, the Sith Lord revealed
to be Kimeer, Massacre massacres the Jedi, killing Jeckie and
yord May, trying to protect Osha, ends up in a
confrontation with Soul. The episode exposes Kimer's true identity and
his dark intentions. OSHA's conflict intensifies as May assumes her
(25:05):
identity to deceive Soul. Sam, what are your thoughts on
night best episode of the series easily? Why is that
the best episode? Cool fights?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean that's part of Star Wars.
Let's just be honest. Excuse me. Yes, the fights were awesome,
some of the best fights you've gotten in Stars.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I'll say that over and over again. But we also
got some real intrigue finally. You know, in episode four, Camire.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
His his character felt really weird, like overly like almost
like jar Jar Binks, but just stupid, like overly stupid,
I guess is the way to put it. You know,
he's putting on a front right, and it was weird
in a vacuum in that episode, it was so odd.
So you have I think we really liked Kimier in
(25:59):
a so two he was he was fine to it.
I think that in episode four we're kind of like,
why is he Why is he acting the way that
he's acting?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It was so really bad. Yeah, I thought him like this,
he's just a really bad writing.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, and then we get this episode and we're like, ah,
it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
He was putting on a front. He's actually a very
interesting villain, one of the coolest villains we've gotten in
Star Wars. There's some intrigue. He's saying some stuff to
Osha and May that is like hinting to some dark
secret that we don't know about.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
We get the cortosis stuff. Yes, interacting in the battle,
and so there were a lot.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Of really good moments and some The important thing is
some intrigue. And I think, you know, the issue we
had with Kmire in episode four would have been remedied
had this been one episode, because it would have been
a very quick Oh he's acting stupid for a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
That's weird. Ah, that's why he was doing it. As
it goes to waylow and it should be fast. Yep. Okay, Nate.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, it was a great episode. Love the fight scenes,
and I thought that it ended for the first time
where I was like, Okay, I can actually have like
I want to theorize about what's coming up next week,
like for the first time. You know, May and Osha
switching places was cool. It was interesting. It's a good
change of pace for this show, and it was well done,
(27:23):
and then it feels like they tipped their hand too
much in the next episode because.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
I remember, yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk about
that episode. Episode six, Teach Corrupt, so it's a dualistic
title again. Osha wakes up on an unknown planet with Kaimer,
who begins to manipulate her soul. Attempting to warn the Jedi.
Cancel faces technical malfunctions and betrayal for Neestra Rowe, a
Jedi master, initiates a rescue mission to Kofar, suspecting Soul's
(27:48):
involvement in the massacre. The episode delves into OSHA's internal
struggle as she begins to question her past and the
Jedi's role in it. So, Nate, you know, as we
moved into this episode, things shifted again.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, it was it was like, Okay, Osha is now
having to deal with this, you know, being in past,
the Jedi, May is having to deal with being a
scyth and now dealing with the Jedi and all that stuff.
It was really great, And you know, I feel like
their big reveal, their big moment at the end of
this series was that Osha became a Sith and kind
of in May kind of became that that good guy eventually,
(28:23):
and I feel like that was supposed to be the
big reveal at the end of the series, and they
tip their hand way too much for that in this episode,
because I remember watching this episode and predicting that like
halfway through was going to be a big part, and
I thought it was going to be brought up in
this next episode, and then they were going to deal
(28:44):
with it in the last one, and they make it
the big part in the last one, and then you
bring up just the general story contained in this episode,
and again it feels like we don't really go anywhere.
Like you said, it goes too fast when it should
go slow, and too slowman, it should go fast. We
bring into this past episode that really felt like we
(29:06):
were going somewhere, and we should have kept that momentum,
and it feels like we had a hard stop. This
feels like a travel episode and a lot of dialogue,
which I'm not against dialogue. I love I love exposition, but.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
A lot of this could have happened at the end
of an episode or the beginning of the next and
then moved into the more stories.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yeah, this could have been a fifteen minute like segment
of an episode, and I feel like that that ties
into a lot. It feels like, like, you know, we've
had this discussion before when a pastor takes a two
minute illustration of a sermon and it makes it into
a thirty to forty five minute sermon. You feel it.
You're watching it, You're like, I agree, I like this,
this is good, but man, I am bored. And so
(29:50):
that feels like where this episode really started.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And Sam, what did you think about six? Episode six? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:56):
I don't remember this episode a ton for whatever reason,
I I don't know. Maybe it's because of Nathan's point.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I thought the whole.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
You know, it was that very typical thing we've seen
in Star Wars, the sith Master trying to corrupt the
good guy, you know, that whole thing, but we actually
see seeds of it, like working in this much like
with Anakin. And so it was cool and we got
more you know, intrigue with the whole cortosis thing being
like a sensory deprivation tank. But for the force and
(30:28):
stuff it was, it was it was some interesting stuff.
But like Nate mentioned, you know, it probably could have
been shortened up a little bit for this episode.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Okay, then we go back in time again. Episode seven Choice,
another flashback to Brendock reveals the true events of the
night the Witches were attacked. The Jedi searching for a
force Virgin's discover the twins and confront Mother n Assea,
leading to a tragic misunderstanding and the Witch's deaths. Sold
is forced to choose between saving Osha or May. Ultimately
(30:59):
chose Osha, and this revelation sets the stage for the
final confrontation. Sam thoughts on Choice when we could go
back to the flashback.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
There, Yeah, that was I mean again, it was in
some interesting stuff. I I just I'm still not.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Sure how I feel about like the whole Witch's thing,
like the whole that whole subplot, or that whole setting
and stuff. It's weird.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
I mean yeah, Night Sisters were weird too, So I
can't exactly like say this all in good conscious, but
this just felt weirdly weird for Star Wars, And I
don't know if that's just me. Some of the Jedi
motives and the way they handled things felt out of character,
even for corrupt Jedi, Like, yeah, we know that the
(31:52):
Jedi's messed up, and we've seen some of that, but
they would always do things in a sort of for
the ultimate better good, and.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
This was just it was for selfishness. It was very selfish,
it was fit. It just felt weird, especially for a
time that it's supposed to be the height of the Jedi.
Like this whole episode just again, I feel like I'm
saying the same thing over again. But we pretty much
got a lot of this and Destiny we understood a
(32:22):
lot of this. And the big revelation from this episode
is that Soul had a misunderstanding and killed the mother,
which it feels like if they were just you know,
mature adults and had sat down and had a conversation,
this entire series would be resolved.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
But that doesn't happen understandably, so Star Wars you got
to have that happen.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
But you know it's it's what Padme says in uh
Revenge of the Sith. You know that you know this
is a failure to listen or I guess that's an
episode two it is.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
I thought that was what Anakin said. It's like people
should be you know, sit down in a room and
have a discussion. He's like that's what we do. I
just don't always agree, and.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
We get this episode and it's just this feels like,
like like Master Torbin, he's supposed he's young, hot head,
but it also seems like he just really misses his home,
which feels like such a strange motivation. Yeah, it feels
like they specifically wanted the plot to move a certain way,
but weren't really sure how to have the plot move
(33:25):
that way, and so they just bring in this he
misses his home and wants to go home, and he
feels bad that he's on a mission, which I don't
feel like you should be a Jedi if you aren't
okay being on missions for extended periods of time. It
feels like the motivations a lot of these characters were
a bit iffy. And then in Dara, there was a
lot of consideration of like, ooh, is there something else
(33:46):
going on with her? But in this episode it just
feels like she's She's just a normal Jedi at this point.
So there is seen and then you know, you bring
in the Soul like that was the last ditch theory
that Soul was this big villain, and no, pretty much
in this episode, it confirms He's just a chill dude.
They had a misunderstanding with the person that was seemingly
(34:09):
merging or sucking the soul out of this person that
was he was wanting to be a Padawan Soul in
the right here, at least I believe, so he was
defending somebody else from a completely unknown aspect. Anybody sees
what's going on with that weird misty soul ghost thing,
(34:33):
your first reaction is probably going to be defense or
at least finishing this. And then that big reveal is
that that's the main issue is that May saw him
kill his which I understand she's under a kid, but
it feels like after some time you should probably consider
that was a really weird situation. So it just feels off.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Final episode the Acolyte actually the namesake of the series
as well. Osha, now connected to the Force through Crimer's helmet,
agrees to confronts May and Seoul on Brendoc. May breaks
free and heads to Brendock, pursued by Soul. The climactic
battle reveals deep secrets and leads to Soul's death at
OSHA's hands, turning his kybercrystal red bleeding it, which was
a fun, cool moment. Venestra arrives with reinforcements, framing soul
(35:18):
for the massacre. Oshan, now fully embracing the dark side,
becomes Kaimeer's acolyte, setting up future conflicts. Nate, how did
you feel about the finale of season one?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
It wrapped up their story, which I feel like was
already weak to begin with, but it it finished it
to an extent. You have Plague gifts show up for
like five seconds and you're a little bit concerned about that.
You have Ocean and came here now on whatever that
planet was apparently going to be training. You have May
(35:49):
being forgotten by Osha or having her memory wiped out
everything and now being part of the Jedi orders, so
she'll probably be trained. And then you have Yoda being
brought up, and you have a lot of peak around
the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have a lot of
things being set up for a second season that you
don't know is going to happen. When you were already
(36:09):
personally already like unsatisfied with the answers we already got
from the weak questions that we already have asked. You
have May and Osha being switched places and you feel
like you're pretty much back at the start. They just
switched and so you're like, Okay, that could be an
interesting second season, but we don't know if that's happening.
(36:34):
At least make this first season intriguing enough to carry it.
You have some great fight scenes between Soul and Crimeer,
great stuff. That is a highlight of this series. There's
no doubt there. And again you kind of feel really
bad about how Venestra makes Soul the scapegoat for the
(36:57):
Jedi's faults. You know, you bring that up and it's
the option of the Jedi. And while I'm okay seeing
the Jedi being corrupt and then taking different paths after
episode three, I think when we're supposed to be at
the height of the Jedi, I don't really want to
see that happening in this situation. I want to see
the Jedi be good, because it's honestly pretty rare than
(37:19):
we haven't seen that yet. That's what we were excited for,
and I'd like to see it in live action. I
know I can read the books of the High Republic
and get that, but I mean, when we're getting a
Higher Republic show, I kind of want to see that too, So.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Sam, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (37:32):
Yeah, I mean part of what you said, we didn't
get anything in this show that made it High Republic.
I mean, let's just be really honest here. It was
just another.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Star that could have been set in the prequels.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Yeah, I mean, there was nothing about it set it
apart to be High Republic, and that was kind of
disappointing because it's such an interesting time period and setting
and we didn't explore it any.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
But yeah, I mean this episode it did what it
had to do. I guess the fights were cool, they
were good. The little cameos with Plagueias and Yoda felt.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Cheap.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
You're looking for is forced? Uh No, I just felt cheap,
like they were throwing it in there to get a
little bit of a reaction. And after that whole series
you're just still like all right, cool.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Like, but nothing happened. You know, Why should I get
excited about about that? If those had been maybe more
central somehow, or more intrigue instead of just Plagas reaching
around the corner. I mean, we're still kind of speculating
that it's Plais.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Nobody said it is has been confirmed, Okay, but it's just.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Yeah, I'm with Nate. I don't want more corrupted Jedi yet,
I want to see some good for once that we
brought this issue up in the last episode of that
when we were talking about the Acolyte. Nobody was good
or bad and that whole series, I mean, the two
main characters switch places, souls revealed to be kind of iffy.
(39:08):
Camier's kind of got some good points. Venestra frames her
friend for things or so she doesn't have to deal
with problems, you know, like there's all.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
These weird that she gets called to the principal's office. Yeah. Right,
So there's all these weird moments. You're like, Okay, who
do I care for? Like, who's on those right side here?
Speaker 3 (39:28):
No one?
Speaker 1 (39:28):
And then the characters that seem to have the most
I mean, other than Master's Soul. I know, people loved May,
they loved OSHA's characters, people loved Soul, people loved Kimer.
I get all of that, but like, the two characters
that seem to get the most emotional reaction from people
were Yord and Jeckie. And they get killed off right,
and they had no bearing on this show whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
No, No, it felt like they were going somewhere for
character development with Yord in that second episode, like we mentioned,
and then he's killed off and pretty much in the
next section.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Felt like, you know, it felt like it was it
was just a shock value type.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Of thing, right, and Jackie was fun. Jackie was interesting
enough and felt like had a connection to Osha, and
then we just get nothing with it, and so it
didn't even give motivation for Osha.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Well, we had a lot more that we were going
to talk about on this episode with characters and with
themes in this I think we're gonna save that for
a conversation in a later episode. We're going to move
next week into literally talking about the production. Here's a
question I hope that maybe you listening can consider over
the next week. I want these two guys to consider this.
(40:40):
Would this series not only have been better to be
dropped all at once in the binge format, but would
have been better as Star Wars animation. All right, well,
thanks for listening. Our weekly release schedule is pretty simple,
and Monday's we talk about whatever we're excited about. I
think next week we're gonna end up talking about the
new m Night Shaimalan movie Trap, which is getting some
really negative man peril like bat like Uh, contrasting opinions.
(41:07):
Either people love it or they absolutely hate it. Nathan,
you and I saw.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
It last Do you want to give you a quick
letterbox review? I love brating for and a like I'm
foreign alike too.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
All Sam, you're gonna be seeing it this afternoon, I will,
and so you'll be able to give that. Next week,
we're gonna talk about that movie. I think we're gonna
have a lot to talk about with that. Wednesday's New
Comic Book Day, we talk about what we're reading, what
new comic books came out, and how that relates to
all the other things that we talk about. Next Friday,
we're gonna talk about The Acolyte. We're gonna talk about production.
We're gonna talk about the packaging, like how was this
thing delivered and could they have done them things differently
(41:38):
in order for it to be different received differently. Follow
us on Substack weekly recaps, in depth exploration, community engagement,
trying to get to one hundred before we have something
special that we're going to release to you guys we
talked about before. I think that's going to pretty much
do it. For this week's shows, anything else you guys
want to say, manifour to be with you, me, force
to be with you, with you alway, party is over.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Mokie, don't get take you with me, Joy, please
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.