We’re seven episodes into Star Wars Skeleton Crew, and the show has been widely praised for its quality. This made me think more about The Acolyte, and why that show didn’t work while Skeleton Crew does. In short, Skeleton Crew is well written and delivers what it promised.

The Acolyte was originally marketed as a “mystery thriller” set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe and was supposed to focus on the Sith. Well, that’s strike one because it didn’t really live up to that promise.

Firstly, The Acolyte didn’t really center on the Sith. Sure, there was a Sith presence, but they were far from the central figures in the show. Instead, the show focused on some of the worst Jedi I’ve ever seen depicted—a bunch of screw-ups that, for various reasons, totally botched an encounter with a group of Force Witches while on a survey mission seeking the reason the planet Brendock’s ecosystem recovered so quickly despite having been devastated during the Great Hyperspace Disaster.

Central to the failings of these Jedi is Jedi Master Sol. At first blush, he is an affable Jedi reminiscent of Qui-Gon Jinn, but he is later revealed to be a selfish idiot who couldn’t admit his own faults. Master Sol encounters a pair of Force-sensitive twins in the woods, which leads the Jedi team to a coven of Force Witches who are not particularly pleased to see the Jedi.

Sol quickly becomes obsessed with training these girls as Jedi because of his selfish desperation to have a Padawan of his own. This obsession leads to a series of blunders that eventually results in the entire Jedi team getting killed.

Rounding out the rest of this menagerie of morons are Jedi Padawan Torbin, a young man who would rather be back home on Coruscant than out on some boring survey mission; a desire that leaves him vulnerable to manipulation by the Witches. Kelnacca, a Wookiee Jedi who got very little character development and was totally wasted. And then there’s Jedi Master Indara, aka “Space Trinity.” Apart from being a lazy attempt at cashing in on the hype of Carrie-Anne Moss’s role in The Matrix, Indara is kind of the poster child for everything wrong with the Jedi Order. She’s arrogant, cold, dispassionate, and dishonest.

“Central to the failings of these Jedi is Jedi Master Sol.”

There are, of course, other Jedi in the series, but they’re not really important to the fundamental flaws of the show.

That brings us to the twins, Osha and Mae, a pair of walking MacGuffins masquerading as main characters. Right out of the gate, we are led to believe the mystery of the show is who is murdering these Jedi, and why. Of course, that can’t be the mystery because it’s spoiled in the first episode. It’s Mae. Perhaps then the mystery of the show is who’s training and/or guiding her? Well, no because even though it’s not officially revealed until the fifth episode, the answer to that is pretty obvious too. It’s Qimir, aka “The Stranger,” the “technically” unnamed Sith Lord and only genuinely compelling character in this mess, played brilliantly by Manny Jacinto.

So, what’s the mystery then? Well, my first thought is “Who thought the writing on this show was good enough to greenlight??” But I digress…

No, it seems the real “mystery” was what the hell really happened on Brendock to drive Mae to hunt down and murder Jedi. And honestly, it wasn’t much of a mystery. To many viewers, it quickly became obvious that the Jedi did something bad and were trying to cover it up.

“Osha and Mae, a pair of walking MacGuffins masquerading as main characters.”

Other complaints about the show regard the pacing, the inconsistent motivations of Mae and Osha, and the general writing of the various characters. And those are valid criticisms. But for me, the biggest mistake this show made was it wasn’t what we were promised when it was announced. This wasn’t a show about the Sith. Sure, we get a SINGLE GLIMPSE at the Sith Lord everyone was hoping to see finally depicted onscreen, Darth Plagueis, the Muun Sith Lord famously alluded to by Chancellor Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith, whom, according to Legends novels, was eventually Palpatine’s master before Palpatine murdered him in his sleep. But alas, this appearance was wasted and amounted to little more than cheap fan service.

So then we’re just left with Qimir, who was, as I said, brilliant. But he’s more of a side character. I’m sure he was supposed to be set up as the main villain, but he really comes off as more sympathetic and not as big of a threat as the Jedi’s own stupidity.

This show could have been a brilliantly dark look at the shadowy machinations of the Sith as they scheme and manipulate themselves into a position to eventually strike back at the Jedi Order in vengeance for their demise 1,000 years before The Phantom Menace. We could have had a look at how the Sith managed to thrive in secret thanks to the sole survivor of that conflict, Darth Bane, creating the Rule of Two, preventing the constant infighting that plagued the Sith, and ensuring that each apprentice had to genuinely surpass their master before they could kill the master and claim the title for themselves. Through this simple rule, each Sith would be more powerful than the one who came before them.

“This show could have been a brilliantly dark look at the shadowy machinations of the Sith.”

The Acolyte could have been a fun story about the Sith trying to recruit a new Acolyte and coming dangerously close to being discovered by the Jedi prematurely and having to tie up loose ends. But instead, we got a show more interested in showing us why the Jedi of this time period sucked and were eventually wiped out. And the Sith just HAPPENED to be there.

The few lightsaber fights we got were cool, and we got a smattering of little Legends Easter eggs canonized. But ultimately the show was failed by poor writing, occasionally questionable acting, and a failure to tell the story fans deserved. Sadly, what they were setting up for the ill-fated season two would probably have been a better story than the one we got.