Main cast: Amandla Stenberg (Mae Aniseya, Osha Aniseya), Lee Jung-jae (Master Sol), Charlie Barnett (Yord Fandar), Dafne Keen (Jecki Lon), Manny Jacinto (Qimir), Rebecca Henderson (Vernestra Rwoh), Dean-Charles Chapman (Master Torbin), and Joonas Suotamo (Kelnacca)
Director: Leslye Headland
You know, I can see that there is a possible good story here, even if it resembled something straight out of a formulaic young adult fantasy story: two twin sisters. estranged due to tragedy, with one seeking revenge while the other pursues a completely different path.
Unfortunately, with modern day Disney being what it is, the whole thing is botched by ineptitude.
Revenge/Justice showcases more of the story of Mae and Osha. We know Mae is after four Jedi masters, well, three now that she has killed one on the lowest difficulty level in the previous episode. Osha blames Mae for the death of her other family members, and now she is aware that Mae is going to kill Master Sol. Oh no, will the two sisters ever make up and unite to destroy the patriarchy or something?
First thing first: why is everyone in the cast, with a few notable exceptions like Lee Jung-jae, look like they are 15 years old at most? Seriously, the dude playing Master Torbin looks like a twelve-year old even under all that facial hair, and many of the cast members look and sound even younger.
Some pathetic people on social media, probably part of a marketing team paid to hype this show, are trying to hype up Charlie Barnett as the newest sex symbol but come on now, look at him. They dress him up to look like a lead actor in some Nickelodeon sitcom!
As this show costs a lot of money, allegedly upwards of $20 million per episode, so where did all the money go? Did the salaries of child actors surge a hundredfold overnight?
Perhaps there is some credence to that rumor that LucasFilm is using Star Wars shows as a front of a money laundering service…
There is a bright side to using child labor for this show: many of the lines seem like they were scripted by children of the same age or thereabout, so it’s easier not to cringe at those lines when I imagine that this whole place is populated by children pretending to be grown-ups.
As per the previous episode, the whole episode feels wrong and even dull because there is no variation in pacing and mood throughout. Quiet scenes and action scenes are treated in the same manner, thus making the whole episode feel like a dull time through a mediocre theme park ride instead of an action-packed episode.
Amandla Stenberg continues to be the MVP among the cast members in bring on the stiffest corpse realness to the show, and this really pains me because she is playing two potentially interesting characters in the same monotone static sound. Surely they could have cast some other POC queer woman to check off a few boxes in this role?
Anyway, I admit that I am starting to become intrigued by the potential of this show, but yikes, so far the execution of the whole thing and the performances of the cast members are making this more like a grade school production than anything else.
Really, why is it that the so-called queerest Star Wars thing ever looks like it’s aimed at kids? No, let’s not answer that or we’d be opening a whole new can of worms that will still have us mired by Christmas in endless drama with the usual imbeciles out there!
