Spoilers incoming.

“People are really complaining about last episode of The Acolyte.”

Me, raising my eyebrows. “Oh? You’ve heard?”

My wife is my litmus test for when something has escaped the nerdy bubble I frequent and attained broader awareness. Unlike me, she doesn’t go in search of such morsels. Instead, they find her by way of the internet water cooler.

“Yeah,” she said, “they don’t like the way the story is going.”

It’s the complaint of every Star Wars fan ever. I’ve even been that fan, a time or two, when story was sacrificed at the altar of fan service or empty spectacle. But in this case, I had the high ground. The Acolyte’s only sin was trying to be different.