Shelby Udell

I forgot about BlueSky! I’ve been posting my Acolyte conversations on Threads!
I’m on part 6 over there. I’ll post 4-6 on BlueSky asap ✨

I don’t see it as naggy at all, and frankly it’s a good thing to nag about regardless! I admire the advocacy, and I always value the chance to learn and be more aware :)

Thank you! I really appreciate the advice. I wish BlueSky gave us the option to add AltText retroactively, but there’s no editing option at all unfortunately. For Part 4 I’ll be better :)

But I absolutely value the inclusivity that AltText offers, so I’ll try to make sure I apply that to the images as best as possible going forward. I appreciate you bringing attention to it :)

No you’re right & that’s good to know- I started to AltText them all but it was taking me a tremendous amount of time. I wanted to be thorough, so I was trying to describe the features of people and the environments they’re in but it was taking hours and I was committed to making sure I posted

then there would be more time to satisfactorily expound on this storyline. But alas, that isn’t the case. I still thoroughly enjoyed getting introduced to a whole new coven of witches and look forward to learning more about them. (2/2)

Again, I don’t feel that the problems with this episode damn the show as a whole, by any means.
Every show deserves its moments of weakness, and I also think that if the season were given more than just 8 episodes, and a season 2 was on the way, (1/2)

I think, given the amount of flashbacks we end up getting through the season, that this could have been done more efficiently. There are too many moments that aren’t executed well and take me out of the moment.

Episode 3 overall rating: 6/10

Osha’s motivations are unclear and confusing to me, and I don’t feel like we ever get a satisfactory answer as to why she feels so disconnected from her coven.

Yet you’re left at the end of the episode with a knot in your stomach and anger that can’t be placed. It’s a very powerful and heartbreaking ending, and you can’t help but feel a stronger connection to both Osha and Mae, having grasped the magnitude of their loss.

Everything we witness from Mae starting the fire and the collapse of their coven is nothing short of devastating. As we later learn, there are still gaps in this narrative that lead us to believe Mae holds more guilt that she does.

Their intrusion feels threatening, and you don’t blame Mother Aniseya when she reacts by possessing (for lack of better word) Torbin’s mind. The Jedi absolutely are a threat to this coven. As I mentioned earlier, THR does a phenomenal job of making us question the presence and actions of the Jedi.

Their intervening into a culture they didn’t understand and had such limited information on was abhorrent, and further validates our questioning of the Jedi morals and code.

What we see next are the Jedi intervening to ask the coven their permission in testing the girls. Personally, when I first watched this episode, the audacity of the Jedi was appalling to witness.

And not all of the witches are marked with the symbol of the thread, so that must be reserved for the leader, or in this case, eventual leaders. Do all the members join as children? I’m not inclined to believe so, but I just don’t know.

This is also where I had the most questions about the coven that I am begging them to expound on in comic releases.
Like, how does one become a witch? Mother Aniseya states that “This is the first ascension since our exile”, so I assume the ascension is a necessary step. But what leads up to one?

The Ascension had so much more potential, but personally I felt the choreography of the witches was unclear and awkward, and the chant of “Power of One, Power of 2, Power of Many” was a bit silly in execution and we could have done without it.

Her sister, in comparison, was incredible as Mae, and has an ability to act with her face that you don’t often see in children. She portrayed anger, anguish, fear, and pain, in such a believable way that it was all the more distracting when young Osha conveyed mostly confusion and fear.

However, I was taken out of the moment during several scenes that she was in, because of her constantly confused face and weak delivery of most of her lines. I can’t imagine I’m the only one who feels this way and feels the episode suffers because of it.

But, to put it plainly, Osha’s child actress has a distractingly weak performance. I know, I’m sorry, but please hear me out. This is not to discredit the young girl who worked very hard, and should be proud of what she did.

Now, I want to talk about the kids for a moment. Everything I say next is said with as much care as I can put forth, and believe me when I say that nothing here comes from a malicious place.

Perhaps it isn’t her desire to be a Jedi, but instead simply her desire to be understood, that inspires her willingness to leave everything behind at the first chance.

I just don’t understand where Osha would have enough information about the Jedi to idolize them to the point that she’d draw their symbol in her notebook.

But perhaps I also have to remember that Osha feels different from her family, and that’s something I can understand.

It also doesn’t seem like the Brendok Witches are ones who would idolize or praise the Jedi, so Osha’s lack of wariness or hesitancy to join them, and her absence of fear at the prospect of never seeing her family again, is especially puzzling.

Something I found myself constantly puzzling over was Osha’s desire to be a Jedi, and lack of desire to be a witch. It’s not an uncommon trope for a character to want to get away from what they know and see the galaxy; but Osha is especially young to already feel the urge to leave everything behind.

We’ve spent a long time centering the Jedi and placing their use of the force as the default, but we’re coming to understand that they are just as ignorant as we’ve been to how it is viewed and used by other cultures within the galaxy.

I think the High Republic does an impeccable job at forcing us to recognize how not only the force plays its role in other cultures, but how the Jedi’s existence in the galaxy affects those cultures as well.

I don’t *think* the 2 have any relation, but it is curious to see how the language and philosophy transcends generations and cultures. *End of Phase 2 spoilers

They also had a leader who was referred to as “the Mother” and their aims were to free the force from being manipulated. However, the Path of the Open Hand was not only women, nor were they a force sensitive group (excluding the Mother, who was).

*High republic Phase 2 spoilers in next few posts
I wanted to take a second just to remark on Mother Anisaya’s speech about the Thread; how it is not a force to wield. It reminds me of the Path of The Open Hand, the small commune who eventually become the Nihil.