The Acolyte: Episode 7 - Review and Music Breakdown
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Breaking down the music in Star Wars: The Acolyte, Episode 7, "Choice" by composer Michael Abels.
Full Acolyte Playlist: • The Acolyte
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I found your channel today searching for the similarities of Kylo's and Grogu's theme, and I'm so glad that I did, really insightful analysis of the music present. Instrumentation and orchestration is not my forte so hearing you describe what instruments and particularly what techniques are being used is a learning experience for me. Hearing you discuss the themes is my favourite part though.
Now, about the ending song, I'm gonna be honest that I was so enticed by what had just happened that it took me a while to notice it. It is jarring but since it's not a part of the episode proper, I don't really care. I'm kinda happy they tried something new, even if it didn't work out all that well.
I'll say this though, I miss the almost operatic way to handle themes that John Williams had in the Prequels, the thematic nature of the music carries the story. I don't think even him was able to replicate that in the Sequels, it is very thematic but the themes seem to lead nowhere a lot of the time. Probably because of the lack of communication from the directors or lack of planning for the trilogy, idk. It could also be rose-coloured nostalgia glasses
I’m glad you found it. I agree that Lucas, when you hear conversations between him and Williams, had a way of explaining what he wanted that was magical. Not clear, but very inspiring to a composer. They were a great team. The use of this themes for this show has been less direct. The themes try to be hidden more and they aren’t as tied to characters as would normally be the case. So, it’s been hard to feel a narrative from the music as well.
in your vid for ep8 make sure you point out how at the very end when they stand by the water, the theme of loss (indara) plays in counterpoint with Qimir's rising cellos motif at the same time. I thought it was pretty cool.
Oh yeah. It’s in there. And I bet I got a little one you didn’t catch either. The breakdown will be a little late though since I’m working long hours this week.
I hope we get a more clear reason for Kylo's theme continually chiming in lol. not complaining, it's an awesome theme. Also Mae's theme owes like 90% of its appeal to Kylo's.
Btw the new theme for the Jedi wandering Brendok is sorta like a light side twist on Kylo's theme lol
Is it? I guess as it goes along it has some similar intervals. But the beginning is very different with its heroic P5 leap.
@@starwarsmusicanalysis yeah, ignoring the first two notes, it sounds like “Kylo Ren’s theme in a major key” which is a video I made on my channel.
@RedCaio interesting. I had been so focused on the theme’s beginning that I hadn’t considered this. Thank you! Feel free to throw a link to the Kylo Ren video into the thread so others can find it for reference.
A popular theory (and one I could definitely get behind) is that in the finale, Plagueis shows up and murders everyone. But now when its seen that Koril escapes (and tbh I was kinda hoping she died with the rest) I have a feeling she may be the one to replace Plagueis, turning to the darkside and manipulating for years to get mae or smth 🤷. cant say im a big fan of this self made theory, and I definitely prefer Plagueis swoopin in. lol
I’d be surprised if they suddenly throw Plagueis into the finale. I definitely would love it. But there’s so much left unanswered that it would feel a little messy. My only thought was that somehow, a dark lord’s essence was split into these two girls and when they are sacrificed, the dark lord returns. But even that feels messy as I say it. Haha
Thanks for another music breakdown!
I really loved this episode - especially how Carrie-Anne Moss and JJ conveyed so much in wordless acting.
I had been thinking about Force Essence Transfer as a Sith thing, but I didn't anticipate it being the method by which Mae and Osha would inherit Mother Aniseya's role ... I think that if Osha had completed the Ascension ceremony, then Aniseya's Force Essence Transfer would transfer her essence into both of the twins. As it was, she chose to give up Osha to the Jedi (choosing her "mother" instincts over her Coven leader duties), while chosing to only transfer her essence to Mae - which would have effectively killed Mae.
Sol reacted far more quickly to this threat to Mae (who he thought was Osha) than Aniseya could have reasonably predicted, though. Sol could see the black mist moving toward Mae, instinctively realizing it was a threat to Mae's life. But when Koril's black mist went upward, neither Sol nor Torbin were aware that was where Kelnacca was.
Anyway, Koril pulls something like Essence Transfer to possess Kelnacca, after she finds herself woefully underpowered to fight Sol. But without proper preparation, I think this was always going to be a temporary thing. So, Koril was sacrificing her own life to possess Kelnacca temporarily.
Is Koril truly dead, though? I think so, but I guess it's possible she survived in Kelnacca. Like maybe Indara managed to break the connection with the other witches, but Koril's essence was still in Kelnacca, to escape later. Or maybe Kelnacca fought whatever was left of Koril in him to the end. Kelnacca seemed tortured, despite not really being at fault like the others.
I was also thinking about how powerful the face gestures were in this episode.
I’m really curious to see how the entire power of two things plays out. It seems like they need to be together and then killed now. Or that one needs to kill the other. Osha seems to be consistently the weaker one.
I’m not sure Aniseya was going to hurt Mae. I took it as she was sweeping her away to safety and Sol just overreacted.
I’m pretty sure Koril slipped away went she went into smoke along with the archers. The other coven members were the ones that were co trolling Kelnacca. Maybe she instructed them to do so.
There’s a reason Kelbacca was drawing those circles in his hut though. Something from the experience was still in him. But what happened to it when he was killed?
I didn’t any of this was essence transfer as much as just a temporary possession though. 🤷
@@starwarsmusicanalysis
The archers didn't disappear into smoke. They presumably simply walked to join the others. While they weren't in any immediate danger from the Jedi, they also weren't able to do a thing to them by shooting arrows. But they could join in the ritual to possess Kelnacca.
As for Koril, she was definitely not in any mood to run away. She wanted two things - to protect her children from the Jedi and to get revenge. She could do both of those things by possessing Kelnacca. If she ran away, she might do one of those things - by taking her children away to safety. But she did not.
To me, it makes no sense that Koril was running away. OTOH, it makes perfect sense for her to sacrifice her life to possess Kelnacca.
Anyway, one thing this episode shows, that isn't so obvious, is that this all was subconsciously precipitated by Osha. In the previous episode, Osha claimed that Sol found her through the Force, but Qimir said it was her - not Sol. And this episode seems to confirm it. Sol wasn't reaching out to look for anyone or anything. He was on a botanical field mission, when he just happened to coincidentally run across Osha on the day of her Ascension ceremony - which she had been dreading more and more.
Coincidence? I think not!
It was Osha. She was dissatisfied with her life. She subconsciously reached out for a way out, and found Sol. The closer the dreaded day, the stronger her reaching out. She subconsciously made her Jedi dream. She made her Jedi dream happen.
I don't think Sol realizes this, but even if he did he'd never blame Osha for any of it.
But Osha herself? If she connects the dots, she'd blame herself. She'd kill the dream.
ON the similarities betweens Kylo's and Mae's themes:. Both start w a descending half-step. Both span an octave. I loved your comments on the tritone/devils interval, Williams, and the Catholic Church. Despite this, Kylo's thrme is still quite palatable (aural equivalent). Mae's isn't. I can't quite grasp why. It descends just one step further, then adds another descending half step, then ascends like Kylo's and then descends to complete the octave. But the difference is marked.
If one removes the half-steps both feel downright harmonic. If one only removes the second descending half-step in Mae's theme it's quite ok. (I leave the rythm of of this.)
I wonder if it's supposed to signal that Kylo's a bad person, but Mae's worse, she's a *failed* bad person and won't even get to be a proto-knight of Ren - if that's where they're going.
And no, I have no sympathy w Kylo; as with *everything* in the sequels, the themes are SO MUCH better than the characters. (I feel the same "why can't these pathetic life-forms have the good grace to die already" about them that I have w everyone in Andor. 😂 I even hate the droids. And you know it's bad when you cannot even stand the droids.)
I break down a little of why Mae’s theme eludes us at the beginning of my episode 1 breakdown. Abel’s basically toys with us. I don’t think Mae is worse. I think she’s more unstable.
Not the droids! You can’t hate the innocent droids! Haha
That ending music was an interesting choice lol. I'd be surprised if Abels had something to do with it because to me if felt more like the show runners shoehorned it in. Now that I think about it, I can't remember any Star Wars music that used lyrics, but I may not be remembering something.
You’re right. Aside from Jabba palace music and other diegetic music, the only occurrence of lyrics is Duel of the Fates which is in a category all to itself. My guess is that the showrunners asked Abel’s to do it. I agree it probably wasn’t his decision originally. It’s things like this that made me walk away from writing film music though. Composers should have final say of music, not directors and producers.
@@starwarsmusicanalysis Oh my god, how could I forget Jedi Rocks? lmao
And yeah, some of the best film scores were only possible due to the directors accepting they know nothing about music and trusting their composer to do the job, with little interference.
The tree representing the light side of the force is very well observed sir. Not heard anyone make that analysis before. 👌🏻
Thanks!
Boy the music and choreography carried this show. I'm probably going to give it a second go to understand some of the subtlety but man the writing and editing make it hard
I’m curious how things will come across on a second watch.
Idk, that tree is poisonous but only when you eat it. The Kylo theme when Sol kills Aniseya seems like a, "seeing your hero fail," reference maybe.
You’re right. I’m really just trying to conjecture until we know more. It’s a frustratingly vague distinction each time.
Im glad to hear im not the only one that was jarred by the ending credit song. Ruined the vibe.
Leave it to Disney…
I think most people were actually. I don’t know what the goal was for this.
I’ve seen every episode, most of them twice… and I still couldn’t tell you what the musical themes sound like 🤷🏻♂️
all I remember is “the power of ma-ny!” the occasional use of the Kylo Ren riff, and the awful pop song at the end of this episode 😑
That song was cringe, even for me. Yeah, the themes aren’t used in quite a traditional way with this show. He’s not attaching them as clearly to characters as much as feelings, which he stated in an interview. I have mixed feelings on it, but I’m holding off on a full reaction until the end of the show.