Crime
Furious
Hulu’s ‘Furious’ is a howcatchem that is based on terrible human evil, making it a watch that will only leave viewers feeling depressed.
No Luke. No Rey. No Obi-Wan.
It’s been centuries since most of the galaxy has seen a lightsaber-swinging Jedi (peacekeepers a long, long time ago) in action. And in Margrave Juro’s opinion, that’s just too bad.
Juro’s been trying to reboot the Jedi legacy for a while now. As a Jedi Master himself, he’s been doing his best to track down like-minded folk: former Jedi, Force-sensitive would-be padawans (Jedi apprentices), even people who might be weak in the Force but strong in can-do attitude. And he’s making progress.
Sure, his first effort (as chronicled in an episode of Star Wars: Visions) was only semi-successful. Most of the masterless Jedi he recruited were ambushed by the Sith (the Dark Side counterbalance to the Jedi) before he could meet them. Still, that awkward first step led Juro to most of his current team members: Homen, a dog-headed humanoid who Juro led away from the Dark Side; Ethan, the only real Jedi who showed up; and Gramps, a cantankerous, slightly effeminate-sounding droid who knows his way around hyperspace.
And then we come to Lah Kara, daughter of the uber-skilled saber maker Lah Zhima and a girl as strong in the Force as anyone.
Kara and Juro share the same goals. Both are looking to undercut the schemes of Nawaam, a powerful warlord who hopes to grab the galaxy in his clenched metal fist. Nawaam has assembled a powerful armada, cowed plenty of planets and hopes that his new planet-destroying cannon—made with kyber crystals—will force the rest of the cosmos to bend its knee to him.
But Kara knows that Nawaam kidnapped her father, too. And Kara means to rescue him, no matter what.
The Ninth Jedi is an anime offshoot of the Star Wars franchise that saw its beginnings in the first season of the anthology show Star Wars: Visions. It received another episode in the second season, and it was deemed to have enough narrative oomph to carry its own series. It won’t be the last, if Disney has its way: Visions’ executive producer James Waugh said that The Ninth Jedi will be just the first in a new line of shows sparked by Visions’ creative one-off episodes.
These future series, like their originating episodes, may vary widely in both tone and content issues. But Ninth Jedi is, for a Star Wars property, reasonably navigable.
Certainly, you have all the issues that almost any Star Wars story will contain. The show’s premise is rooted firmly in the Force, the mystical power that binds the Star Wars universe together and owes a lot to Eastern religious systems. (For a deeper dive on said systems, Bret Eckelberry and I unpack them during our Rewind video on Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back.) You’ll also see some presumed alcohol use, too.
However, The Ninth Jedi’s biggest issue is likely its violence. People and other humanoids die here—often due to blaster fire, sometimes after being rammed through the chest with lightsabers. Indeed, the violence may feel on par, or even a touch higher, than what you’d see in the movies.
But that violence is animated, which lessens its impact a bit. Language is not much of a concern here, other than a bit of name-calling. And no one—at least in the show’s early goings—has either the time or inclination to take an interest in romance.
The Ninth Jedi is a creative new chapter in the millennia-spanning Star Wars saga. But even though this story takes place a thousand years in Star Wars’ future, its content concerns are frozen in time—for better or worse.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Juro, Kara and the rest travel to Makoma Ko, a free city-state ruled by an old Jedi associate of Juro’s named Dunbai. Alas, they’re tracked there by Gennoh, one of the evil Nawaam’s most fearsome generals. As Juro begs Dunbai to join their fledgling alliance, Gennoh is tasked with killing Juro and his gang—and bringing Nawaam their lightsabers.
Referred to as the galaxy’s last Sith, Gennoh apparently uses the Force to keep his ship from tumbling into a black hole. He and an adversary engage in a lightsaber duel. Droids shoot and kill several human soldiers before they’re disabled. (Several droids are hacked apart or stabbed with a lightsaber as well.) A man is run through with a lightsaber after a short battle. We see a great deal of property destruction.
Dunbai is called a “greedy merchant.” Someone is called a “wretched cur.” People and other humanoids sip what we presume to be intoxicating drinks at a party. Nawaam tells his followers that he does “not request your loyalty.” Anyone is welcome to try to kill him and take over, but until then, Nawaam cautions, he is in charge.
Juro, Kara and company go to Bibin, the moon upon which Juro trained to be a Jedi. But he’s not exactly a welcome guest: Back in the day, a Jedi Master was killed by his padawan, and Bibin’s leader clearly wishes that the Jedi would just stay away. But Juro wants to renew contact with an old friend and potentially recruit the guy and his miners to join forces against Nawaam. Meanwhile, Nawaam is trying to get his kyber crystal cannon to work. And it seems that Lah Zhima—Kara’s father, now in Nawaam’s custody—may be the key.
We see the Force used to “heal” crystals, see Jedi training devices and guide Juro to Bibin. Characters talk about being strong or weak within the Force, and someone accuses Nawaam of using kyber crystals the wrong way—because it “goes against the laws of nature.”
Nawaam’s cannon is a cantankerous weapon. When scientists try to energize the thing twice, something goes wrong both times, sending workers flying and falling. (We don’t know whether these folks were seriously injured or not.) When the cannon does work, it fires a massive blast into space that flattens people and even whole communities as it passes. We hear more about the murder of the Jedi Master, and two characters spar with blades.
A party involves plenty of revelry, and someone sloshes what appears to be a beer-like brew in a pint.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Hulu’s ‘Furious’ is a howcatchem that is based on terrible human evil, making it a watch that will only leave viewers feeling depressed.
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