The Acolyte’s first season ended on an inconclusive but exciting note, hinting at a second season that ━ given the incomprehensibly volatile response to its eight-episode run ━ may never happen. At this point, it’s unclear whether or not a second season will happen, despite the series finale raising a number of questions that many ━ myself included ━ want answered.

The Disney Plus series has reportedly been suffering from low viewership as it continues to air despite a very strong start, with each new weekly episode being greeted by a wave of backlash, fueled in part by a disturbing lack of media literacy, exacerbated by irate YouTubers. While this backlash is not solely the fault of the show’s low viewership, it does highlight the shocking inability of many viewers to comprehend a story that unfolds episodically.

Spoilers for episode 8 of The Acolyte follow.

I will preface this by saying that I was not a huge fan of The Acolyte as a whole. Some episodes dragged on, the mystery surrounding what happened to the coven of Force-using witches was too predictable, as was the identity of the Sith. But the majority of the complaints many had about the show concerned “issues” that were clearly part of the central mystery. The thousands of angry YouTube videos, livestreams, and online comments could have been addressed by those producing them by simply waiting until the season was over to see if their questions were adequately answered. And that, as many seem to have forgotten, is how episodic TV shows are meant to be viewed.