The Acolyte has had quite a season. It was a very ambitious show, starting about a century before the events of The Phantom Menace. It was set at a time when the Jedi were the respected arbiters and peacekeepers in the galaxy. And it wanted to show the cracks in that facade and how evil began to flourish under their watch.
Does it achieve those lofty goals? Let’s find out…
We pick up back at Qimir’s hideout. Osha is putting on his sensory deprivation helmet in order to commune with the Force, but things start to go wrong. She starts to gasp for breath, the room shakes, and Qimir’s eyes go black, like Torbin’s last week when the witches controlled his mind. He struggles to take the helmet off Osha, and when he does, she reveals that she had a vision. She saw Mae and Sol fighting, and her taking him down without a weapon. She knows where he is. She agrees to take Qimir, but she won’t tell them where they’re going. She doesn’t care about revenge, only saving her sister. And I have to say, she is being way too trusting of Qimir, who we have seen kill about a dozen Jedi who had nothing to do with what happened on Brendok.
As Qimir’s ship takes off, we see a shadowy figure emerge from a nearby cave, dressed in a black robe. Is this Qimir’s master? Could this be Darth Plagueis, Palpatine’s master and the key to the rebirth of the Sith? We won’t find out, but feel free to speculate wildly.
Back on Sol’s ship, Mae gets him monologuing about what happened on Brendok. and uses the distraction to have the Pip droid get her out of her restraints. She then tries to flee in an escape pod. Sol chases her, and I have to say, the effects here are beautiful, as is the rousing score that captures the feel of John Williams’s music.
Mae tries to hide between the rings of Brendok, only to have Sol crash through the rocks and particles to follow her. He’s about to catch her, too, until Bazil sabotages the ship because… actually, I have no idea why he does that. Like none. It is entirely unclear and unexplained. Does he want Mae to escape? Why? He was the one who literally sniffed out the imposter. After both ships crash land on the planet below, they make a big deal about Bazil sniffing the controls that Sol was holding. Why? Are they implying that Sol’s Dark Side has changed him? Again, no explanation whatsoever.
Qimir and Osha aren’t far behind, and everyone winds up at Mae and Osha’s childhood homestead. There, we are treated to some excellent fight scenes. Qimir and Sol battle it out in the courtyard, and unlike the forest fight from a few weeks ago, Sol seems to have the upper hand here now that he’s not distracted by the deaths of his fellow Jedi. The battle here is some of the niftiest lightsaber fighting I’ve seen. Qimir separates his saber into two pieces — a short and a long sword — and sends them boomeranging around the yard. Sol leaps and kick and dodges acrobatically. The fight choreographers earned their pay this week.
And Osha and Mae are going at it as well. Mae is still trying to tell her that the Jedi lied to her. Osha is still mad that Mae set the fire that killed everyone, and Osha has had to accept that someone she loves can do something so evil. Both sisters have a point, but last week we saw that Mae started the fire by burning Osha’s book, but it quickly got out of hand. And we have also seen her kill two Jedi. So, perhaps Osha’s grievances are a little more valid here? As they fight, they see the ships from the Jedi Council pass overhead. With the distraction, Mae slips away, and Osha chases after her.
In the courtyard, Sol has subdued Qimir, destroying his lightsaber. He approaches for the kill, only to be attacked by Mae. She manages to wrestle his lightsaber away and toss it across the courtyard. Qimir encourages her to strike Sol down, but Mae doesn’t. She wants him to confess what he did on Brendok. Confess it to the Jedi Council, to the Senate, to everyone what he did to her and her sister. Sol responds that they aren’t sisters or twins. They are the same person. The vergence on Brendok did something to make them identically when their mother used the Force to create them. Their mother must have been very powerful to do that.
To which Mae responds, “and you killed her.” And Sol finally admits what he has been bottling up inside for the whole series. Yes, he did.
It’s at that point that Osha steps into the clearing, holding Sol’s lightsaber. Sol tries to explain himself, but starts to gasp as he gets Force choked. Mae and Qimir exchange glances. They aren’t doing it.
It’s Osha.
Osha, filled with quiet rage, tells Sol to stop talking, crushing his throat as she does, until he dies. Osha has completed Qimir’s requirement: kill a Jedi without using a weapon. She then ignites the lightsaber, and in an incredibly cool sequence, the kyber crystal that powers the blade gets corrupted by the Dark Side. The blade crackles and turns from blue to red.
Osha’s journey is now complete
As the Jedi ship lands, Master Vernestra senses something in the Force, and utters a surprised, “You! You’re alive.” Qimir jams his helmet back on to block her. So they know each other? Is Qimir a former Jedi apprentice? That would explain a lot about where he got his start, and also his enmity towards them.
Osha and Mae flee the compound before the Jedi can arrive. Vernestra finds Sol’s body on the ground, and kneels beside him. Qimir finds the sisters at their favorite tree. Osha tells him that she will train with him, if she lets her sister go. He agrees, but first he has to wipe Mae’s mind of all memories of him and Osha so she can’t follow them or lead the Jedi to them. Which… what? That doesn’t make any sense. Why couldn’t they all go back together? Shouldn’t Mae get a say in this? If she doesn’t want to go with them, then why not just take her to a remote outpost somewhere? It’s sadly typical of how this show treats Mae’s character. One week, she’s a fearsome bad ass who can take down a Jedi Master. The next, she wants to turn herself in. Next week, she wants to find her sister, and then she wants to kill her. Mae’s waffling is probably my biggest complaint with this show. First she wants Sol dead, then she’d rather have him go on trial.
By contrast, Osha’s arc makes perfect sense. She was dazzled by the Jedi and wanted to go to the stars, but her anger at her sister’s actions caused her to fail. She was defensive and protective of her friend and mentor Sol, but then was betrayed when she found out he had lied to her to protect her. She had done everything to keep her emotions in check, but being overwhelmed by her sister’s reappearance and Sol’s lies, her Dark Side took over. Her arc works so much better than Mae’s. Mae really gets the short end here.
The season ends with Master Vernestra telling the childlike Mae what happened. They found her with no memory, so she tells her the story. It’s intercut with her telling the same story to the Senate, and it is also not the truth. She throws Sol under the bus, blaming him for all the deaths, calling him a rogue Jedi. He wanted to save Osha from the witches, and that led to him destroying the coven, and then killing all his accomplices to cover his tracks. She blames Sol for getting obsessed with Osha and everything spiraling out from there. She makes no mention of Qimir or the vergence or the Sith. The Senate is going to launch a full investigation into the cover up.
In the final scene, Vernestra goes to see another Jedi Master for advice on how to deal with her former apprentice, who has turned to evil. The camera tilts down to show the back of a familiar, green Jedi Master. (And if you refer to him as Old Yoda, we are going to have words.)
So, like much of this season, there were some spectacular highs (Action! Music! Lightsabers!) and some head scratching lows (Seriously, WTF Bazil? And memory wipe, why?). Which seems to be all too common with the last few Star Wars shows. And much like another Star franchise that I recapped with Mary Fan, the lows are extra frustrating because there are glimpses of the show that this could have been.
There’s so much good stuff in here. There’s the look at the Jedi as an analogue to the Catholic Church, covering up misdeeds, and those cover-ups leading to the rise of the Sith. There’s a coven of lesbian space witches, using the Force in an “unauthorized” way. There’s the classic Star Wars trope of revenge literally corrupting you. The framework is there! It’s just… not quite connecting for me. The characters aren’t landing. The dialogue isn’t as sharp as I’d like it to be. The pacing is off. And if they could just fix that, this could be great.
Finally, before we leave, I’d like to say a few words about some of the “fan” reaction to The Acolyte. If you spend any time online at all, I’m sure you’ve seen the vitriol expressed about this show. More than one bearded YouTuber has shouted their opinion that this is the WORST STAR WARS EVAH and more proof that Kathleen Kennedy hates the fan base and everything is WOKE and… wow, those people are exhausting.
If you honestly believe that this was the worst Star Wars media ever, I’m sorry, you are wrong. You are simply telling me you are twelve years old and have not experienced the full breadth of what this franchise can offer. The Acolyte has its ups and downs, but it has some interesting ideas, even if it can fumble on the execution. Is some of the acting a tad stiff? Is some of the plotting questionable? Sure! Welcome to the wonderful world of Star Wars. The same people complaining about the acting here were probably on chat boards in 1999 making fun of a child actor by calling him “Mannequin Skywalker.”
Now, no one is forcing you to like a show. There are approximately a thousand other Star Wars shows, movies, books and comics for you to enjoy. Goodness knows, I’ve spent thousands of words over the last seven weeks expressing what I think doesn’t quite work about The Acolyte. But if your reason for hating on the show and review bombing it boils down to WOKE!!!1!! because a Black lady has a lightsaber and the lead is Korean, then fuck right off. I’m not going to attempt to have a good faith discussion with you.
So if we do get the second season that the finale hints at, I certainly hope they give us the time to explore what was interesting here. Will the Senate investigate the Jedi cover ups? Are there more vergences or covens out there, and have there been more “incidents” like the one on Brendok? Will Osha and Qimir bond during training? Will the shadowy figure in the cave turn out to be Darth Plagueis? And will Yoda help fix everything? And what of Mae?
There is certainly ground to be covered and more story to be told. Here’s hoping that Disney and Star Wars ignore the vlogging loudmouths and concentrate on fixing the issues that made The Acolyte less than it could have been.
Episode and Season Rating: 3.5 out of 5
