The Acolyte is back with the third episode of the series, a flashback that explores a key moment from the past.
The episode, titled “Destiny”, follows the twins – Osha and Mae – as kids, and in the process explores some important beats established in the first two episodes, even if in an unstable way. Let’s dive in to the review of this episode, with full spoilers ahead!
This episode entirely takes place via flashback, set on Brendok sixteen years prior to the events of the previous two episodes. That itself is an interesting decision, and I wonder if it could have been better to release this alongside the fourth episode (as another two episode release) to keep the story moving along. It feels a bit jarring to devote an entire episode to a flashback, even though it’s very important to the story (more on that in a moment). I get the impression that this show is going to be best viewed in its entirety, and that perhaps binge-watching it will make the story all a bit more coherent. That could help with the jarring endings of the first two episodes, as well as helping this feel one feel more connected. As it is, though, I do think it was a more straightforward, self-contained story than the first two episodes.
It focused around the pivotal events that were referenced earlier: the fateful fire and encounter with the Jedi. We see Osha and Mae, as kids, using the Force (though their coven of witches don’t call it that). Their mothers are leaders of the coven, and they don’t see eye-to-eye on what kind of freedom to give the kids. The twins are going to be empowered in a ceremony known as the Ascension, but while Mae wants it, Osha doesn’t. This leads to tension between the girls, as Mae can’t seem to get her mind around the fact that her sister doesn’t share the exact same hopes and dreams. Meanwhile, the Jedi are on the planet investigating, and they interrupt the witches’ ceremony. The four Jedi on Mae’s kill list – Sol, Indara, Kelnacca, and Torbin – walk in, claiming that the Republic doesn’t allow groups to take or train kids. Which, of course, is more than ironic since that’s exactly what the Jedi do.
The whole episode paints the Jedi in a complicated light. On the one hand, we don’t see them doing anything wrong at all. Sure, we could say they shouldn’t have invaded the witches’ ceremony, but then again, it seems these witches have some connection to dark magic. So shouldn’t the Jedi at least check it out? Or the witches telling Osha to lie, while Sol convinces her to tell the truth – point, Jedi. Or when it comes to taking Osha, the Jedi don’t just arrive and kidnap her; Sol makes it very clear that it’s her choice. The witches, it could be said, are the ones trying to limit Osha’s choices just as much as the Jedi are, just from a different point of view. So this episode doesn’t show us the Jedi as the villains. However, it does raise the same point that the witches claim: why should the Jedi be the only ones allowed to wield this power? That question ties very well into the rising hubris of the Jedi Order that eventually sets them up for a downfall. Yet there’s really nothing in this episode to convince us that this group of witches – given all their mysterious background and dark magic – should be allowed to freely practice whatever they want. That’s one way in which I felt this episode didn’t really stick the landing.
And really, that was my thought at many points. It was a good episode, and a fine story self-contained within this episode. But it lacked any grand fight scenes, and was thus entirely story-driven. Which is fine, if the writing and execution was better (the Ascension ceremony, while meant to feel special and spiritual, felt cheesy instead). Some of the very best Star Wars comes with plot-driven stories more than action-driven ones, though, but I think it’s fair to wonder where all this story led us. We already knew that there was a fire that killed the coven and that separated Mae and Osha, so now we’ve just seen it. And in seeing it, it lacked any of the nuance that we suspected it would have with Mae, instead just portraying her as a straight-up murderer (whatever else may have happened, she outright tells Osha she’s going to kill her). To devote a whole episode to a flashback, you’d expect it to give us some seriously significant answers and clues. But, admittedly without seeing what follows, what did we learn? We are left with more questions than answers, because nothing we saw explains how the witches died, nor why Torbin would kill himself for his actions. Which means there’s surely more to the story that we’ll learn later. These witches very likely didn’t die from the fire. Why is Kelnacca not on the ship with the other three Jedi afterward? Does Torbin have scars on his face in the aftermath? How did a small fire take down the entire mountain? I trust the answers in time will be worthwhile, but it’s slightly frustrating to have a whole flashback episode devoted to a crucial plot point from earlier that only adds questions, not answers them.
Remember what I said about how this series will probably be better on binge-watch?
One last thing that should be discussed from the episode is the origin of Osha and Mae. Early reviewers claimed that this episode would have a very divisive moment that changes the whole Star Wars galaxy, and, well, that was a real exaggeration. But that doesn’t mean it was a great plot point either. One of the big revelations we got was that Osha and Mae were created by Aniseya and carried by Koril, and it’s heavily implied that dark magic was used in this (one of the characters asks how the Jedi will respond if they learn how Osha and Mae were created). I personally find the “created by the Force or dark magic” idea dumb, and thought the same when it was true of Anakin. I just don’t like it. But that’s the choice they made, and while it seems the Jedi aren’t aware of it, it would be interesting if they learned of it and wondered if Osha was the Chosen One (since the prophecy refers to being born of no father). I think it could be even more interesting, though, if this dark knowledge plays into the dark knowledge of Darth Plagueis in manipulating the midichlorians to create life, though it’s not really clear whether that’s what Aniseya did. Basically, what it tells us now is that these twins are special, and of mysterious, spiritual origins. But we probably could have already deduced that.
In short, I found this to be an enjoyable enough episode, but lacking in execution and answers like we’d expect from an episode entirely devoted to going back to the crucial event from these kids’ past. I’m guessing we’ll re-visit it again later and learn the fuller picture, but for now, it feels enjoyable but incomplete.
Star Wars Thoughts 