The first season of The Acolyte has come to an end, with the season finale, ironically titled simply “The Acolyte”, airing this week.
It’s another action-packed episode with some very emotional moments and some very exciting teases – with a couple of thrilling cameos – that wraps up the season nicely. Let’s dive into the review for the episode, and as always, full spoilers are ahead!
The episode begins where the fifth one left off, with Osha wearing the Stranger’s mask, and she immediately goes full on dark side, using the same power that Mother Aniseya had used to take control of the Stranger’s mind. Qimir is able to resist it just enough to pull the mask off of Osha, and both of them look rather frightened by what just happened. Osha says that she saw a vision of Mae killing Sol, which Qimir calls the future, and the two of them head off to find them. Qimir is going, it seems, to kill Mae, while Osha is going, it seems, to save Sol, but they have to work together to find them: Osha knows the way, while Qimir has the ship. I like that they’re sort of forced to team up even though they’re not aligned, which Osha makes clear to Qimir. We can all see the foreshadowing that’s coming, but Osha isn’t immediately interested in the Stranger’s proposal like Mae was.
As they leave the planet, a mysterious figure lurks in a cave, watching their ship fly away. And though it’s not outright confirmed, the Muun silhouette is obvious: it’s Darth Plagueis, in the shadows. I love that easter egg, and I was hoping that we’d get something like it in this finale. Plagueis, of course, will go on to be the master of Darth Sidious (a.k.a. Sheev Palpatine), the one who learned the secret to immortality – or so Palpatine tells Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith. What isn’t clear is whether the Stranger is Plagueis’s apprentice, but I think it’s a reasonable assumption to think that Plagueis is watching either his current apprentice or prospective apprentice. The Sith are always looking to recruit new and stronger apprentices while preserving their own power, and I think that’s probably the case here.
I also think it’s potentially noteworthy that Plagueis is watching Osha, who was created by her mother using the Force, essentially. We finally do learn in this episode the truth about her creation, as Mother Aniseya created one life that was split into two consciousnesses. This was the reason why Sol didn’t disclose all the details to the Jedi Order, and honestly, that kind of makes sense: if the Jedi found out about this mysterious creation, presumably through some dark magic, it probably wouldn’t have turned out well for Osha. I love that this series makes Sol’s decisions seem logical in the moment, while also being wrong in hindsight. Anyway, back to Plagueis, at this point in the timeline he’s likely beginning his preoccupation with finding a pathway to immortality, which Sidious will eventually help him discover. But given Osha’s creation, and Plagueis’s lurking in the shadows watching her, perhaps he’ll learn some secrets for his quest from the girl. There are some really intriguing threads that could be picked up on if this show gets a second season.
Jumping to the Jedi, Sol plans to wait for the Order above Brendok, planning to reveal everything to the Jedi Council. But he also strategically went to Brendok to vindicate himself to the Order by proving that there is a vergence on the planet, and that this vergence is what led to the creation of Osha and Mae. But Mae escapes, stealing a ship, and Sol pursues her through the ring orbiting the planet. It’s a really cool scene visually, and the look of the chase is just awesome and fresh. But it’s a bit of a forced way to get them down to the planet, especially when Bazil pulls the power on Sol’s ship. There’s absolutely no explanation to this in the episode, which was just so weird. Actually, come to think of it, most of Bazil’s scenes in the series, while humorous and cute, were strange and confusing. Why did he cut the power to the ship here? I have no clue. Maybe it’s because Sol was about to shoot down Mae? But then again, would Sol really shoot her down when he wanted her alive? Star Wars as a franchise is great at visual storytelling, but this scene left a ton to be desired. It didn’t make a ton of sense, aside from the need to get Sol and Mae down to the planet.
It’s on Brendok, the place where it all started sixteen years earlier, that the action really escalates. Sol, Mae, Osha, and Qimir are all on the planet infiltrating the old witches’ fortress, and Qimir confronts Sol, thanking him for bringing Mae to them. What follows is an epic lightsaber duel between Jedi and Sith, and one again the choreography of the series really shines. I love the mixture of lightsabers, martial arts, and Force skills that are all used throughout the fight, and it gives Sol one last defining moment as a heroic Jedi. The Stranger’s attacks are quick and fierce, but Sol is in command, using the Force and lightsaber to counter them, and he emerges victorious despite the Stranger’s intensity and taunting. I loved the fight sequence, and this show has given us some epic lightsaber duels that echo the energy of the prequels. Though there are some story beats that could have resonated better throughout the season, I think the lightsaber combat has been one of the very strongest things about the series.
Sol destroys Qimir’s lightsaber, but Mae then arrives and disarms Sol. She no longer wants to kill him, however: she wants him to confess his crimes to Osha, to the Jedi Council, to the Senate – to everyone. She wants him to pay for what he did. Sol tries to explain himself, saying that he was protecting the girls, because Mother Aniseya’s power to create life through the Force is something few have achieved. Realizing that Osha has come within earshot, Mae gets Sol to confess to killing their mother. Sol, blindsided by Osha listening in, tries to explain himself, but Osha begins to Force choke him while holding Sol’s lightsaber. Osha continues to choke Sol as the life slowly drains from him, and he uses his final breaths to assure Osha it’s ok. It turns out this is what the series had in mind when the Stranger ordered Mae to kill a Jedi without a weapon. I expected it would be something more significant than the Force choke, but it fits. And it cements Osha’s descent to darkness, killing her former Master.
With Sol dead, Osha ignites the lightsaber to discover that she has bled the crystal red. This is the first time we’ve seen the concept in live-action, but it’s appeared in the comics and in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. There is actually no such thing as a naturally red kyber crystal (the crystal that powers a lightsaber and gives it the color), but when someone pours their rage into a crystal, channeling all their fear, anger, hate, and suffering into it, they can bleed the crystal, turning it red. Darth Vader and Ben Solo both did it in comics, and Dagan Gera did it in Survivor. The visual of the crystal slowly turning red while Osha chokes Sol, and then the red overtaking the blue blade as she ignited it, was super cool. It’s a way of actually seeing visually Osha being cemented in darkness.
As the Jedi approach (more on that in a moment), Osha and Mae flee and meet up at the tree (could that place be the vergence), sharing a touching moment together. It’s interrupted by the Stranger, however, and it’s implied that he’s there to make sure Mae doesn’t leave. But Osha comes up with an alternative: Osha will leave with the Stranger and train as his apprentice if he lets Mae go. Qimir agrees to do so, after he wipes Mae’s memory. I think this scene is important for a couples of reasons. First, because it helps tie up threads of who knows the Sith are still around. But second, because it’s actually a tender moment from someone fully embracing the dark side. This series ends with the Sith ‘victorious’, in a sense, but the Sith also are more humanized. Osha comes up with a plan that keeps Mae alive. Qimir doesn’t just ruthlessly kill Mae, but lets her leave. And even though I’m not sure the series really did a convincing enough job of really making us care for Osha and Mae (I’ll save that for the series review), I’ll admit that the moment of them embracing while Mae slowly lost her memories was heart-wrenching.
That leaves Mae to be found by the Jedi, who had arrived on the planet to put an end to this current adventure. The group is led by Vernestra Rwoh, who senses a familiar presence when she arrives on the planet: Qimir, her former pupil. We suspected that was the case when Qimir talked about the wounds his former master gave him, and how they resembled wounds from a light-whip, but it’s nice to get that confirmed. And it seems that Qimir was quite terrified to sense the presence of Vernestra, putting on his mask to hide from her. If there’s a second season of the show, it seems that it will shift to a different master/apprentice relationship. If this season was driven by Sol and Osha, I suspect the second season will be driven by Vernestra and Qimir.
Vernestra in this episode pulls a Sol and covers everything up, and in doing so, she throws Sol under the bus. She informs the Senate and Chancellor Drellic that Sol, a compassionate and kind Jedi, made a terrible mistake and tried to cover it up. When the truth threatened to come to light, Sol went rogue and killed the other Jedi before taking his own life on Brendok. In blaming Sol, Vernestra covers up her own discovery about Qimir, and her failures with him, but also keeps the Senate off of her back about the events. But it’s a tragic ending for a character that we have come to care about (while Osha and Mae didn’t exactly click for me, Sol very much did). It’s a tragic tale because Sol did make a very bad mistake, and then chose to cover it up – even if for noble reasons. But I think the series nonetheless portrayed him as a genuinely kind and caring Jedi; even his mistakes were driven by him trying to protect Osha and Mae. He’s in no ways the villain of the show, and I’m glad that Leslye Headland managed to tell a tale of the Sith’s ‘victory’ and the Jedi’s mistakes without turning the Jedi into the outright bad guys. Instead, she showed us that even a kind, compassionate man like Sol was capable of a grave mistake, and that trying to cover up a mistake like that only compounds the mistake and makes it bigger.
In that, we clearly see some foreshadowing to where the Jedi will wind up by the time of the prequel trilogy. They are still very much the good guys, but even the heroes, with noble intentions, are capable of mistakes. And that’s especially true when the Senate is casting a more watchful eye. Early in this episode, Vernestra speaks with Senator Rayencourt, who’s pushing the Senate for an external review of the Jedi Order. This scene was absolutely terrific. Rayencourt’s argument is this: “I think the Jedi are a massive system of unchecked power, posing as a religion. A delusional cult that claims to control the uncontrollable.” When Vernestra thinks he means the Force, he clarifies: “Not the Force. Your emotions. You project an image of goodness, of restraint. But it’s only a matter of time before one of you snaps, and when, not if, that happens, who will be strong enough to stop him?” Anakin Skywalker, anyone?
Rayencourt sees the Jedi as too powerful, and he’s threatened by their unchecked power without Senate oversight. And, remember, the issue with the witches was that the Jedi saw them as too powerful to be wielding the Force on their own. Mother Aniseya said earlier in the series that “this is about power, and who is allowed to wield it.” The Jedi have a lot of power, and for someone like Rayencourt, that’s dangerous. We, of course, know that the Jedi are the good guys and therefore can be (mostly) trusted with this power, but even the Jedi – as this series shows – are capable of serious mistakes. As Vernestra pins all the deaths on Sol, we’re left to think of Rayencourt’s accusation ringing truer and truer. It’s also pointing us toward the prequel trilogy, where the Jedi will be too embroiled in galactic politics. I like that this series is showing us how the Jedi begin to lose their way not by becoming villains, but by their mistakes and secrecy leading to more Senate oversight and more governmental affairs. And it will be then that Palpatine tells Anakin: “All who gain power are afraid to lose it. Even the Jedi.”
After her meeting with the Chancellor and Senators, Vernestra speaks with Mae. The Jedi has compassion on the now-forgetful woman, and Vernestra asks Mae to help her find someone: her former pupil, Qimir. This leads to Vernestra going to meet with Master Yoda, telling him that they need to talk. And that’s the way the season ends. It ties up the threads nicely enough that it can stand alone without another season, but I’m hoping it gets renewed. Seeing Vernestra’s quest to hunt down Qimir, seeing the teases of Yoda and Plagueis potentially being bigger players, and seeing the (apparently now turning romantic?) relationship of Qimir and Osha, there are a lot of avenues for this show to continue to go. While not every thread was as neatly tied up by the end, I felt the finale nonetheless did a good job at sticking the landing. I thought it was one of the strongest episodes (it’s either this one or chapter five that was the best, in my opinion), with a good mixture of action, intrigue, and heart. In the end, it tied up enough of the story for this season while giving clear teases for more to come.
Star Wars Thoughts 