If we both hold the lightsaber, that means we’re dating, right?
Recap
Osha has Qimir’s helmet on and begins to affect the environment around her. Qimir is almost overtaken by her, but gets the helmet off her in time. She tells him that she saw Mae about to kill Sol, but that the future wasn’t certain yet. Qimir is pleased at the idea that Mae has finally learned how to kill without needing a weapon and wants to go find her. Osha points out that she’s the only one who knows where they’ll be, so he agrees they’ll go together. From the shadows of the island, a Muun figure watches them depart.
Mae asks Sol why he hid the truth from Osha all those years and he insists it was because he was trying to protect her, and that he can now prove to the council what Mae and Osha are. He has brought them to Brendok and reactivated their beacon to bring the Jedi to them. Mae manages to free herself, and gets into the ship’s starfighter to escape. In the ensuing fight, Mae crashes on Brendok, and Sol touches down nearby.
On Coruscant, Venestra is informed that Senator Rayencourt (David Harewood) has come to see her; he has found out about her investigation and is angered that the Jedi didn’t disclose it to the Senate. Venestra insists it is an internal matter, but he is adamant that he will use this to prompt the external investigation of the Jedi that he’s been pushing for, considering them religious zealots with unimaginable power. Venestra learns that Sol’s beacon has been reactivated on Brendok and asks for every available knight to join her.
Sol goes into the coven’s home looking for Mae. He comes across Qimir first; the two begin to duel. Osha finds Mae in her old room and tells her sister that she could never forgive her for killing their family, and that’s why she could never become a Jedi. Mae insists that Sol killed their mother, but Osha won’t believe her and the two begin fighting. Mae escapes and comes upon the fight between Qimir and Sol… which Qimir is losing. Mae takes Sol’s lightsaber and tosses it away. Qimir tells her to take her revenge. Mae refuses; she wants Sol to confess what he’s done to the Council and the Senate and pay. Sol insists that he was right to do what he did because Mae and Osha are not sisters; they are one person split in two, made from a vergence in the Force.
Osha finds Sol’s lightsaber and picks it up right as Mae gets Sol to admit that he did kill their mother. Osha is furious and demands to know why he lied to her. Sol tries to apologize, but it’s too late; Osha Force-chokes him to death. The kyber crystal in Sol’s lightsaber corrupts and turns red. Mae tells them she knows a way out; the Jedi have arrived. They escape the facility and head back to the tree Osha and Mae used to go to as children. Osha wants to go with Qimir and train, but Mae decides to stay behind, though she worries that Jedi will use her to find them. Qimir promises that he can erase her memories of them, which she agrees to. The Jedi come upon Mae and find that she can’t remember anything since she was eight, when the fire occurred.
Venestra tells the Senate that Sol is the one who committed these recent murders, unable to handle his guilt about what he’d done on Brendok years ago. (She knows this isn’t true; she know Qimir was on Brendok too because he was her former pupil.) Despite her efforts, Senator Rayencourt demands the investigation of the Jedi. Venestra tells Mae that she’s sorry for what’s happened to her, and that the Jedi failed her. She wants Mae’s help locating her sister and Qimir. Osha and Qimir stand together on their island, ready to begin their new future as master and apprentice.
Commentary
This is by far the most beautifully filmed episode of the bunch. Gorgeous framing, color saturation, angles and tableaus, and nothing about this episode deteriorates into the usual muddiness common to action-based finales of late. The fights are immaculate and doing the work of so much storytelling without needing a word. All of these aspects have been the show’s strongest point from the first episode, and showcase the influence of Kurosawa on Star Wars in every frame. If nothing else, the series gave us this.
The reveal around Osha and Mae being the same person is something of a let down because, as with most things on this show, it’s barely explained and only leaves more questions in its wake. For my part, it took the bite out of the swap in positions between the twins (which I was expecting and even looking forward to) because if they’re basically one person, what difference does it make if they wind up switching places? We’ve basically arrived at two aspects of one being finding their truer alignments, and standing in as a visual representation of individual duality… which is almost cool. I want to like it. I want to spend enough time with these characters to enjoy what they’re doing.
Sol’s death is the obvious place for this segment of the story to end, but again, what an incredible waste of this cast. And yet again, the rationale for his actions are never explained. He keeps acting as if it’s really important that Osha and Mae know they’re one person, that they’re made from this vergence in the Force (and that he needed them both alive to… prove this to the Council? Huh?), and that’s why he feared for their safety. None of it stacks. Neither does the idea that the entire coven died because there was a fire and the doors were locked—the facility is open to the air? The fire doesn’t appear to have touched the area where they were found? There is no evidence of any bodies sixteen years on? What a mess.
Also, the actions of Bazil throughout the finale made no sense whatsoever. It was impossible to understand whose side he was on, or why he was acting in favor of one party or another; he just showed up when the plot needed a small wrench to alter the flow of things. And I can’t understand why a rebooted PIP would even know what Mae wanted in terms of undoing her cuffs. Maybe she somehow pressed a button that gave a command (same with the eletrocution), but why would that tiny droid have a button that undoes binders?
All of the dark side transitions are great, and it was enjoyable from a lore perspective to see the corruption of a kyber crystal on screen for the first time. Of course, it would have been even more enjoyable to really dwell in those moments, and to appreciate the shift in Osha’s personality. Everything they’re doing with Osha and Qimir is where the center of the show should have resided—it’s by far the most dynamic and engaging relationship in the series—but there’s simply not enough time with the amount of episodes (and their short run times) to enjoy it. They might course-correct if they’re given a second season, but the way the story was split in this season doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence.
It seems as though we’re supposed to infer that Qimir’s sensory-blocking helmet is a direct response to having Venestra as a master, because this episode shows her being extremely adept at sensing both people and the past. (Kind of a big deal, but I digress.) Which is a thing they could have seeded well ahead of time; we got a sense of that vaguely when she was on Khofar, but the ability seems far more specific in the final episode. (Again, kind of a big deal. Could’ve used one single line of explanation.)
But the most confusing piece of the episode is leaving Mae to the Jedi. Is the point that Qimir’s ship can’t fit another person? Because… you need to say so. And even if that’s the case, Sol’s ship is nearby; they could just take it. Then they could’ve dropped Mae off elsewhere if she wasn’t interested in training, or brought her along to hang out. Leaving her mind-wiped for the Jedi to find saddles the finale with clunky hand-of-the-plot mechanics, and brings the final minutes of the episode down just when we were getting somewhere.
Perhaps we’ll get another season of The Acolyte. If so, I hope they’ll give the team involved more episodes and longer runtimes to really dig into what they’ve created. The dynamic between Qimir and Osha is completely unlike one we’ve seen between Sith, and it deserves more screen time. It used to be more common for television shows to really pick up in their second or third seasons, so we can hope—but for now, we’re off to a wobbly start.
Spanners and Sabers
- Ugh, yes, the guy spying on Qimir and Osha is none other than Darth Plagueis. Of “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise” fame, the very same guy who taught Emperor Palpatine how to use the midichlorians to create life, thereby resulting in the birth of Anakin Skywalker. Because everything has to be connected and two different Force-users couldn’t possibly figure out how to use Force vergences to make people separately. He better just be a random spy or guy living on that planet, because if he’s been training Qimir this whole time, I’ll be extra annoyed.
- Loved the soundtrack in plenty of places throughout the series, but especially in this episode.
- Still can’t believe they didn’t use all the weird red dust on the ground for anything other than vibes. Bad! Bad visual telegraphing! Using that effect for vibes alone was so ham-fisted, I’ll be bugged about it forever.
- Why do people keep Batman-ing in this episode? It’s not as cool as they seem to think it is.
- I need them to stop using the exact same lines for Jedi/Sith dogma purposes: It’s so cheesy to hear Palpatine/Vader/Yoda lines being used by different characters because it never feels like actual doctrine so much as writers having no creativity. Real people paraphrase! Let your characters do the same.
- There’s a joke somewhere about holding hands with your new master around the lightsaber of your old master who you’ve struck down with all of your hatred…
- They said they wouldn’t show us Yoda! You don’t get points for waiting until the tag scene—stick to your guns and keep him out of it. Either way, it’s silly: He’s either going to be a featured character if they get a second season (no thank you), or they just did that to make us gasp (no thank you!). We deserve better than this.
And that’s the end! (For now?) Perhaps we will meet again, on a new season’s shore.
