I don’t know if I was surprised or disappointed by episode 3 of The Acolyte being a full backstory. Part of me thought the show would draw out the mystery of Osha and Mae’s past far longer. But given how much is still left unknown, this episode made sense in the story order. We have some answers, but not all of them.
Episode 3 opens with young Osha and Mae living on Brendok with their coven. Their family uses the Force uniquely, calling it “the Thread” and claiming that the Jedi call their abilities dark. However, when four Jedi arrive on Brendok to test the girls, both of their futures are thrown into jeopardy.
There’s a lot to discuss about this episode, but most of it is about what didn’t happen. So much goes on behind the scenes, leaving desires and family dynamics feeling unfinished.
Does anyone in this family…
The crux of this episode was made clear from the start – it’s about the twins. Both Mae and Osha are Force-sensitive, but from the first shot we can tell that Mae is more dark-side leaning than Osha. The “Ascension” is an upcoming ceremony where the girls will become witches, but Osha is more reticent about this event than Mae. Mae is shown to love her life and purpose, whereas Osha longs to explore and leave Brendok.
While this division makes sense, it’s delivered in such frustratingly explicit dialogue. Both Osha and Mae openly talk about what they want without clarifying why that is. And the sticky wicket of it all – I don’t think these kids even like each other. They’re arguing in their very first scene, and their wants pull them in drastically different directions. Their little sister chant in the forest is the only time we see them acting positively towards each other. Otherwise, they’re fighting or arguing or yelling at each other. I get it – they’re kids, and kids act out. But from a storytelling perspective, there’s nothing to show the audience that these two have an actual bond beyond their shared blood.
It’s strange how uneven their dynamic is. Mae clearly cares for Osha, even if it’s a destructive sort of love. She wants Osha to stay with her forever. But Osha doesn’t seem to feel the same way about Mae at all. She’s willing to leave Mae forever for the chance to follow her passion.
(Side note: this episode makes Osha’s line in the last episode about how she hates Mae because Mae “destroyed her life” make less sense. I get that she thinks Mae killed their family, but clearly this way of life wasn’t calling to Osha. She got to go off and be a Jedi, after all. Did her trauma with Mae lead to her eventually walking away from the Jedi, causing her to blame Mae for everything she lost?)
…really get along?
I was looking forward to seeing the twins’ mothers, but they were also just… odd. The two girls are the only children in their coven – which is strange enough – but a line from Koril halfway through seems to imply that something dark was involved in their creation, as they want to hide the truth from the Jedi. Koril says she carried the babies, but Aniseya says she “created” them. So it seems like the women used an aspect of their “Thread” magic to biologically form two daughters between them. They’re not Force babies, like Anakin, as I originally thought.
(I have a theory about this that I’ll bring up later. Tuck this paragraph away.)
But aside from the mystery of their birth, the twins’ parents are both handled strangely. Koril, who we learn gave birth to the girls, acts strictly with them. She is very stern, in contrast with Aniseya, and pushes their daughters to be as strong as they can. She rebels fiercely against the possibility of Osha leaving with the Jedi, and when Osha says goodbye to Aniseya she never does the same with Koril. From the looks of things, Koril is just as much their mother as Aniseya, so why do both Mae and Osha seem to treat Aniseya as their sole parent? At the episode’s end, when the coven is killed, it’s only Aniseya’s death that Osha mourns.
However, Aniseya isn’t a perfect character either. Koril, if harsh, is consistent. Aniseya, on the other hand, fluctuates between being protective and accepting with Osha. At first, when Osha says she might not want to be a witch, Aniseya tells her that she is young and will grow to want this. When the Jedi come for Osha, Aniseya tries to hide her. But when Osha finally admits her true wants, Aniseya accepts this decision and seemingly agrees to let her daughter go. While this shift could be seen as character development, it just felt conflicting.
Develop a healthy dynamic challenge (impossible)
Onto the next part of this episode: the Jedi. From the beginning, we know that the Jedi are secretly watching Osha and Mae, and that the coven is aware of this. I still can’t figure out how the Jedi even knew the girls existed – if the coven was trying so hard to hide them, what happened to drive the Jedi to the point of sending out four knights to test them?
Anyhow. The Jedi arrive and ask to train the girls. Osha is more open to this than Mae, who doesn’t want to participate. There are tensions between the witches and the Jedi, but Osha is entranced by the possibility of travel and adventure – and more kids to befriend.
When the test comes, Osha agrees to fail it at Mae’s insistence. This felt out of character to me – firstly because this is something Osha clearly wants very badly. And secondly, given that we haven’t seen any positive interactions between the twins, why is Osha willing to sacrifice this chance at escape just because Mae asked her?
The test takes place, and Osha tries to fail it, but Sol tricks her into revealing the truth. This sparks a subsequent argument between Osha and Mae, with Mae furious that Osha would lie to her and try to leave. In the end, Osha’s determination to become a Jedi leads Mae to try and kill her in an attempt to keep her sister with her forever.
(This leads into the same theory I mentioned earlier. Hold onto this paragraph, too.)
Osha escapes, running through the burning temple and finding Mae along the way. Mae tells Osha that Aniseya is dead, and Mae seemingly dies before Osha is saved by Sol. On the Jedi’s ship, when Osha regains consciousness, Sol tells her that Mae burned down the entire temple and killed everyone. He then tells Osha he will train her as his Padawan if she so chooses.
So, with episode 3 completed, there’s still a great deal unanswered. What did the twins’ mothers do to create their children? Is there a reason behind Mae’s darkness? What happened to Mae before Osha found her? What happened to Mae after that? And what did these Jedi do that they “thought was right?”
I have some theories. Let’s discuss them.
Don’t quote me on this part
Before this episode, my belief was that Osha and Mae were a Force dyad. Osha was light-side leaning, and Mae was dark-side leaning. In this episode, nothing is proved – but it’s not disproved either.
Yeah, I’m staying with this one. I think that the girls’ mothers pulled into the “dark side” of the Force (or whatever they call it) to create life between them. In doing so, they ended up creating two children who held the potential for either side of the Force. Osha’s light-side nature led her to crave exploration and Jedi-hood, but Mae’s dark side made her love for her sister a destructive one, resulting in someone who would rather kill than be left behind.
And the next part of this theory is that the Jedi were aware of this. They knew where each girl’s abilities lay, and they were hesitant to test Mae. Maybe they discussed doing something about her, which Sol refused, so the other three made their choices. When Sol was searching for Osha, the rest of the Jedi were hunting down Mae. They tried to subdue (maybe kill) her but ended up killing Aniseya in the process. When Mae escaped the temple alone, she eventually found a dark side user who was willing to train her and help her achieve revenge.
Out of the four Jedi on Brendok, only Sol seems not to have exiled himself. With the implication that the other three did something terrible which they regret, it’s clear that what happened to Mae wasn’t pretty.
But Mae isn’t an innocent victim here, no matter what took place. She still tried to kill Osha and started the fire that ravaged the temple. Even once we figure out the truth of her past, it won’t be able to explain away all of her actions. It honestly doesn’t look like she’ll get a redemption arc, even though that’s a SW favorite. Not only has Mae shown explicit, unapologetic dark-side leanings, but her and Osha’s relationship was already incredibly fraught. If Osha didn’t even like her sister back then, what’s going to make her change her tune and want to save her now?
I still want to know everything that happened and how Mae found her new master – and what exactly an “acolyte” is. But it’s frustrating that what could’ve been a deep, emotional backstory was filled with painfully on-the-nose dialogue and unconvincing motivations. Without a connection between the twins, even the most basic requirement of this episode failed. If The Acolyte is actually heading in the direction of Mae a pure villain, though, without redemption in sight, then maybe this could work.
Despite all of my complaints and confusions, though, one part of this episode worked beautifully. The ending scene was unexpectedly tragic and a lovely parallel. At the beginning of this episode, Mae finds Osha sitting under the bunta tree and tells her that she always knows to look here for her. At the end, there’s a brief shot of Mae approaching that same tree and hesitantly calling for her sister, before looking scared for the first time all episode.
This was exactly what I wanted – painful, emotional scenes with heartbreaking parallels. The subtlety is there, too, with surprising care. I’d hoped the whole episode would be this strong, but I’ll take whatever little we can get
t. If we’re lucky, maybe this trend will continue for the rest of this season – but let’s not put undue expectations on it. The Acolyte isn’t going to be the new Mandalorian, but it’s fun and action-packed with touches of great characterization. And isn’t that what Star Wars is all about?
As before, here are my (way too long) live thoughts!
