This series is such a roller coaster of suspense. Sometimes, you roll your eyes at the predictability of an exchange or the results of a battle, and then you’re watching your favorite character die in the most unexpected way.
And I guess that’s kind of what happened here?
Episode 7 of The Acolyte is the penultimate one, but it’s also set entirely in the past. While episode 3 gave us Osha and Mae’s backstory, we’re brought back to that same time frame from another perspective. This time, following the four Jedi stationed on Brendok, we’ll finally learn the truth of the coven’s death and Mae’s dark actions.
And yeah, I was not expecting any of it.
Meet the Jedi
In the opening of episode 7, we are introduced to the Jedi we never learned much about. Indara is stern but caring in her way, Sol is idealistic and impulsive, Torbin is young and homesick, and Kelnacca is… there, I suppose. (He definitely just exists as the muscle for the episode climax.)
As much as I like Carrie Anne Moss, I felt like I didn’t get a good handle on Indara, especially her friendship with Sol. Her burst of compassion for Osha at the episode’s end – her willingness to lie to preserve Osha’s dream – felt surprisingly unlike her. (Maybe she was lying to Sol and was just trying to protect him?) But I did like how the final battle showed how powerful she was without any unnecessary narration.
Next to Indara, we have a much younger Sol. He seems to be at peace with his current status, but after his first interaction with Osha he tells Indara that he feels a “connection” with the child. I found this dialogue cute, but I wanted more from it – what was it about Osha that drew Sol to her? Did she remind him of his past self in some way? Did he just want to help a little girl who longed for friends? Couldn’t we have gotten an endearing parallel of Sol and Osha reacting to a situation the same way or using a similar turn of phrase?
Despite this frustratingly vague emotional lynchpin, the episode continues. I liked how we saw another angle of this scenario through Sol’s eyes, including scenes we missed the first time around, such as Mae’s Force test with Sol and Indara. Like Osha, Mae purposefully tries to throw her test, but the Jedi pick up on this and probe Mae for more knowledge about her coven. Mae is unable to explain how she and Osha will eventually rule their people, but she tells the Jedi several of their odd tenets, including one saying “everyone must be sacrificed.” By this point I was taking a step back and saying “okay, how am I supposed to feel?”
Meet the witches
Given how much I complain about over-explanatory exposition, it would be hypocritical of me to critique this show for its ambiguity here. I’m just trying to figure out if I should be agreeing with either side or if the confusion is purposeful. Because, frankly, I never liked this weird coven. Aniseya seemed to be the only one back in episode 3 who cared about her kids, but even then she tried to conceal them and direct them towards the coven as their only path. And Aniseya’s invasion of Torbin’s mind certainly wasn’t very light side-coded.
But, then again, the Jedi aren’t dramatically better. They call the coven a “Force cult” and liken them to the Nightsisters, and Indara and Sol’s convo seems to imply that they came to Brendok with a different motivation than simply giving the girls a chance to become Jedi.
The “vergence” referenced by the Jedi is likely the cause of Osha and Mae’s creation. Learning that the twins have one soul in two bodies still doesn’t make their existence clear, and having answers here would really make the whole “witch evil or Jedi evil?” confusion make more sense.
Also, I still don’t understand how the “one soul two bodies” thing works. It’s not like Osha and Mae are the same person; we’ve seen them out in the real world. And we’ve observed no “incompleteness” from either of them when they’re apart. What does this mean, and why do we still have no answers?
But getting back to my main point! Are the Jedi being overly judgy of a different brand of Force users, or are the witches planning on sacrificing their own kids to preserve their legacy? The lack of answers in this episode furthers this strange dilemma.
Blame the witch
At least this episode isn’t just stiff negotiations! When the Jedi arrive to pick up Osha, building tensions finally snap. Bodies fall, lightsabers and magic are unleashed, and…
Ugh, and I guess Mae’s not evil now?
I liked getting a better look at little Mae this episode, especially her complex relationship with her moms. While Aniseya is more compassionate, her attentions here are largely focused on Osha, leaving Mae in Koril’s unstable hands. I honestly enjoy Koril’s presence, just because of how insane she is, and her intense pressure on her daughters spilling over into a determination to make Mae keep Osha on Brendok was fantastic.
But then, as we come to the infamous “Mae started a fire” scene, we get a plot twist: the fire was an accident! Mae only intended to burn Osha’s book, not Osha herself! And her desperation interruption of the Jedi-witch standoff catalyzed every subsequent catastrophe.
Halfway through this show, around episode 5, I decided I liked Mae because of her committed darkness. I thought she was actually being pushed as a true villain, not a scared lost girl, and I appreciated the novelty. So for The Acolyte to backtrack on all of that to say “surprise, she was never evil!” is frustrating and more than a tad disappointing. Couldn’t we at least have something a little more nuanced? I’m imagining Mae trying to summon the darkness Koril demands of her, pushing herself further and further against Osha until she realizes this isn’t what she wants. But by that point, it’s too late, and Mae cannot undo her actions. Wouldn’t that be better than erasing everything she’d done right at the start?
Anyhow. So much goes down this night. And it turned out to be more than just Mae whose characterization went through the meat grinder.
I suppose I should be impressed. I half-expected this show to undo Mae’s darkness, but I never perceived Sol as anything but protective and caring. And given how blatantly I trusted him, this episode really made me doubt everything I thought I knew.
Blame the Jedi
Here’s the course of events:
- Mae accidentally starts the fire
- Sol accidentally kills Aniseya
- A battle begins
- The witches possess Kelnacca to fight the Jedi
- Indara frees Kelnacca’s mind, killing all the witches (on purpose?)
- Sol finds the twins and chooses to save Osha instead of Mae
Oh geez, this is not looking good for you, Sol.
My one hope that Sol’s lie wasn’t quite as horrible as it could’ve been is that he was genuinely misinformed about the first point – did he know Mae didn’t mean to start the fire? She did run into the courtyard begging for help, so maybe he picked up on that, but it’s unclear.
Still, my God Sol! What the heck??
In the early episodes of this show, I predicted that Sol was the least culpable for what occurred on Brendok. I thought that the other three Jedi did something malicious (either purposely or inadvertently) that resulted in the deaths of Aniseya and the other witches, but Sol didn’t participate. After all, three of the four Jedi went into some version of retreat: Indara was on a remote planet, Torbin was in meditation, and Kelnacca was in self-commanded exile. Sol was the only one who stayed on Coruscant and took on multiple Padawans. So it seemed as if he held the least guilt in the party.
And… damn, you’re really telling me he was the most responsible for everything??
Well, not quite. It was Torbin who rushed back into the coven and tried to find answers, resulting in Sol chasing after him. And Indara was the one who ended up killing everyone else. But Sol did kill Aniseya himself, even if it was an accident. It’s really that final part that he holds the most blame for. He couldn’t save both sisters, but he made the active choice to save the one he liked more.
And even then, it’s not so much his actions that he should be held accountable for but the fact that he lied to Osha for her entire life. “I killed your favorite mom and left your sister to die” is a convo they probably should’ve had at some point. Did none of this come up when Osha told Sol she was leaving the Order because of her past?
Oh man, it’s wild! I’m still running over this episode in my head. Sol was still shown to be kind and guilt-ridden, but it’s crazy to look back on his past interactions with Osha knowing that he knew so much more than her.
At least we got a really cool ending song to help us with the emotional upheaval! I’m quite fond of it; the lyrics are evocative. That “twin flame” tune will be living rent-free in my head for a while. It reminded me of this weak theory I had back at the beginning of the show: Osha and Mae were switched at some point in their childhoods, flipping around their intended light- and dark-side leanings. This would’ve only made sense with my Force dyad theory, and in episode 3 the girls are obviously too old to get swapped. It’s just that line from the song: “I feel the shame when they call me your name.” There’s never been a situation in the show where this applies. Mae took Osha’s place last episode, but that was only for like twenty minutes and the “feeling shame” line doesn’t fit there. Anyhow, I like the song, make no mistake!
Blame everyone?
The thing is, all of these Mae reveals still avoid the bantha in the room, one which I stand by: I don’t think Osha and Mae ever liked each other. They didn’t get along in episode 3, and nothing we saw here changes that. They have very different wants and motivations, Osha was entirely willing to leave Mae to be a Jedi, and their Force abilities lean toward opposite paths.
This is why, even with this new information, I’m not buying Mae’s character. I liked her more in episode 5, when it seemed like the show was leaning into the concept of the twins not getting along. Even now, a redemption arc for Mae won’t mean much simply because a reconciliation with Osha won’t hold any weight.
Also, the obscurity of Sol’s attachment to Osha makes the whole episode suffer. Sol is at the heart of every emotional beat, but his claims of a vague “connection” with his future Padawan aren’t strong enough to buoy the desperate choices he makes to keep her. His bond with her in the modern day makes more sense, given that they’ve spent years together by this point, but what called him to her in the past?
At this episode’s end, we’re left with many unanswered questions. What would have happened if the witches had finished Osha’s Ascension ceremony? How were they planning to make the twins take over? What does that “everyone must be sacrificed” line mean? How were the twins created? What does “split consciousness” mean? How did Mae survive Brendok? How did Qimir find her? And what are her plans now that she’s lost Osha?
Given how much is yet to be revealed, it seems likely that we’ll be looking at a second season of The Acolyte. With Mae under Qimir’s guard and Osha slowly succumbing to Qimir’s manipulations, there’s too much to resolve in just one more episode. I’m expecting something a little like the season 1 finale of Resistance, pushing the characters into opposite sides and setting the stage for a tense season 2.
I’m torn here – part of me really wants Osha to kill Qimir and become a full-fledged Sith, darkening her season 2 path, but on the other hand… I don’t want to lose Qimir as a character; he’s interesting!
I have two main wants for how this show will pan out, and one of them is looking far less probable than the other. Initially, I wanted Mae to be a full villain, accepting her darkness and becoming a worthy adversary to Osha without any hope of redemption. This path would genuinely have more nuance than “oops, it was just a misunderstanding all along!” But given how that’s exactly where this episode took Mae, I guess I’ll have to turn to my second want – a full-fledged role reversal. I want Mae to accept the light side and Osha to accept the dark, turning the sisters harshly against one another.
Also, I really want them to be a Force dyad! Come on! There’s one episode left; confirm it! That would be clearer than the “one soul two bodies” line!
Letting go of blame
In the final episode of season 1, I’m expecting Sol’s past actions to come to light for both Osha and Mae. I know this reveal will likely push Osha fully into the dark side, but I’m unsure if Qimir will die at her hand or survive to continue her teachings. The former would just be so cool.
As for Mae, though, I don’t know where her path will lead. As desperately as I want her to become a new Padawan to Sol, it’ll take a lot for her to trust him enough for this. I’d at least like to see them fighting side-by-side in the finale, or bonding over their love for Osha. That’d be sweet.
But then there’s our last named and living character: Vernestra, Sol’s friend from the Order, who’s out searching for him. She’s beginning to suspect Sol of killing all the Jedi, no one from the Order knows of Qimir’s existence, and Sol is purposefully hiding from them with Mae. When the final battle takes place, it’ll likely feature more than just the swapped Jedi-Sith duos.
We’ve had our main major deaths in episode 5, but I’m guessing that Osha will kill Vernestra in the end (either accidentally or on purpose), maybe mistakenly thinking she means harm to Sol. This could push Sol to understand where Osha has fallen, and convince Mae to join Sol in an attempt to save her sister. But who knows – this episode took me entirely by surprise, so why should the finale contain the expected?
For all its faults, The Acolyte has been a solid show asofar, and it’s not afraid to twist its characters. Here’s hoping that our season 1 finale will deliver the goods (and evils) we’re rooting for.
As always, enjoy my live thoughts!
