This evening saw the debut of the first-season (or it is series?) finale of Lucasfilm’s live-action series Star Wars: The Acolyte, which strangely does not currently have a title on Disney+, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this climactic installment.
Episode 8 of The Acolyte begins right where Episode 6 left off (which makes sense, considering there was an entire flashback chapter in-between)– with Osha (played by Amandla Stenberg) wearing the dark-side Cortosis helmet that she borrowed from Qimir (Manny Jacinto). She very quickly finds that she cannot remove the mask, and even Qimir seems powerless to help her, with his eyes turning black in a way that is very reminiscent of the witches’ power in the flashbacks. Once they are both able to break free of the helmet’s control, Osha reveals that she saw a vision of Mae killing Master Sol. Qimir and Osha make a deal to travel together toward this conflict, and then we wipe to orbit around Brendok, where Sol has taken Mae. After a brief chat about their past and an assertion by Sol that he simply wants to confirm the existence of a Force vergence on the planet, the assassin uses her PIP droid– which Sol inexplicably neglected to remove from her pouch– to free herself from her restraints and attack the Jedi Master. Mae steals a Jedi starfighter and flees the transport, while Sol and Bazil (Hassan Taj) pursue her.
During the ship-to-ship chase, just as Sol has almost locked his targets onto the rear of Mae’s vessel, Bazil disconnects some wires in the cockpit to prevent the Jedi from destroying the girl’s ship. Mae crashes to the surface of the planet below, and we cut to Coruscant where Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) is confronted by a senator (guest star David Harewood from Supergirl and Homeland) who wishes to instate governmental oversight of the Jedi Order. Back on the “Unnamed Planet,” Qimir offers to train Osha once again but she refuses before they both take off for Brendok. As their ship departs, we see a hooded figure lurking in the shadows that looks an awful lot like previous depictions of Darth Plagueis. On Brendok, Sol turns his ship’s transponder back on and then begins to walk back toward the witches’ fortress, and on Coruscant Vernestra responds to the transponder signal by launching another mission to the planet. Sol hunts for Mae in the fortress while Osha and Qimir try to find a way in– the latter is apparently able to teleport himself via the Force, but the former must repair the elevator in order to gain access.
Now wearing his helmet, Qimir ambushes Sol and there’s another great fight scene with some really memorable moves. Meanwhile within the fortress walls, Osha and Mae reunite once again, and they talk about why they’re so angry at each other until this showdown breaks out into a physical duel as well. There’s some great editing back and forth between the two fights, but just when it seems like Sol has won his, Mae abandons Osha to intervene. Qimir insists that Mae kill Sol, but she denies him, saying that she would rather see the Jedi confess his crimes to the High Council and face the consequences. Here Sol finally spills the beans on what he believes the twins to be– basically the same person, split into two bodies (I think we had all guessed that by this point, and to be honest I’m not really sure I understand what it ultimately means) and says that the kind of power necessary to create life through the Force is extremely rare in the galaxy. Mae makes Sol confess to killing Mother Aniseya within earshot of Osha, who picks up Sol’s lightsaber then murders the Jedi using a Force choke (without a weapon, natch). Qimir looks impressed and attempts to comfort Osha, but she lashes out with Sol’s saber, having “bled” its Kyber crystal red.
Vernerstra arrives on Brendok and immediately senses Qimir’s presence, while Mae leads Osha through the fortress’s escape route she used 16 years earlier. Rwoh finds Sol’s body while Qimir watches from a balcony, and she senses him again but the two do not interact. At the bunta tree, Osha and Mae make amends, and then Osha convinces Qimir to let Mae go if Osha agrees to train under him. Qimir wipes Mae’s memory and she is soon found by the rest of the Jedi using Bazil as tracker once again. Back on Coruscant, Vernestra interrogates Mae and finds that the girl has convincingly lost her memory back to the night when her mother was killed, but she also doesn’t remember her sister Osha. The next scene is a meeting between Rwoh and representatives from the Republic Senate, and she weaves them a cover-up story placing the blame for the entire incident squarely on Master Sol. Her story there conflicts with one she tells Mae about how Sol was only acting to protect Osha. Vernerstra then asks Mae to help her find “a pupil of mine, before he turned to evil,” echoing the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars film.
On the Unnamed Planet, Qimir takes Osha’s hand as they both stare off into the sunset, and then we cut back to Coruscant one last time to see Vernerstra Rwoh entering the chamber of Jedi Master Yoda himself. That’s the end of the season, and I would say it confirms that the powers that be behind The Acolyte were planning on being renewed for a second one. Whether that will actually happen is obviously still up in the air, but I would really have to cross my fingers that the response to the show among Star Wars fans is enough for Lucasfilm and its parent company Disney to invest in another round of episodes. Otherwise it will be very frustrating indeed to conclude the story in such an open-ended manner. I did think the finale was strong overall, with the highlights being the fight sequences and the performances of the show’s cast, but I can’t help but feel like it may have been smarter for showrunner Leslye Headland to wrap things up in a tighter bow. The season-one cliffhanger ended up working out for Ahsoka (as it seems like a second season of that series is in active development) but is there enough interest behind-the-scenes and from the public for The Acolyte to sneak past? We can only hope.
The full first (and potentially only?) season of Star Wars: The Acolyte is now available to stream exclusively via Disney+.