**Spoilers, please don’t read this piece if you haven’t seen the full season of “The Acolyte.”**
All right, the “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte” ended today/late last night. If you’re like us, the entire season was a mixed bag, high on thrills of action set pieces and fantastic light saber duels, but sometimes low on stories and true surprises for what was supposed to be a mystery thriller (read our initial review). But the concluding episode, while not entirely satisfying, was intriguing enough, closing the loop on its main story, arguably, but also leaving room for a season two should Lucasfilm choose to renew it (ratings for the series have apparently been lower than even “Andor,” one of the best received, but one of their lowest-rated series, but it seems unlikely Lucasfilm wouldn’t renew it).
To recap slightly, set 100 years before the events of “Phantom Menace” in the High Republic era and the series centers on Jedi Knight Sol (Lee Jung-jae) investigating a series of crimes that bring him into contact with a former Padawan learner Osha (Amandla Stenberg). The series begins briefly as a murder mystery. While there were additional secrets and lies to be discovered, the series opened by revealing its initial premise— the assassin who had been killing Jedis was Mae (Stenberg), the presumed twin of Osha— by the end of the first ep.
The series’ mysteries then evolved into the why of her murdering motivations and who exactly The Stranger (Manny Jacinto) was, the Sith behind Osha and Quimir (Jacinto again, posing as a different person). These secrets were also soon unmasked, and then “The Acolyte” became about why the Jedi, and Sol, in particular, lied to Osha and covered up their story in an ethically dubious, soul-crushingly Jedi-antithetical choice that they would all soon regret. As a mystery series, it wasn’t much of one, to be honest, but as an exploration of the roads paved with good intentions, possibly leaving to hell, it held promise throughout.
Series creator, writer, and director Leslye Headland initially suggested that “The Acolyte” was about the Sith, and this never felt entirely accurate. Perhaps what she was saying was that the series was about some of the Sith’s origins that connected to “The Phantom Menace,” specifically how Darth Sidious was able to get under the noses of the Jedi so easily in that first prequel film.
“How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate, and none of the Jedi pick up on it? [What] went wrong?” she said about her initial questions and ideas about the series to Vanity Fair before it aired.
She elaborated more in a Star Wars.com interview, explaining. “I kind of wondered, but what happened to lead up to this? That’s kind of where my ‘Star Wars’ fan brain went was like, ‘How did we get here?’ And why are the Jedi like this? When they are in power, why are they acting this way and how is it that they’re not having a reaction that you would think they would to Anakin’s presence and what Qui-Gon Jinn is saying about how passionately he feels about training him and bringing him into the fold.”
So, this is what “The Acolyte” was really about: the seeds that were sewn for the eventual downfall of the Jedi, and the finale episode, also titled “The Acolyte” directed by Hanelle Culpepper and written by Jason Micallef, surely drove that point home, arguably doubling down on themes already touched upon in earlier episodes disreputable choices that haunt the soul and carry a heavy spiritual toll.
As revealed and hinted at throughout most of the show early on, Sol was responsible for the (accidental) death of Osha and Mae’s mother, and while Osha set the fire that burned down the Force Witches’ home, killing the entire coven, the Jedi aggressive actions certainly didn’t help. Moreover, they became involved in a great cover-up for what they told themselves was “the greater good.” Arguably, it’s a heaping show about good or skewered intentions gone wrong, bad choices, and the slippery slope of self-interest saving lies, and letting sleeping dogs lie but with a heaping dose of immorality.
But it was essentially the big lie and one that seemingly shook the foundation of the Jedi Order. So much so that it would compromise them years later, leading to more internal lies and secrets that betrayed the good they were purporting to do. Like a domino effect, “The Acolyte” seems to suggest these lies snowballed, corrupting the Jedi from the inside and perhaps so self-involved in maintaining their reputation at any cost, they eventually lost their way and became blind to dangers hiding in secret.
In the final episode, everyone converged on the planet Brendok again, the home of the Force Witches, which Sol saw as the home of a potential vergence in the Force that helped Mae and Osha’s Force Witch mother create them without a father.
While “The Acolyte” was baggy and repetitive in spots, one of its best attributes was its ability to raise stakes and show it meant business by killing fan-favorite characters (slaughtering so many in that incredible fifth episode). And the finale did just that. After a deadly confrontation between Mae, The Stranger, and Sol, including a rather wicked lightsaber battle, an angry Mae finally learns the truth about her mother. During a regrettable confession, Sol, seemingly despondent with himself, admitted to killing the twin’s mother (though left out the detail of it being an accident, which it was, though also still his fault). Sol’s admission also revealed his personal flaws and came with an unconvincing justification of “doing what was best” and so Osha, so angry at this revelation, used the Force for the first time since her exodus as a Jedi to Force choke and kill Sol, her former master.
However, the real intrigue was arguably in the behavior of senior Jedi council member Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson). If you had doubts about her before— especially in those first few episodes where she revealed how tightly-wound and controlling she was— they were founded. It turns out, for one, that The Stranger was Vernestra’s former Padawan who turned to the dark side. Moreover, this seemingly calculating Jedi, even after learning all the morally bankrupt and reckless things the Jedi did on Brendok, did not learn or take a higher road. Instead, in a similar “for the greater good” maneuver, though seemingly wrapped in her own self-regard, Venestra made a second cover-up that seemed even more manipulative and conniving than the initial whitewashing of the truth. Lying to the already suspicious Senate leaders and placing the blame on all of the recently murdered Jedi on Sol, Venestra threw him under the bus, she positioned his actions as one of a “rogue Jedi,” and lying that he committed suicide rather than telling them the truth. Yes, she felt the pressure of the prying Senate who wanted to investigate the Jedi. Still, this hubris, betrayal, and deceptions are clearly some of the dishonesties that are seemingly going to seep into the very spiritual fabric and souls of the Jedi Order. A house entirely built on lies? That remains to be seen, but some bad apples are clearly going to perpetuate lies that other Jedis may blindly accept.
Ultimately, The Stranger got what he always wanted: a true Acolyte in Mae. She agreed to be taught the ways of the dark side, pointing at what may come in season two. But the series also teased two big elements.
One was seemingly a Sith Lord lurking in the background, seemingly Darth Plagueis, the Sith hinted at by Darth Sidious in the “Star Wars” prequels. Additionally, the final moments of the series also revealed a figure we were all expecting to see at one point: Jedi Master Yoda, whom Venestra comes to report to, seemingly all set to lie to him as well (or maybe not; maybe Yoda harbors some similar dark secrets eventually, too, we
Where does “The Acolyte” go from here in season two? Well, clearly it’s going to evolve into something different since most of the lead characters are dead, Osha was mind-wiped by the Stranger. Moreover, with Mae set to finally train with The Stranger, and Darth Plagueis, presumably the true Sith Lord behind everything (as predicted here), perhaps “The Acolyte” will truly become a show about The Sith, after all
Where does “The Acolyte” go from here in season two? Well, clearly, it will evolve into something potentially very different since most of the lead characters are dead, Osha was mind-wiped by the Stranger and most mysteries have long been solved. Moreover, with Mae set to finally train with The Stranger and Darth Plagueis, presumably the true Sith Lord behind everything (as predicted here), perhaps “The Acolyte” will truly become a show about The Sith; after all, we’ll see).
Where does “The Acolyte” go from here in season two? Well, clearly it’s going to evolve into something different since most of the lead characters are dead, Osha was mind-wiped by the Stranger. Moreover, with Mae set to finally train with The Stranger and Darth Plagueis, presumably the true Sith Lord behind everything (as predicted here), perhaps “The Acolyte” will truly become a show about The Sith, after all.