The Acolyte Spoiler Recap: Choice
So what really happened on Brendok 16 years ago? We got one side of the story in Episode 3, but I think we all knew that wasn’t all there was to it. With Qimir’s taunt to Sol that the Jedi Master has yet to reckon with his own darkness, and Sol’s insistence last week that Mae finally listen to the truth of what happened that night, I suspected Episode 7 was going to be more on the serious side and less on the “hot man taking a bath in a lake” side. Turns out I was right. Let’s dive in!
The episode opens, as expected, on Brendok 16 years ago. This time, we follow Sol, Indara, Kelnacca and Torbin as the four of them explore the natural environment and catalogue what they find. None of them seem especially enthusiastic about their finds though, but none more so than poor Padawan Torbin, who really just wants to go home to Coruscant. I get it kid, I hate camping too. Can’t imagine having to do it for seven weeks.
Indara tells him that they’ve come to Brendok since it was catalogued as lifeless in the wake of a hyperspace disaster — the Great Disaster to us book people, and yes I am counting this as a Marchion Ro reference — yet somehow the planet is thriving. Since Torbin is the kind of learner who likes to know the why in addition to the what, Sol tells him they’re looking for a “vergence,” which Indara explains is a “concentration of Force energy centered around a location.” We’ve seen this idea before, say in the form of a mirror cave, or a little grotto on Dagobah, and I love that the series continues to flirt with this idea. Even Qimir’s cortosis helmet shutting off everything but the Force and “what you take with you” feels extremely telling.
Sol tells Torbin that a vergence might be responsible for the life they see on the planet, and if that’s the case, then such a power needs to be studied. The next day, Indara tells Sol that Torbin can’t appreciate the significance of what they’re doing, suggesting he’s too wrapped up in his head. Sol counters that he’s feeling unbalanced and disturbed, but Indara accuses her friend of projecting onto her Padawan. She tells Sol that her approach is to lead Torbin to his own conclusions rather than giving him the easy answers, and I’m gonna need us to go ahead and put a pin in this.
The group splits up to cover more ground, sending Sol off by himself, and its there we finally catch up to the events of Episode 3, with him coming across Osha and Mae by the Bunta tree. He follows the pair of them on their walk home an sticks with them long enough to see Mother Koril arrive to take them back to the fortress. He startles and obviously decides this is a threat, and immediately follows them back home after trying and failing to call Indara.
Giving in to his own curiosity, and deciding he needs the workout anyway, Sol scales the side of the fortress and sneaks in just in time to catch the tail end of the training session - namely the bit where Aniseya pushes both Mae and Osha to the ground to warn them about staying vigilant. Without context, it of course looks worse than it is and if he didn’t already have his mind made up, Sol decides the girls are in danger. He makes to leave, and his steps on the platform are the creaking weheard in Episode 3 that drew Koril’s attention out into the hall. So I was wrong after all, it wasn’t Qimir or some other Sith. He heads out to find some of the coven preparing for the Ascension, and that’s enough for him to head back to the camp and report what he’s found.
He tells Indara that he believes them to be Force witches — though Indara disagrees with the notion that they’re Nightsisters, and says they need more information. Sol protests, saying that they don’t treat the girls like children, and I understand why he thinks the way he does, but also at the same time, the Jedi are the ones that give small kids swords to spar with. They’re the ones who, a century ago, were sending teenagers to the front lines as assistance to the Republic’s military, and who will do so again a century from now. What I’m saying is the intention was good, but the execution not so much.
Indara suggests they ask the council, but Sol tells her the coven is planning something for that night, and he asks her to come at least take a look. The four Jedi speed off and slice their way into the fortress. Indara suggests she go in alone but the rest of the team insists they go together, even thought that appears more threatening. We catch up with the events of Episode 3 again, only this time while the Jedi and coven chat, we get inside Torbin’s head along with Aniseya, who pulls on his vulnerabilities in a coaxing, almost seductive way. If this is the same sort of power Qimir possesses, which Osha seems to think it is based on the description from Yord, it makes me wonder what exactly happened in that encounter.
As much as her telling them that the “Jedi have the right to test potential padawans” turned out to be partly a stalling tactic, I can’t say that’s really changed my mind about Indara overall. It’s not like she just made up the sentiment, even if she doesn’t think it’s necessary to train these two in particular, and the whole thing still reeks of colonialism, no matter whose intentions are good or otherwise.
Sol tells Indara that he feels a connection to Osha, but she tells him that they can’t seriously test the girls since Osha is too old anyway. I can’t help but feel like this is her biggest objection, and that if the twins were 2 years old or so, this would be a very different conversation. Her other objection is that the coven is too insular and “strange” to let Osha leave, even if she wants to. Sol then points out that Mae has a “dark magic” marking that Osha doesn’t have. This is enough to convince Indara that Osha was resistant to the marking, meaning it isn’t just a ceremonial thing. While they’re right that she didn’t want the marking, it’s interesting neither of them consider the reason Osha doesn’t have it is because they walked in in the middle of the ceremony.
The girls arrive for the test the next day, and this time we get to see Mae’s test as well. Like Osham she gives the wrong answers and is called out for it, but doesn’t take the opportunity to correct herself, asking instead if she can leave. Before they let her go, Indara asks her about the ceremony they walked in on and Mae explains it as best she can, telling them her marking was a part of the ceremony, and that Ascension means that she and Osha will lead the coven. Indara asks how that’s possible since they’re both children but Mae isn’t sure. Look, I know this is a galaxy far, far away and all but inherited titles are still a thing here. No child who says they want to be a doctor, or a firefighter, or a zookeeper means they want to do it right now. Just eventually. The bit that sounds the warning bells for Indara and Sol, however, is Mae’s comment about how “everyone must be sacrificed to fulfil their destiny,” which could really mean anything but I guess we’ll never know.
Sol suggests they try a different approach with Osha, and Indara agrees. Osha’s natural Force abilities and her desire to become a Jedi worry Indara, even as Sol seems excited to be getting his way at last. After the test, she tells Torbin to run the blood samples while she waits to hear back from the council. She eventually joins the rest of the team outside and says that the council said no to bringing the girls, and says that they already interfered too much. I personally share the theory that she never told the council any of this, given that there was no twin on file for Osha when she did make it to the temple. I do wonder, however, if her reasoning was as altruistic as it seems. Yes, it’s a good instinct to not want to separate two girls from their family except one of them has already expressed a desire to leave. I also wonder if Indara made up the council instruction to cover up her own reasoning for not wanting the girls brought over, because they’re too old.
The rest of the team insist that the twins are in danger, and that something must be done to protect them. Sol insists that Osha passed, which Indara chalks up to Sol’s coaching, but coaching can’t make you perceive images on a hidden screen. Sol tells them he wants to do what’s best for Osha, but Indara tells him that that decision is not up to him. Their argument comes to a pause when Torbin gets their blood results back, and sees that the two have very high M-counts and are very Force sensitive, but notes that their symbionts are identical. More identical than twins should be. Indara suggests that the two were created by a force that split their one consciousness into two bodies — always one but born as two, if you will. A force capable of creating two beings like that is likely the vergence they came looking for, and that is enough of a reason to send Torbin speeding off into the woods to get the proof they need to go home. Sol takes off after Torbin, with Kelnacca and Indara following in the ship.
We then spend our first significant time away from the Jedi, checking back in with Osha and Mae, which to me indicates this episode isn’t just the Jedi’s version of events, but the objective version, filling in points of view Mae and Osha may not have had before, but which they’re receiving now either through Sol’s explanation or Qimir’s helmet. Mother Koril tells Mae that if she wants to make sure Osha doesn’t leave, it’s up to her to tap into her anger and keep her sister here. The rest of the coven also tell Aniseya that they don’t want Osha to leave, as she’s just a child and cannot make the decision for herself. They seem to have no issue making choices for her, however, but Aniseya proves to be the voice of reason, putting her role as their mother ahead of her role as coven leader.
Mae breaks the elevator controls, locking the Jedi out but also locking everyone in. Sol sense the twins conversation, once again devoid of context, and starts scaling the walls again. Indara orders Kelnacca to drop into the courtyard while she finds somewhere to land. Out in the courtyard, Aniseya and Koril are at an impasse, with Koril ready to escalate the fight to keep their children with them. Back inside, we see who really started the fire: it was Mae after all - looks like I was wrong - but the fire starts by accident when she drops the lantern after the pages of Osha’s book catch fire too quickly. Panicked, she goes running for Aniseya.
Aniseya and Koril meet up with Sol and Torbin in the courtyard, and despite sneaking in he tells them he doesn’t come with poor intentions. He asks them how the twins came to be, but rather than answer Aniseya points out that the Jedi’s good intentions will eventually be their downfall.
From the beginning of the show, I saw people comparing Sol to Qui-Gon and I admit at the time I didn’t really see it, besides the fact that the two were generally soft-spoken and paternal. Now, however, I do. Both of them followed an instinct which led them to a very Force-sensitive child, and with the best intentions in the galaxy, both of them forced the hand of the Force to achieve the outcome they wanted, namely bringing on the child in question as their student, regardless of the destruction such a choice would leave in its wake, be it isolation from a community, or a mother left behind in slavery, and without heed for the understandable emotional fallout. Both had good intentions, and by the looks of things, both of these good intentions led to a rise in darkness that condemns the galaxy to loss and war.
Mae runs in telling them there’s a fire inside - with Sol mistaking her for Osha due to his singular focus - and Koril and Torbin use the distraction to draw their weapons. Aniseya transforms into a cloud of smoke, presumably to take action to protect her daughter - and interestingly, Mae does as well - but Sol draws his lightsaber and impales her before she can.
Sol, I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you! No wonder Mae hates the Jedi and believes they attacked the unarmed, she just watched them kill her mother.
As she dies, Aniseya tells Sol that she was going to let Osha go with the Jedi since it’s what she wanted. Koril sends Mae away, and as the rest of the coven fire arrows as Torbin, she takes on Sol one-on-one, but the Jedi won’t draw his weapon anymore. As they fight, the fire spreads and the temple begins to crumble. Before anyone can go in to grab the twins, Koril turns into smoke as Aniseya tried to, and possesses Kelnacca, controlling him with the help of the rest of the coven - the power of many and all that.
Torbin and Sol fight Kelnacca, and the Wookiee quickly gains the upper hand. It’s looking over for the two Jedi until Indara intervenes and pushes Koril out of his mind, but in the process seemingly either knocks out or kills the rest of the coven. She then sends Sol inside to get the twins. We don’t see a body for Koril, or at least I couldn’t see one, which makes me wonder if she’s still out there somewhere.
He comes across the two of them on either end of the broken platforms and holds both ends up as long as he can until he realizes he has to pick one over the other as he can’t hold both. He lets Mae fall - hopefully he feels bad about it, but I guess it worked out fine anyway - and takes Osha back to the ship.
Back on the ship, Indara scolds Torbin and Sol for interfering like they did, and she and Sol almost come to blows until Torbin asks her what they’re supposed to tell the council. She suggests they tell the truth: that Mae burned the temple down and everyone died. Technically true, I guess, from a certain point of view. Also if I had a nickel for every time someone in Star Wars blamed a traumatized youth for the burning of a temple when it wasn’t intentional, I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot etc. Also worth noting that suddenly Indara is championing giving Padawans the easy answers instead of seeking them out themselves…
Sol wants to face the council for what he did. Indara says that would be a terrible idea as that would just re-traumatize Osha, who already lost everything, but I’m also not sure handing her over to the care of the man responsible for the death of her mother is that much better? It’s obvious he regrets it, and obvious he wants to atone, but I’m not sure whose best interest Indara is operating in here.
The most interesting thing this show has done, picking up from threads started in The High Republic, is positioning the Jedi as generally well-meaning people stuck in and perpetuating a broken system across the galaxy. Not inherently evil, per se, but still so closely tied to the system they were raised in that they cannot help but spread its harms. With one episode left, and the truth hopefully all out there now, I cannot wait to see how this comes to a head and how this new knowledge will affect the twins - or rather, the single consciousness split into two people. Now more than ever I’d like to know if the series is returning for a second season to pick up some of the emotional threads I’m sure will be left by the end of next week.
The first seven episodes of The Acolyte are streaming now on Disney+.
