The Acolyte: Teach/Corrupt Thoughts
The series catches its breath, and the survivors talk things through while we wait for answers.
The Acolyte is turning the corner toward the finish line, and our main players regroup in the aftermath of the massacre on Khofar. Sol mourns his team while navigating the implications, Osha finds herself conversing with the enemy, and Vernestra leads her own team to the crime scene to try and pick up the pieces.
But since The Acolyte likes to generate more questions than answers, here are some more questions that I will attempt to answer:
Who is Teaching, and Who is Corrupting?
Osha and Mae have a moment when they can strike their enemies down but refrain because they want answers. Both have been lied to and manipulated since they were young. And the Stranger and Sol are doing the same using different approaches. Both men have past traumas and are unloading on their prospective pupils.
We learn that the Stranger is a former Jedi who was “thrown away” suggestingly by his Master. Sol still has yet to reveal his role in the Brendok witch massacre. However, the Stranger gives Osha the freedom (and permission) to express herself in a way that the Jedi Order never did.
Since she was that little girl in “Destiny,” Osha has wanted to be a Jedi more than anything, including more than staying with her family. But the Jedi constantly remind her that she is not a Jedi. Yord refers to her as a civilian. She has to wear civilian robes from the ship, and Sol orders Yord to get her to safety with a cold “civilian to the ship.”
The Stranger reminds her that none of these Jedi could return her feelings with the same intensity. Never mind that the Stranger killed Yord and Jecki; they could never love Osha as deeply as she loves them.
That, coupled with being unable to tap into the Force, must be frustrating. Qimir tells her she has power in the Force and offers to help her reconnect. That is a tempting offer.
Then again, after he suggests to Osha that she try out his helmet (also a sensory deprivation piece), he casually says that she should not trust him. Even though the Stranger’s words encourage connection, his words and manner are cold.
Osha ends up trying on the helmet and confirms that you cannot hear or see anything but yourself. Her heavy breathing leading to the credits is one of the most unsettling endings to a Star Wars series.
Sol, assuming he did not know about Mae until Bazil told him, thanks her for saving him from losing himself to darkness. And he hugs her, emphasizing to Mae his guilt about what happened on Brendok, and is ready to go to the Jedi High Council with the truth.
It is a moment of vulnerability that she returns later, but the most vulnerable moment is by himself. After trying to reach Coruscant to let them know his team is dead, Sol lets out a moment of grief and pain. It is not something we usually see from a Jedi serving in the Order ( Obi-Wan Kenobi also had moments of this with the titular character). It is Lee Jung-Je’s finest moment in a showcase performance.
Mae also does not know everything that happened but still blames the Jedi. Sol laments to her that he did not sense the Stranger’s true intentions when they met him on Olega. Mae, also being fooled by the Stranger, tells Sol:
“I think when you really want something, it can cloud your mind. You see what you want to see. He fooled us all.”
Mae could be talking about Sol and the Stranger, but she is undoubtedly talking about her relationship with the Stranger.
Sol then pivots to PIP, which could also be when he realizes it is Mae he is speaking with, no longer letting his feelings cloud his mind.
Mae does learn how to express her feelings within the confines of this conversation, having to pretend to be her sister. Whether intentionally or not, Sol has briefly created a space for her to be vulnerable.
Mae is the least developed of the four main characters, which is difficult to believe given that she was the first character on screen. This conversation is the closest we have gotten to how she truly feels as she speaks to one of the people she blames for losing her family.
What is the Relationship Status Between the Jedi Order and the Republic Senate?
Then there is Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, who is accompanied on a rescue mission by a Padawan named Mog. Vernestra, Mog, and another team of Jedi discover the bodies of Yord and Jecki and try to piece together what happened. Vernestra, hearing the battle from a Force echo, asks Mog what he sees. Mog sees a battle of one against many and wonders if Sol has fallen to the dark side. Vernestra does not necessarily refute this possibility.
Vernestra’s behavior has also been a mystery, even more so to High Republic readers who know her as a young, righteous Jedi Knight. However, she is older and dealing with the politics of being a leader within the Order, which includes a fame-hungry Senator who wants to conduct an internal review of the Order.
This scene would have been nice to have earlier in the series as it explains why Vernestra wanted to keep this within a small group. Unfortunately, the death of seven Jedi, whether at the hands of a stranger or fallen Jedi, is too much to contain to just a few.
Additionally, there are some visual cues, such as Vernestra’s famous light whip and the Stranger’s words on the scar on his back, that the two might know each other. I feel like this is another red herring, and the Stranger is referring to ANOTHER former Master.
Most people who know about the Stranger are dead and the two remaining survivors (Osha never heard the word “Sith”) are headed to the Unknown Planet. Vernestra does not know for sure that there is a Sith; it is just that there is a significant problem. With a Senator on their heels, she has an out if Sol does not survive.
How Long is Too Long to Wait for the Truth?
Everyone wants answers, especially viewers. Our first point-of-view episode of what happened 16 years ago was in episode 3, “Destiny.” Now we have finished episode six and are moving towards the final two episodes with no additional information. Assuming the next episode will give answers (because it would be absurd to wait until the finale, so I won’t even entertain it), four episodes is still too long.
Throughout this series, Sol is about to say more about Brendok when various interruptions prevent it with a promise of truths to come. And because this is a weekly release, the frustration of repeating story beats is building along with the mystery.
This is a larger conversation that likely involves Disney executives’ input on release schedules and how that can negatively affect pacing.
Once all the answers are revealed, maybe everything will flow perfectly, but fewer viewers revisit a story than those who watch in real time.
What is the Unknown Planet?
What planet the Stranger calls home is less interesting than the decision to have the location of a possible Sith on a bright, beautiful island.
The illusion of beauty and peace is everpresent with cute little animals (Star Wars officially named them Skura). Everything on this island is meant to tempt Osha to want to stay.
Even the Stranger changes from dark clothes to a white robe (and Osha from white to dark) to further grey the line.
But it is still a prison, with nowhere to escape and a dangerous tide crashing between her and the ship to freedom.
What a journey to have Osha go from feeling trapped on her home planet of Brendok to the Jedi Order, to hopping ships, to being trapped on another planet.
In contrast, Mae spends most of this episode on the same ship where she purposely failed her Jedi test. A ship that keeps falling apart but is still a vehicle of freedom that she has not yet experienced.
Canon junkies might get wrapped up in what the unknown planet could be and how it might connect with Legends, but what that planet represents to Osha’s journey is more important.
Kudos to Amandla Stenberg for playing Mae pretending to be Osha. Her performance is not the flashiest, but it is difficult to play twins who have not grown up together and have different mannerisms. I keep forgetting that this is one actress.
Hanelle M. Culpepper directed this episode, and I have to praise Leslye Headland for bringing a diverse group of writers and directors to the table for this series. I enjoy Lucasfilm’s approach to many of their series of bringing in different directors, which started from the very beginning with The Mandalorian.
The team has reached the end of their teasing, and now it feels like this entire series will rest on the truth about what happened. I hope they pull it off.
Originally published at http://creditsandcanon.com on July 6, 2024.
