The Ending Of ‘The Acolyte’ Ties Up A Lot Of Loose Ends

The ending of The Acolyte is kind of atypical as far as Star Wars stories go since ultimately, the bad guys win. What’s new here is that we don’t quite know who the bad guys are. Gone are the days of a red or blue (or green or yellow or purple) lightsaber denoting a character’s entire moral alignment. Episode 8 of this wildly uneven first season condemns pretty much everyone.

Criticism of the Jedi is nothing new, nor is unpacking a former hero’s fall to darkness (the parallels between Osha and Anakin Skywalker are very strong and deliberate). But it’s rare for a Star Wars story to be this grim and maudlin, so bereft of that familiar flicker of hope that defines the franchise. Maybe that’s why by the time Episode IV rolls around, it’s considered a “new” concept.

Osha Turns to the Dark Side

Osha Force Chokes Master Sol, cementing a turn to the Dark Side

It might have seemed obvious ever since Osha spent the entirety of Episode 7 with Qimir, eventually donning his grinning cortosis helmet, but it’s not like Star Wars to commit to a heel turn like this so strongly – let alone have the former hero Force Choke the fan-favorite character to death.

But this is the fate of Master Sol, who returns along with everyone else to Brendok only to have to face his greatest mistake in the most painful of ways. While he’s busy dueling Qimir in another well-choreographed lightsaber sequence, Mae and Osha have a little Wuxia-inspired fistfight before the former finally gets the chance to tell her “sister” the truth.

If Osha didn’t believe it before, hearing Sol admit it does the trick. Mae cons him into revealing all after stealing his saber and tossing it aside, cracking the kyber crystal within. Osha hears everything. She picks up Sol’s saber, and in her fury bleeds the crystal from blue to red in a not-unfamiliar concept. That’s how Dark Side users get the red lightsabers in the first place.

In killing Sol with the Force, Osha completes the task that Qimir initially set Mae – of killing without a weapon. In that moment she becomes Qimir’s apprentice, even before she does so officially a little bit later.

Vernestra Uses Sol As A Scapegoat

Vernestra showcases some ruthless decision-making in The Acolyte’s finale

Sol’s death gives Vernestra an opportunity. As it turns out, the Order has been under scrutiny, and Senator Rayencourt (David Harewood in a snarling cameo) is pushing for an external review of its utility in a nascent Republic. With Vernestra having kept a murder investigation to herself, the Jedi are at serious risk of being disbanded.

So, Vernestra pins the blame for everything on Sol. She blames him for everything that happened on Brendok (see my recap of Episode 3 and the aforementioned Episode 7 for more on this), blames him for the subsequent cover-up, and claims he killed all of the other Jedi on Khofar in Episode 5 to hide his involvement. Since Qimir wipes Mae’s memory so that Osha can go and train with him without the Jedi being able to use Mae to track her, there’s nobody left alive to contradict this version of events.

We also get confirmation in this episode that Qimir was indeed Vernestra’s apprentice, but the circumstances of their parting ways – or the whip scars on Qimir’s back – aren’t explained. That’s stuff for a second season, as is Vernestra turning to Yoda for aid at the end of the episode.

We Still Don’t Know How Osha and Mae Were Created

Osha and Mae are not twins or sisters, but two sides of the same person, though their creation remains mysterious

Sol intends to return to Brendok to find proof of the vergence that allowed for the creation of Mae and Osha. In the process, he does clarify that the twins are not twins, nor are they even sisters, but instead two versions of the same person.

We already knew this, but it’s treated like a new reveal, which is odd. Either way, we still don’t know exactly how Mother Aniseya created the twins or what it might mean for the future, but we can assume that it will relate in some way to this guy…

Darth Plagueis The Wise

Darth Plagueis the Wise hides in the shadows

The only time most casual Star Wars fans will have heard of Darth Plagueis is when Palpatine mentions him to Anakin in Episode III, explaining that he was a Sith legend who had learned how to use the Force to create life.

In the finale of The Acolyte, we see Plagueis hiding in a cave on the still-nameless planet where Osha and Qimir are hiding out. So, it’s easy to assume that Osha is how Plagueis learns how to manipulate life through the Force. However, this does raise some other questions.

Does Qimir know Plagueis is there? Is he Plagueis’s apprentice? Or is he just pursuing his own agenda and Plagueis is spying on him? I suspect the former, but you never know.

The Acolyte Had Its Problems, But Breaking Canon Wasn’t One of Them

The back of Yoda’s head is glimpsed at the end of The Acolyte Episode 8, implying a role for him in Season 2

The Acolyte Episode 8 proves, for the most part, that the discourse around the show was far too hasty and needlessly toxic since most of the things people were complaining about were subsequently explained and rationalized in this finale. Some minor tweaks like the age of certain characters (Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plagueis particularly) notwithstanding, nothing in this season violated any established lore in any meaningful sense.

It was still an up-and-down season overall, though, and it was deeply flawed on a writing level. I’m surprised by how much resolution The Acolyte’s ending managed to provide given how many moving parts it had, but while I don’t begrudge it for leaving some threads for subsequent seasons to untangle, I do wish it had been more coherent and snappy along the way.