(courtesy IMP Awards)
Episode 3 “Destiny”
WHAT HAPPENED
Force witches everyone! In this episode, Star Wars, which has always embraced the light and dark of its supernatural underpinnings gave grading and nuance to this duality, introducing Force practitioners, all women, who are not evil and have a strict, if spookily expressed, moral code who are hiding out on the planet Brendok hoping to escape the watchful eye of the Jedi who are very judgey about who can practice the Force and how (Yes we have seen the Nightsisters before in shows like Ashoka and Tales of the Empire but this coven felt more thoughtful and less binary in their good/evil depiction). Essentially an origin story for protagonist twins Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg), the episode took a deep dive into how Osha and Mae came to sit on the opposite sides of the Force divide and why it is that Mae is doing the bidding of a yet-to-be-revealed Master by killing all four Jedi who were on the planet when the terrible events of 16 years ago played out. In this long ago now ruined life, Osha and Mae are highly opinionated twins, one of whom (Mae) is all in on the witches side of things and another (Osha) who likes the idea of being a Jedi more than she likes the idea of standing around on exposed rock faces in robes chanting. We see the two pressing boundaries, each in their own direction, and how their mothers, Anesaya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Koril (Margarita Levieva) try to push them on their assumed destiny, one with kindness and love and the other with some tough discipline (which admittedly the girls seem to need). Just as the girls are undergoing a rite called the Ascension to make them full and proper witches, the Jedi turn up, ostensibly to rescue the girls from being Force-d against their will but their methodology and actions suggest a group who deal in absolutes that make no allowance for the finer details of a particular’s group situation. In the end ———- SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!! ———- Osha decides to go with the Jedi, despite Anesaya urging them to lie to the Jedi including Sol (Lee Jung-jae) about their abilities but before that can happen, Mae going full pyro maniac and only Osha, so we think, escapes with her life and some pretty intense trauma.
THE VERDICT
As origin episodes go, this was subtlely and yet forcefully done. It became quickly apparent that the Jedi are really the arms of a theocracy and that while the Republic are all sweetness, love and mung beans, there are some elements at play here. Frankly, even as someone who readily embraced the black-and-white morality of the earlier Star Wars films, I really like the nuance that these newer TV shows are introducing. No doubt, Star Wars purists will find a thousand reasons to object to this more morally sophisticated line of storytelling but it can strengthen the franchise because even though we all like life to fit into neat, carefully defined holes, it doesn’t and this world of Jedi and witches and the Republic is no different. It’s good to see this spiritual complexity reflected in the show and while, yes, the Jedi remain the good guys, they are not without flaw or religious extremism of sorts, and this commitment to legalistic execution, however well intentioned, comes with some fairly dire consequences. As someone who barely survived growing up in the Church intact, this reviewer appreciates The Acolyte’s commitment to showing how even the best of people can make grievous mistakes if they let their beliefs blind them to reality and basic humanity.
Episode 4 “Day”
WHAT HAPPENED
Another episode and another planet. This time we’re off to the secluded jungle environs of Khofar where one of the two Jedi from the Brendok incident – Sol is, of course, the other – a Wookiee called Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) is doing his level best to live way below the radar and away from any lingering trauma from his actions on Brendok. But as Mae and Qimir (Manny Jacinto) arrive on Khofar to kill Kelnacca, with Sol, Osha, Yord (Charlie Barnett), Jecko Lon (Dafne Keen) and others in hot pursuit (complete with an adorable Tynnan tracker called Bazil, played by Hassan Taj), it becomes clear that there’s a lot more going on here than a simple assassination attempt. For a start ———- SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!! ———- when Mae, who’s changed her mind about killing Kelnacca after seeing Osha alive, and the Jedi reached Kelnacca’s home, he’s already dead in his chair, a presumed lightsaber blast to his chest. But who the hell has got there first and who beside Mae and her master would want the Wookiee dead? Why, the master themselves who arrives in full badass masked style at episode’s end to confront a group of pretty powerful Force practitioners, none of whom, in the cliffhanger surrounds of the final moments, can match whoever the masked person is. There is speculation galore about who the master could be, but in this episode which was for all intents and purposes a chase episode to kill or save Kelnacca, what we got was a deepening of the mystery and a clear sign that while the Republic may be at the height of its powers, that there are forces gathering within and without to take it down which will succeed some couple of centuries later when the Empire arises.
THE VERDICT
There’s honestly not a lot going on this episode which is less about what’s happening but why it’s happening. Sure, everyone is trying to get Kelnacca first but they don’t realise that the battle is this sense is already well and truly lost. The possible fallen Jedi behind this murderous rampage across the galaxy has got their first and while episode three might have seen all the spirituality of the Star Wars franchise given some timely nuance, episode four sees it go back to full binary, light against dark which, for some reason, is dressed like a futuristic gimp. What was interesting in this episode is the time its reasonably simple plot gave for some nice characterisation, especially for Osha and Mae who may have squabbled as kids but who, still hurting deeply from the events on Brendok, want more than anything to unite again. It’s not going quite that easy of course and while Mae seems to have decided to leave her life in the assassinatory shadows, much like leaving the Mafia, that will be easier said than done. Darkness is well and truly afoot and it looks like things are only going to dirtier, darker and nastier from here …
Star Wars: The Acolyte streams on Disney+