Jedis have been murdered in the latest Star Wars series, The Acolyte. If that wasn’t enough to hook you as a fan of this franchise, a set of twins is at the center of the story too. Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that this show respects the world it’s a part of while also doing something new. The Acolyte 1×04 is an exciting and efficient episode with unexpected plot points and fantastic details.
Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) has been on a mission of revenge from the first frame of this series. She wants to kill all 4 Jedi who were stationed on her home planet of Brendok when she was a child. She succeeded with one of them in the opening sequence of the first episode, and another one was dead by the end of the second. The stakes are real here. Last week’s flashback episode showed us Mae’s motivation. She blames the Jedi for the death of her family 16 years ago. But her twin sister Osha (also played by Stenberg) did not die. Osha has mourned her sister this whole time, too, even while she trained as a Jedi. Osha left the Jedi Order but someone has trained Mae in the Force arts as well. And that someone is a Sith.
The Acolyte 1×04 advances the central mystery at a surprising pace, making the most of its shorter run time. There are also memorable touches here that truly add to the universe of Star Wars.
“I couldn’t accept what I’d lost.”
Now that Osha and Mae know each other are alive, apprehending Mae for her crimes is much more complicated. Osha could not shoot her sister when she came face-to-face with her even though she knew what Mae did. And she also knows Mae intends to kill two more Jedi. Osha’s former Jedi Master, Sol (Lee Jung-jae), is one of them. For now, Sol convinces Osha to help take Mae into custody. He believes that “there is still good in her.” The parallels here are hard to ignore. These are almost the exact same words Padme said about Anakin in the Prequel Trilogy.
This story takes place a century before the Skywalker family saga, though, so the thematic resonance is less about specific characters we know and more about the general ideas of dark and light. This franchise has always examined those. The identical twin characters of Osha and Mae are a striking conduit for that. Mae travels to the planet of Khofar to track down Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo), the Wookiee Jedi she wants to kill. The uncharted forest planet is beautiful but also deadly. As Sol, Osha, and a group of other Jedi try to find Kelnacca before Mae does, Sol has to kill an umbramoth. It’s a cool addition to the scary creatures of Star Wars.
“We’re defined by what we survive.”
It’s not the only critter introduced in this episode. The other one is a cute badger-like tracker named Bazil. He is little and fierce. He’s fun to have around for a lot of reasons, and one of them is because Yord Fandar (Charlie Bartlett), one of Sol’s Jedi team, translates for him. Yord has history with Osha just like Sol. He has also given off a strong and cool vibe every second of his screen time since the first episode. (In fact, he has inspired a following online. Where my Yord Horde at?) When you look forward to more time with characters like this, a show is doing something right.
We need to discuss Mae’s growth in this episode. She justifies Sol’s faith in her when she decides to turn herself over to the Jedi now that she knows Osha is alive. She finds the courage to turn her back on her Sith master’s plan. I admit I thought this might happen but this is sooner than I expected. Also earlier than anticipated is the appearance of Mae’s master. He confronts the Jedi at the end of this episode and he is powerful. Unfortunately, his presence also means the loss of Kelnacca, the first Wookiee Jedi. That’s disappointing. It also means Sol is the only one left off Mae’s list for revenge. Add that to the ending and The Acolyte 1×04 ensures that I’ll be waiting impatiently for the next episode.
The Acolyte is streaming on Disney Plus.
