The Acolyte has been the first foray for Star Wars into bringing the era of The High Republic into live action. Set at the tail end of the era, roughly 100 years before The Phantom Menace, the show has followed the tale of twins, Jedi hubris and the rise of the Sith all over the past 7 weeks in 8 gripping episodes.
Bringing a whole new era into live action has been no easy feat but Leslye Headland, showrunner and one of the writers of the show, has done an excellent job of bringing the High Republic books mixed with the feel of the prequels into the show. The sets felt real and lived in with on location shoots making for some breathtaking scenery. It’s been a welcome respite from the Volume.
The Acolyte as a whole has been an outstanding watch, whilst not perfect (as will be discussed), engaging with it and theorizing has been fun. The characters have all been engaging, flawed and colorful, and the new canon elements and discussion about the Jedi that The Acolyte brings to the wider Star Wars galaxy is great. The finale also was one of the best of any Star Wars Disney+ shows, leaving fans both satisfied and also hungry for more.
[Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Acolyte.]
Exploring the twins in The Acolyte
Mae and Osha and how they have been impacted by both the Jedi and the dark side have been the best parts of The Acolyte. The twins, both played by Amandla Stenberg are part of an ongoing mystery in the show, being described as part of a vergence in the Force and both seemingly created from it. They have been of interest to the Jedi and are a catalyst for the plot of the show.
Mae Aniseya is by far, is one of the more interesting characters in the show. When we first meet her, she is this mysterious assassin, an acolyte, determined to kill select Jedi for their crimes in her past. The mystery develops pretty quickly as we learn she is an apprentice to a dark side villain simply known as The Stranger (played by Manny Jacinto), who has helped her hone her hatred. This quickly falls apart when Mae realizes her twin sister Osha didn’t die 16 years ago and is, in fact, alive. This sets the twins on a deep spiral into twisting through being good and bad and the reveal of a deep dark secret that has haunted the Jedi for over a decade.
Mae’s character arc in the show follows the love for her sister and how this can overpower hatred, whilst also still holding on to her ideals of hating the Jedi. We never really see her falter from this. It is interesting to see how she can easily betray The Stranger for her sister, only to end up letting her sister go to be trained by him, while she has to forget them both to keep the secret of the Sith. It is almost poetic, and I really enjoyed the turn the twins took in this show with the switches of them both from good to bad, so much so as with Osha.
We first meet Osha, working as a meknik (a mechanic) on a Trade Federation ship, another exciting inclusion that brought us our first live action neimoidians since the prequels. She is quickly brought into the wider plot as she is blamed for her sister, Mae’s killing of Jedi. This is also quickly disputed in the first few episodes which brought a sigh of relief to me as it is nice to have a show not rely on a miscommunication for the whole season.
Osha ends up-reuniting with her old Jedi Master, Sol (played by Lee Jung-Jae) who welcomes her back with open arms and wants help with bringing her sister in for questioning. The beauty of Osha’s journey is how she goes from this paragon of light and believing in the Jedi order, to joining The Stranger in being his new acolyte and training in the ways of the dark side. Osha is swapped with Mae (who disguises as her sister) at the halfway point in the season, letting her be taken in by The Stranger, who then tries to appeal to her inner darkness and temptation.
It’s great to see how she lets her curiosity win as she opens herself up more to this. Only for it to boil over in a final confrontation with Master Sol, who opens up about a secret he had let lie for over a decade. This results in his death at the hand of his former padawan, and Osha’s journey to the dark side nears its completion.
I feel the journeys of both the twins felt a little rushed in the season, an issue with the show as a whole. As the show is only 8 episodes it was not enough to really delve into them both and see just how they both operate and their psyche. There are plenty of mysteries surrounding them both too that will hopefully be solved in future seasons should they happen.
The Jedi and their hubris as shown in The Acolyte
Master Sol could be seen as the other main character in the show. A wise Jedi Master who seems well respected amongst the Order, he has a great introduction in the show teaching younglings about the force. He lives with the secret of what truly happened on Brendok, home to the twins and their mothers, witches, who also run a coven. This ends up being his undoing. Sol represents the hubris of the Jedi Order in the show and just how much they’re becoming as we see them during their downfall in the prequels. I felt his arc across the show was interesting, and seeing just how much covering up such a terrible secret affected him also added to that.
Jecki (Dafne Keen) is Sol’s newest padawan at the start of the show and alongside Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett), a newly made Jedi Knight, they all a great team in the early episodes. Each of them represents different ideals about the order and how best to be a Jedi. With characters such as Yord being very stern, and by the book, compared to the better thinker and planner Jecki.
One of my favorite parts of The Acolyte is episode 5 where things ramp up to an 11 and a lot of Jedi die. The idea of the Sith existing during this time is nothing new, we learn there has been the rule of two for centuries, but keeping it a secret is something this show needed to make sure happened and killing off most of the Jedi who come into contact with The Stranger sure does that.
We unfortunately lose Yord and Jecki, in what happens to also be one of the best and most ruthless lightsaber fights since the prequels. The Stranger is revealed as none other than Qimir, a bumbling drifter who is friendly with Mae. This came as no surprise (it wasn’t supposed to) to the audience but managed to reignite the show and also give us one of the best Sith in years too.
Exploring the dark side with The Stranger
Qimir or The Stranger quickly became one of my favorite characters on the show, in no small part thanks to the amazing efforts and acting by Manny Jacinto. Jacinto managed to go from the quirky Qimir to the vengeful, raging Stranger in a split second. The Stranger, properly introduced in episode 5, proved just how dangerous and exciting the dark side can be as he quickly despatches several Jedi in a quick vicious rage.
The Stranger brings in a lot of the typical Sith coolness with his outfit and weaponry. His lightsaber is something new and exciting for Star Wars with the ability to separate and reveal a hidden shorter bladed dagger. His helmet, new to canon but brought back from Legends (something which Headland did a lot in the show, much to my liking), is made of Cortosis, a brittle metal that has the ability to short out a lightsaber for a small amount of time. These brought The Stranger into the upper echelons of all time Sith in my book. The look was menacing and the way he interacts with both Mae and Osha is nothing short of great, with him treating both very differently and trying to figure out how best to manipulate them to his teachings.
Even at the season’s end, we know little about him, other than some reveals in the latter half of the season. He is dangerous and menacing but also can be a seducer and a teacher, all in the best ways. We found out snippets about him in The Acolyte season finale, including a look at who his old, and new master may be.
In the final episode, when he and Osha leave for Brendok, a mysterious figure can be seen peeking out of The Strangers cave. To casual fans this may not mean much, but to the more hardcore canon and legends fans it can mean only (potentially) one thing. Darth Plagueis. First mentioned by Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith, Plageuis was his master, a Sith lord obsessed with extending his life. To see him during this era raises a lot of questions, and it will be interesting to see how well he takes to The Stranger taking on another pupil.
We also learn The Stranger was once the padawan of Vernestra Rwoh. This provided a lot of shock from me, but also again raises plenty of questions, and just wonder why Vernestra would decide to not reveal that her padawan is still alive.
Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) is a character brought over from the High Republic books to give the era more of a connection to the show. She is an aged Jedi master by this point and also has a hand in covering up her fair share of issues as the threat of an external review of the Jedi Order by the Senate looms over their heads. It was more interesting to see her develop as the show went on, as we learn plenty about her and just how much she has changed since the books (especially with what she covers up towards the end of the show).
High Republic book readers will know the damage that covering up past mistakes and information can do to Jedi and the order. It seems what Vernestra covers up about the truth with Master Sol, and also her former padawan Qimir, is linked with the downfall of the Order. Vernestra turned into a far more interesting and flawed character for me personally by the end of The Acolyte, and as much as I enjoy reading about her in the novels, I am excited to see her future in this series.
Why Vernestra Rwoh is important to The Acolyte
Investigating the flashbacks and both sides of the story
The flashback episodes of The Acolyte were some of the more nuanced, emotionally engaging episodes of the season. Presented to us four weeks apart, the episodes were shown in an almost Rashomon style of storytelling in which we are presented with one view (The Jedi’s) and then given both sides of the story in the latter flashback which tells us the Jedi’s hubris and Sol’s mistake.
We get more insight into the Jedi that Mae kills in the first few episodes of the show too, with Master Inadara (Carrie-Anne Moss), Padawan Torbin (Dean Charles Chapman) and Kelnacca. They are all on Brendok with Sol exploring a vergence in the Force which has brought life back to a desolate planet. This leads them to discovering the witches coven on the planet and also the twins Mae and Osha who we learn are technically the same person split into two and were created by the witches using the Force for some nefarious means.
Both episodes overlap with each other in certain aspects but also allow us to create a full picture of the night. By the end of it all, we learn about the domino effect of catastrophes that lead to the coven dying and the split of the twins. Whilst it is easy to blame the Jedi for what happened, especially with Master Sol killing Mother Aniseya in a moment of weakness, I feel the show is trying to get you to look at things more critically. Several other factors led to what happened that night, and all the cover-ups and lies years down the line did not help the cause.
The flashback episodes were a great inclusion into the show and I liked how they were done; however, it would have benefitted from the show being longer to be able to either get more from the flashbacks or spend more time with the characters in the “present day” to see how it truly affected them.
Final thoughts on The Acolyte season 1
There is a lot to unpack with The Acolyte, and I expect there will be a lot of discussion of it over the next few weeks. The show has certainly brought a lot of controversy with it, from the review bombing of the show before it aired, to discourse surrounding Legends and canon, and having fans actually think about what they are watching rather than having things spoon-fed to them.
I’ve very much enjoyed The Acolyte a lot, overall. This series has done an excellent job of delving into a new era and bringing us amazing lightsaber fights, the hubris of the Jedi, the Sith and the darkside, as well as a whole splattering of Legends re-canonizations and great characters. I also very much enjoyed the connections to The High Republic books, with certain events and ideas from the books making it into episodes of the show.
I know The Acolyte is not perfect, there was a lot of choppy editing towards the start of the season, not enough time was left to really savour a scene or enjoy a moment. Some of the interiors of sets felt a little restrictive despite a big budget, such as exploring the Jedi Temple seemed to be left to small rooms and chambers. I feel we needed additional episodes, something that is often a problem with streaming, to truly delve in more with these characters, especially before so many of them are killed off. A lot of the scenes in the show needed a few seconds more too, because either a big reveal was cut short by an edit away, or the cliffhanger of the episode happens way too quickly.
All in all, this has been a very experimental but great first season to kick off a new era of Star Wars. I very much hope for a season 2 of The Acolyte and all the excitement, expectation and questions that it could bring. I will find myself rewatching this show, which is something I don’t say about a lot of streaming series. The Acolyte has proved to be a show that only got better as it went on and didn’t leave an unsatisfying end. With Leslye Headland having plenty of ideas for future seasons, I can only wonder where the show will go next. I am keeping everything crossed!
The Acolyte season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+. What did you think of this series? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or in The Cosmic Circus Discord!
Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1 Discussion (Cosmic Circle Podcast Ep. 59)
Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia Book Review
