The Acolyte - Episode 8

The Acolyte concludes with a finale that plays into expectations. The final four episodes of the series have all pointed towards Osha (Amandla Stenberg) trading places with Mae and taking her twin's path on the Dark Side (complete with the bleeding of a kyber crystal which has been discussed in various Star Wars properties without ever being shown until this point). As with the previous flashback episode, which only confirmed events viewers should have already have worked out on their own, "The Acolyte" finale provides a confrontation between Mae and her old master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) pushing her path towards Qimir (Manny Jacinto). The path of Mae turns out to be far less interesting, mind-wiped and basically trading places with her sister, meaning we're left in largely the same situation we were when the series began.

Although it loses momentum over the final few episodes, The Acolyte is a success in carving out its own corner of the Star Wars Universe and presenting the Jedi from a different point of view. I'll also give the show credit for having far less filler than either Ahsoka or Andor. Given the very mixed reaction to the series, however, where things go from here is a much bigger question. Osha exists a century ahead of all other Star Wars properties in development, meaning if no second season is greenlit it would certainly be a challenge to find a way to fit her into one of the other series (unless more Old Republic content is on its way).

With the season complete, the larger question of whether or not The Acolyte was a success appears to be answered in the affirmative, although the "mystery" it leaves dangling between Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) and Qimir doesn't feel strong enough to be a major plot point going forward (or ultimately revealing anything all that interesting). The Acolyte's successes deal mainly with the new characters and new direction of the show in exploring a Force assassin, and the show's missteps seem to come from leaving these to return to the more comfortable templates such as trading in the witches for another Sith or introducing, but never developing, the divergence theme on which the series is built.

How the witches created the girls is teased but not explored. And The Acolyte goes for the safest of all options with the twins, choosing not to kill either, keep them together to explore the Force and universe together, or examining how the divergence separated them into different beings and how, possibly, it could reunite them into a single whole (any of which would certainly have been a more exciting end). The last of those would have made for one hell of season finale while still leaving plenty of options in where to take a second season. The lack of ambition that trails off into the expected over the series certainly doesn't help the season end strong, although there still are solid moments here in characters completing the journey we expect them to take. A little more of the ambition and experimentation we saw earlier in the series could have helped in the finale.

• Title: The Acolyte - The Acolyte
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