The Acolyte Episode 8 Review
The first season of ‘The Acolyte’ has now come to a close, and because of the weak reveal from episode seven, the fallout from it is similarly as weak. There are some exciting action beats, and teases for the future, but the writing continually lets the show down, as it draws to a close.
To start the odd reveals off, is the aftermath of Sol and Mae’s conversation, where she gets mad at him for killing her mother, though it’s played as though Mae is learning this information for the first time. She’s not, which makes the moment confusing and forced. Mae escapes Sol, where she flies a ship through an asteroid field to try and escape. Sol flies after her, though it’s not clear what his goal is. He primes the ships weapons, almost like he was about to kill Mae, but he’s disrupted by Basil. It’s an action piece for the sake of an action piece, though the asteroids being smaller adds a different touch to how they’re usually portrayed. Both crash on Brendok.
Osha and Qimir begrudgingly team up to find Sol and Mae, with Qimir thinking that Mae will kill Sol and Osha thinking that she can save Mae. As they leave the planet, a shadowy figure watches from a cave. This is likely Darth Plagueis, evoking his Muun features. He’s suitably creepy and how audiences would expect him to look, so full props has to be given to the designers and animators. It’s thrilling to see this fan-favourite character finally in live-action.
But, and there’s a big but, it’s a real shame Plagueis does nothing. Had the character done something impactful, killed a Jedi or just something, then his appearance would have felt justified, but as it is, it’s just a moment calling for fan attention. He’ll likely play a bigger role in a potential season two, but that’s a dirty trick Lucasfilm have pulled when they know the appeal of the character and could have done more with him.
Vernestra Rwoh also makes her way to Brendok with a contingent of Jedi, with a warning from the Senate that she needs to find the mysterious killer quickly, or risk Senate oversight. This is delivered by dialogue from Senator Rayencourt, played by David Harewood, and it’s phenomenal, and easily the best part of the show. Had this been a larger threat throughout, and not just brief mentions, the show would have been improved, but the bits audiences get are fantastic.
Osha and Qimir arrive on Brendok shortly after Mae and Sol, and Qimir vanishes when they get to the door, something that Osha has to spend significant time fixing. It’s a weird convenience, and something that just adds to the long list of them the show utilises. But this leads to a long lightsaber fight between Sol and Qimir, and the former weaves martial arts with the lightsaber work. Apart from the ocassional floaty moments, it’s a fantastic fight. What’s less enjoyable is the fight between Mae and Osha, who have a hand-to-hand fight, when it seems that they need to talk.
The Jedi ship files overhead to the point where anyone looking out the window would have seen Qimir’s bright red lightsaber, but somehow they don’t. And, even when they do land, they seem to do so far away from the fortress, no doubt to give everyhting time to wrap up. It’s another convenience, as had the Jedi jumped from their ship directly into the Sol and Qimir fight, things would have ended differently.
Mae gets away from Osha, and to Sol and Qimir. She has a moment where she could kill Sol, but instead demands he face Jedi justice, which would land better if Sol had actually done anything wrong (besides covering up this mistakes). Osha overhears his confession, and gives over to the Dark Side, bleeding Sol’s lightsaber and killing him with it. It’s a nice touch to see lightsaber bleeding in live-action, though Osha’s murder of Sol would have felt more earned had Sol actually done anything wrong. The sisters flee before the Jedi arrive, but Qimir lingers, watching as Vernestra arrives. She senses all the pain that occured at the battle, and spots Qimir, who, unsurprisingly, turns out to be her former Padawan, again soemthing the show heavily forshadowed in a previous episode.
Mae and Osha meet with Qimir again, who wipes Mae’s memory as she wants to go with the Jedi, and allows Osha to come with him to be trained as a Sith. Vernestra blames Sol for all the deaths to the rest of the Jedi and Senate, which is a huge stretch, especially as one of the deaths includes Sol’s own Padawan. But she does know the truth, as what is almost a post-credits scene where she meets Yoda, the second pointless cameo. Yoda has done nothing all season, and all his inclusion does is raise the question of what he’s being while Jedi have been randomly dropping dead across the galaxy.
Overall, this episode probably wrapped up the season as best as it could, which still isn’t great as it had a weak foundation. The show overall was OK, squandering its premise and setting to tell a mediocre story. The costumes and commitment to the High Republic were the highlight, with Qimir and Sol following shortly after. But the weak reveal killed this show, and its convenience-heavy plot weighed it down more and more. It remains to be seen whether the show will be picked up for a season two, but it wouldn’t be a huge loss if it wasn’t.
