After eight episodes, Disney+'s latest Star Wars show, The Acolyte, has come to an end, with a finale that's as mixed as the rest of the series.
This episode, called "The Acolyte," takes us back to Brendok for the final showdown, as Mae, Osha, Sol, and Qimir converge on the planet where all the problems began 16 years ago.
I'm not sad that show's over. At times it's even been hard to watch, as it flips its characters from one scenario to another with no motivation or emotional heart. This episode continues the trend of characters changing their minds on a dime, only this time it's Bazil the cutesy alien that has a change of heart. After attacking Mae the last time he saw her, this time he saves her life by sabotaging Sol's ship when he's chasing after her. I'm not sure where this sudden change comes from, or how he knows the best way to disable the ship.
He's not the only one guilty of this, though, as we get what I was expecting in the finale, with Mae and Osha swapping places. After spending years on a path of vengeance and hatred, Mae gives up on this and decides that she wants Sol to return to Coruscant and face a trial, even though she was willing to carry out her own justice just a few hours before
On the opposite side, Osha decides that she's now going to join the Dark Side and finds her Force abilities pretty quickly, even bleeding a kyber crystal with no training. I don't know if this is meant to be tragic or whether we're meant to view Sol as the villain and think he got what he deserved, because the worst thing he did was cover up what happened on Brendok. That was wrong, but everything else he did because he wanted to protect the twins and thought they were in danger from a Dark Side cult. At the same time, both Osha and Mae have committed outright murder but aren't treated as antagonists. I get the feeling it's trying to play with the idea that there are no heroes or villains and it all depends on your perspective, but that kind of thing is out of place in Star Wars and is poorly executed here.
All through this show there's been the underlying idea that the Jedi are bad, but there's been no good reason shown why we should believe that. They make mistakes, it's true, and they aren't perfect, but on balance they do more good than bad for the galaxy. Probably the worst Jedi here is Vernestra Rhow, who threw Sol under a steamroller by blaming him for the murder of the Jedi on Khofar to protect herself once she discovers her former padawan Qimir is still out there, even though pinning the blame on Osha and Mae would make more sense, as they are both guilty of killing Jedi.
On the actual Dark Side, something has emerged from the shadows, and it appears to be Darth Plageuis the Wise, in one of the smallest and most unnecessary cameos in Star Wars history. What was he doing there? Was he spying on Qimir, watching as he trained his own secret apprentice? Or has he been the orchestrator of everything? It seems too much of a coincidence that Osha and Mae were created by a "vergence" the same as Anakin, and he just happens to be there. Surely he must have had a part to play in all of this, and passed on his knowledge to Palpatine?
I feel like some things should be left a mystery, and it's best not to give a definite answer on whether or not Anakin was created simply by the Force or whether the Sith had a hand in it. This is all a lead in for a second season, but there's been no announcement of one, and given the frosty reception to this season and the changes happening with Disney+, it might never happen.
As a set up for a long-running show, this season has done nothing to get me invested in its story or characters. The story just hasn't been there, and even when the acting is in top form, there's not enough character development to do it justice. The plot's bounced from one unlikely event to the next, and there are so many whiplash changes that parts of it could have been written by AI, which has the tendency to invent improbable plot twists to get out of tricky situations. If there's been one good thing about the show, it's the lightsaber action, and this final episode was no different, with the duel between Sol and Qimir having more energy than the choreography of other Star Wars shows. Unfortunately, without proper emotional investment to back them up, these fights are just flashy diversions and aren't nearly enough to save the show on their own.
Looking at parts of The Acolyte, there could have been a good story lying beneath the bad writing, cringe dialogue, and poor characters, but it's not a story that needed to be set in the Star Wars universe. It wouldn't have been anything special, but it could have been better than it was. As it is, The Acolyte is just another disappointing addition to the catalogue of live-action streaming shows from a galaxy far, far away.
Episode Grade: D+
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