The Acolyte – The Acolyte Review

Oh Vernestra. You’re rapidly getting in over your head and if there’s a season two of The Acolyte, it’s an easy bet to make that all of your machinations are going to start unraveling faster than you can say Darth Plagueis. But, I have to say, even though much of the episode played out in a rather predictable manner – Sol’s death at Osha’s hands, the reveal of Plagueis (or, at least who we assume is Plagueis), Vernestra being Qimir’s old Master, Osha going all-in with the Dark Side of the Force – it worked, because it finally dove into the most interesting parts of the series, namely the lengths the Jedi are willing to go to maintain autonomy. Or perhaps the lengths Vernestra is willing to go to in order to maintain autonomy.

Because, for all the killing of Jedi and the questions about the origins of the twins (and the fawning over Manny Jacinto’s arms), what struck me as the most interesting part of this series was its attempt to delve into the rot within the Jedi Order. Sol’s belief that Osha was destined to be his Padawan, damn the consequences. The idea that he had to save her from her family. The lies the four Jedi maintained to keep the rest of the Order in the dark as to just what happened on Brendock – and the lies they had to tell themselves to feel okay doing so (or, in the case of Torbin, the lies that got to be too much so he went into a trance for years as a result). And Vernestra’s need to maintain control over the Jedi, independent of any outside oversight, damn the consequences – even when those consequences manifest themselves in her old, discarded Padawan (whom she presumably fought and whipped before he fully turned to the Dark Side).

When the series focused on those elements of the story – the complexities of the lies the Jedi told themselves to continue operating as if nothing was wrong – the series was interesting. It was compelling to see a new take on the Order as a whole (or, at least multiple Jedi in high ranking positions within the Order). And to have Vernestra be the Jedi who is actively making moves to insulate the Order in ways that will ultimately end up leading to its downfall? That’s particularly compelling. Her willingness to pin everything on Sol seemed to come so easy to her. Her acceptance that it was Qimir behind the turning of Osha (and Mae) was chilling – she suspected it was him and once it was confirmed there was no need to worry about it, simply to act. And the knowledge that she’s all too willing to use Mae as a means to find Qimir and Osha and try to take them both down – lest anyone discover that they are out there, potentially able to destroy the delicate image she’s worked so hard to build for the Order? That’s something I genuinely want to see in a second season. In fact, that is more interesting to me than most of this season – which spent far too long dragging out story beats before revealing them.

The two key revelations of the episode – that Darth Plagueis is apparently on that island with Osha and Qimir (which complicates the Rule of Two a bit) and that Vernestra appears to be about to read Master Yoda into the situation with Qimir and Osha – were interesting Easter Eggs, likely meant to get us excited about a potential second season. And, yes, I would be excited to see just how both characters factor into this particular story. But what I’m less excited about is more time watching a Sith training to become one with the Force – well, the Dark Side of it at least. Although, I’m willing to watch it if it comes with a lot of morally gray characters trying to get what they want at the potential expense of their own moral center. Because that’s what The Acolyte did really well – show us characters convinced of their moral superiority only for us to recognize that, in reality, they were the ones with the broken moral compass. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again here: it’s more interesting when characters are painted in shades of gray rather than “good” or “evil.”

So, was this first season of The Acolyte successful? Not fully. It took too long to get to the answers the audience already knew were coming, the writing often felt too simplistic and eye-rollingly on point, and the characters needed more development early in the story to make us care about their fates (looking at you, Jecki and Yord). But when it committed to the idea that no one in this story is the “good guy,” things finally started clicking and got interesting. And the potential to watch Vernestra and Qimir try to outmaneuver one another in a second season, well, that’s pretty intriguing to me. So, if there’s a second season, there’s some interesting storytelling to be had there. I just wish this season had been a bit better constructed.