The Acolyte Spoiler Recap: Day
How is it that The Acolyte just keeps getting better and better? What was initially sold to me as a “Jedi murder mystery — though let’s be real what really sold me was “The High Republic” — has since become so much more than that. It’s not a whodunnit (or at least, it wasn’t, more on that in a minute), or a howcatchem (again, let’s put a pin in this). Up until now, we’ve known who the killer is, and so do our protagonists. The question fuelling the mystery, then, has been “why,” since even the onscreen explanation didn’t seem like it painted the whole story. But now after Episode 4, “Day,” I feel like I have more questions that ever before, the biggest of which is: is it next Tuesday yet? But let’s dive in.
The episode opens on Khofar, the forest planet where Jedi Master Kelnacca now lives in self-imposed (I assume) exile. Like Torbin and his Barash vow, it’s easy to assume the Wookiee feels like he has something to atone for. It’s also obvious he has the Brendok coven on his mind, as his makeshift home is covered in carvings and symbols resembling the witches tattoos. As for why? That remains to be seen.
On Coruscant, we find Jecki in a lightsaber training class with fellow Padawans while Osha watches from the doorway. This is something I’ve lamented out loud for a while now, but one thing I love about the High Republic era in particular is the way it allows Jedi of any age to forge some sort of friendship with their peers, even as they begin their apprenticeships. True, we don’t see Jecki talking to any of them after class, but it’s hard not to believe that at least some of these kids are friends. We got hints of it in books like Jedi Apprentice, where Obi-Wan had a few BFFs among his Padawan class, but you get the sense that they grew apart as they found Masters and moved on. All this to say I’m reading an awful lot into a primarily visual demonstration of a lightsaber kata, though I’d be surprised if the instructions and advice called out by the Master don’t serve Jecki later this season.
Jecki spies Osha by the door, and Osha tells her that she’s heading out now that her name is cleared. She also thanks Jecki for helping her find Mae, if only to see that she’s alive. Beyond that, she doesn’t feel particularly inclined to help find her sister, claiming it’s the Jedi’s problem now, though Jecki points out it’s obvious she still cares about her. Since she and Jecki did spark up a friendship though, Osha suggests the two of them catch up the next time she’s on Coruscant to trade stories about their shared Master. Osha then admits she hasn’t said bye to Sol, since she’s caused enough trouble already, though the decision is obviously upsetting her.
Back on Khofar, Mae and Qimir arrive, ready to find Kelnacca. He warns her not to go charging off without him, since the planet is uncharted, but lucky for Mae, Qimir has been there before, specifically to find Kelnacca to help her. The more he talks, and the more he leans into his unassuming “aw shucks” persona, the more I become convinced there’s something up with this guy. See, for instance, the way he tensely reminds Mae that she has to kill Kelnacca because she promised her Master. Someone who is just a friend shouldn’t be this invested in the promise over the person. Conclusion? Qimir is a Sith. OK it’s probably not that simple, but also what if it is?
As they walk deeper into the woods, Qimir puzzles over Mae’s directive from her Master (who I’m just calling Darth Teeth from here on) to kill a Jedi without a weapon, wondering what exactly that entails. While I feel like Qimir knows perfectly well what Darth Teeth meant, it is an interesting puzzle. What does “without a weapon” even mean? She poisoned Torbin, but you could argue that she simply presented Torbin with a poison and guilted him into taking it. If that didn’t meet the requirements, then it’s likely Darth Teeth means something more along the lines of “without the involvement of a weapon at all.” It’s also not likely he means “through the slow destabilization of the entire Jedi order, leading to infighting, mistrust and eventual death,” but hey, what do I know?
Qimir presses Mae for details on how she plans to kill Kelnacca without a weapon, given the number of times she’s “failed” Darth Teeth thus far, and Mae finally asks him what his involvement with Darth Teeth is exactly. He says that he just owes him, and that Darth Teeth “collects people” and then very quickly says he’s never seen Darth Teeth’s face when Osha asks if he has, then abruptly changes the subject. So he’s definitely lying, right? We don’t need Jedi senses to tell us that? Mae fishes for information about Osha, wondering what she’s like now. Qimir tells her that Osha’s in over her head, but seemed attached to Sol, news which makes Mae’s face drop. Oh boy.
Hopping back over to Coruscant, the Jedi - including Ki-Adi Mundi, hello Ki-Adi Mundi - watch Sol’s documentation of the fight with Mae, studying her technique. They’re quick to dismiss it as inelegant and based on emotion — which feels like something they do at their own peril, but this is frankly par for the course with the Jedi — though they acknowledge there’s something there, and someone must have trained here, the question is who. Sol admits even Mae doesn’t know the identity of her Master, and that throws everyone off further. Mundi says Mae could be a major threat, a sentiment Vernestra echoes.
It’s clear to her Mae is Jedi-taught, and also clear she’s targeting the four Jedi stationed on Brendok, but what the Jedi can’t figure out is why them, and more importantly why now? Vernestra also shuts down the idea of telling the Jedi Council, as they’d have to tell the Senate in turn, which would in essence be a PR nightmare as people would start to mistrust the Jedi. Vernestra, what happened to you? For the record, I don’t think this character shift is inconsistent with the novels, as it’s been about 100 years since the events of Light of the Jedi. We see how much these characters change in just a couple of years, it would be ridiculous to asusme they’d stay the same over the course of a century, but it’s heartbreaking to contemplate how a Jedi prodigy who once turned her focus to helping the forgotten people of the galaxy is now deeply mired in Jedi and galactic politics.
She orders Master Holden to head to Khofar to intercept Mae before she can harm Kelnacca, but Sol asks if he can be the one to bring her in instead. He’s obviously wracked with guilt over leaving Mae behind and assuming she was dead, but Vernestra hesitates owing to his personal connection with the sisters. She and Sol agree, however, that there’s something more to Mae’s plan, something which likely involves her Master. Sol reasons that if Holden takes Mae out, the trail to her Master goes cold, but if they use Osha as bait, Mae is more likely to surrender.
Sol finds Osha at the spaceport and tells her he needs her help on this next mission. She asks if this means he wants her to rejoin the Jedi, and is it me, or does she sound really excited when she asks, and really disappointed when he says no? I just assumed she left of her own volition, but if she was expelled from the Order, what prompted that? Leslye Headland has cited the Clone Wars arc where Ahsoka walks away from the Order as an influential one, but we who have seen the show remember that she walked away after first being expelled. Can’t wait to see that parallel play out.
Osha is hesitant to join the mission, but Sol tells her that Mae softened when she realized Osha was still alive, and obviously still cares about her sister. He also adds that there’s still good in her, for all that Osha is ready to write her off as a murderer, and this man is just living proof that the system is broken, but there are still good people fighting the good fight from within.
Yord briefs the Jedi on the mission, explaining that Kelnacca was stationed on Khofar by the Order (so much for my exile idea) but hasn’t been heard from in over a year (alright, maybe there is something to it). The trip over also introduces us to Bazil, a rodent-like being (a Tynnan, if you want to get all technical) who is serving as the mission’s tracker. I love them already.
The group arrives on Khofar, landing near a small settlement. While Jecki gets directions, Yord and Osha snip at each other, with Yord trying to confiscate her blaster. Whatever prompted the fallout between the two former friends, I’m going to need the juicy details ASAP. The locals tell Jecki he headed into the woods, and Sol’s ability to sense the people he’s closest to gives them a vague direction, with Bazil leading them more specifically. As the rest of the group pass ahead of them, Osha asks Yord to stop Mae if it looks like she won’t listen to Osha and stand down, as she says she doesn’t have it in her to do it herself. He doesn’t strictly agree, suggesting Sol brough Osha here to face not only her twin, but to face herself.
And hey, speaking of her twin, Mae and Qimir finally make it to the forest proper, with the Jedi hot on their heels. The Jedi group enters a copse of trees with these really gross-looking lumps on the trunks, something that raises Bazil’s suspicions. The lumps, it turns out, are not lumps, but instead 4-foot-long, winged insects with hard shell bodies. If your scalp is itching, mine is too. Sol kills the one that Osha accidentally woke up, and they pass through unhindered but if this is the last we see of these bugs I will be shocked to my core.
Jecki senses Osha is disturbed, and Osha tells her she was able to sense the bug, but because of her it’s dead now. Jecki tries to comfort her, saying that it’s an honor to watch any being transform into the Force, but admits that Osha’s seen this more than she has. Osha counters that her inability to accept the loss of her coven is what stopped her from being a “true Jedi,” but Jecki tells her is what she’s survived that defines her, rather than what she’s lost. It’s these little moments, moments of hope, of belief that there’s still good in someone, of acknowledging a loss, that make this show feel so Star Wars to me. Lightsabers, Jedi, ships, creatures, its all set dressing to the heart I know exists in the best of these stories.
Qimir and Mae draw closer to Kelnacca, with Qimir telling her they’re only about 10 minutes away. Just in time too, as the sun is rapidly setting. Mae pulls up short, telling Qimir that she needs to take a break, since the only thing waiting at their destination is a fight with a Wookiee. She tells Qimir that Darth Teeth’s insistence that she kill a Jedi without a weapon isn’t a test, as Qimir suggested, but is instead “the final lesson,” one she has to teach herself. The lesson, she reasons, is impossible, since it goes against the Jedi ethos to attack an unarmed person, stirring up a moral quandry in her that likely started rising with Indara’s death and has reached the surface now that she knows Mae is alive.
Like Ben Solo (there’s your reference for this week), Mae’s willingness to go along with her Master relies heavily on the strength of her convictions, and right now she’s being torn apart. It’s one thing to choose to reject all you know and love when you’re in isolation, it’s quite another to be faced with those things and have to choose to reject it. Kylo Ren powered through, killed his father, and split his soul in half as a result. But Mae looks less and less like she even wants to power through. She maintains she wants what Darth Teeth is offering more than anything, but if that were the case, she wouldn’t be so full of doubt. Something in this prompts Qimir to volunteer to go get her some more water, and the minute he’s gone, Mae gets to work.
As the Jedi draw closer and Qimir gathers the water he promised, they all hear Mae cry out for help. Qimir charges in, only to be snared by a trap and dangled upside down. With Qimir now caught in her trap, Mae tells him that she realized she doesn’t need to see the deal with Darth Teeth through. Her sister being alive means that her loyalties lie with her, rather than Darth Teeth. She tells Qimir she plans on turning herself into the Jedi and telling them everything she knows in exchange for staying out of prison. Qimir tells her Darth Teeth will kill her, but Mae is positive he won’t even be able to find her. Famous last words.
The Jedi also search for the site of the scream, having lost track of Bazil, but Sol senses something. Something he’s unwilling to share with Osha. She tells him that she now has the courage to face her twin, but Sol tells her she won’t just face Mae, she’ll have to face her past, as will Sol. He then promises to explain everything when they get to the ship and once again: FAMOUS. LAST. WORDS.
The Jedi might have lost track of Bazil, but Bazil at least knows exactly where he is, having located both Kelnacca’s home and Mae. He calls out to the Jedi, and they follow the sound of his screeches until they reach Kelnacca’s shack. Mae beats them to it, barging inside to speak with him, but by the time she arrives, he’s dead from a lightsaber slash to the chest. Darth Teeth is here after all.
The group catches up to her, and call for her surrender outside the house. Where before she was determined to turn herself in, now Mae is hesitant, knowing what awaits outside. Sol can sense it to, turning around just in time to see Darth Teeth slowly descend from the trees, and even more slowly approach Osha. He doesn’t say a word, but probably clocks that she’s Mae’s twin, then ignites his saber and knocks Osha aside, before also knocking all the Jedi on their asses as they charge him, lightsabers lit.
Talk about the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. If I had to guess, we’re getting the other half of this mini-arc next week (and the episode will probably be called “Night”), so prepare for a lot of reflections on What It All Means next time, when I can paint a fuller picture. I can’t even begin to guess where this is going. Is Qimir the Sith? Is he Darth Teeth’s apprentice? Is he Darth Teeth’s Master? How many of the Jedi are making it out of this fight alive? How long until Osha senses Mae is there? All questions I need answers to immediately. Tuesday has never seemed so far away.
The Acolyte airs new episodes every Tuesday night. The first four episodes are streaming now.
