‘The Acolyte’ sticks the landing with a banger of a finale — and I need more, stat

If I could sum up The Acolyte‘s Season 1 finale in one word, it would be “payoff.”

Episode 8, titled “The Acolyte,” answered most of our biggest questions about the season. How did Mae (Amandla Stenberg) survive her fall on Brendok? Getting sucked into a core tunnel. Would any more Sith Lords join the party? Darth Plagueis would like a word. And who was the Stranger’s (Manny Jacinto) old Master? Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) — called it!

But more than providing answers, The Acolyte gifted us with satisfying resolutions to the arcs it had been building all season long. Most prominent among them was the push and pull between twins Mae and Osha (Stenberg), who we learn are essentially one person split in two thanks to the power of a Force vergence.

The Acolyte finale embraces the power of two — and of switcheroos

Amandla Stenberg in “The Acolyte.”
Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Ever since The Acolyte‘s initial twin reveal, we’ve known a switcheroo was in the cards. Not only in terms of one twin taking on the other’s identity (which both Mae and Osha do over the course of the season), but in terms of ideology. Could the former Jedi fall to the Dark Side, and the Dark Side user rise to the Light?

As “The Acolyte” proves, the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.” When Osha and Mae meet each other once again, the visuals leave no doubt that something has shifted. Mae is still in Osha’s lighter civilian clothing, while Osha’s now dressed in black. Her new hooded ensemble calls to mind an element of Mae’s very first costume, especially the purple hood she wore when she killed Jedi Masters Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman). When Mae abandoned her mission to kill the four Brendok Jedi, she left that entire outfit behind. It’s fitting, then, that Osha finishes the mission Mae set out on dressed just like her.

In the end, Osha is the Aniseya sister to kill Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) without a weapon, not Mae. She Force-chokes him in response to learning he killed Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and lied to her about it. Meanwhile, Mae would prefer that Sol face the Jedi Council and receive his punishment from them. It’s a complete one-eighty from their positions at the beginning of the season: Mae wanted to murder Jedi, while Osha hoped to bring Mae to justice through the Jedi. Later, once the Stranger has wiped Mae’s memories of him and Osha so that Mae won’t give her sister away, Mae finds herself at the heart of the Jedi Order, while Osha prepares to train with the Stranger. The two haven’t just switched sides, they’ve switched the systems of power they serve.

Beyond plot and character interactions, The Acolyte has visually hinted at this shift across the board, from the eclipsed moons of Brendok to the doubled “O” in its logo, which also mirrors the eclipse. Even promotional art for the show highlights a dark moon or planet as it passes across the sun. All this comes to a head in Sol’s death and the moments that follow, when we see the kyber crystal in Sol’s old lightsaber bleed as Osha wields it. Red eclipses blue, Dark overcomes Light, and Osha’s transformation is complete. It’s a phenomenal culmination of visual storytelling, and deeply satisfying to boot.

The Acolyte proves it’s ready to keep trying new things

Lee Jung-jae in “The Acolyte.”
Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

There’s also a refreshing quality to Osha’s journey to the Dark Side, as The Acolyte commits wholeheartedly to her “corruption” arc. That concept is nothing new for Star Wars: Anakin Skywalker is the defining example, while the sequel trilogy ever-so-lightly trod that territory with Rey. But in both cases, going to the Dark Side is treated as a tragedy, a black-and-white moral choice. Osha’s turn, on the other hand, feels more like a liberation. It’s a chance to feel all the emotions the Jedi told her not to feel, a chance to mourn (and avenge) the great loss of her childhood. When Mae asks Osha what she wants, this is what she embraces. When she and the Stranger hold hands and gaze off into the sunset, you sense she’s more at peace there than she ever was with the Jedi.

This is not to say that The Acolyte presents the Jedi as universally bad or the Sith as universally good. It places itself in the grey area of individual human choices. Here, we see supposedly well-intentioned people like Sol twist their personal interests to fit their rigid ethos, leading to preventable tragedies like the one on Brendok. The coverup of that incident has haunted every Jedi involved, and given Vernestra’s twisting of Sol’s actions to cover up the Stranger’s presence, it seems like some Jedi have yet to learn from these mistakes.

The introduction of Senator Rayencourt (David Harewwood) establishes that The Acolyte hopes to continue to put pressure on the impossible standards the Jedi hold themselves to. As he tells her, “it’s only a matter of time before one of you snaps.” You have no idea, Senator. We know Anakin is coming — but how many other Jedi like him erred on a smaller scale and covered their tracks? We’re aware of Sol and Vernestra, and if we get more of The Acolyte, perhaps we’ll learn of even more.

The Acolyte finale really has something for everyone — and hopefully it’s a sign of more to come

Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto in “The Acolyte.”
Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Aside from its strong storytelling and devastating story beats — I’ll be thinking of Sol’s last words to Osha and her parting with Mae for a while — The Acolyte has cemented itself as a Star Wars show that has a little something for everyone. Nowhere is that clearer than in the finale, which ricochets between action-adventure, political intrigue, and deeply felt family drama with ease. Classic Star Wars stuff, right there.

But there are also elements of The Acolyte and its finale that apply to smaller subsets of fans. If you love the flash and flair of lightsaber fights, the Stranger and Sol’s final showdown is one for the ages. If you’re an enemies-to-lovers fan (hello, Reylo shippers!), this finale doubles down on Oshamir and hints at big things ahead for them. Lore heads will cherish that brief Darth Plagueis cameo, while fans of the original and prequel trilogies will likely froth at the mouth over that quick flash we saw of the back of Yoda’s head. (Could I have done without the gratuitous Yoda appearance? Yes, but it’s a small grievance over an otherwise outstanding episode.)

This finale is a perfect storm of proof that The Acolyte knows what it’s doing, both in terms of Star Wars as a franchise and in terms of plain old good storytelling. A Season 2 order (hopefully one with more than eight episodes) should be a no-brainer, allowing The Acolyte to keep building a space for itself in that famed galaxy far, far away. Sure, the power of one season is strong as is — but imagine the power of two. Or better yet, the power of many.

All episodes of The Acolyte Season 1 are now streaming on Disney+.