Mini Series Mae

Well, if it's a trick, it's a trick. And that specific criticism about Mae's change of heart goes away. But I don't think that kind of trickery makes for good storytelling. At least not how it's been presented.

 

How is it a trick? I mean the show has sign posted Mae catching on to Qimir starting in the second episode when he easily overpowers her.

 

On a related note, though episode 4 really seems to want us to think that Qimir is the Master I can't help but think that it would make more sense if Mother Koril was the Master. She obviously has a personal connection to Mae and personal motivation to get revenge on the Jedi who invaded her coven. If Qimir turns out to be the Master and he's taking advantage of Mae's grief to carry out an attack on the Jedi simply because he's an evil dark sider and that's what evil dark siders do well...that's not very compelling motivation. It's sort of the Anakin/Luke Skywalker all over again. Let's hope that if Qimir is the master that we also learn that he has some deeper motivation than, "well I'm evil so naturally I want to kill the Jedi".

Getting back to Mae if Qimir is the Master what's his interest in getting Mae to kill the Jedi when episode 4 showed us that he is more than capable of killing Jedi on his own, (RIP Wookiee Jedi)? The Master is insanely powerful. In addition to killing a Wookiee Jedi he force pushed a whole gaggle of Jedi with the flick of a finger. If the Master can do all that then he doesn't need Mae to kill the Jedi so what's his interest in turning Mae to the dark side? Again the same could be said about Palpatine and Anakin and Luke but that wouldn't make the Master's motivation compelling to me. The Master is just Palpatine 2.0? Ugh.

At the same time if the Master is Mother Koril why in the world would she keep her identity a secret from Mae? Maybe because she's using Mae's grief as motivator to kill the Jedi and if Mae knew that one of her mother's was alive then maybe she would NOT want to go after the Jedi?

Mae's motivations for killing the Jedi are so muddled and confusing to me. If we take the show at face value Mae tells her sister Osha she's going to kill her and attempts to do so but then years later blames the Jedi for her sisters "death" and spends ostensibly a long time training to kill the Jedi and even successfully kills two of them before having a change of hear after she learns that the sister she initially tried to kill is actually alive. What a mess.

This story would've worked better for me if Mae did NOT say, "I'm going to kill you Osha" but instead really leaned hard on making the Jedi appear to be fully responsible for the death of the coven and leaving Mae to think that the Jedi killed Osha. If that were the case I could more easily buy Mae's massive flipflop change of heart to turn herself in.

At it's core I think this show has an interesting premise but it's being told in such a clumsy confusing way that it's distracting.

 

The whole thing is an Alice in wonderland “fall down that rabbit hole” dream as part of the Ascension ritual when the twins are young to see their possible futures.

 

as Sol says, no one should have survived the fall that Mae did. Someone has to be ready at the bottom to save her and then indoctrinate her and it doesn't make sense for Koril to go through from Mae's mother to Sith Lord that keeps her identity from her to train her as a Sith to get revenge on the Jedi that haven't even left their planet yet in the span of one evening. There has to be a Sith connection to the coven there that night that isn't Koril herself anyway so it being Koril instead of Qimir doesn't solve much.

 

Mae catching on to Qimir has absolutely been clear since episode 2. But even if that's the case, and Mae is faking her decision to abandon her darkside quest because of Osha, she doesn't show that when she walks into the room with Kelnacca in it. She looked legitimately surprised. If so, who was she acting for, since there's nobody (alive) in the room? For the audience? As I said, I'm open to all the different possibilities, as this is a non-linear mystery thriller type thing. But so far, I don't feel engaged by how it's unfolding. Part of it, I think, has to do with a very flat acting style. Except for Sol, Jecki and even Yord at times, who I think are really elevating the show. And the other part of it is how choppy it seems - quick scenes one after the other, with a lot of seemingly perfunctory dialogue.

 

I think she is legitimately surprised. The last she saw of Qimir he’s hanging upside down so I don’t think she thought he’d catch up so quickly and maybe she wonders if she underestimated him so the fear is also real. I think she intended to surrender to Kalnacca and that Qimir would catch up before they got off world. I don’t think she thought she would walk in and see the Wookiee already dead.

 

I can see that. But even so, I think it's too convoluted. And it isn't implemented in an emotionally compelling way. Not sure how to describe it, but it's just too...flat.

 

Thinking things through

How old is Qimir?

Manny Jacinto is 38. So if Qimir is roughly the same age, 16 years ago he would have been what ... 18? A teenage Sith apprentice, attending the Coven Ascension ritual, with his Master. And what for the past 16 years he's secretly trained Mae without his Master knowing? That Qimir caught Mae after she fell and then hid her from the Master all this time? And if he's not the current apprentice, then what ... he was Master all this time? A Sith Master at 18?

Something is missing, but it all seems weird if you think about it.

 

So the Sith - Darth Qimir and possibly his Master - are being manipulated (without them even knowing it) by the Mom Witch into training Mae to kill the Jedi (without a weapon) because they killed Osha. Even though Mae started the fire. (Or maybe not lol)

 

Bold Prediction! Mother Koril, Qimir and the character in the mask are all the same person!

 

No. Mother Aniseya is the Sith Master.

 

Yes. Call me crazy but I might be jumping back on the theory that adult Osha and Mae are the same person/split personality/Force projection/imagination figment/whatever you want to call it. I've seen arguments for and against it. With some deliberately deceptive editing and unreliable POV, it could be 'the big twist' after all. Not saying I believe it just yet. I'll stop short at theorizing that Mae/Osha is also the masked Sith, but it crossed my mind as a remote possibility too.

 

I’m not sure how that would make sense unless Osha can be in two different places at once. Mae is clearly seen by Bazil while Osha is with the Jedi.

 

So it turns out that Mae is not a great Sith acolyte since she has quit. This suggests to me that someone else must become the acolyte, and who else other than Osha?

 

Force projection. She can be in two places at once

Not saying there aren’t holes in the theory or if I believe it entirely. But it’s an interesting one to consider. There was so much emphasis on OSHA waking up from sleep in the first episode. And the Force dream of Mae on the snow planet. And the shiftiness of Sol who may know more than he’s letting on.

 

If this is the case, it’ll be the worst writing decision since Boba Fett asked for an appointment with the mayor.

 

She was tired of following the Sith and with her sister alive she feels hope and trust the jedi to give her a light sentence.

 

You mean the Jedi who she thinks killed her entire family? That Jedi?

 

We think that but we dont know. Her reaction and consideration to going to the jedi, sells me they didnt.

 

We don't actually know this just yet. This might be Mae's POV. One created by Sol, or something else. Mae thinks Osha was dead. She might believe or know her family is alive.

EDIT: Or does Mae say this in a previous episode? I can't remember actually.