Mini Series The Acolyte 1.08 (SEASON FINALE!!!) - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Wasn't the splitable shoto also new to live action?

 

I'd say it's the moral equivalent of playing God. And in this universe, it's seizing and controlling the force to create unnatural life. Makes perfect sense as a dark side desire in Star Wars.

 

Did Vernestra Rhow recruit Mae to be her padawan student??

 

It's about power. Being able to create life is kind of the ultimate demonstration of 'control' and the control of the force... which is something Plaguies is obsessed with.

 

IMO pretty a lot of stuff: that they can be “merged” that probably the ascension was about that (it tracks with all the discourse about having to renounce your individuality and such and with their song I give you you you give me me …), that if they merge they could become and incredibly powerful force being because their force will be added? That they are basically two sides of a same individual and that’s why I think they can’t both turn to the light or to the dark, they have to stay balanced? One goes dark the other becomes light? That we have no idea if they merge what will result? That someone created them that way so with what purpose? Splitting one incredibly powerful being on two because one baby could not carry safely all that power? That they are a force dyad? That
We need season 2 to find out? Ehehe

Yup yup, it tracks with Plagueis being the one who knows how to cheat death? And also depending on why they were created they could be the direct solution like if mother Aniseya and Koril were going to “absorb” them into themselves to stay young and not die?
Also Qimir did not know but Qimir is most likely way older than he is so how did he do that?

yep agree agree… and then sent Qimir to retrieve his experiments to try to put them to use!

also thought now: pretty fitting that Amandla plays two roles but that in reality are one person splitted, therefore that person splitted into the twin is “they/them”!

 

Yes, I don't think we've seen that exactly, and the shoto might indeed be what she was talking about. The quote I remember from Headland is that she wasn't sure the design team could pull off the design that she was asking for because it was so crazy. A hilt that splits in two doesn't sound crazy to me and is pretty close to Maul's double-bladed saber that we've seen before. He could use one blade, or ignite the second. It's not a reach to also split the hilt in two. Maybe Headland was just being hyperbolic in her statements.
A dual colored saber is something we haven't seen before. Although, it probably needed very little CGI effort to pull off. Nothing 'crazy.'

 

This was a huge problem, not exploring why the creation of life is a bad thing...

 

Yes. Fans will come out with their own conclusions and theories, but it feels like this element was left a bit vague.

Of course, the idea the writers are hinting at is that their dialogues were a sort of internal monologue, which I kind of like. Though it does feel like they did not elaborate much further, and in fact the two girls appear to also have fairly distinct personalities.


Also, and more generally, why did the witches split the life energy in the first place? What's so special about two as opposed to... well, one... or many?

 

I'll probably post a bit more later, giving some specific reactions but... So many inconsistencies, so many plot holes, so many bizarre motivation switches, "the Force" magically working at some times and then not at others, so many times in this episode and throughout the series where people fall to say the few words that would change everything, no one in the Jedi seeming to have an IQ above room temperature, a "cover story" that wouldn't hold up to a minute's scrutiny, Venestra seeming to answer to no one, to operate without oversight or scrutiny, nothing to remotely justify Torbin's story (or why no one in the Jedi order realized he was DEEPLY disturbed and dealt with it), and that ultra-cringe fan-fic Twilight/50 Shades of Grey handholding as Osha and Qimir watch the sunset. Wow.

From the beginning I said I'd withhold an overall assessment until the end, and for me, the series was a largely muddled, weirdly inconsistent, messy disappointment.

After having said that, this may seem insincere, but really - if you enjoyed it, if you worked for you, that's great. To each his or her own.

 

I just figured it was to mirror the light side/dark side duality of the Force. Kind of like the son and daughter of Mortis.

Maybe the splitting into two was the only way to get the process to work?

The show started out with Mae as the darksider and Osha as the lightsider, but eventually they flipped. And while Mae was never shown to exactly be wholly good, she started the show trying to kill the four Jedi on Brendok 16 years ago, while Osha is trying to stop the killing.

But ultimately Mae wants Sol, the last of the four, to face the Republic justice system, whereas Osha ends up killing him. And it’s not a snap decision like Anakin cutting Mace’s hand off, it is very personal and intentional, to choke the life out of him slowly and make eye contact with him as she does it.

And now with her memory wiped, it’s almost a Darth Revan type of situation with Mae, where the Jedi can build her into something good. That’s the only protagonist I could see in a potential season 2 is Mae.


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I thought maybe because the force that was put into this creation was too much for one body to bear so it was split in two babies to then just merge into one more powerful, and also keeping a light dark balance until full potential development?

I also think they are balanced so if one turns light the other leans to the dark and so on, always maintaining the same “total” of balanced light and dark but differently distributed between the two bodies.
Also like the idea of the internal monologues
And I think we all have different persons inside of us that can emerge according to what life gives us… or according to our age and the people we meet and influence us…

 

Palpatine seduces Anakin to the dark side because he’s one of the most powerful Force users ever. It’s the same reason he tries to bring Luke to his side and then Ben. For the Sith the creation of life through the Force is still about power. It’s not something good. I suspect they would be trying to perfect what the Witches attempted and create the ultimate Force user for their own purposes.

 

Where does the show say the the Jedi are the evil ones, or the source of all evil in the SW Universe. Where does it say the Sith are good?

Getting hyperbolic? Did you watch the show or just a bunch of Youtube videos?

The show is about how the Jedi control themselves, their rules, their emotions, and even their galaxy. Senator Ravencourt doesn't trust the Jedi to be able to control the things that are uncontrollable. The Jedi believe otherwise. And Ravencourt posits what will happen when one of them isn't able to control their emotions, hinting at Anakin to come. He wants some oversight on the mysterious Jedi Order. Which apparently is largely unaccountable. But we see this literally play out during the series. Sol is a good Jedi. He has a good heart. Good intentions. He's a good man. But he became compromised by his emotions, his own desires, and we see the consequences of what happens when a single Jedi isn't able to master that side of themselves. Even with good intentions. Larger mistakes happen. We see just why the Jedi believe they need their rules. Why they need to be so strict with themselves. Sol made some very big mistakes, and then other Jedi - because they fear losing what they have in society, and the Senate auditing them - try to cover this up and made some mistakes too. They want to keep things internal and out of review.

Institutions are complicated things. The show doesn't say one single bit that the Jedi are evil. Or even largely corrupt, for that matter. It simply says that some of them, sometimes, make mistakes. Not every single Jedi is going to be perfect all the time. And when you are dealing with magical wizards with insane powers, as well as a vast authority to protect the galaxy, that could lead to even worse things to come. And its a fine question that Lucas weaved into the PT and the OT as well.

 

Osha was too old at 8. I would assume Mae is a little too old at 24 as well. She's not really Darth Revan level asset, nor the Jedi in as dire need as they in KOTOR.

 

But why is that bad?

The Jedi play god by occasionally taking away people's free will through mind control. That's "bad" in a democracy.

But creation of life, what is the danger or downside? That's what should be explained. They just say "a great power". But a great power that, what, has the chance to go terribly wrong and kill everyone around? A power that requires the sacrifice of babies, or stealing life from somewhere else? Who knows

 

Rwoh's first padawan starts good and goes to evil. Her second padawan, starts evil and goes good.

I don't think Mae will become a Jedi, or even an official padawan. I don't think that's the point. I think Rwoh sees an opportunity to fix some wrongs. I think she pities Mae and the life she's had so far and might be able to help her find some balance.

 

Osha went dark side because the truth about her family was hidden from her from the Jedi,

....so then Osha and Mae agree that Mae should have her mind wiped and send her to the Jedi where she'll likely be kept in the dark about the truth just like Osha was?

 

I really doubt they’re going to make Mae a Jedi.

 

No...she just wants to use her to find Qimir to clean up the mess.

 

Also wasn't she recognized as Indara killer and the person who was trying to kill Torbin? How could she get way with that ?

 

Because of this show, for the first time I can understand why Count Dooku left the Jedi. The corruption is real and deep. I am in no way implying that this SOP for the Jedi, but some are willing to do what they feel is needed to "protect" the Jedi order. I get the feeling the Senate's push to investigate or have more input into Jedi powers would tend to increase this tendency. As much as this pains me to think, but this behavior reminds of some real-life organizations.