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

I absolutely loved the look of you know who. They went for absolute monster, with gnarly fingers, and that was really classic looking.

I was not really loving that Sol had to explain to Mae - again - that it was an accident. Or that Osha didn't see any of the past events. The flashback was for us. And considering that Sol made a huge ef up, and was sorry, ... I'm not really a fan of how Osha turned at the end. Bleeding a saber was one of the coolest things I've seen in this series. I just wish we saw the flashback, way way way back ... and then let Sol come clean to both girls in the present. No need to jump around mid season. And on the flip side, I don't really like that Mae turned good because her memory was wiped. That's not really earned at all.

The lightsaber duels were phenomenal. And loved the part where Sol and Qimir force float out of the bridge.

 

Great way to end the season (please be the end of the season and not the end of the show )!

A few random thoughts:
- The chase through the rings of Brendok was such a cool visual.
- The action scenes in this show have been consistently good, but I think the Sol vs. Qimir duel was my favourite. It just had such a classic lightsaber duel vibe.
- Sol's death was heartbreaking. He wasn't a perfect Jedi, but his heart was in the right place. He didn't deserve to go out like that.
- The Osha/Mae thing finally clicked for me. If they are basically the same person, they are literal representations of the light and dark inside of each other. Osha reconciling with her sister coincided with her succumbing to the darkness inside herself by turning to the dark side. By the end it seems like they basically switched.
- I'm liking the Jedi/Senate politics so far. This show doesn't throw the entire Order under the bus like I feared it might, but it shows the flaws of individuals and sows the seeds of the galaxy one day believing the Jedi could be capable of conspiring to overthrow the Senate.
- Plagueis!...?
- Yoda

It seems like this show is following the formula of focusing the first season on new characters and then bringing out the legacy characters for season two.

 

That was absolute perfection. No notes.

 

I'm going to leave the mega spoilers out of my non-spoiler-tagged review.

First, I want to spend most of this review talking about how much I loved that Jedi control room set. It was obviously meant to hint at a bit of a rot inside the Jedi Order, and so there's an almost Imperial look to it. But not quite. It was all kinds of 50s sci-fi and McQuarrie, and I loved it. Something with that many colors in it shouldn't work, and could look really overdone, but instead, it just looked perfect. And captured the state of the Jedi (or at least the Jedi on this floor of the West Wing) perfectly. Some color and light, but...dark.

Anyway, lots of good in this one, and it's clearly the best episode of the season.

Of course, as per tradition, there are a couple of pretty dumb bits*, but overall, I think it was a good finale.

ETA:

Spoiler

The Vernestra coverup, though I saw it coming, was really well done and tragic.

*

Spoiler

(why did Qimir and Osha have to leave Mae on Brendok right away while the Jedi were closing in on them - couldn't they just have, like, dropped her off on some random planet?)

 

But is that

Spoiler

Plagueis? Wouldn't he only be an apprentice at this time as it is 100 years before TPM and he would probably not take Palpatine (who is decades away from being born) for a long time? Not saying it is not...just questioning the timing.

Really not a fan of them

Spoiler

doubling down on the Jedi being lying, conniving scumbags who cover up an atrocity....and then all those years later Vernestra just digging that hole deeper. I get the Jedi are not perfect...but to do stuff like they did in this show just does not ring true to what Jedi should be and should do to me. And I get it has been a long time and people can change...but Vern's outrage after finding out what Elzar Mann did to Chancey Yarrow to outright lying, throwing Sol under the bus, etc... Again.....just doesn't ring true for a Jedi.

 

Man that was an underwhelming finale. All we got for hints of the Sith after eight episodes was a shadowy figure in a cave that begins to stick his fingers out just before the episode switches to another scene.

Good chance at this point there won't be a season 2 so this show didn't really tell us anything we didn't already know.

 

So, a bit rocky but I enjoyed it for what it was:

Spoiler

The asteroid race was pretty compelling but don't quite understand why Sol was trying to shoot Mae down. He'd already said needed both as proof of the vergence in the force on Brendock.

The Stranger played the long game with Osha and it worked out for him. Seeing Plagueis was a surprise. If he's the master, why allow his apprentice to have an alcolyte? Is the rule of two not in effect?

Gotta say this felt very much like how Zannah became a sith under Bane. I think we all saw Osha's fall coming. Mae's memory wipe though was a bit much. I was expecting Osha to kill her to further cover her tracks.

Vernestra wearing white is interesting with how much blood she now has on her hands. We know the Stranger was her pupil (no surprise). We know she knew Sol wasn't responsible. She had sensed some of what occurred which means she probably could sense that Osha killed Sol. So her decision to cover it all up to try and protect the order certainly shows how corruption is already seeping into the Temple. And now what she tells Yoda really matters. If Vernestra tells Yoda that her former pupil is running around with Osha after several Jedi are dead - I don't see how Yoda does not make the conclusion that the sith may have resurfaced. At minimum they have two fallen Jedi to worry about.

 

I was so stoked to see David Harewood in it. He's such a terrific actor. Fingers crossed for season 2 and seeing him lock horns with Rwoh. There's a lot to be mined there.

 

Vernestra is starting to come across as a villain herself.

 

Wow. That stuck the landing absolutely, in my opinion.

 

With just one scene he really brought some gravity to the events. He felt just like he was supposed to. Annoyed by cult members with too much authority and power.

 

He’s taken on new life for me after Alan Wake 2

 

Harewood was excellent as that Senator.

 

11/10

 

Spoiler

Who says he is. He looked mighty pissed while spying on his Apprentice. If that's what's going down here.

Also...can we stop posting in spoiler tags now hahah.

 

So happy that the anti-Jedi Senator wasn’t the Sith Master. He was great as just a conniving Senator… who might be in league with the Sith.

 

I think we can say that the kids were born from the force now and not anything else. And that this is probably some kind of foreshadowing to anakin. And now we have Darth Plagueis who is a Muun as expected.

It made the jedi uneasy that this was possible. But the Jedi who were there to are all dead, and the witches are all dead. Maybe one survived to share the Force reaction trick.

There is perhaps more PT origins then what was expected IMO.

 

Ummm. Hasn't everyone been saying this all along? That perhaps the Witches and Sith creating life, tipped the balanced, and then the Force created The Chosen One.

 

Spoiler

If I might reference a certain EU novel:

Spoiler

Plagueis was ok with Palpatine training Maul, but it was under the strict condition that he be trained as a weapon/assassin and not as a “true” apprentice.

That’s not the case in canon, where Palpatine didn’t take Maul on until after Plagueis died, but perhaps they’re recycling that aspect for these two.

 

But...

Spoiler

The show doesn't portray "the Jedi" as lying, conniving scumbags who cover up an atrocity. It portrayed...a few Jedi as liars.

And even with these few bad Jedi, their dishonesty was in service of protecting Osha and protecting the Jedi institution. Still morally wrong, but not Sith-level.

But...

Spoiler

He didn't shoot at her. Not even once. I imagine he was chasing her with the hope of somehow getting her back in his custody.

 

You have to kind of consider Qimir as the new Baby Yoda. The dark side version of the mysterious newcomer, but with less social media buzz. I don’t mind as long as they actually do a season 2.

 

For a moment I thought Qimir was dead. And I kind of liked that lol.

 

No, We speculated the witches created them using the force to create life. Some argued it may not have been the force but dark magic. Id say we have confirmation its the force.

As for Anakins creation. we might actually get an answer to that question as the series goes on.