Max Nocerino 
This week’s episode of The Acolyte emphasized the flawed, dogmatic, and self-righteous nature of the Jedi.
Star Wars: The Acolyte took a trip down memory lane for Episode 3 and showed us the events that led to the “apparent death” of Mae, the death of their village, and Osha’s induction into the Jedi Order. While Episode 3 is a little early to cover something we barely learned, the story speaks for itself. The episode was compelling and character-driven.
It took me a minute to realize that Mae and Osha were Nightsisters living in a remote world, and their mothers were the Coven leaders. It is coming close for the twins to go through their Ascension ritual to become fully-fledged witches. Mae is excited and accepts her destiny, while Osha doesn’t want to be a witch and wants a life away from her sister. It’s exciting to see such different mindsets in identical twins. We also catch glimpses of Mae’s dark nature, bleeding out in sharp contrast to her sister, who seems like a good egg and wants to be a Jedi.
THE JEDI
The four Jedi we were introduced to in episode one are visiting this remote world, and they are nosing into the activities of the Coven, investigating rumors of Force-sensitive children. First of all, mind your business. The Coven is isolated and does not bother anyone, but the Jedi feel obligated to stick their nose into matters that don’t concern them. Also, Osha and Mae are roughly 8 or 9 years old. As we know from Anakin in The Phantom Menace, the girls should be too old to be considered for the Jedi Order.
I was shocked at how fast Osha decided to become a Jedi. While one of her mothers was open to it, the other, stricter mother opposed it. The Nightsisters planned to have both girls test to be Jedi and throw the test so they are not accepted into the Order. Why the Jedi find it necessary to rip these kids away from their parents is beyond me. While we see some hokey, weird Nightsister stuff, the mothers seem like good parents. Mae is furious that Osha wants to leave, and her true darkness emerges. If you don’t stay, I’ll make you stay…by killing you. The child actor(s) who play Osha and Mae are fantastic regarding their acting skills. They act like angry and confused children, and their performances are on par with the adult actors.
THE NIGHTSISTERS
The Nightsisters are a little hokey, and I tire of their constant presence in New Canon media. Still, this story captivated me and highlighted how the Jedi are flawed and self-righteous. I generally believe Master Sol has a good heart. However, his actions in this episode lead to the awful tragedy and destruction of theCovenn.
The first three episodes of The Acolyte are streaming on Disney Plus now.
Our team will cover this series comprehensively, providing traditional review coverage and prominent character posters, bios, and teasers. To stay updated and never miss a story or review, please subscribe to our mailing list on our homepage.
FORCE FACTS
-
This particular branch of Nightsister refers to the Force as the Thread, and in it, metaphysically, all beings are connected with threads, and one must allow one’s destiny to unravel.
-
Indara starts spouting some Republic law about how children are not to be taught—and then she is cut off before she can reveal the rest of the sentence. It’s obvious that she meant that children are not to be taught the Force (unless it is the Jedi doing it), which seems like a pretty unfair and unjust rule. The Force flows through all living beings, and the Jedi should not have a monopoly on training Force-sensitives.
-
The planet the girls live on has a ringed gas giant in the same system. It is visible from the night sky and plays into their weird rituals.
-
Torbin (the Jedi that Mae will later compel to drink poison and die), takes a blood sample from Osha, quickly and with her not really realizing what was going on. Blood doesn’t lie, and she likely has a high midi-chlorian count, which would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is connected to the Force. I think that was done because the Jedi anticipated the girls might flub the test.
-
This coven has its own version of an Old Dakka. This individual is clearly the oldest witch in their coven, and she is the one who came up with the idea of having the kids fail the test on purpose.
-
The witches all die when Mae sets Osha’s room on fire, but their bodies do not appear burnt when Sol leads Osha out of the coven fortress. It looks like they died from crumbling debris from the stone of their fortress, smoke inhalation, or both. Osha seeing her dead mother probably will haunt her for the rest of her life.
-
The torch that Mae uses to set fire to the room is an odd design. It has a bit of a retrofuturism flare to its design, and the shape is like that of a cylinder with a window for the flame. Very cool
-
Osha and Mae are not ordinary force sensitives. They were carried by the Zabraki mother, but their human mother implied she created them. The Mothers are lesbians, and while I’m sure there is an advanced science that can allow two women to conceive naturally, I have a hunch it has something to do with their magick. Was Osha and Mae’s birth similar to the experiments Darth Plagueis would later do to conceive life from nothing? We shall see.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
