Credit: LucasfilmTo its credit, The Acolyte has several good ideas. Star Wars is no stranger to Dark Jedi or Jedi making deadly decisions, but last night’s episode of the Disney+ original made an attempt that completely missed the mark.
Acolyte showrunner and creator Leslye Headland has been up to her eyebrows in hot water since the show’s third episode, and the episode “choice” has only dug the hole deeper for both her and the series. While “Destiny” attempted to cast its coven of Dark-side-leaning witches as an innocent community beset by Jedi zealots, “Choice” repeats similar failures.
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The creators previously established that the Jedi would be the show’s villains, but The Acolyte’s way of doing so demonstrates a painful lack of understanding of how things function in the galaxy far, far away. In their efforts to depict the canonically heroic Jedi as the show’s antagonists, the creators give their “heroines” demonic powers that are bound to rub some viewers the wrong way.
WARNING! Spoilers for The Acolyte Beyond This Point
A More Sinister Star Wars
“Destiny” brought viewers to Brendok, a previously uninhabited planet where a coven of witches raises young Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg’s character). Led by Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Mother Koril (Margarita Levieva), the coven prepares the twins for their “ascension” when a team of Jedi explorers intervenes.
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“Choice” is the same episode told from the Jedi’s perspective, as Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) leads her party through the forests of Brendok on the search for a “vergence” in the Force. When the Jedi discover the coven, it’s clear that the witches want to protect their children, but Mother Aniseya’s methods come with a blatantly sinister and demonic flavor.
As Mothers Aniseya and Koril question the Jedi, viewers are shown how the coven’s leader bewitched and ensnared the mind of Padawan Torbin (Dean-Charles Champman) through a possession-like trance. Although the action is meant to be that of a mother protecting her children, the black eyes and shadowy mist feel far from pure.
Granted, the Jedi’s hands are not entirely clean in this episode either, as demonstrated by Master Sol’s (Lee Jung-jae) obsession with Osha and Mae joining the Jedi Order. However, his actions are only problematic because they go against the Jedi’s code about emotional attachments.
Additionally, the episode revealed that Mother Koril was responsible for stoking Mae’s anger and encouraging her to fight with her sister, leading to the fire. Once again demonstrating the fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.
As confirmed by the party’s findings, Osha and Mae are the vergence they sought. The fact that they were artificially created with a single consciousness split into two bodies confirms that the coven has some Sith-related plot in the works.
Although Master Sol’s motives went against the Jedi code, the witches of Brendok are still guilty of tampering with the natural order of the galaxy, and the Dark Side of the Force drives their demonstrations of power. Yet the show persists in convincing viewers that they are in the right.
A Matter of Morality
Leslye Headland has earned a lot of criticism for her contribution to the Star Wars saga, but a coven of “lesbian space witches” (as described by fans) is far from her most grievous fault, as demonstrated by this episode. While the Jedi can commit unsavory behavior, the coven is one red lightsaber away from being a sisterhood of the Sith.
The powers demonstrated by pulling at the “threads” of the force can only be described as demonic, as Mother Aniseya attacks Torbin at his heart and soul. Rarely does a character with that brand of power have noble intentions.
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Creative choices like these continue to anger the fanbase and sink the series with negative reviews. The dichotomy of good and evil makes up the galaxy’s core belief system, and Headland’s attempts at a morally gray character arc have completely missed the mark.
What The Acolyte has done is essentially try to make the Dark Side good and the Light Side evil while changing nothing about their practices. Although there is one episode left in the series, it will take nothing short of a miracle to resolve the mess Mae and the rest of the coven have created.
Are the Jedi still the good guys, or have viewers been misled? Tell Inside the Magic what you think in the comments below!