After a duo of underwhelming debut episodes, it’s time to go back to a galaxy far, far away. Our Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode 3 recap, spoilers, and theories will take a look at the newest episode of the Disney+ series starring Amandla Stenberg. A lot has already been said about this chapter and how it “changes Star Wars forever,” which could be a good thing depending on a certain point of view. Star Wars has sucked for the last decade, so maybe it needs a controversial kick in the butt.
To recap, episodes one and two followed Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg), twin sisters — one good, one bad — embroiled in a murder mystery. Mae is on a quest to destroy the Jedi Order and manages to take down Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss, in a disappointingly short cameo) and Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman) quite easily. Of course, Mae’s features match Osha’s, leading Master Sol (Lee Jung-Jae, underutilized so far) and Jedis Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett, woefully miscast) and Jacki Lon (Dafne Keen) to hunt down the good twin. Eventually, they find Osha, who convinces the others of her innocence, and the foursome sets off to find Mae before she kills again. A confrontation ensues. Mae escapes with her pal Qimir (Manny Jacinto), and we then see our antagonist approach an evil person wielding a red lightsaber on a rock.
The “murder mystery” offered little, if any, intrigue, the characters lacked spark, and the action was incredibly bland. As many have stated, the first two episodes looked more like a CW production than something crafted by the once-great LucasFilm. Maybe brighter days are on the horizon? Let’s get to Episode 3 and find out.
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Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode 3 spoilers and recap
We open on Brendok, sixteen years before the start of episode one. Young Osha (who looks different here than her sister Mae, for some reason) sits under a bunta tree and uses the Force to try and kill one of those floating glowy things from Avatar. At least, that’s what it looks like. Maybe she just wanted to freeze it in midair. No go. Mae arrives and freezes the bug thingy in midair. Osha is pissed. (Lily Potter and Aunt Petunia vibes abound). “Why do you always have to do things like that,” she asks.
The sisters discuss a ceremony called “The Ascension.” “You are with me, and I am with you,” Mae says. Honestly, would it have killed the costume department to give them different wardrobes?
Lady Darth Maul arrives and whisks the girls away as Master Sol (!) watches creepily from behind a tree.
The girls walk into what looks like a majestic fortress. Really, it’s just another location in Galaxy’s Edge with extras bustling about in the background. We meet the girls’ mothers, Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith), and her lover Koril (Margarita Levieva), aka Lady Maul.
In school, Aniseya rants about “threads” that bind everything in the galaxy. “Some call it a Force and claim to use it,” she says, rolling her eyes. “But we know the Thread is not a power you wield. Pull the Thread. Change everything. It ties you to your destiny. It binds you to others.”
Aniseya shows off some Force, er, Thread pushing. (My youngest daughter, sitting nearby, asks what I’m watching. When I say Star Wars, she responds, “That doesn’t look like Star Wars.” Just sayin’.)
Mae fends off her mom’s attack. Koril acts like an overbearing soccer mom and shouts, “Osha, I expect so much better!” Class is dismissed after this brief lesson. Aniseya drops more platitudes because no one on this show has hobbies; the girls fight and are instructed to hold hands to make amends. This must be the Frozen portion of the series.
Osha, you see, wants nothing to do with the Ascension. “But that’s how we become witches,” Mae snaps, one of the craziest Star Wars lines ever. I suppose someone once referred to Obi-Wan as a crazy old wizard, so … I dunno. Is Star Wars going full Harry Potter? What’s next, Half-Breeds?
We jump back and see a coven of witches standing over a strange-looking hole. They do some weird rituals, stopping just before breaking out into a full-on orgy. Aniseya states that the coven was near extinction but survived thanks to the “gift of life!” As in Osha and Mae. “The power of one, the power of two, the power of many,” they chant. “I wanna kill everyone; Satan is good; Satan is our pal!”
Honestly, this feels like something out of Marvel. Star Wars has never gone this bonkers … I mean, beyond Leia floating through space in The Last Jedi. I don’t know if I’d describe it as bad or even controversial … just weird. The Jedi stole their power from this group?
Anyways, the Jedi finally turn up. Indara, Torbin (disguised as a Hobbit), Sol, and that terrible-looking Wookie character gather before the witches. For a moment, I prepare for some Jedi vs. Witches combat. Alas, a clunky dialogue exchange occurs instead.
“No violence,” Aniseya says.
Indara and Aniseya talk and talk some more. Indara is concerned that witches are training children. As I type that sentence, I yearn for the glory days of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker blasting Tie Fighters out of the sky. How did it come to this?
Osha thinks the Jedi look cool; Mae is not as enamored. Sol steps forward and hands Osha his lightsaber, which seems irresponsible, but I suppose Yoda had Younglings playing with laser swords during a practice session, so … Sol asks Osha if she’d like to be a Jedi. It’s probably not the best move. Imagine a CIA agent handing your 10-year-old a gun and asking if they’d like to train as an assassin. As a parent, I’d likely have questions.
Aniseya uses dark Thread magic to possess Torbin, the most worthless Jedi since Qui-Gon, off his feet. Seriously, has this guy said a word in the few scenes we’ve seen him? No one, even Indara, seems to care.
Osha is all, “Can I please train with the Jedi?” and Indara is all, “We have the right to train potential Padawans. This is the way.” Granted, she does add, “With your permission, of course.”
Aniseya agrees. Sol wants Mae, too. Aniseya agrees. Not much of a bargainer. A hundred years later, this same situation leads to a thrilling Pod Race.
Later that night, the witches discuss the matter. Koril is outraged. “What will the Jedi do if they discover how you created them?” she asks. Eh, how did she create them? With the (derp) Thread? An orange alien woman intervenes, explaining that the test has two outcomes: Pass and the girls leave. Fail, and they stay. It’s pretty obvious what they need to do to keep the kids. I’m not sure why it took a random ass wise old orange lady to make their predicament so clear.
Cut to Aniseya imploring the kids to fail.
“The Jedi are bad,” Mae says.
“The Jedi are good,” Osha snaps back.
“This isn’t about good or bad,” Aniseya says. “This is about power and who is allowed to use it.” Thanks?
En route to their trial, Osha explains she doesn’t want to lie. After meeting Koril, I don’t blame her for wanting to get as far away from this rock as possible.
Torbin takes a sample of Osha’s blood—probably for those damned Midi-chlorins—and Sol proceeds to give her the same test the Jedi Council gave Anakin in The Phantom Menace. Jedi didn’t change much over 100 years, did they? He sees her trying to fail and begs her to stop acting like an idiot. “Do you want a lightsaber or not?”
Osha declares her intentions to be a Jedi and relays the not-so-happy news to her mothers. “I don’t want to be a witch,” which is the same thing I told my mom when I was 10.
Mae is ready to kill her on the spot.
“If you want to pull the Thread, pull it,” Aniseya says. The pair bid one another farewell, ala Anakin and Shmi. What’s the hurry? The Jedi can probably hold off for a week, right? Chill with the witches, get to know the mothers, and exchange phone numbers. Like, why the hell can’t Osha see her parents again?
Anyways, Mae is pissed and (no joke!) tells her sister, “I’ll kill you.” Not in a playful, Michael Scott way, either. Then, she locks Osha in her room, grabs some fire, and sets a book thingy ablaze. We don’t see Mae light the room on fire, which means someone else (Koril, Torbin, the Wookie?) committed the act. Still, from Osha’s point of view, Mae is evil!
Osha manages to escape just in time to see the entire facility burn. Each sister blames the other. Mae dies, or does she?
Later, Sol tells Osha that he didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning. Actually, Mae started the fire and conveniently killed everyone. They hug and fly to Coruscant. And so ends the tragic tale of Osha, the twin. However, she was leaving for all eternity, so this event shouldn’t affect her too much.
The Acolyte Episode 4 theories and thoughts
Mae started a fire, kids. Whatever. That doesn’t explain the corpses. No one was burned. They were all just lying around the coven. Someone else committed this devious act. My money is on evil soccer mom Koril. We didn’t see her body, and she appeared incredibly angry toward the Jedi. That means she’s pulling the Thread, er, strings behind the scenes and is likely the weird person in black, upset at how the Jedi control everything. She’s the original Darth Maul.
Here’s a question: why did the Jedi act like they deserved to die? Torbin meditated for ten years only to willingly drink poison when prompted by Mae. Why? Indara appeared apologetic. Why? Even Sol tells Mae he’s sorry. If they genuinely thought Mae started a fire and killed everyone, why are they ashamed? Am I missing something? Hell, Torbin didn’t do anything but get possessed by a witch and take Osha’s blood sample. Yet, this incident caused him to retreat from the world into a Force coma for a decade, then commit suicide in a way that makes Tommen’s leap from King’s Landing appear level-headed by comparison.
A theory. I think we’re watching the formation of the Sith. Except, as stated above, we are going to learn that they aren’t evil, just misunderstood. If true, this underlines my issue with Disney Star Wars. Kathleen Kennedy has transformed (or tried to transform) a once-simplistic fantasy tale of good versus evil into Game of Thrones. Nuance abounds. No one is all good or all evil. This is what Kennedy and Headland meant when they said they wanted to move away from George Lucas’ vision and why cast members like Charlie Barnett happily declared how evil “Anakin” was for blowing up the Death Star. I’m not too fond of this approach as it contrasts sharply with the original Star Wars trilogy. Still, this iteration of Star Wars isn’t meant for me. Or so they keep telling me.
This episode wasn’t terrible. The production quality was alright, the acting was okay, and the pacing was sharper. It still feels like a cheesy fantasy show with hokey dialogue, clunky writing, and modern sensibilities that make the events feel like they’re happening down the street behind Wal-Mart rather than in a galaxy far, far away. It is what it is.
The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Mandalorian Season 3 took turns kicking me in the nuts. I’m numb from additional attacks. Witches in Star Wars? Okay. The Jedi stole a power known as the Thread and rebranded it for their own purposes? Sure. Twins look different as kids but eventually mold into the same person? Fine. Jedi willingly kill themselves to atone for an action they didn’t commit? Whatevs. The Jedi Order believes a young girl murdered an entire community simply by starting a fire? Gotcha.
Look, The Acolyte is dumb, but that’s par for the course for Star Wars now and not worth getting upset about. It’s best to go about your business rather than rage over a mediocre sci-fi show. Life is too short, folks. Move along, move along.
