'Acolyte' Review: Episode 4 picks up the pace with Jedi action and new clues

Episode 4 of The Acolyte finally brings more Jedi action to the screen with the shortest runtime of the series so far. Written by Claire Kiechel and Kor Adana comes “Day”, which sees our protagonists searching for Mae and the Wookiee Kelnacca on the planet Khofar, but what they find instead is much more sinister. Caution spoilers ahead.

After a much-maligned flashback episode last week, the Acolyte picks up this week with added details to the mystery thriller and some force use, the latter not till the very end. In this episode, we find Mae on the forest planet Khofar resuming her mission of offing the Jedi that was responsible for the killing of her family, an all-female coven of witches on the planet Brendok, this time with Qimir at her side. Meanwhile, on Coruscant, the Jedi led by Master Vernestra convene and deliberate on the fate of Mae and the identity of her Master. Osha, who was cleared of her charges, is attempting to return to her regular life as she cannot face her twin sister. Sol however insists he needs Osha’s help in confronting Mae.

During this short episode, we found out or can at least presume a couple of key things. First off, we discover Osha has some interest in resuming her Jedi training. When approached by Sol to accompany him on his mission, Osha asks was she resuming the Jedi Order to which Sol kindly shoots down. During this conversation, Sol tells Osha that he believes Mae can be turned good. He said he saw “a different person” in Mae when they last confronted in Episode 2. Later through talks with Jecki, Osha reveals the reason she left the Order was due to her continued resentment for Mae. A focal point of the episode was the conversation between Qimir and Mae and how their shared Master wants Mae to kill the Jedi without weapons. This unsolvable issue brings doubt to Mae and the mission itself. This leads to her turning on Qimir and proclaiming she wants to reunite with Osha.

After some fun Star Wars shenanigans including a rare sighting of a large group of Jedis working together, the protagonists find Mae and Kelnecca but we get hit with a tonal shift and finally see Mae’s Master who has just presumably slain Kelnacca moments earlier. We don’t see his face, but we get this eerie visual of the Sith appearing in the background out of thin air floating toward Osha. In one flick he pushes back the whole squadron of Jedi and the screen goes to credits.

This was a good return to form for the Acolyte. Quite frankly, I enjoyed the episode last week and getting to know more about the twin’s coven and their use of the Force. Where we leave off here, the next episode is surely to continue the faster pace. We got more background info on the mystery and our main antagonist has finally appeared, in great fashion.

This episode was not without faults, though. It was disappointing to have this centered around a Wookie’s whereabouts just to find him dead. Kelnacca will reappear in the series in flashbacks, but all we saw was an opening scene from the big guy this go-round. But Mae’s sudden change of heart and how her Master will handle her betrayal is now the big question we are left with. Also, Sol appears to know more about what happened on Brendok than he is telling, what was his role in the murder of witches and why is he looking for repentance? The picture is still not clear, and that’s a good thing. But we have some interesting threads to hold us till next week.