The Acolyte – Episode 1 “Lost/Found” Recap & Review

Lost/Found

Episode 1 of The Acolyte picks up 100 years before the rise of the Empire. We’re in a time of peace and the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic have prospered for centuries without war. However, a powerful few learn to use the Force in secret. And one of them, an assassin called Mae, risks discovery to seek revenge.

The scene starts in Ueda with that very assassin, robed, seeking out a Jedi Master called Indara. She wants Indara to attack “with all her strength”. Now, whether those at the table are laughing at her acting or the words themselves, remain to be seen.

After dispatching the aliens, Indara and Mae fight. The assassin takes an innocent bystander hostage and throws her off the balcony. Thankfully, Indara manages to save her and prevent a murder. As the pair fight it out, Indara recognizes Mae and eventually draws her lightsaber.

“A Jedi doesn’t pull her weapon unless prepared to kill,” The assassin says, and after throwing a blade over to the barkeep (which Indara stops with her Force Push) Mae kills Indara by throwing the other blade at her chest. I mean, couldn’t Indara have used both hands? To throw back both blades? Guess not. After killing the Jedi, Mae takes off.

We then cut across to the other twin, Osha. Now, this may sound like a spoiler but given the trailer for The Acolyte already spoiled the “big twist”, the subtitles also confirm this throughout the episode and we learn this during the final scenes, we’ll just go ahead and call the characters who they are.

Osha is onboard a ship with Pip, her droid, and her colleague, Fillick. They head out into the void of space… to put out a fire. In space. Where there’s no oxygen. And how does she put out the fire? By calling for a space fire extinguisher. Oh good grief.

While Osha stares at the fire and has visions of a young Osha, a Jedi called Jord shows up to see her. He made knight two years ago and the pair have history. He’s here because he doesn’t trust her, given what happened to Indara. She was part of the Jedi Order back when she was 8 and has been mourning her not-so-dead sister ever since.

They believe Osha was responsible for killing Indara and she’s shocked that they’ve come to this conclusion. However, the barkeep is there too and he recognizes her by face. She’s arrested and taken away.

On the prison ship, the convicts launch an escape, with one of them able to shut off electronics and the droids piloting the ship. I mean, you’d think that they’d take precautions before arresting them right? Anyway, we get a repurposed scene from Pirates of the Caribbean, with Mae behind bars and not able to escape, while desperately reaching for Pip. She does eventually manage it, breaks free and makes her way to the cockpit.

While the other convicts have used escape pods to get away, Mae straps herself in as the ship crash-lands on a snowy planet.

We then cut across to the Jedi Council, where we meet Master Sol and Vernestra. The latter brings news that Osha is in custody. These convicts are picked up in the next scene we cut across to the Temple, with no clear definition of time or distance between areas. One of them, the last that Osha saved, admits that he took the last escape pod and took off. Sol knows that she’s alive and heads over to see Yord. He apologizes for not bringing Osha in herself and the pair work together to find the woman.

Osha heads out the ship and has another vision with her sister. Mae confirms to having killed Indara and promises to kill the rest of them too. All of this happens to be a dream though, and Sol reinforces this, including the fire (which we’ve heard about three times now) and confirms that Osha was the only survivor. The Jedi catch up to Osha, who almost slips off the edge. With Yord by his side too, the pair talk. Osha confirms that Mae is still alive, and is taken into custody.

As the episode closes out, we cut across to Mae and wouldn’t you know it? She’s alive! The most unsurprising twist in TV history. With such riveting writing, could we get an amnesia plotline too? We’ll have to wait and see.

The Episode Review

So former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, Leslye Headland has tried her hand at writing a Star Wars show and if this first episode is anything to go by, The Acolyte could go down as the worst show of the year. Along with poor writing and sloppy dialogue, we get a well-orchestrated “twist” with twin sisters and some incredibly illogical scenes.

Seeing Osha try to put out a fire in space using a space fire extinguisher will absolutely go down as one of the best examples of why Star Wars is such a damaged brand. It’s right up there with horses on the side of a star destroyer in terms of sheer stupidity. And unfortunately, Leslye and the writing team treat their audience like idiots too, repeating bits of dialogue (how many times did we hear about the sisters?) and bashing you over the head with it. Hopefully the rest of the series can pick up but hey, I wouldn’t hold your breath.