The Acolyte – Episode 2 “Revenge/Justice” Recap & Review

Revenge / Justice

Episode 2 of The Acolyte begins on Olega, at the local Jedi Temple. Mae shuts down a droid and sneaks into the temple, completely undetected by any of the Jedi. She shows to see Master Torbin, who happens to be meditating. She does her little pose and tells him to attack.

Mae can’t touch him though, given he’s meditating and strong with the Force. He doesn’t call for backup though, nor does he rouse from his meditation to say anything to the guard who shows afterwards, looking for her.

We then cut across to the other twin, Osha. She’s not behind bars this time and explains that she’s way more flexible than a droid can be on the outer parts of a ship and that’s why she’s a meknek. Sol shows and speaks to Yord, telling him not to let fear cloud his judgment, given he doesn’t think this is a good idea. Sol though is convinced that Mae and Osha are sisters.

When Sol finds out from Vernestra that Mae has attacked a Jedi Temple, they decide to head there themselves, with Osha too.

Mae shows up to see a guy called Qimir in a shop and wants him to concoct a poison. She’s going to kill 2 other Jedi after Torbin, and it seems she’s also going after a Wookie too. Qimir believes that Torbin is not impenetrable and offers a cocktail that should do the trick.

Mae breaks into the temple again, while Sol and the others are outside questioning the guards. Torbin hasn’t spoken to anyone in 10 years, but when Mae shows off her vial of poison, Torbin awakens and claims that he’s been waiting for her all this time. He decides to drink the poison, apologizing and claiming that he was doing the right thing all those years ago.

While this is going on, Osha follows Mae’s ghost around the hallway before stumbling upon Torbin’s corpse, with the vial of poison next to her. The guards immediately believe Osha is responsible… even though there’s absolutely no way she could have got her hands on the poison or kill Torbin in that time.

Yord backs her up though given he’s been following Osha all this time. Sol checks the body and realizes that Torbin took Bunta. Bunta is a poison from Mae and Osha’s home world, so we get more of a connection here.

Anyway, they concoct a plan to try and get the  apothecary to talk. Qimir is not their usual guy so they decide to give Osha a weapon and let her go inside on her own and record a conversation on Pip to catch them in the act. Osha shows up and gets a confession, and the Jedi burst in within seconds after.

Qimir confirms that Mae seeks revenge on four Jedi in total. He knows that Mae will return that night and so Sol sets up a perimeter to scout the area. They take Qimir at his word, while Sol speaks plainly to Osha. Osha wants revenge on Mae for their family’s death, but Sol warns that this is not a good path and it leads to the Dark Side.

Mae does show up at the shop but before she can even go through the front door, Sol confirms her in the middle of the street. Despite her being a wanted criminal and people just walking nonchalantly in the background, the fight goes on just between these two without intervention. Yord watches from the balcony.

Sol wants to know who Mae’s master is, but when the conversation turns to Osha, Yord jumps in and joins the fight. However, Mae blasts the ground and whips up a smokescreen to disappear.

Osha struggles hit Mae as she escapes in a car, while Sol tries to work out what to do next. He’s called back to the Jedi Temple, while still on the planet (and in the exact same place outside the shop) Mae returns. She speaks to Qimir who decides they should go to Khofar, where Kelnacca is located. He’s the Wookie Jedi that Mae wants to kill.

We then cut across to Khofar and see the Wookie first-hand, and that’s where the episode ends.

The Episode Review

So if the first episode sets the scene for what’s to come, the second reinforces and actually compounds a lot of the issues the first had. Characters are wafer-thin and their motivations are all over the place. We see incredulous decisions made on the fly, and characters behaving in ways that belie belief. You’re telling me that Mae managed to get away from two highly trained Jedi by using sand on the ground, then drove around the city a bit only to end up right outside the same shop that the Jedi are watching? And she’s not even shown on any scanners, cameras or anything that would pick up lifeforms?

If that wasn’t enough, we get the whole situation with Mae breaking into a Jedi Temple (twice) and managing to kill Torbin, despite the fact that security would surely be tighter the second time around and he would have had more layers of protection?

Ultimately, The Acolyte may look visually appealing, but its writing is an ugly knot right at the center of this one that’s hard to undo. The dialogue is poor, the writing is a disaster and the directing leaves a lot to be desired. This is certainly not the Star Wars show you’re looking for.