Chris Connor reviews the fourth episode of Star Wars: The Acolyte…
The Acolyte’s premiere introduced us to a plethora of new world’s and characters from Master Sol to twins Osha and Mae, it is refreshing to finally see an earlier corner of the Star Wars universe in live-action. Episode 4 picks up the main narrative strands after a flashback detour last week. We pick up Mae and Qimir’s journey to find Kelnacca on Khofar. Meanwhile the Jedi regroup, searching for signs over where Mae might appear next.
After the slightly frenetic opening two episodes the action is consigned entirely to Khofar and Coruscant. On the latter we see more of the Jedi order long before the prequels with new faces and a surprise appearance from Ki-Adi-Mundi, one of the Masters to ultimately fall to Order 66. This is a neat nod and rather than feeling like forced fan service, plays out quite naturally.
The second half of the episode sees the main group of Jedi travel to Khofar in search of Kelnacca and Mae. This introduces us to new creatures and feels like classic Star Wars with greater stakes and urgency and more interplay between the Jedi. This is also outside of the Geonosis battle at the end of Attack of the Clones the most Jedi we’ve seen in one particular mission, showing the gravity of the situation.
Osha’s character feels more fleshed out here, showing her remorse at not spending time with Mae growing up while wanting to be a part of the mission to rescue Mae although frustrated by largely taking a backseat to the Jedi. Her relationship with Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon is particularly impressive with her continuing to be one of the standout new characters.
The 30-minute runtime does mean the ending feels quite abrupt with the arrival of Mae’s master coming right at the tail-end and ending on a cliffhanger which will be picked up next week. With four episodes to go, it is perhaps surprising to reveal the antagonist at this point and it will be interesting to see where Osha and Mae’s arcs head next with Mae seeming to want to repent for her actions, is this truly what she intends or a red herring?
As it hits its midpoint The Acolyte continues to be an ambitious, if slightly uneven entry into the Star Wars canon. It is again a treat to experience interesting new worlds and characters but there is a lot to cram into 30 minutes. It sets up a promising second half that will hopefully clear up some of the looser narrative strands around the true motives of Mae and her master.
Chris Connor
