The Acolyte Episode 7 Recap (Spoilers)

The Acolyte initially hooked Star Wars fans with a murder mystery about why a Force-sensitive assassin was killing Jedi. While it was quickly revealed that Mae (Amandla Stenberg) was the killer, the reason for her campaign of vengeance has been kept secret – until now. 

With The Acolyte Episode 7 “Choice,” we revisit the story told in Episode 3, “Destiny”, this time from the perspective of the four Jedi who came to Mae and Osha’s home and changed both their lives forever. 

The Acolyte Episode 7 Recap (Spoilers) 

Stranded on Brendok – The episode opens with a shot of Brendok and the caption “Sixteen Tears Earlier”. We find Jedi Knights Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) and Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo), padawan Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman), and Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) in a forest, using instruments to conduct scientific surveys of the plant life on Brendok. They work in silence until Kelnacca calls out at the sky, where the rumble of thunder soon follows. The Jedi make camp around a small fire; Torbin is having trouble eating a hot meal, but Indara warns her padawan against rejecting a Wookiee’s cooking. Torbin is grousing about how the group has been on Brendok for seven weeks, and found no signs of a civilization, and how he wants to go home to Coruscant. Indara warns her padawan not to center himself around negative feelings like anxiety; Torbin explains that he needs inspiration and that their mission is meaningful. Sol counters that they are looking for a “vergence” – i.e, a unique concentration of Force energy around a single location, and a pretty meaningful discovery if they can prove the vergence created life on Brendock, which had been marked as lifeless following the Great Hyperspace Disaster event a century before (which was the opening to Star Wars’ High Republic storyline). Sol calls it a noble mission. The next day, the Jedi resume their studies; Indara pulls Sol aside and they discuss the mission and Torbin, with Indara warning Sol against letting his own passion for proving the vergence/life connection cloud his judgment, as Torbin is not the only one struggling with emotional management. She points out that recognizing that difference is why she is ready for a padawan and Sol is not. The Jedi split up and Sol is sent to explore the uncharted Northlands. After taking a speeder bike out of the location, Sol stumbles upon a young Osha and Mae using their Force abilities on some butterfly creatures (as seen in the opening of Episode 3). 

[Title Logo Plays] 

Witchy Business – Sol follows the girls back to Mother Koril (Margarita Levieva) and the witch coven stronghold, after not being able to contact Indara. Sol infiltrates the stronghold and finds Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) training Osha and Mae in Force-push combat exercises, startling Koril and Aniseya as he departs. Sol finds a group of witches outside the stronghold preparing for the Ascension ceremony that we saw Osha and Mae subjected to. Sol escapes and takes his findings back to Indara and the other Jedi. He deduces that the group is a coven of witches, which gets Torbin worrying that they are up against the Nightsisters. Indara warns against jumping to any conclusions, but Sol pushes back that he saw what looks to be preparations for a ceremony, and that the girls could be in danger of being used. Sol begs Indara to come back with him to the coven and see for herself and she concedes. The Jedi arrive at the coven stronghold, which Torbin recognizes as an old mining site; Inadara wants to go in alone, but Sol is apprehensive about the witches’ numbers (over 50). Indara sees it as 50 women and two children who are wary of outsiders, but once again concedes when Sol insists they enter as a team. 

Meet The Mother – The Jedi enter the coven stronghold to find Mother Aniseya, Koril, and the witches waiting for them (another replay of Episode 3). This time, we get to see inside of Torbin’s mind as Aniseya uses her powers to invade and possess him, using his frustrations and fears about the mission on Brendok against him. We learn that Torbin willingly gave himself over to Aniseya, much like being seduced by the dark side, in exchange for getting back home to Coruscant. Osha declares she wants to be tested by the Jedi, Inadara presses Aniseya for to honor a just request and gets that request granted. Torbin is released and the Jedi depart

Council and Guidance – Back on the ship, Indara confirms in conversation that Sol used the testing as a means to stall for time, and that she plans to contact the Jedi Council on the next moves. Sol confesses to feeling a connection to Osha and wanting to actually test her, but Inadara dismisses it, as the girls are too old and the coven too insular for Osha to ever have a real chance at getting free and becoming a Jedi. Sol uses the implications of the Ascension – Mae being marked and Osha not being marked – as fuel for his desire to act – a passion that Inadara once again warns him against. Torbin is meditating when the coven arrives with Osha and Mae; he takes a blood sample from Mae, who is passed off to Sol and Indara. Mae is impatient and rushes through the test, but Sol exposes her disingenuous answers. When Mae asks to go back to her family, Indara asks what the coven was doing in the courtyard the night before, when the Jedi arrived. Mae tries to explain Ascension after Indara flatters her about her marking, but stumbles when asked what the ultimate purpose of the ceremony is. Mae repeats Mother Aniseya’s words that everyone must “walk through fear” and “be sacrificed to their destiny,” which the Jedi take more literally than metaphorically. Sol requests a different approach for Osha, and Indara once again concedes. Sol uses his own story of joining the Jedi to inspire Osha, and Inadara is bothered when Osha passes the test. After Osha is gone Indara has Torbin run the blood sample, telling them she’ll meet them at their campsite with the results and further instruction from the Jedi Council. At the campsite, Sol grows restless in wait. Indara finally returns with bad news: it’s a no from the council. Sol and Torbin are particularly upset by the rejection, with Torbin labeling the witches as dangerous and getting upset when it’s mentioned that they still cannot return home to Coruscant. Sol takes a stand against the decision, but Indara warns him yet again not to mess with the destiny of another, because he feels. personally connected to her. Torbin gets back the blood test results, and not only finds the twins have a uniquely high M-count, but identical “symbionts” that mark them as having been artificially created. Sol and Inadara theorize that a vergence was tapped for the Force power required to split one consciousness into two, which would be a miraculous feat.  

Fear Leads to Anger Leads to Suffering… – Torbin realizes that Osha and Mae’s existence could be his ticket home and takes off on a speeder bike to secure them. Indara sends Sol in pursuit and rallies Kelnacca to go with her on the main ship. As Torbin heads for the coven, Mae, Osha, Mother Aniseya, and Koril have their falling out over Osha’s decision to join the Jedi. Aniseya compassionately lets Osha have her wish, but Koril takes Mae aside and riles her up, pushing her to fight against her sister. Aniseya faces the coven and declares she’s putting motherhood over her role as a leader; however, Mae disables the door to the stronghold, while witches loyal to Koril help prepare to fight the Jedi. Mae traps Osha in her room; Indara flies the ship over the coven and drops Kelnacca in; Koril and Aniseya have a final falling out about whether to violently respond or not; Mae starts the fire and immediately tries to put it out, but it’s too late. Sol and Torbin arrive and find the witches waiting for them. Koril and Aniseya face them, but Sol claims to have noble intentions; however, when he asks how the twins were created, Aniseya and Koril are angered, with Aniseya claiming the Jedi’s so-called noble intentions will destroy them one day. Torbin goes for his saber; Mae runs out asking for help with the fire and is mistaken for Osha. Koril and Torbin start to attack each other; Aniseya screams “No!” and turns into a dark mist – a transformation that starts to happen to Mae, as well. Sol panics stabs his lightsaber into the cloud, and ends up impaling Aniseya, who confesses she was trying to calm things and was going to let Osha go. When Aniseya dies, Koril screams for Mae to run, and the witches attack. Koril duels Sol, who refuses to fight back; Torbin holds his own against a squad of archers with energy bows. The fire causes the coven stronghold to begin exploding; Koril turns into mist and vanishes, as do the archers. Koril’s voice is heard telling Sol and Torbin they made a mistake bringing him to the stronghold. Torbin insists his mind is ready to resist, but it turns out Koril is referring to Kelnacca, who has been possessed by an entire group of witches chanting a spell. Kelnacca attacks Sol and Torbin, seriously wounding them both (including scarring Torbin’s face and maiming his left eye). Sol is nearly strangled by the Wookiee until Indara jumps in, taking down Kelnacca and using the Force to push the witches out of his head. The witches are left unconscious and Indara orders Sol to get the twins as the stronghold becomes an inferno. Sol finds the girls on opposite ends of a collapsing catwalk and chooses to focus his Force powers on saving Osha, instead of Mae. 

Stand On That Lie – The Jedi ship heads back to Coruscant. Torbin his ashamed, but Sol is resolute in his choice. Indara and Sol argue and start to come to blows, but settle down their tension. Indara declares that their report to the Jedi Council will be that Mae started the fire and the coven was lost, save for Osha. Sol wants to confess the actual truth, but Indara won’t let him off the hook that easy: his confession would almost certainly keep Osha from becoming a Jedi, and that dream is the only thing she has left. Indara makes Sol weigh why he made the choice he did. When Osha wakes up, Sol begins to recite the lie that will come to define him for the next sixteen years. 

[End Credits ft. the song “The Power of Two” by Victoria Monét]

The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+.