The Acolyte Episode 8 Recap (Finale Spoilers)

Star Wars: The Acolyte has been a lightning rod since the first trailers for the show dropped – and that negative commentary surrounding the show never abated while it was on. 

That’s all to say: The Acolyte‘s Season Finale episode had a lot to accomplish: answering lingering mysteries of the storyline, providing a satisfying final showdown between the principal player, and somehow making it all fit within the Star Wars canon. It shouldn’t be a surprise that The Acolyte couldn’t meet all those challenges, but regardless, Episode 8 definitely had some standout moments fans will be buzzing about… 

The Acolyte Episode 8 Recap (Finale Spoilers) 

Breathe In, Breathe Out – The episode opens with The Stranger/Qimir (Manny Jacinto) finding Osha (Amandla Stenberg) in his cavern dwelling with his Cortosis helmet on her head. When Osha starts gasping for air, Qimir tries to approach her and remove the helmet, only to find his mind being taken over by Osha the way Mother Aniseya once took hold of Torbin’s mind. Qimir must push through the darkness that Osha plunges him into – as well as fight back the Force-hold on his physical body, in order to get to the helmet and finally pull it off of Osha. Osha is left rattled, saying that she sees a vision of her twin sister Mae, killing Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) while holding a lightsaber but not actually using the weapon to finish him. Qimir recognizes the vision as a possible imminent future, in which Mae completes her training as his acolyte. Osha counters that this future isn’t yet fixed in place, and she can still stop Mae. Qimir asks how she can stop Mae when he has the only ship to get them to her, making it clear he intends to hunt her down. Osha proposes an alliance, with Qimir agreeing that they can travel together to find Mae, and see which one of them she chooses to listen to. 

Escape Plan – Mae is still being held in restraints on Sol’s ship after he recounted to her what really happened on her home planet Brendok sixteen years earlier. Sol reveals he’s brought them back to Brendok, where he will call Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) to come and see proof of the Force Vergence that supposedly exists on Brendok, having Mae and Osha be irrefutable proof of how the Force can be tapped to artificially create life. Mae counters that Sol’s “proof” wouldn’t justify his killing of Mother Aniseya, starting an argument while secretly using PIP the droid’s head as a lockpick on her restraints. Mae demands to know why Sol didn’t ever tell Osha the truth if he’s so sure he’s justified in all this, and Sol defends himself by saying killing Aniseya was an accident,  and that Mae is the one responsible for starting the fire that ultimately destroyed the coven. Mae is unwavering in her view that the Jedi’s “invasion” of her home caused its downfall, and Sol is the one who set it all in motion. Sol gets emotional, saying his real guilt is over not saving both Mae and Osha when he had the chance. He tries to explain to Mae that Osha isn’t really her twin or her sister – but Mae gets free and uses PIP as a taser, zapping Sol and leaving him stunned. Mae flees through the ship (with Bazil tracking her) as Sol recovers and gives pursuit. PIP leads Mae to an escape pod, with Mae telling Sol “See you in hell, Jedi,” before she straps in, puts a pilot helmet on, and flies away toward Brendok’s surface. 

[The Acolyte Title Logo Plays]

Back to Brendok – Sol runs into the cockpit of his ship and pursues Mae down to Brendok’s surface. Mae guns the throttle and takes Sol on a chase into the icy ring around one of Brendok’s moons, thinking Sol’s ship is too big to follow. Sol gives chase anyway, with Bazil looking concerned as icy crystals begin hitting the ship. When Sol tries to accelerate, Bazil pulls some wires loose in the ship, disabling the accelerator. Sol’s ship stalls out, while Mae’s ship loses its bearings and comes spinning out of the ice ring to make a hard landing on the surface of Brendok. 

Political Animals – In the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Rwoh is approached by Jedi Mog (Harry Trevaldwyn) who informs her that Senator Rayencourt (David Harewood) is on-site to speak with her. Rwoh is both surprised and annoyed that Rayencourt has come (and was admitted by Jedi security) in order to sandbag her. Rayencourt is waiting inside Rwoh’s chambers, wanting to know how she’s doing after her hyperspace travels, which he knows makes her ill. Rwoh corrects the senator’s worry about her stomach, saying it’s her head that gets afflicted by hyperspace travel, and that she’s fine. Rwoh presses to know why Rayencourt has come personally, and he reveals that he’s caught wind that Rwoh is conducting a Jedi murder investigation without reporting it to the senate or Jedi Council; Rwoh counters that it is an internal matter she’s handling internally, within her delegated authority to do so, and within legal bounds to only report larger threats. When Rayencourt presses to know why this is no larger threat at work, Rwoh slips up by revealing there have been multiple Jedi murders when stating she’s close to apprehending the killer. Rayencourt wants to know if the suspect is a Jedi, but Rwoh won’t answer and starts to take her leave. Rayencourt gets personal, saying he knows she doesn’t like him or his calls for a review of the Jedi Order, which he sees as a massive unchecked power posing as a religion, false and self-deluded in its assertions of Jedi being higher-minded Zen master monks. Rayencourt feels it’s just a matter of time and numbers before a Jedi snaps and goes rogue, creating a massive threat that even other Jedi may not be able to stop. Rayencourt thinks views of the Jedi need to be brought down from the heights of them being mythical heroes to seeing the flawed organization they truly are. Rwoh listens before using her Force abilities to open the door and show the senator out. Rayencourt leaves, letting Rwoh know an official tribunal is being conveyed to review the murder investigation. 

Darth Plageuis the Creepy – Osha, and Qimir get dressed in dark cloaks and head to the strip of land where Qimir’s ship is docked. Along the way, Qimir asks where they are going, but Osha won’t reveal it for fear of losing her leverage. Qimir tries to act tough, but Osha calls out his sense of fairness in making deals with her and Mae and honoring his side of those deals. Qimir once again tries to seduce Osha into becoming his student, but she reminds him that she’s not Mae, and Qimir agrees since Mae accepted his offer with no hesitation. As the two board the ship and take off, a mysterious and freaky-looking creature hiding in Qimir’s cavern lair steps out to watch them go. [Note: It’s widely speculated that this creature is “Darth Plagueis the Wise,” the secret Sith Lord who was obsessed with manipulating life through the Force, and became the master Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious.]

Call In The Calvary – Sol finally lands on Brendok and stares longfully for a moment before re-activating his ship’s transponder. He goes outside and uses his Force sense to locate Mae and follow her. On the ship, Bazil watches Sol go. On Coruscant, Rwoh is trying to make a secret call to an unknown party, hinting that she knows he’s unavailable but needs to speak to him anyway, as it’s an emergency. She’s told by the spokesperson on the phone that her request will be taken to the person who needs to hear it. Mog enters and reports Sol’s ship being found on Brendok. Rwoh has her ship prepared, and a squad of Jedi Knights gathered quietly to finally force a “resolution” to the conflict. Meanwhile, Qimir and Osha arrive on Brendok and realize that Mae and Sol have already beaten them there. 

Coven of Ghosts – Sol sees Qimir’s ship flying in as he returns to the rubble of the coven, hearing echoes of that tragic night he killed Aniseya. Osha and Qimir get to the door of the coven stronghold, with Osha claiming that hacking the door controls is the only way in; Qimir asks if that’s correct, and when Osha turns around he’s vanished. Sol walks through the rubble to the catwalk where he saved Osha and let Mae fall; when he walks away, Mae climbs up from where she fell from the catwalk and infiltrates the stronghold. Mae hears Sol calling her name and avoids him, ending up flooded with memories when she enters the quarters she once shared with her mother and sister. Outside, Osha gets the door controls working and enters. 

Let Them Fight! – Sol gets ambushed by Qimir while walking down a dark hallway. Qimir thanks Sol for helping him find Mae, saying they make a “great team.” The two warriors begin to duel; after a few rounds of martial arts combat, they end up back in the courtyard where Sol killed Aniseya, Sol declares he will destroy Qimir if he must, and Qimir counters that Mae may still kill Sol before that. They fought some more, and Qimir tries throwing both his lightsaber and saber-dagger at Sol and using Force-holds to cut him down with helicopter swords; Sol turns off his saber and uses a special Force-fu technique to knock the swords and The Stranger back, but Qimir quickly recovers his blades, slaps them back into a longsword, and attacks again. 

Family Reunion – Osha finds Mae in their old quarters, seething at her sister over all the death and chaos she caused. Mae pleads with Osha that Sol lied to her about blaming Mae for the coven’s death, but Osha takes accountability, saying that Sol never blamed MaeL he tried to make Osha reconcile that you can love someone who did a bad thing. It was Osha’s own mix of rage and grief that haunted her and ultimately kept her from embracing the ways of the Jedi – just like Mae wanted. Mae drops the reveal that Sol killed Aniseya, saying that it was always impossible for Osha to be a Jedi if the man who killed her mother was her teacher. Osha loses it and attacks Mae and the two have a serious martial arts battle, with Mae holding her own. Osha gets extra mad with she sees that Mae has hacked PIP, who squirts Osha in the face with oil. 

Duels of the Fates – Sol notices Vernestra Rwoh’s ship coming in for a landing, and smugly tells The Stranger that he will soon face justice; Qimir confidently responds that the Jedi are not there for him. We get alternating cuts of Mae vs. Osha and Sol vs. The Stranger, with Osha and Mae also noticing the Jedi ship arriving – an opportunity Mae uses to vanish from the room. Sol and Qimir lock sabers, before Sol finally gets in a decisive strike, cutting Qimir’s hilt in half. Sol holds Qimir at the tip of his saber, contemplating ending him, as the villain removes his helmet to face Sol eye to eye. Mae suddenly arrives and surprises Sol, disarming him of his saber, which she tosses away onto a nearby rock, breaking it open to expose the blue kyber crystal inside. 

Confess! – Qimir starts to talk Mae through the final test of striking down Sol (using no weapon), but Mae refuses, choosing to see Sol confess to the Jedi Council and Senate, and face justice for killing her mother. Sol doubles down on his justifications, finally revealing that Osha and Mae are one soul, split into two bodies through Aniseya’s unique harnessing of the Force vergence on Brendok. Sol tries to get Mae to see how her existence and the vergence on Brendok are proof of greater Force power that can be tapped into – details that Qimir listens to, intently. Mae concludes that seeing Mother Aniseya’s level of power made Sol panic and kill her, and Sol finally, heavily, lets out the admission that he indeed murdered Aniseya. Osha comes walking out of the shadows and picks up Sol’s lightsaber, having heard his confession. Osha asks if it’s true and why she was lied to, and Sol goes through the rationalizations that they covered things up on Brendok because they needed both Mae and Osha to prove the power of the vergence; that exposing Osha’s true origin would’ve marked her as a lab rat to be studied by the Jedi and Republic, and that he wanted to help her reach her impossible dream of being a Jedi. Osha finally snaps, Force-choking Sol mid-sentence when he tries to claim he loves her. Osha commands Sol to stop talking before Force-choking him even harder, making Sol’s blue kyber crystal start to bleed red in her hand; Sol falls to his knees, shedding a tear, hoarsely telling Osha “It’s okay…” before she finishes him off. 

Rise of the Acolyte – Osha falls to her knees, traumatized, and Qimir tries to put his hand on her shoulder for comfort. Osha screams and ignites Sol’s saber, swinging it wildly at Qimir, who doges her blows effortlessly. Suddenly, the saber’s blue light flickers and explodes into a wild red color. Both Mae and Osha stare at the saber, in shock and awe. Meanwhile, Vernestra Rwoh and her Jedi squad exit the ship, and Rwoh immediately Force-senses Qimir (who is not wearing his cortosis helmet to shield his thoughts) and recognizes him as the former padawan she thought dead. Qimir feels Rwoh sensing him, and quickly re-dons his helmet, disappearing from Osha and Mae’s side. Rwoh tells Morg and the other Jedi that she knows where to go and to follow her, as Bazil runs out of Sol’s ship to join them. 

Escape! – Mae shakes Osha out of her stupor and tells her they need to escape, quickly, and she knows how to get away. As the Jedi get to the stronghold door, Rwoh pries it open with her Force abilities and “reads” all the echoes around the scene as the other Jedi head inside. Mae takes Osha to the catwalk where she fell and bids her sister to trust her. They climb down the cliff and enter a hidden tunnel in the rock wall, which had previously sucked Mae in while she was falling, allowing her to escape the coven’s fires sixteen years prior. Rwoh’s team gets to the coven’s main courtyard and Rwoh is able to hear the echoes of everything that happened there with her four Jedi colleagues (Sol, Torbin, Kelnacca, Indara) and the witches, on the night the coven was destroyed. They find Sol’s body and Rwoh sends the Jedi knights and Bazil off to establish a crime scene perimeter and pursue the escaping assailant(s). The Stranger is there, watching Rwoh from a high perch over the courtyard, as Rwoh kneels over Sol’s body and whispers something. Rwoh senses The Stranger’s presence and looks up, but he’s already gone. Mae and Osha run out of the tunnel into the forest, with Osha asking Mae what her next move had been all those years ago. Bazil gets Mae’s scent and starts leading the Jedi after her; Mae and Osha arrive at the Bunta tree they played under as kids, where Mae reveals she waited for her sister for some time after the coven burned. The two sisters apologize to each other for everything (including the fire), falling to their knees in tears, and reciting their nursery rhyme about being two-in-one. Qimir sneaks up on them, Force-grabbing Osha’s lightsaber, and letting the girls know that if he found them, the Jedi are about to, as well. Osha wants to confess to the Jedi, believing they’ll have to reconcile with what Sol did to Aniseya, but Mae and Qimir assure her that’s naive, and that the Jedi will view her as an enemy – possibly one destroying her just like Aniseya. 

Sending Forget-Me-Nots – Osha doesn’t know what to do, so Mae asks her sister what she wants. Osha chooses to become Qimir’s acolyte and train in the dark side if Mae is freed from her deal. As the Jedi team gets closer, Qimir offers to use his Force abilities to mind-wipe Mae, taking any memory of him and Osha away, forever. Mae agrees, but Osha can’t do it – until Mae tells her sister to go follow her destiny without it being interrupted, this time. Osha extends her hand to Qimir, who returns her lightsaber and asks for a moment to hug her sister a last time and pledge to find her again one day. They once again recite their nursery rhyme, but halfway through Mae signals to Qimir to wipe her mind, and he does. Mae can’t remember how to finish the rhyme, and Osha smiles, knowing the job is done. The Jedi arrive at the bunta tree to find a confused and disoriented Mae, all alone. 

The Cover-Up – Mae is brought before Vernestra Rwoh at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Rwoh interviews Mae, but Mae truly can’t recall anything past the night of the fire at the coven, and Sol killing Aniseya. She knows the feeling of need to find someone – but can’t remember who. Rwoh confides in Mae that Sol is the man from her memory and he was guilty of murdering Mae’s mom, despite being an otherwise kind and noble Jedi. A set of interweaving montages sees Rwoh taking that testimonial about Sol to the tribunal Senator Rayencourt formed. Rwoh paints Sol and his comrades as “bad apples,” who committed an atrocity on Brendok – and Sol as the assassin who killed the other three accomplices (and other Jedi) to cover up his greater crime. Another look at the scene where Rwoh is kneeling over Sol’s body on Brendok reveals that she whispered a heartfelt apology to him, knowing what she was about to do to his name and legacy. Rayencourt pushes for a full external review of the Jedi Order, but Rwoh counters that the High Council considers Sol one rogue Jedi whose guilt made him eventually return to the scene of his crime and take his own life. Another flashback shows Rwoh giving Sol a Jedi funeral pyre on a river, burning his body to erase any evidence of how he actually died. The montages cut back to Rwoh with Mae, with the Jedi Master convincing herself of the story as she’s telling, as she’s telling it. Rwoh slips up on one detail when she tells Mae that Sol was twisted by a selfish love of her sister – making Mae wonder what sister she even has. Rwoh asks Mae if hearing the name Osha stirs anything in her, but it doesn’t. Rwoh tells Mae the Jedi failed her and needs to make it right – if Mae can help the order first. Mae wants to know what she has to do, and Rwoh reveals she wants her help tracking down one of her old pupils, who turned evil… 

The Rule of Two – Back on Qimir’s mystery planet hideout, he and Ohsa stand looking out at the sea, at a sun that’s setting between rocky islands in the distance, holding hands (and gripping the lightsaber) as a dramatic overture plays. The screen cuts to black before Vernestra Rwoh enters a private room in the Jedi temple, apologizing for interrupting. The camera pans down to reveal the back of Master Yoda. Rwoh tells Yoda that there are matters they need to discuss… 

[End Credits Roll]

Star Wars: The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+.