Instead of taking the story of The Acolyte forward, the third episode of the show turned the clocks back by 16 years to show the origins of Mae and Osha’s estranged relationship. Mae and Osha belonged to a coven of witches who practiced the Force, away from the prying eyes of the Jedi, on Brendok. Osha wasn’t too keen on following in the footsteps of their mothers and becoming a witch. So, when the Jedi infiltrated the fortress of the witches, Osha expressed her intention of becoming a Jedi. The witches tried their best to convince Osha to think about her decision for a second because if she became a Jedi, she wouldn’t get to see her mother again. Osha defied everyone and truthfully participated in the Jedi test, while Mae did the exact opposite. Angered by Osha’s stance, Mae started a fire, which apparently killed all the witches and injured Torbin. But the extent of the damage caused in the fortress indicated that Mae wasn’t entirely responsible for the extinction of the tribe; the Jedi must’ve done something. Mae was presumed to be dead, but she rose from the ashes of her home and sought to destroy the Jedi who were stationed on Brendok. Episode 4 of The Acolyte is centered around Mae’s search for Kelnacca and the Jedi’s efforts to stop Mae from taking yet another life.
Spoiler Alert
Sol Decides To Go After Mae
The fourth episode of The Acolyte opens in Khofar, where we see Kelnacca in his decrepit hut, which is filled with spiral symbols. They look like the tattoos that were on the witches of Brendok. It’s unclear what he did there and whether or not he killed the witches, but it’s apparent that the memory of those witches continues to haunt him. Back on Coruscant, Osha prepares to resume her day job and let the Jedi continue their investigation into Mae’s mission. Jecki doesn’t want her to go (I sense some mutual attraction going on here), but Osha’s history with the Jedi is quite prickly, so she doesn’t want to hang around. That said, she does promise to meet Jecki again after the ongoing ordeal is over. Meanwhile, Mae and Qimir reach Khofar and prepare to wade through the thick forests of the planet to get to Kelnacca. Qimir reminds Mae that the knowledge about Osha’s survival doesn’t change the deal she has made with the anonymous Sith Lord. Mae doesn’t give him a straight response, which means that she is reconsidering her whole mission because her twin sister is alive.
Sol debriefs the Jedi Masters about Mae, and Master Vernestra quickly points out that she has gone after the Jedi who were present on Brendok. Based on Sol’s guilt-ridden face and Vernestra’s accusatory tone, it seems like Sol and his team didn’t inform the rest of the Jedi about what went down on Brendok, or they put all the blame on Mae and called it a day. Instead of dwelling on these assumptions, Vernestra orders Master Holden to extract Kelnacca from Khofar before Mae gets to him. But Sol volunteers to go on this mission because he wants to redeem himself for not saving Mae. Vernestra warns Sol that there’s a sinister plan in the works, and Mae is probably playing a small part in it. Hence, he shouldn’t lose sight of that because of his proximity to Osha. Sol comes up with the idea of actually using Osha to speak to Mae’s emotional side and dissuade her from killing Kelnacca and himself. Talking about Mae on Khofar, Qimir wonders how Mae is going to kill the Wookie because, so far, she has worked her way around the conditions of her deal with the Master. She doesn’t have that privilege anymore. Mae tries to learn what Qimir’s deal with the Master is, and he gives a non-answer. Mae asks Qimir what Osha is like, because he has interacted with her, and Qimir says that she is out of her depth and she has a good relationship with Sol, thereby implicitly reminding Mae of her quest to kill him.
Osha feels her Force powers coming back
Sol asks Osha to come with him on his mission to apprehend Mae. Of course, she is hesitant because they didn’t part ways on the best terms, and both of them are carrying a lot of baggage. So, it’s possible that Osha suspects that her emotions will get the better of her, and she’ll do something stupid. Sol says that there’s still some goodness left in Mae, and if the Jedi are sent to confront her, then she is going to get aggressive and turn to the Dark Side. But if she sees Osha, things may go differently. So, Osha agrees to go on the trip to Khofar, extract Kelnacca, and arrest Mae. The team consists of Sol, Osha, Jecki, Yord, several other Jedi, and the tracker, Bazil (he or they are the best). Upon landing, Yord and Osha get into a disagreement about whether or not she should get to keep the blaster. And while that’s all fun and games, Osha gets serious for a moment so that Yord understands the gravity of her potential altercation with Mae. She admits that she is not prepared to face her estranged twin sister. That’s why she is not sure if she can get Mae to lay down her weapons and surrender herself to the Jedi peacefully.
Osha knows that if things get violent, she won’t be able to take Mae down. Hence, she wants Yord to step in and take care of Mae. Yord agrees to do what’s necessary, but she also reminds Osha that this whole mission isn’t just Mae; it’s also about Osha reconciling with her past and filling some of the blank spaces in her history. As Osha and Mae get closer to each other while proceeding towards Kelnacca’s home, Osha senses that her powers are coming back. We know that she could wield the Force as a child. She was a Jedi. But when she tried to use it in the first episode, it didn’t work. Now, while walking through a forest full of giant bugs, she realizes that it’s coming back little by little because she is able to sense their feelings. Soon after Sol kills the bug, Osha tells Jecki that she couldn’t become a true Jedi because she couldn’t make peace with death and loss. Jecki assures her that people aren’t defined by their loss; they are defined by what (or how) they survive. Osha has undoubtedly seen a lot of death, and it has taken a toll on her soul. That said, she is a survivor, and she should focus on that to reinstate her Force powers.
Is Qimir a Sith Lord?
Mae and Qimir take a breather, and Mae laments about the impossible nature of the task of getting an unarmed Jedi to attack her so that she can kill them. Apparently, the Jedi are governed by the rule that they can never attack first. That’s why Mae has had to resort to threats or the promise of absolution to get the job done. She dissects the Master’s no-weapons rule but seemingly doesn’t arrive at the conclusion that the Master wants her to use the Force to kill the Jedi. Qimir realizes that Mae is losing her cool. So he tells her to rest while he goes and gets some water. When Qimir returns, he is trapped by Mae. She says that she has changed her mind and is breaking her deal with the Master. She wants to reunite with Osha and live a life of peace. So, she intends to surrender to Kelnacca and the Jedi, atone for her sins, give up the location of the Sith Lord, and then catch up with Osha. Qimir says that the Master will kill her, and Mae says that he’ll never find her without a guide like Qimir. Since Qimir is hanging from a wire, she doesn’t need to worry about the Master.
At the end of The Acolyte, episode 4, we get a brief scene of Sol and Osha talking about what they are going to do after they get to Mae, and then we see Mae approaching Kelnacca’s hut. Bazil is there, too, and he starts shouting to alert the Jedi about their location. While the Jedi rush to the spot, Mae goes into Kelnacca’s hut only to find him dead, as indicated by the lightsaber cut on his chest. Mae suspects that the Master has already reached Khofar and done Mae’s job for her. The Jedi reach Kelnacca’s hut, and they are ambushed by the Master. He approaches Osha, who freezes on the spot out of fear. The Master pushes her away with the Force, and when the Jedi rush towards him, he blows them away too. Well, I think that the Master is actually Qimir. We have never seen Qimir and the Master in the same frame. He talks very vaguely about meeting the Sith Lord. And now he is in Khofar as well? That can’t be a coincidence. Now, everyone who has seen a lot of Star Wars will probably figure this out in an instant. That’s why I don’t think this is the main twist. The reason behind Qimir using Mae to kill Jedi is probably going to be a shocker. Well, we’ll have to wait till next week to get some answers.
