Lost/Found – As the opening episode of The Acolyte begins, viewers learn that it’s hundreds of years before the rise of the Empire. The Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic have prospered for centuries without war. In the dark corners of the galaxy, a powerful few learn how to use the Force in secret. One of them is a lone assassin who risks discovery to seek revenge. On Ueda, Osha (Amandla Stenberg) asks about the Jedi. She meets Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) to say they have unfinished business. Osha tells Indara to attack her with all of her strength. When Indara refuses, Osha beats up almost everyone in the pub until Indara stops her. Osha ends up taking a woman hostage.

Indara eventually discloses her identity and asks what she’s doing there. Osha says they’re there to kill her before the fight continues. Indara ends up getting stabbed before collapsing to the floor. Osha wakes up and speaks to Pip before learning they have a job to do. Fillik (Anthony J. Abraham) asks her why she didn’t come out. Osha reminds him that what she does on her days off is none of his business. They have to repair the shield generators. The Captain is eager to activate the shield immediately. The pressure gauge spikes leading to an explosion near Osha and Fillik. Osha remembers a traumatic incident from her past. Jedi board the ship. Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) introduces himself and his Padawan named Tasi Lowa (Thara Schoon). Yord explains they’re looking for a former Jedi by the name of Osha Aniseya.

Yord uses his power to find out where Osha should be. When he meets her, Yord reveals he made Knight. Osha explains to Tasi that she joined the order when she was eight. Tasi knows there was major concern about admitting her to the Order because of her age. Yord points out that she was mourning because she lost her entire family until Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) brought her into the Jedi. They tell Osha that a Jedi was murdered on Ueda last night and the suspect matches her description. After being identified by a witness, Osha is arrested and told she’ll be transported back to Coruscant. She warns them they’re making a mistake. In Coruscant, Master Sol trains a group of children. After class, Sol speaks to Master Vernestra (Rebecca Henderson) who tells him about Osha’s arrest.

He doesn’t know why Osha would kill Indara when they saved her from a terrible fire on Brendok. Sol believes there must be a mistake. They agree it could be bad if this news became public. Meanwhile, Osha learns from convicts that they use Dybbuk to subdue violent criminals. They ask if she wants in since they’re planning an escape. A convict (Thomas Coombes) tells her how they plan to escape. Osha doesn’t like their plan because it could kill them. She also has faith in the Jedi although the convicts believe she’ll end up in prison. The convicts attempt to escape. They leave Osha who they call a Jedi killer. Osha tries to use her force to reach Pip. Although it doesn’t work, she ends up grabbing it anyway. She frees herself and the violent convict only to be locked inside alone.

Osha brings down the ship. Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) approaches Master Sol to say Vernestra requests him at the detainment level. Jecki asks why he keeps holograms of his former Padawan. Sol says their memories are lessons. The convicts have been captured and they’re blaming Osha. Vernestra tells Sol that the ship went down over Carlac. Sol learns that the violent convict betrayed Osha and fled in an escape pod. Probe droids were dispatched to survey the wreckage on Carlac. Sol asks for permission to go there himself and bring in Osha. He eventually received permission to go with a small team. Osha wakes up and sees something leaving the wreckage. Sol decides to take Jecki with him. Yord may join the team as well. Sol tells them that they’ll leave in five minutes.

Osha follows the figure outside and sees her sister Mae. Osha admits she thought she was dead. Mae confesses to killing Indara and says she’ll kill them all. Osha wakes up. Meanwhile, Sol tells Jecki about Osha and the fire that supposedly killed her entire family. Sol is convinced that Mae is dead because he watched her die. Osha sees their ship getting ready to land. Yord tours the wreckage and says there’s no way she could’ve survived this. Sol seems to be on Osha’s trail as she flees into a cave. Yord and the others eventually find Osha. She tells Sol that she didn’t do it before falling from the edge. Sol uses the force to prevent her from falling to her death. Once he pulls her back up, Osha says Mae is alive. Mae approaches a figure in the distance.

 

The Acolyte Review

The opening episode of The Acolyte primarily set up the main story and introduced the characters. Osha has been accused of killing a Jedi. Although the killer matches her description, Osha knows her long-lost sister, Mae, is responsible. Originally, she and others believed her family had died in a fire.

Master Sol appears to be one of the few who will truly believe that Osha is innocent. After being arrested, Osha unintentionally escaped with help from other convicts only to be apprehended by Sol, Jecki, and Yord. Now, she will likely return to Coruscant and plead her case.

The first episode of The Acolyte was good in many areas, but it’s hard to be thrilled about the unoriginal story. Besides being based on Star Wars, this story could’ve easily been copied and pasted from countless other television shows and movies. How is this going to differentiate itself from other shows?

The episode didn’t give me any confidence that it’ll be able to do that. The opening fight scene was fairly corny although everything else looks great. The casting isn’t particularly compelling and there’s really no one to legitimately care about at this point. The biggest issue is the overall blandness of the story because it takes no risks and simply rehashes what’s been done countlessly.

Although the episode wasn’t terrible, it lacked any passion for the Star Wars series so it’s see to see why fans of the franchise would hate this. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Acolyte can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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