Star Wars: The Acolyte Two-Part Episode Recap

Star Wars: The Acolyte streamed its two-part episode premiere on Disney+ last Tuesday. It was a good start, albeit a tad cliche of a similar plot structure to last year’s Ahsoka. The franchise’s new era, The High Republic, has now transitioned from book media to live-action and looks great. It’s cool to see the universe pre-The Phantom Menace and witness the Jedi at the height of their power. Will it be entertaining enough? Let’s talk about it.

Episode One, “Lost/Found”, finds a mysterious assassin hunting Jedi across the galaxy. On the planet Udea, the assassin fights and kills Jedi Master Indara (Carrie Anne-Moss) and leaves the bar succeeding in her mission. Elsewhere, former Jedi Padawan Osha (Amandla Steinberg) works as a meknek doing dangerous repair jobs onboard starships. Jedi Knight Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) and his padawan, Thara Schoon, (Tasi Lowa) apprehend Osha on suspicion of murdering Indara based on a barkeeper’s description of the assassin looking similar to Osha. She claims did not commit the crime. The transport to Coruscant goes awry when a prison break erupts prompting the ship to crash land into the ice world of Carlac.

Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) takes Yord and Thara at the request of Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) to secure Osha back to the Jedi Temple for questioning. Meanwhile, Osha follows the vision of a child who appears to be her twin sister, Mae (also played by Steinberg). Mae reveals she survived the fire that killed their family on their home planet Brendok. Sol and his team retrieve Osha while Mae receives new orders from a Sith lord to kill a Jedi without her daggers.

Episode Two, “Revenge/Justice”, sees Mae on her next mission to kill Jedi Master Tobin (Dean-Charles Chapman) on planet Olega. Unable to attack him through Tobin’s force meditation, she goes to Qimir (Manny Jacinto) who assists in her efforts to assassinate Jedi. He provides her with a slow-acting poison to effectively kill Tobin who has been meditating for over a decade.

Sol and company go to Olega to investigate the attack. As they arrive on the scene, Mae gives the poison to Tobin to cleanse the sins of his past. With another Jedi master dead, the group spies on Qimir as Osha goes in posing as her twin sister. Qimir learns Osha is not Mae before Sol and his team stop him. He reveals Mae’s mission to kill the four Jedi who were stationed the night when the twins’ family were killed on Brendok: Indara, Tobin, Kelnacca, and Sol.  

Sol confronts Mae in hand-to-hand combat and momentarily flees the scene. Osha tries to capture her until she and her twin sister recognize each other. Osha fails to stun Mae as she escapes out of sight. She goes rogue from Sol and the Jedi to find her twin. Mae almost kills Qimir for his betrayal but tells her that Kelnacca is hiding on the forest planet Khofar. Kelnacca is revealed to be a Wookie who knows the ways of the force as he prevents two scavengers from looting his material-built home.  

The show is on a mellow but promising start. I’m curious how this series will turn out when it ends. Will it live up to fans’ expectations as it progresses? That remains to be seen. As the series concludes, we will see if the force is with The Acolyte.