‘The Acolyte’ Recap: ‘Choice’

7/10/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Seven of ‘The Acolyte’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

There is an old saying that applies well in this life, in that… there are two sides to every story. And this saying has merit because it is unequivocally true. Because for every great thing that happens or every bad thing that happens… there are two incredible stories that provide us with context and understanding as to how that moment came to fruition, and it is important to know those two stories. To perhaps replicate that which is wondrous and to clearly avoid that which went wrong. If anything, the reality that everything comes forth because of two stories is top of mind today, because we received the other half of the story in The Acolyte on Disney+, last night.

For ‘Choice’ returned us to the past once more to see what the Jedi were up to on Brendok all those years ago, and we quickly came to learn that Sol and his team were part of a scientific expedition on that world. For it was supposed to be a dead world courtesy of a hyperspace accident. But there was now life thriving, likely because of some kind of Force vergence, and well… when we caught up with everyone in this story, the mission was… not well received. For little was found and Torbin was struggling with being away from home and being mindful of his thoughts. But action came forth when Sol discovered the Coven and got his crew involved and the rest as they say, is history. But there were some fascinating bits to this story that were filled in here on the Jedi side.

Such as the fact that the Coven more or less tested the Jedi’s mettle in this tale. By poking around Torbin’s mind to see how far fear and anger would push him to cause trouble. Not to mention, Sol was deeply impacted by this mission and truly believed that the Jedi weren’t doing enough to bring peace and security to the galaxy, which led him to take part in selfish and dark actions, such as putting down Mother Aniseya. Not to mention, Kelnacca was placed under the control of the Coven, a move that prompted their death when Indara stepped in to save his mind. Which made all of the Jedi look selfish and foolish and rightfully so, because they were in this instance, and well, all this other side of the story informed us of, was that this entire incident, was a disaster brought forth by arrogance and miscommunication.

Since neither side offered trust or grace, just fear and concern and well… this is quite the important bit of context and offers great understanding for the future of the galaxy. Since it demonstrated how frustrations were building toward the Jedi and their stance on the Force and how the Jedi, were losing control of the order. Because these are actions that were selfish and concerning and were supposed to be eliminated from the order. But alas, it was all there and there was no real leadership to stop such actions, just lofty expectations and a mess to clean up that has sowed more discontent and hate. Which really does give us a solid view of how this kind of arrogance from the Jedi would allow for the Sith to grow in power and work behind the scenes.

For the Jedi were not as in tune with the Force as they thought, or they all would have seen what was on this world and what was lurking in the shadows of the galaxy. But all lessons and context aside, this was… a solid episode. One that filled in the blanks as needed and gave us true perspective on a true tragedy that could have been avoided with trust and grace, and that all-important communication. And well… now that we know the whole story, and now that others will as well… it will be interesting to see what kind of impact context and truth will have upon a pair of broken sisters that have spent their lives desperately searching for both. Until next time.

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