The Acolyte’s silliest second is an indication of Star Wars’ larger issues

The Acolyte’s third episode introduced up an entire lot extra questions than it answered. As an example: What’s up with that Drive Cult, how had been Mae and Osha born, why are the Jedi right here to start with, why is the dialogue so dangerous, and what truly occurred in that fireside? However a very powerful query of all is: How within the hell did all that stone catch on hearth?

In fact, Star Wars is a sequence filled with deep and sophisticated lore, so listed below are our greatest makes an attempt to clarify precisely how a mountain caught on hearth in The Acolyte.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 3.]

Earlier than we get into explanations, it’s vital that we go over the occasion in query slightly bit first. The hearth within the mountain on Brendok is the inciting incident for all the pieces else that occurs in The Acolyte. It’s what separates Mae and Osha, and what provides each of them their diametrically opposed views on the Jedi. So after we acquired the flashback in episode 3, it initially appeared prefer it is likely to be a posh occasion, rife with childhood misunderstandings and missed perspective. Perhaps from what Osha noticed it appeared like Mae created the fireplace, whereas Mae noticed that it was some sort of Jedi accident, resulting in her hatred.

Sadly, none of that is what truly occurs within the episode. As an alternative, we see child Mae clearly and emotionlessly say that she would slightly kill her sister herself than see her depart, then set the whole mountain temple on hearth. Whereas the occasions that led as much as the fireplace are a reasonably excessive disappointment — even when the present might simply be utilizing this inexplicable youngster assassin plot as a smokescreen for a later shock — it’s nonetheless one way or the other the fireplace itself that appears silliest. Mae takes Osha’s sketchbook, lights up its pages utilizing a lamp, after which throws it into the stone hallway… which promptly ignites prefer it’s made from dry wooden. Right here’s the place we’ve to fulfill the present far more than midway.

Concept 1: The alternate-material concept

Maybe what appeared like stone contained in the mountain was truly a special materials? Whereas many of the temple we see on Brendok in The Acolyte’s third episode seems to be carved straight into the mountain, perhaps the coven of witches truly coated the inside tunnels of their dwelling with some extraordinarily flammable, non-rock materials.

Picture: Lucasfilm

That is the silliest and most cop-out concept attainable, however can also be slightly little bit of an old-school Star Wars rationalization too. Identical to setting fires in house or the scream of TIE fighters, it’s one thing foolish and enjoyable that defies all explanations of Earthly science, and that’s superb. In fact, this might be slightly simpler to abdomen if The Acolyte had been taking itself rather less critically, and if the fireplace in query didn’t depart so lots of the folks concerned paralyzed with guilt, filled with remorse, dead-set on vengeance, or just useless altogether. Foolish issues are nice to fulfill with foolish solutions, however tragedies deserve one thing slightly extra thought-out.

Concept 2: The hidden-culprit concept

This concept revolves round the concept what we noticed in episode 3 was solely a part of the story. Positive, Mae made a infantile, rash assertion that she needed to kill her sister, however her sketchbook hearth ought to have merely fizzled out, besides that one other perpetrator used the Drive to unfold the flames.

Probably the most-likely end result of a concept like this might be that somebody from Mae and Osha’s coven fanned the flames to attempt to get the women out and blame the Jedi. The wrongdoer right here, in all probability, could be the Zabrak witch who gave the impression to be having a little bit of an influence battle with the twins’ mother. Maybe she’s stronger, and extra harmful, then she appeared and easily determined that destroying the coven’s dwelling and splitting up Mae and Osha could be the witches’ solely path ahead. She might even be the darkish determine coaching Mae sooner or later and tasking her with killing the Jedi who visited Brendok.

An much more thrilling model of this concept, nonetheless, is that each one this destruction was brought on by the Jedi all alongside. Mae, regardless of her horrific proclamation that she was going to homicide the one different youngster she’d ever identified, was principally innocent and was as a substitute arrange after which left to die by a band of Jedi determined to get their arms on a promising new recruit. This may be genuinely surprising. Not out of line fully with the darkish edges lurking across the Jedi in Star Wars canon (in spite of everything, how do they get all these youngling recruits?), however nonetheless extra gutsy and fascinating than virtually something we’ve seen of them on display.

Picture: Lucasfilm

Making the Jedi the true villains of the Brendok hearth would mark a significant indictment of the Excessive Republic Jedi, an instance of them figuring out themselves to be decide, jury, and executioner for this extremist outlier cult. Simply because they decided the cult to be improper, they massacred everybody there and tried to steal each youngsters, however when even that proved too tough, they merely took one and left the opposite to die.

Even despite what could be the present’s foolish try at misdirection, and its usually frustratingly wood dialogue or samey characters, this reveal could be a genuinely thrilling one. An actual, daring stance on a sure period of Jedi historical past that, at the least in some sectors of the galaxy, was far darker than we had ever thought attainable.

Concept 3: The Disney’s Star Wars concept

The third concept is the best of all: The Acolyte is solely a deeply unserious present, desirous about saying one thing new concerning the Jedi, the Drive, or the Star Wars universe extra broadly, however too involved with appearances to get the small print proper — each when it comes to storytelling and lore. This concept means that there’s no extra to the occasions than we noticed on display: Mae lit a fireplace in an try to kill her sister; it acquired larger than she thought and had far-reaching penalties that she blames on the Jedi whereas shirking her personal half in it. With this concept, even when the Jedi did a couple of issues improper, it could nonetheless wash out, with most of them being heroic ultimately, leaving all the pieces mainly in the identical place it began.

Picture: Lucasfilm

On paper, this concept could be a profound disappointment. In observe, nonetheless, it simply appears like what we must always anticipate from most fashionable Star Wars tales. These tasks hardly ever have the heart to actually shake up the franchise and introduce one thing really surprising, as a substitute at all times bringing the established order again on the finish, or just pushing towards occasions we already know the result of.

Star Wars is firmly in an period of stagnation. So hoping for one thing enjoyable, fascinating, or daring out of a really silly-looking hearth, even when it’s set in a very new time interval, might be slightly greater than we must always anticipate from the sequence at this level. As an alternative, it’s onerous to not think about that The Acolyte’s largest second to this point is nothing greater than rock that inexplicably caught hearth as a result of the plot wanted it to.