How many episodes is The Acolyte, exactly?
The Acolyte has never been exactly clear on what kind of Star Wars story it’s telling. Is it one of an ex-Jedi, the Sith reborn, an important origin story, or just a brief little adventure to introduce the world to the High Republic in live-action? The true answer is likely somewhere in between, but we’ve got a few more episodes left before we know for sure.
While it certainly seems like the show is on the verge of ending near the conclusion of episode 5, the series actually has a total of eight episodes.
[Ed. note: The rest of this post contains slight spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte.]
The Acolyte started out with a simple question: who is killing all these Jedi? That question, however, was answered in the first episode. Since then it’s raised concerns about a mysteriously masked master of the Force, Force-sensitive Covens, a Sith guy’s right to practice the Dark Side in peace and teach it to other people, the daily life of a Wookiee Jedi exile, and more. But by the end of episode 5, all of that has pretty much come to a close.
Instead, it seems like the last three episodes of the show (about an hour to 90 minutes of total runtime if the rest of the show is any indication) are going to be about Mae and Osha swapping places. Up until now, Mae has been a pretty clear vision of the Dark Side of the Force; she’s animated by her anger and strong emotions, she tries to kill her sister, and one way or another the fire she sets gets everyone she loves killed. Meanwhile, Osha is the picture of good Light Side behavior — even if she isn’t a Jedi anymore. She trusts in the Jedi and their way of doing things, she seems eager to avoid violence, and she certainly doesn’t approve of Mae’s quest for revenge. But that isn’t to say that either character has to stay that way for the whole show.
Who knows, maybe this is a set up for the two to trade sides, with Mae joining the Jedi and Osha teaming up with the Dark Side — an anti-redemption arc could be a nice change of pace
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