The Acolyte’s silliest moment is a sign of Star Wars’ bigger problems

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

After all, Star Wars is a collection filled with deep and sophisticated lore, so listed here are our greatest makes an attempt to clarify precisely how a mountain caught on fireplace 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 a bit of bit first. The hearth within the mountain on Brendok is the inciting incident for all the things 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 once we bought the flashback in episode 3, it initially appeared prefer it is likely to be a fancy occasion, rife with childhood misunderstandings and missed perspective. Perhaps from what Osha noticed it appeared like Mae created the hearth, whereas Mae noticed that it was some form of Jedi accident, resulting in her hatred.

Sadly, none of that is what really occurs within the episode. As a substitute, we see child Mae clearly and emotionlessly say that she would relatively kill her sister herself than see her go away, then set your complete mountain temple on fireplace. Whereas the occasions that led as much as the hearth are a fairly excessive disappointment — even when the present may simply be utilizing this inexplicable little one assassin plot as a smokescreen for a later shock — it’s nonetheless someway the hearth 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 product of dry wooden. Right here’s the place we have now to fulfill the present far more than midway.

Concept 1: The alternate-material concept

Maybe what seemed like stone contained in the mountain was really a unique 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 really coated the inside tunnels of their house with some extraordinarily flammable, non-rock materials.

Picture: Lucasfilm

That is the silliest and most cop-out concept attainable, however can be a bit of 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. After all, this might be a bit of simpler to abdomen if The Acolyte have been taking itself rather less critically, and if the hearth in query didn’t go away so lots of the folks concerned paralyzed with guilt, filled with remorse, dead-set on vengeance, or just lifeless altogether. Foolish issues are nice to fulfill with foolish solutions, however tragedies deserve one thing a bit of extra thought-out.

Concept 2: The hidden-culprit concept

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

Essentially 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 ladies out and blame the Jedi. The perpetrator right here, in all probability, can be the Zabrak witch who appeared 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 house and splitting up Mae and Osha can be the witches’ solely path ahead. She may 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, nevertheless, 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 little one she’d ever identified, was largely innocent and was as an alternative arrange after which left to die by a band of Jedi determined to get their palms on a promising new recruit. This is able to be genuinely surprising. Not out of line solely with the darkish edges lurking across the Jedi in Star Wars canon (in any case, how do they get all these youngling recruits?), however nonetheless extra gutsy and fascinating than nearly something we’ve seen of them on display screen.

Picture: Lucasfilm

Making the Jedi the true villains of the Brendok fireplace 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 mistaken, they massacred everybody there and tried to steal each kids, however when even that proved too tough, they merely took one and left the opposite to die.

Even despite what can be the present’s foolish try at misdirection, and its usually frustratingly wood dialogue or samey characters, this reveal can 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 only of all: The Acolyte is solely a deeply unserious present, fascinated with 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 screen: Mae lit a fireplace in an try to kill her sister; it bought 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 just a few issues mistaken, it might nonetheless wash out, with most of them being heroic in the long run, leaving all the things principally in the identical place it began.

Picture: Lucasfilm

On paper, this concept can be a profound disappointment. In follow, nevertheless, it simply appears like what we must always anticipate from most trendy Star Wars tales. These initiatives not often have the center to essentially shake up the franchise and introduce one thing actually surprising, as an alternative 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 fireplace, even when it’s set in a very new time interval, might be a bit of greater than we must always anticipate from the collection at this level. As a substitute, it’s arduous to not think about that The Acolyte’s greatest second to date is nothing greater than rock that inexplicably caught fireplace as a result of the plot wanted it to.