The Acolyte Episode 1 recap: Star Wars makes a questionable decision

A new era of Star Wars is taking off, and Episode 1 of The Acolyte puts a fair chunk of time into its own worldbuilding.

Marking the furthest back the Star Wars timeline has ever gone on-screen, The Acolyte is a brand new eight-part series releasing weekly on Disney Plus.

With an entirely new group of Star Wars characters introduced to the franchise — except for one — the series follows a string of dubious Jedi murders at the hands of an unknown assailant.

Episode 1 has officially kicked off the action with a touch of Force-fu (that’s martial arts using the Force, for newbies) — here’s everything that’s happened in The Acolyte so far. Warning: spoilers ahead.

The Acolyte Episode 1: A Jedi murder spree begins

Taking place in 132 BBY, The Acolyte Episode 1 begins in Ueda, where a young woman is trying to find Jedi Master Indara. Approaching her in a local cantina, the woman claims to have unfinished business with Indara, asking her to attack with all her strength.

Indara refutes this, and the two engage in an epic hand-to-hand combat scene. Indara asks who trained the girl, taking a knife to the heart while being distracted, and dying (axing the show’s biggest name, Carrie-Anne Moss). The cantina bartender watches this, with the girl deciding to spare him.

On a ship a fair while away in the galaxy, Osha — who looks exactly like the girl we’ve just seen kill Indara — is working as a mechanic, having previously been a Jedi but left for unknown reasons. While fixing a ship fault, two members of the Jedi Order board the ship, asking to speak to her.

It appears that Osha has a previous history with Jedi Knight Yord (though we don’t know what this is), with Yord and Padawan Jecki telling Osha that she’s been arrested for murder. Osha tells them that she had nothing to do with it, but the cantina bartender is brought aboard, identifying her.

While being transported to prison on Coruscant, fellow prisoners stage an escape plan, leaving Osha behind when she claims she wants no part in it. With one escape pod gone, Osha tries to free a fellow sedated prisoner to get them both on the second one — with the prisoner fleeing into the pod by himself instead. Osha crash lands in Carlac, where she’s greeted by a familiar face.

Jedi Master Sol doesn’t believe what he hears

When news of Indara’s murder gets out, word arrives on Coruscant to Jedi Master Sol, who is teaching a new crop of younglings. Fellow master Vernestra Rwoh confronts Sol about it, claiming that the prime suspect is his former Padawan, Osha. Unable to believe the news, Sol immediately thinks there is more to what has happened than appears.

After detaining the escaped prisoners and learning that the final escapee betrayed Osha’s help, Sol requests permission to find Osha himself. Vernestra agrees on behalf of the Jedi Order, sending Jecki and Yord with him. While the trio catches up to her, Osha figures out something that will change life as she knows it — that her sister Mae is still alive.

Osha figures out Mae is alive

Back on their home planet, Osha watched her sister start a fire that killed their entire family, with both Osha and Sol also watching Mae die as well. From this day forward, Sol took Osha on as his Padawan, until Osha’s mysterious exit from the order.

Osha sees a childlike version of her sister on Carlac, regressing to a child version of herself when they speak to each other. Mae confirms that it was her who killed Indara, with Osha obviously angry at her sister for doing something that killed everybody she loved. She finds herself back on the crashed ship with a sudden start.

Saving Osha from falling off of a snowy cliff, Sol immediately believes that Osha is telling the truth. He explains Osha’s backstory to Yord and Jecki, with Yord unable to believe the tale. Sol reports his findings back to Vernestra, who questions why there is no record of Mae ever existing. However, he is able to convince her that he is onto something.

At the same time, Mae — who we now know is a separate Star Wars character — can be seen on a rocky coastline in an unknown location, facing a figure in the distance which is nothing more than a silhouette. A voiceover tells us that anyone can kill someone with a weapon, but only an Acolyte will kill the dream.

Continue to jump into hyperspace with everything we know about the Andor Season 2 release date and Tales of the Jedi Season 2. You can also read our Star Wars The Acolyte explained guide for more specific details.

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