This week’s episode of The Acolyte was easily the best of the four we’ve reviewed. While not as contextually interesting as last week’s episode, this week’s picks up the pace and gets things closer to the conflict we’ve been waiting for.

And, yes, SPOILERS ahead!

But the real challenge seems to be building the Star Wars universe in any meaningful way without inciting the ire of those who’re quickly becoming irrelevant to the fandom–those who simply want retreads and flashy saber duels and two-dimensional Clint Eastwood analogues in cool helmets.

(You’d think they’d have figured out by now that they could just go re-watch the old stuff, but no, why do that when you can cuss and whine on the internet.)

But, more importantly, it’s been a week since some of the key reveals, meaning we can, quite safely, discuss the stuff we’ve been holding back on.

No, Anakin is Still Special

In what was a particular bit of a doozy, it’s revealed that the twins Osha and Mae, were created by the Force (or, in this case, the Thread) by Mothers Aniseya and Koril of the witch coven on Brendok. During an argument concerning the fate of their daughter Osha, it is revealed that while Mother Koril carried them, it is Mother Aniseya who “created” them.

While no further detail has been given since, the similarities to Anakin Skywalker’s own Force-based mystical birth is obvious. Except it’s not the same.

Since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, and from a particular meme-favourite moment, it’s been theorised that either Palpatine or his master Darth Plagueis, was behind the creation and virgin birth of Anakin. Palpatine reveals, while imparting the tragedy of Darth Plagueis, that the Sith Lord had found a way to create life using the Force. A supposed dark side ability (among others) that the Jedi would consider unnatural.

This theory, however, has been since debunked and refuted by the minds behind the greater Star Wars universe, including Darth Vader #25 (2017) writer Charles Soule and Lucasfilm Story Group member Matt Martin.

I am, in fact, the writer. Matt and I worked closely on this series and this point in particular. I hate explaining stuff in my work in too much detail, but you need to understand the scenario happening here.

The Dark Side is not a reliable narrator.

— Charles Soule (@CharlesSoule) December 23, 2019

So, what does this mean?

It means that, while the twins are certainly special in their manner of birth (being the first that we know of in current Star Wars canon) Anakin remains unique having been actually conceived by the Force. The means by which the witches of Brendok created the twins, however, not only works around robbing Anakin, or the prophecy of the Chosen One, of its uniqueness, but also allows deeper exploration of a Force ability which we’ve long known about.

Of course, all this would be obvious to anyone who’s paid attention to both episode 3 of The Acolyte as well as The Phantom Menace, but apparently some of us leave the actual plot details to the wind when in the presence of epic lightsaber action.

(Can’t blame them really, we got Maul in The Phantom Menace!)

One Sith, Two Sith, Red Sith, Bith Sith

Even in The Phantom Menace, set more than three decades prior to the events of the original Star Wars (1977), the Sith are considered extinct. In response to Qui-Gon Jinn’s claim of having battled a Sith Lord (Darth Maul) on Tatooine, Jedi Council member Ki-Adi-Mundi says:

Impossible. The Sith have been extinct for a millennium.

– Ki-Adi-Mundi, famously incorrect. (This gets even funnier this week.)

Mace Windu concurs, stating “I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing.” But this is a man who lost an eye to a cat in a different franchise. It is only Yoda who counters “hard to see, the dark side is.”

And, yet, here we are, only a century before The Phantom Menace, and we have a red lightsaber-wielding, black-helmed warrior phantomly menacing our leading Jedi. While this character may not necessarily be Sith (after all, not all dark side users were Sith), it’s not impossible that he isn’t either.

Given the unveiled origin of the twins and the connection to Darth Plagueis’ own efforts, it’s more than possible that this current antagonist may be have more to do with Darth Sidious’ master than has been let on.

While this is a case of size matters, specifically the size of Darth Plagueis’ head, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that Plagueis’ own master, Darth Tenebrous, may be under the helmet (adjusted for inflation, of course). Or, it could even be an apprentice of Darth Tenebrous’ pre/alongside Darth Plagueis. After all, while the character has been largely relegated to the older canon of Legends, it is possible that his tendency of breaking the Rule of Two is still very much a personality feature.

While it would be great to see the canonising of a character who has not had any kind of live action depiction, it would be just as interesting for Star Wars to introduce a new sect of Force users similar to the witches of Brendok. But, given the proximity of The Acolyte to the mainline films (a century is really not very much), it may carry more value if the revelations in store could link directly to the Skywalker Saga.

Whoever it is, I sincerely hope it isn’t as simple a “twist” as it being Qimir (Manny Jacinto) behind it all.

It’s all from a Certain Point of View

For an 8-episode series, audience seem to be expecting a lot of reveals within the first half of its run. While the writing is plagued with some issues (mostly concerning dialogue), The Acolyte has done more for furthering the Star Wars mythos than any other entry since the Knights of the Old Republic games.

Star Wars narratives are often skewed–mostly intentionally. From the truth behind Anakin’s “death” at the hands of Darth Vader as said by Ben Kenobi or the actual nature of Luke and Leia’s relationship, to the role of the Jedi order in the galaxy and their eventual failings, to the fall of Ben Solo due to the supposed actions of his uncle, the Star Wars universe has never shied from divergent perspectives on its key events.

And The Acolyte is no different. If anything it seems to be leaning into it far more than most other Star Wars content.

Which brings us to the episode titles of The Acolyte. While the first two episodes have featured dual thematically contrasting terms for each of their titles, the second two episodes have opted to go with singular terms. Interestingly, the terms selected for each of those have very obvious counterparts: possibly ‘Fate’ to episode 3’s Destiny and, more obviously, ‘Night’ to episode 4’s Day.

Obviously episode names shouldn’t be a deciding factor for plot prediction, but in the vein of all Star Wars being Star Wars, it’s easy to assume that we’ll soon see episodes with these contrasting terms offering a perspective from a different point of view.

But, with all things fun in the world of our art and media, the true treasure is the journey of watching it all unfold.