The third episode of Star Wars: The Acolyte steps back 16 years to the planet Brendok, to tell the tragic stories of Osha and Mae as young girls, the death of their mothers, and the involvement of the four Jedi, two of which are now dead. Osha and Mae are the only children created by their Mothers Aniseya and Koril, who are the groups leaders. From the beginning, it is shown that both girls have a connection to The Force or as they refer to it The Thread and are set to take part in a ceremony that will eventually make them the leaders of the coven once their Mothers die. Mae receives her gift, presumably some form of The Force but before Osha, who is hesitant about partaking in the ceremony, can receive the same gift, the four Jedi, Master Indara, Jedi Knight Sol, Jedi Knight Kelnacca, and Padawan Torbin arrive.

Master Indara says that they have sensed children that have a connection to The Force and invoke their privilege of testing the children for Jedi training. Mother Aniseya hesitently agrees while Mother Koril wants to fight the Jedi. They agree to let the children to be tested but encourage them to fail on purpose, which Mae is more than happy to do, but Osha wants to go with the Jedi which drives a wedge between the two sisters and also their mothers. When Osha chooses to go with the Jedi, Mae says that she would rather her die than go with the Jedi, and set the place on fire after trapping Osha in her room. Osha escapes only to find both Mothers, the rest of the coven dead, and Sol coming to her rescue. Believing everyone dead, the Jedi take Osha to be trained on Corosaunt under Sol. The final scene reveals that Mae survived explaining in part her hatred and need for revenge against the four Jedi.

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While the backstory is revealed there are still questions that stand to be answered, such as how did the Witches really die, as many are seen laying on the floor like they had been struck down not in the fire or explosions, who else besides Mae survived that the Jedi also don’t know about and who is currently manipulating Mae on a journey to the dark side.

Some of the dialogue does seem like bad writing, it could also be argued that because this is a world outside of Republic space that simple dialogue is simply the way interactions take place. The “bad dialogue” could also be a clue as to the origin of the witches (see potential spoilers below).  Jodie Turner-Smith who portrays Mother Aniseya portrays her role very well as she is conflicted about wanting to keep her daughter with her, but also letting young Osha decide to go or not to go with the Jedi on her own. 

Lauren Brady (young Osha) and Leah Brady (young Mae) have some dialogue which is not that great, but given their upbringing and age is understandable that they are not going to be speaking in a complex manner.

There were some standard Star Wars references throughout such as the way the girl’s connection to the Force was tested, Torbin taking a blood sample to help determine their Force ability (M-Count), and

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Episode 3 is a fair to midland episode but it moves the story forward and provides some clues as to how the story will play out over the next few episodes.

—Conjecture and Possible Spoilers Below—

The following are assumptions in line with the established High Republic in the novels and comics that have preceded the period of which The Acolyte takes place. The following also follows the mission statement that Disney and Lucasfilm set out for the High Republic

• Conventional Wisdom seems to point to the coven of witches to be related to the Nightsister of Dathomir (as seen in The Clone Wars and Ahsoka) but they most likely are a splinter group of The Path Of The Open Hand. The Open Hand was a myriad of races both human and alien, similar to the Coven in the show. The Nightsisters were primarily Dathomirians

The Nightsisters

The Acolyte Witches

• The Path Of The Open Hand is one of the High Republic Force cults that believed The Force should be protected and not used to do stuff. They were at odds with the Jedi because the cult believed that when the Jedi used the Force, they were taking it away from somewhere else. Mae’s torturing of the bird and Osha catching her doing this and chiding her for doing so seem in line with The Path Of THe Open Hand’s teachings
• During the early years of the High Republic, as told in the novel The Path Of Deceit, the Path Of The Open Hand gathered and stole both Jedi and Sith relics and “protected them” from the other groups who followed The Force believing  it preserved the balance of The Force
• The Leader of the Open Hand went by the title of Mother and was able to create life, much as it was revealed the twins were brought to life

• The Path Of The Open Hand was for some, a religious group but was also a front for the leaders to pursue their personal goals and means
• After their petition to join the Convocation of the Force was denied, Marda Ro took over The Path Of The Open Hand and renamed it The  Path of The Fist Closed Fist and eventually the Nihil, a group of space pirates, who conflict with the Jedi beginning in the Charles Soule novel Light of the Jedi 
• Mae could

In the episode it is only shown that Mother Aniseya has been killed, leaving the possibility that Mother Koril, the one more inclined to the Dark Side of the Force is still alive and is using Mae to get revenge on the Jedi. Koril or the one elder witch (maybe the Open Hands Leader from the novels)  who is shown may know where the stolen Sith and Jedi relics are and have had Mae retrieve them explaining the scene with the “Sith” Lord waving around the red lightsaber for Mae to witness.

Most likely the reveal will be that the main bad guy will be Marchion Ro, Leader of the Nihil or someone from the Ro family line.

The Ro family’s hatred for the Jedi has been the driving narrative of the High Republic thus far and finding an Acolyte in Mae is not too much of a jump in the Filoni era of Star Wars storytelling. Marchion has

The helmet of the being many believe to be The Sith Lord has characteristics (sharp teeth) of the Evereni, the alien race of Marchion Ro

Related: Expanding The Storytelling Potential Of The Star Wars Universe (Part 2) – The Dark Side

While many hope this could be the introduction of Darth Plagues, Palpatine’s Master, the eventual outcome of this series, such a reveal would feel like a cheat and be coming out of nowhere, cheapening the story of Darth Bane and the Sith (who is in canon thanks to Star Wars: The Clone Wars) that needs to be told. Also, such a reveal would negate the rest of the High Republic era that has come before.

The Acolyte continues to be an exciting weekly journey, that suffers slightly because due to the lack of the backstory of the High Republic that has been established and still unfolding over in the novels and comics. Even offhand references to the Battle of Jedha, Starlight Beacon, and the war with The Nihil would help put the show’s events in a clearer context since the mission statement of the High Republic era concept is pitched as a:

“multimedia project consisting of various stories from the Star Wars franchise set during the “High Republic” era, which spans 500 to 100 years before the Skywalker Saga and is set hundreds of years after the fall of the “Old Republic”

To think that deviating now for the expansion of The High Republic show The Acolyte, from what has been established in the prose and comic mediums just wouldn’t make any sense in the bigger picture of the Star Wars mythology.