This week’s long-awaited finale to The Acolyte allows justice to finally be served to the show’s most nefarious, guilt-ridden Jedi. After inadvertently sparking a conflict with a coven of Mother Aniseya’s (Jodie Turner-Smith) Force witches on Brendok years ago and killing his three teammates to cover up his involvement, Episode 8 sees Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) take his own life among the ruins of Aniseya’s fortress in order to atone for his crimes. At least, that’s according to the Jedi. In reality, the final episode of Leslye Headland‘s prequel series only thickens the cloud of doubt surrounding the Star Wars Universe’s problematic peacekeepers, with the actions of the Jedi in the show’s finale proving that the Order’s moral decay is even more severe than it previously seemed.

The series’ highest-ranking Jedi, Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson), arrives on Brendok just in time to observe the aftermath of the battle between Sol, the Stranger (Manny Jacinto), and Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) in The Acolyte Episode 8. Investigating the massacre on Khofar in last week’s episode, Vernestra is startled when she senses the presence of the Stranger, but by then she is too late. Sol is already dead by the time Vernestra infiltrates Aniseya’s former fortress, leaving Vernestra with yet another Jedi death to explain to the Senate. Yet, instead of being transparent about Sol’s mistakes on Brendok and the dark threat facing the galaxy, Vernestra buries both incidents in order to foster a false sense of peace, proving that Jedi corruption has compromised the highest levels of The Acolyte’s Order. 

‘The Acolyte’ Episode 8 Proves the Jedi Never Learn From Their Mistakes

The Acolyte hasn’t shied away from depicting Jedi corruption onscreen. With two episodes dedicated to how the destruction of Brendok’s witch coven was caused by Master Indara’s (Carrie-Anne Moss) reconnaissance team, The Acolyte is a stark warning about the threat of the Jedi Order’s unchecked power during the High Republic Era. The intimidation tactics employed by The Acolyte’s Yord (Charlie Barnett) at the beginning of the series’ first episode set the unethical tone for the rest of the show’s Jedi, with masters frequently given the power to intervene in independent communities in order to further the Order’s larger agenda. As the Brendok incident proves, this agenda can sometimes endanger innocent lives, but instead of using Sol’s death to start over with a clean slate, Vernestra’s deceptions show that The Acolyte’s Jedi aren’t done making the same mistakes.

Just as Sol and Indara chose to conceal the details of their tragedy on Brendok, Vernestra once again hides the full truth of what happened on the planet in her report to the Senate at the end of The Acolyte’s finale, portraying Sol as a rogue Jedi who went on a killing spree after burning his body on a funeral pyre reminiscent of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Not only does this misrepresentation of events place the reputation of the Order above the need to honor the Force witches’ deaths, but Vernestra’s omissions also keep the galaxy ignorant of its true threat. When Indara’s team tried to ignore their crimes, they left themselves vulnerable to Mae’s revenge, and Vernestra’s report fails to address an even greater, more personal danger that she herself may not yet be fully prepared to face.

‘The Acolyte’ Finale Sees Master Vernestra Go Rogue in the Same Way As Jedi Master Sol

While fans still don’t know the full story behind The Acolyte’s Stranger, the series’ finale confirms the popular theory that the smuggler-turned-possible-Sith-Lord was a former pupil of Master Vernestra. The character introduced as Qimir in The Acolyte Episode 2 first raised suspicions with his articulate criticism of the Jedi and mysterious personality, while Vernestra’s admission about her former student is likely to explain the brutal scars on The Stranger’s back. However, despite the pair’s former relationship, Vernestra chooses not to reveal her student’s survival to the Senate, only divulging the details to a memory-wiped Mae because the former acolyte might have information leading to his whereabouts. Tragically, this oversight sets Master Vernestra up to walk the same dark path as Jedi Master Sol. 

Like the friend Vernestra blames for the main story of The Acolyte, Vernestra’s decision to handle her former student privately prioritizes her relationship with her pupil over the tenets of the Jedi Order. While alerting the Senate to the existence of The Stranger could have helped track him down and potentially even undermined the Sith’s later rise in Star Wars continuity, Vernestra’s personal attachment to her fallen Jedi student interferes with her objective judgment. Her surprise at sensing The Stranger alive and the scars on The Stranger’s back imply it was likely Vernestra who believed she had killed him, making her personally invested in the dark side user’s survival. The Brendok incident already demonstrates the fatal consequences of Sol’s over-attachment to Osha, so the fact that Vernestra is already taking matters into her own hands establishes a concerning parallel to the man who effectively wiped out an entire community in the name of his student.

Master Vernestra’s Deceptions Validate the Senate’s Concerns in ‘The Acolyte’ Finale

Vernestra’s susceptibility to her own personal attachment demonstrates the fallibility of The Acolyte’s Jedi overall, validating the political concerns that have been plaguing the Order throughout the series. While it’s often been easy to dismiss the ethics of the Jedi while they’re in the middle of doing something heroic, such as fretting over protocol when Anakin broke the rules countless times to save lives in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Acolyte justifies the Order’s detractors by demonstrating the very real consequences of Jedi acting independently across the galaxy without proper oversight. The fact that Indara’s group was able to get away with Brendok without facing any formal investigation for their crimes betrays the fact that the Order can’t sufficiently police the actions of its own, a line of criticism picked up directly by The Acolyte’s finale.

In particular, Vernestra’s scene with Senator Rayencourt (David Harewood) underscores the tension between the Order and its most vocal critics in the Senate. Rayencourt not only calls out Vernestra for conducting a murder investigation without proper authority, but the Senator also criticizes the Jedi’s larger hubris in believing they can control their emotions. Given The Acolyte’s depiction of how Sol’s fearmongering and Osha’s own inability to let go of her past led both characters down dark paths throughout the series, Rayencourt’s line of reasoning is particularly compelling, foreshadowing the coming of Star Wars’ greatest villain when he warns Vernestra that one day a Jedi will snap who destroys them all. However, the moral high ground that the Senate obtains throughout The Acolyte is immediately undermined when Vernestra ignores Rayencourt’s advice, lying at her Senate Tribunal in order to maintain the Republic’s faith in the Jedi.

The Jedi Master’s decision to dodge accountability provides one final example of how The Acolyte’s Jedi fail to acknowledge their own shortcomings, as Vernestra’s personal feelings towards The Stranger lead her to cover up The Acolyte’s true villain and further endanger the galaxy that the Jedi Master is supposed to serve. Far from depicting a small group of bad actors within the Order, Vernestra’s questionable actions in The Acolyte’s finale demonstrate that the same attitudes which led Sol to endanger Mother Aniseya’s coven are present at the highest levels of the Order. Despite voices from the Senate providing insightful criticisms of the Jedi’s actions, members of the Order default back to the same high-minded attitudes that keep them complacent instead of courageous, allowing The Acolyte to highlight the flaws in the galaxy’s most iconic heroes.

The Acolyte is currently available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.