‘The Acolyte’ Finale Confirms One Jedi Is Hopelessly Flawed

The Acolyte season finale drives home its point about the dangers of the Jedi Order as it confirms members of the Order can become hopelessly flawed.

One of the most unique aspects of The Acolyte is its acknowledgment that the Jedi and Sith are more complex than many viewers think. It’s not as simple as Jedi = good and Sith = bad. With an organization as powerful and influential as the Jedi, it only makes sense that corruption would seep in. After all, the Jedi have always made questionable choices, including separating younglings from their families, in a similar way to how cults drive families apart to exert their influence.

In The Acolyte, no one is a better example of the Jedi’s potentially corrupting influence than Sol (Lee Jung-jae). Initially, it was believed that Sol was a respected Jedi master who took an orphaned girl, Osha (Amandla Stenberg), under his wing and trained her in the ways of the Jedi.

However, that turns out to be a wholly manufactured story. Sol actually killed Osha and Mae’s mother before causing the death of their entire coven of witches, all because he didn’t understand the witches and thought he was entitled to take any child he desired as his Padawan. Still, given that his murder of the twins’ mother was partially accidental and he expressed regret afterward, it seemed redemption was a possibility.

Sol shows his true colors in The Acolyte finale

Going into The Acolyte‘s finale, it seems Sol will make things right. After all, he admitted his wrongdoing to Mae, which was the first step. The next step should be going before the Jedi Council to accept his punishment. However, Sol seems more preoccupied with the fact that Mae’s existence proves the Force vergence than with what he did on Brendok. Eventually, Mae escapes his restraints and begins flying away in an escape pod while Sol pursues her on his ship.

Viewers will likely recall that during Sol’s first battle with Qimir on Khofar, the Sith asked him what he had done with his darkness. In the finale, we get the clearest glimpse of Sol’s darkness yet, as we learn he’s not just pursuing Mae—he’s preparing to shoot her ship out of the sky and kill her. He doesn’t blink as he aligns his ship with hers and prepares to fire. Fortunately, Bazil (Hassan Taj) shorts the power on his ship to save Mae’s life. It says a lot that an otter-like creature like Bazil had more of a conscience than the Jedi Master Sol at that moment.

Afterward, Sol and Mae crashland on Brendok, but Qimir and Osha soon arrive, with all three cornering Sol. Instead of killing Sol as Qimir urges, Mae wants to take him to the Jedi Council and force him to confess what he did to her and Osha’s mother. However, Sol unexpectedly says, “I did the right thing.” It’s a sentiment that he actually repeats multiple times throughout the episode. At once, his past claims of “regret” and “accidents” start to grow suspicious. Did he ever regret anything or consider it an accident? Was he ever going to confess to the Jedi Council? Based on that bold pronouncement that he did the “right thing,” it seems likelier he was never actually sorry for what he did.

To make things worse, he tries to justify what he did to Osha. Instead of admitting his mistakes, he tries to excuse the fact that he lied to her for years and falsely accused her sister of a horrible crime. On top of that, his ultimate excuse to her is that he did it because he “loved” her. Up to the very end, Sol remains willfully oblivious to his wrongdoing. He refuses to see that his bias and entitlement killed a whole coven of witches. In his mind, he’s a Jedi, and the Jedi way is the best way, so even though he killed a whole coven of witches, he thinks what he did was right because he got Osha into the Jedi Order.

It’s unfortunate that Sol had over a decade to contemplate the events that happened on Brendok and even spent years training Osha and seeing firsthand the pain she experienced from the loss of her family, and was never struck with his wrongdoing. In the end, one might say that Sol doesn’t reflect the Jedi Order because he was just one bad Jedi. However, it’s undeniable that the savior complex he held onto until his last breath came from the Jedi Order. The Jedi lack checks and balances and carry this dangerous notion that the Jedi way is the only way. Sol’s fatal flaw was cherishing the belief of the Jedi’s goodness so intensely that he became oblivious to his arrogance and bias.