The Acolyte: 4 powerful moments in "Choice" that left us emotional

For the first time in Star Wars: The Acolyte, I found myself crying at the end of the episode as the credits rolled for "Choice." I remembered it beginning when Master Sol seemed unable to save both sisters from a fall but endured because of the now-apparent reasons for guilt among the four Jedi who were sent to Brendok.

Since the penultimate episode hit me as hard as the massacre on Khofar, I decided to look back at four moments in the storytelling that were the most emotionally effective.

1. "Our ticket home."

Master Torbin intrigued me most of the Jedi victims, especially after seeing the way he was possessed in episode 3 of this season.

In this episode, we join him in the prison cell of his mind where Mother Aniseya has trapped him. We see her echo his frustrations and desires, offering him more empathy and understanding than anything expressed by his fellow Jedi. Not only is this reminiscent of both Palpatine's and Qimir's approach to dark side seduction, but it recalls another moment in the season.

"Holy cow," I remember saying, "This is Torbin's cave test." We've already speculated on what Osha might encounter such a thing, but we see both the test and its consequences in this episode.

2. "I Choose Mother."

Other characters shrouded in mystery were the mothers of Osha and Mae. Mother Aniseya created the twins. Mother Koril carried them. Both have their sense of responsibility and, it seems, their own agenda.

One of the greatest moments of the episode is when Aniseya chooses to honor her daughter's wish to become a Jedi. After receiving a mortal wound, Mother Aniseya tells her killer, Sol, that she would have let Osha go with the Jedi.

It isn't certain if Mother Koril would or could have prevented that decision. We see her being more aggressive with her daughters than in the prior depiction of these events. She tells Mae to "Stay mad," but the coven falls before we're able to find out more.

3. "You should not have brought him."

Another character whose torment we understand better now is the Wookiee Jedi Master, Kelnacca. We never got to see him face his judge and executioner In episode 4, "Day." We observed that the spiral of this coven is marked on the walls of his hut, and this fixation with the symbol is explained in this episode.

We don't know what thought led to his possession or what he heard and witnessed while under the thrall of the coven. All we know is that a steep price was paid for his release. In the moment that Indara freed him from the ritual that kept him turning on his fellow Jedi, his enchantresses collapsed en masse.

We don't know if Kelnacca ever lifted so much as a fuzzy finger against the witches, but, understandably, their spiral sigil haunts his thoughts until the day he dies.

4. "You would take away her dream as well?"

Earlier in the series, Yord used Indara's opposition to the training of Osha as a possible motive for the former padawan to turn on her once compatriots in the Jedi Order. With this perspective in episode 7, it's hard to tell if that is an untainted narrative. Indara has reservations about Sol's focus on Osha and is the one to interact with the High Council.

Nevertheless, she does have some compassion for the child who just lost her entire family. She sees the enormity of the tragedy. This indeed comes during her attempts to bury the truth, but the ending of this episode creates more confusion

All episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+.