This recap contains full spoilers for The Acolyte episode 7 “Choice.”
In case you need a refresher recap of episode 3, "Destiny."
After the switcheroo between Osha and Mae last week with the former stuck with Qimir and the latter trying to kill Master Sol, things didn’t go quite as the women planned. Mae is captured by Sol, wanting to tell her the truth about what happened on Brendok 15 years ago. Osha puts on Qimir’s cortosis helmet which impairs her vision so it’s just her, the Force, and “what she brings to it.”
Let’s recap everything you missed in Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 7, “Choice.”
We open on Brendok sixteen years earlier and are in the Jedi’s point of view. Sol is with Indara, her padawan Torbin, and Kelnacca. They are taking scans of the planet, gathering plant life, water samples, and all sorts of readings.
That night, Torbin gripes that he wants to go home to Coruscant because the Jedi have been there for seven weeks. They haven’t found any sentient beings there. Indara reminds him that Brendok was thought to be lifeless because of a hyperspace disaster 100 years prior (as seen in the novel Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule). However, Brendok has life once again with plant life, so there has been growth.
Torbin wants to know what they’re doing is important. Sol flat out tells him they’re actually looking for a vergence in the Force, an energy centered around a location. A vergence can create life. The Jedi want to study and protect this knowledge.
The next day, they continue their research. Indara mentions to Sol they’re not even sure if there is a vergence that caused life on Brendok. She also calls Sol out on being unbalanced and stepping on her toes while teaching her padawan. The group decides to split up to do more research.
By himself, Sol finds the bunta tree in the opening of episode 3, “Destiny.” He finds Sol and Mae and watches them from his point of view with the scenes from the previous episode. After Mother Koril finds them, Sol calls in to Indara that he’s found people on the planet.
Sol follows them back to their settlement built into the fort. Unable to enter the door, he climbs the walls and sneaks in. Once in, he sees what looks to be Mother Aniseya attacking the girls with the Force. However, it was the lesson from episode 3 their mother was trying to teach them. Once he sees others of the witches preparing for the Ascension ceremony, he returns to the other Jedi.
Torbin asks if they’re Nightsisters, but they don’t have all the information. Indara wants to call the Jedi Council, but Sol fears they will run out of time. There’s a ceremony tonight, and he fears for their safety. He insists they go tonight. With that, the Jedi head out.
At the door, the Kelnacca slices into it so they can get in. Indara wants to go in alone, but her padawan and Sol insist they go as a team. She fears it will be seen as a threat but relents in the end. They come out, and the scene of the group meeting Mother Aniseya plays out.
However, we switch to Torbin’s point of view as he falls under Aniseya’s power. She calls out his fears and tells him he’s a good Jedi. He has desires and wants to leave the planet. But his master is denying him. She offers him a different way of doing things, unlike how the Jedi use the Force. Torbin admits he wants to return to Coruscant.
She tells him to kneel, and Torbin falls to his knees.
Indara asks, with her permission, to test Osha and Mae. With that, Aniseya releases Torbin. The Jedi leave.
Back on their ship, after speaking with Torbin, Indara commends Sol for asking to test the girls. She now has more time to consult the Jedi Council. However, Sol feels that Osha is meant to be his padawan. Against Indara’s wishes that she’s too old, Sol insists. He wants to protect Osha, feeling that she wants to leave with them. Indara tells him not to confuse what Osha wants with what he wants.
The next day, Koril arrives with the girls. Torbin leads the girls in to be tested. Mae is quick to dismiss their test and asks to go home. Indara asks her what was happening in the courtyard the previous night before the Jedi arrived. Mae explains that it’s part of their culture and that she and Osha will be the leaders of their culture.
Then, she says for her and Osha to lead, “Everyone must be sacrificed to fulfill their destiny.” This troubles the Jedi. With that, they let Mae leave. They also know that Mae purposely lied during her test.
So, they approach Osha differently. Picking up from episode 3, when Sol tells Osha to have the courage to tell the truth, Osha gets all her answers right. Indara is worried, but Sol is very pleased.
Later, Indara sends the other three out why she waits for the Jedi Council to contact her.
Outside, Sol has a feeling that something is wrong. Indara finally emerges and tells him that the Council has said no to Osha joining them. The Council doesn’t want the Jedi interfering anymore. And also, to Torbin’s dismay, they can’t go home either and must continue their research.
Indara tells Sol not to alter Osha’s destiny because he has an attachment to her. Sol snaps back, “That’s not what’s happening here!” He only wants to do what’s best for her.
Just then, Torbin gets back the results of their blood sample. It’s weird, though. While expected, the twins have high M-counts, they have the exact same symbionts. Even with twins, it should be different; however, not with Mae and Osha.
The Jedi realize the truth: The twins were created from the vergence, not born.
Torbin immediately jumps on this opportunity! It’s his ticket back to Coruscant, and he just needs to get the girls. He steals one of their speeders, zooming out into the night. Sol goes after him on the speeder while Indara and Kelnacca take their ship.
During all of this, Koril tells Mae to stop Osha from leaving. She tells her daughter to get mad and use her power. While this is happening, we see more of Aniseya meeting with her coven’s council. The coven fears Osha leaving, as that is their future. Aniseya wants to consider Osha’s wish, but the coven is against supporting the whims of a child.
And Aniseya chooses to be her mother.
Outside, Mae also destroys the front door panel so no one can get in or out of the fortress. Koril tells the witches to arm themselves.
Torbin and Sol arrived but were unable to get in. Through the Force, he hears Mae tell Osha she’s stuck there now. With that, Torbin and Sol start climbing the wall. Indara arrives on the ship, sending in Kelnacca. She wants him to stop Sol before he starts a conflict.
Koril tells everyone who isn’t fighting to go in the common rooms. Aniseya comes out and sees her, condemning the violence. Koril says that she will die before she lets Jedi take her children away from her.
Then, we see Mae’s point of view as she sets fire to Osha’s journal. However, it burns really fast, and she gets scared and accidentally drops the oil lamp. The flame spreads, shorting out the door where Osha is trapped inside. Mae immediately runs outside, screaming for her mothers for help.
As Sol and Torbin arrive to meet a group of armed witches, Koril and Aniseya are waiting for them in the courtyard. Sol asks how the twins were made. Aniseya answers that the Jedi’s so-called “noble intentions” will destroy them one day.
Suddenly, Mae runs outside, screaming for someone to help her. Sol mistakes her for Osha. Koril draws her weapon on Torbin. Aniseya tries to use her powers to protect the girls. Sol misunderstands this as an attack, stabbing Aniseya.
She tells Sol with her dying breath that Osha chose the Jedi, before collapsing to the ground.
Koril screams at Mae to run! Koril and the witches attack Sol and Torbin, but Sol refuses to fight Koril. He only defends himself. She screams at him to fight her! Then, the fire causes the fortress’ machinery to explode! Sol only drawls his lightsaber long enough to free himself from her weapon, not to brawl with her.
Koril calls upon her sisters, turning into a spell through her magic, and possesses Kelnacca to battle his fellow Jedi. Sol and Torbin look on in fear as the sheer power of a Wookiee is horrific! Torbin struggles, bleeding and pleading before he’s knocked out. Sol manages to disarm Kelnacca. However, battling one-on-one with a Wookiee is a failing cause.
Then, Indara springs in there tackling Kelnacca down. With the Force, she severs the connection between the witches and Kelnacca to free him. She demands Sol to go get the twins.
Sol rushes in, seeing the collapsed witches and the girls on the broken bridge from episode 3. He struggles with the Force to try and save them both. However, it’s too much for him, so he chooses Osha. Sol chooses to let Mae fall to save someone instead of failing to save both of them.
Back on their ship, Torbin is apologetic and scarred from Kelnaaca’s attack. Bitterly, at least he’s going home to Coruscant. Sol said he had to make a choice. Indara almost loses her cool, physically grabbing Sol. Torbin essentially tells them to break it up, asking what they will tell the Council.
Indara says the truth. To the Jedi, Mae burned down the fortress and everyone died. However, Indara refuses to let Sol see the Jedi Council to explain his actions. Because now Osha needs him. This was his choice. He is the one who did this.
Osha then wakes up, and Sol comforts her.
And this is where episode 7, “Choice,” ends.