This contains full spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 8.
After the truth about what happened on Brendok 16 years ago was revealed in episode 7, “Choice,” it’s time for Season 1 of Star Wars: The Acolyte to conclude.
Let’s recap everything you missed in episode 8.
We open hearing Osha’s breathing inside Qimir’s helmet, where we left her in episode 6. Qimir looks on. Suddenly, she gasps for breath, struggling inside the helmet. As Qimir lunges out, he’s stopped by the Force, his eyes turning black like how the witches on Brendok controlled people.
The two fight mentally for a long moment before Qimir can rip the helmet off of her. Osha says she saw her sister, Mae, with her hand outstretched after killing Master Sol. She had a lightsaber in her hand but hadn’t used it. Qimir realizes that Mae will kill with no weapon, which is the lesson he had wanted to teach her earlier in the season.
Osha points out that the future isn’t fixed, and Mae can be stopped. Qimir says they can both go on his ship and see which of the two can get to Mae first.
Jumping over to Sol and Mae, he’s brought her to Brendok. He explains about the vergence on the planet and how he’s going to contact Vernestra Rwoh since both girls are alive. He wants to prove its existence. During their chat, Mae turns on Pip (who she reprogrammed in episode 6) to try and sneakily get out of her binders.
Mae is rightfully mad at the Jedi invading her home. Sol begins to explain they’re not twins or even sisters. But before he can say what they are, Mae breaks free and shocks him with Pip. She slips away from him and Bazil, hopping into an escape ship.
Sol snags his own ship, following her into the rings of a planet. Sol’s ship is taking damage from the rings’ debris since it’s bigger. However, just before he can fire on Mae, Bazil of all people cuts his power. His ship careens into Mae’s, and her vessel gets caught in Brendok’s atmosphere, where she crash lands.
On Coruscant, Padawan Mog stops Vernestra, saying that Senator Rayencourt is there to see her. She steps in to meet the politician, the two tossing back and forth pleasantries. He gets right to the point that he knows she’s running a murder investigation and is worried about the Senate not knowing about it. Vernestra shuts him down. Rayencourt flat out tells her he thinks that the Jedi Order is an unchecked power in their government, posing as a religion. He says they can’t control their emotions, projecting goodwill to all, but he knows someone will snap at some point.
Vernestra shows him the door, and he says he’s reported her lack of transparency to Chancellor Drellik for a future senate tribunal.
Before leaving the mysterious island, Qimir says Osha should be trained. He asks if she would ever consider it. Osha gives him a hard no. He offers one more chance. She says she’s not Mae, who didn’t hesitate to join him. They get on his ship and head out.
From the cave, a mysterious figure with monstrous fingers peeks out of the darkness, watching them fly away.
On Brendok, Sol has landed the ship and turns on the distress signal. He heads out, using the Force to look for Mae. Bazil looks on, watching him leave.
On Coruscant, Vernestra speaks with a male voice, saying she needs to get a message to someone. The voice will see what he will do. Mog enters, saying they’ve found Sol on Brendok. She tells him to prepare a ship with knights for a “resolution.”
Osha and Qimir zoom in to land, with Sol watching them arrive from a distance. He enters the fortress, seeing the ruins of the wreckage from 16 years ago. He shouts for Mae, feelings echoes in the Force from the past of his mistakes. He finds the bridge where he dropped Mae before leaving.
As Osha and Qimir arrive, she suddenly has a vision of him gone, and she hears his voice in her head. Osha gets the elevator that enters the fortress to work.
Mae climbs up from where she had fallen 16 years prior, entering her old room. Out in the hallway, Qimir, donning his cortosis helmet once again, finds Sol, thanking the Jedi for leading the Sith to his once apprentice.
Both men draw their sabers, brawling in the hallway to the outside bridge. They leap to the courtyard below for the second phase of their battle. Sol deflects Qimir and his blades with the Force, angering the stranger.
Osha finds her sister in their old room. Mae quickly tries to explain that Sol lied to her. Osha said that Sol never blamed Mae; in fact, Sol tried to teach Osha love towards her sister. However, Osha never forgave Mae and hated her while grieving their mother. Osha admits she never became a Jedi. Mae tries again, explaining that Sol killed their mother.
Lunging at her, Osha attacks Mae, and the two women fight it out. Outside, Sol and Qimir see Vernestra’s ship arrive. Qimir quips they are not there for him. Mae and Osha hear the ship arrive, too, and Mae quickly slips away.
The battle rages with Sol and Qimir, with the Jedi breaking Qimir’s saber. As Sol holds the Sith at saber point, Mae rushes out, pulling his blade away. She’s able to snatch Sol’s lightsaber. Qimir pushes Mae to strike Sol down, feeding into her anger.
Tossing away Sol’s lightsaber, Mae says no. She wants Sol to face trial for his crimes with the High Council and the Republic. Sol still stands by the fact that he did the right thing. He says they’re not twins; they’re the same person. That Mother Aniseya used the Force to create them with the power of the vergence on the planet. Important to note: Qimir is still there, listening to all of this information too. Mae counters that he still killed their mother.
Sol admits it, with Osha standing just off to the side, hearing his confession. She asks if it is true. He explains that he needed Mae for proof. Without it, the Jedi would have sent Osha away, and she would have never had a chance to be a Jedi.
Suddenly, Sol is being Force choked, and Osha is the one doing it. She taps into the dark side and chokes Sol to death. In her hand, she bleeds his kyber crystal, turning it red. With his last breath, Sol tells her it’s okay before collapsing. The vision she had seen earlier wasn’t Mae.
It was Osha who would kill Sol in the end.
Qimir approaches her, but she ignites the saber, now shifting between red and blue. The red wins over, with her kyber crystal fully bled.
Meanwhile, Vernestra arrives. She quickly senses Qimir, realizing he’s alive and revealing that she knows him. As the Jedi head out, Mog stops long enough to meet up with Bazil.
With the twins, Mae says she knows a way out and they need to go. They flee to the bridge where Mae fell as a child. They climb down, revealing there’s a tunnel where she got sucked into, which saved her life as a child.
The Jedi arrive, finding Sol’s body. Vernestra hears Force echoes of the past while Qimir looks on from the shadows. She sends out the other Jedi to search for the twins. With Bazil’s help, they start picking up the scent of the twins.
Mae takes Osha to the bunta tree. Osha apologizes for not believing her sister and breaking down in tears. However, Qimir interrupts them, saying the Jedi are coming. Mae asks her sister what she wants.
Osha goes to Qimir and gives him an ultimatum: She will train with him if he lets Mae go. Qimir says he can attempt to wipe Mae’s memory, permanently erasing him and Osha.
Mae accepts, but Osha doesn’t want her to. Mae says that Osha will do what she’s meant to, and both twins give him the okay. With one last hug, Osha promises Mae she will find her sister again. With a wave of his hand, Qimir wipes Mae’s memory.
Minutes later, the Jedi find Mae sitting under the bunta tree. She’s confused, not knowing what she did wrong.
They take her to Coruscant, where Vernestra wishes to speak with Mae alone. Scared, all she can remember is a fire destroying her home, a man killing her mother, and her running away to look for someone. However, she can’t remember who she needed to tell.
The scene shifts to Vernestra before a Senate tribunal, explaining what happened on Brendok 16 years prior. She lies and puts all the blame on Sol. She explains he covered up Brendok and killed his accomplices to maintain their cover story. She and the High Council condemn Sol’s “actions” from years ago to the present.
With Mae, Vernestra explains that Sol justified his actions with love for her sister. Mae is confused because she doesn’t remember having a sister. This keys in Vernestra, realizing what happened to the young woman. She apologizes for the Jedi failing her. She wants Mae’s help and explains that they need to find a pupil of hers before he turned evil:
Qimir.
Who has returned to his home with Osha on the unknown planet to begin their training.
The final shot is Vernestra leaving her meeting, revealing Master Yoda waiting for her.
This is where The Acolyte episode 8 comes to a close.