About halfway through the latest episode of The Acolyte, "Day," I couldn't help but notice a change in Mae's personality.
For most of the first three episodes, Mae seemed like a decidedly negative character. Although her love for Osha is evident in the flashbacks, her aggressive personality is equally prominent and hard to ignore. She's shocked that Osha doesn't want to stay with her and wishes to have a separate life. Even the older Mae shows no remorse for killing Indara and Torbin. However, in Episode 4, she's willing to spare Kelnacca's life because she believes Osha's survival changes everything.
I know fans will say that her love for her sister is stronger than her anger, but this drastically changes her personality. She tells Qimir she had time to think over the deal she made with her Master, but we don't know what the terms of that deal are. We don't know the deal, and we didn't get to see why Mae changed her mind about killing Kelnacca and how long it took. While it seems rather fast, I'm open to giving the show time to explain what happened off-screen, provided they actually do it.
Otherwise, this would be a significant departure for Mae's character, as the first few episodes led me to believe she would be one of the main antagonists in The Acolyte. There might be others, including the masked Sith, but Mae never showed signs of having a friendly, soft demeanor underneath her ambitious, aggressive, and vindictive personality.
The mystery lies in everything we're not being shown yet. For now, we can conclude that finding out Osha is alive lifted a burden from Mae's shoulders. The writing has to do a little more to fill in the gaps. If these are the complex characters we're promised, then knowing what they're thinking is essential to understanding them. If Mae has a change of heart, it will be yet another unexpected twist in the series, and it will be fascinating to see how the Jedi react and whether Osha will ultimately forgive her.
For now, Mae could be struggling with her love for her sister and her deal with the mysterious Sith Lord. If Mae's love for Osha brings her back from darkness, then the show will successfully illustrate how love and attachments can be a redeeming force, saving a person's soul rather than leading to downfall, as often depicted.
The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+.