Episode 7 of The Acolyte kicks off with a striking flashback, transporting us to Brendok, sixteen years in the past. Sol, alongside fellow Jedi Masters Kelnacca and Indara, perseveres in their quest for an elusive entity. Having searched for seven long weeks, they remain empty-handed. Their target is a Vergence, a focal point of Force energy, rumored to have the power to birth life itself. This noble quest aims to safeguard such a miracle.
Amid the dense woods, Sol's vigilance is rewarded as he stumbles upon two youths, Mae and Osha, seemingly manipulating the Force with ease. He watches helplessly as they are escorted back to the eerie coven. Unable to penetrate Indara's resolve, Sol decides to confront the cult alone. Scaling the rocky settlement, he witnesses the cultists guiding Mae and Osha, coaxing them to harness the Force's might.
Upon his return, Sol urgently alerts Indara and their comrades to the girls' plight. Deeply concerned for their safety, he argues for swift action. That night, they return, but Indara insists on a solo approach. Sol, however, refuses to let her go alone, and they proceed as a unified front.
The encounter with Aniseya, who subdues Torbin with her mind-manipulating skills, is chilling. She allures him with promises of fulfillment, reducing the once-stalwart Jedi to a kneeling puppet. This marks the moment when Torbin's fate was sealed in episode 3.
Back on their ship, Sol confesses a profound connection to Osha, sensing that she is destined to be his padawan. His fears for her safety intensify as Mae is branded with a sinister "dark mark," a possible death sentence. Sol vows to save her.
As Mae is ushered onto their vessel, Torbin collects a blood sample, and Indara conducts her tests. Their conversation reveals the concept of Ascension, requiring the sacrifice of all for the fulfillment of destiny. Mae dismisses the test, eventually walking away, but Sol approaches Osha with a different tact. This time, she manages to decipher the images, albeit partially.
Off-screen, the Council rejects the twins' admission to Coruscant, a decision solely made by Indara. She justifies her stance, claiming that their interference has exceeded limits, and they must return home. Little do they know that the twins' identical genetics hint at a Vergence being harnessed to split them into two.
Torbin's epiphany struck like a bolt of lightning: the twins were the key to their proof of vergence. With a swift stride, he dashed off to locate them. Parallel to this, Aniseya, in a moment of maternal tenderness, relinquished her grip on Osha, choosing motherhood over leadership. Mae, on the other hand, consumed by rage following her altercation with Osha, unleashed a frenzy of destruction. She grasped the firelight and reduced the stone settlement to ashes. Stone, reduced to rubble by mere fire. A spectacle worth every penny of its 180 million dollar budget.
As the settlement burned to the ground, Sol and Torbin materialized in the courtyard, just as Aniseya transformed into a sinister smoke monster, Mae following suit. Sol swung his lightsaber through the smoky haze, piercing Aniseya's gut. Yet, according to Disney's Star Wars logic, she might still be clinging to life.
As Aniseya crumpled to the earth, Mae was consumed by anguish. Sol's gaze fell upon her forehead, adorned with a telltale mark, while Osha fled her chambers amidst the inferno. Simultaneously, Koril transformed into a smoky aberration, infecting Kelnacca and compelling him to battle the Jedi.
The fight choreography was woefully inadequate, but as Sol and Kelnacca clashed, Indara emerged as a beacon of hope. She single-handedly rescued Kelnacca and quelled the cult's uprising. She demanded that Sol retrieve the twins, stranded on opposite sides of a bridge. Sol arrived alone, faced with a dilemma: which side of the bridge to uphold. He chose Osha, leaving Mae to plummet.
Back on the ship, despite uncovering that these lunatics were murderous space witches harboring extraordinarily powerful, Force-sensitive children (and the very source of their Vergence, the quest's ultimate goal), Indara reprimanded them harshly for their actions. The trio concurred that they must tell the truth: Mae had incinerated the settlement, and all the witches lay dead. Sol resolved to confront the council, and as he made this decision, Osha stirred from her slumber. Sol informed her that Mae had sparked the flames.
