The Acolyte Proves That Emperor Palpatine Was Right
One of the big truths throughout all three Star Wars trilogies is that Emperor Palpatine is the ultimate evil in the galaxy, someone worth stopping at any cost. While he is normally portrayed as a one-dimensional villain, we learn more about his thoughts and motivations in Revenge of the Sith. It’s easy to dismiss much of what he says as just attempts to seduce Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side, but here’s the thing: The Acolyte effectively proves that Palpatine was right and that the Jedi needed to be wiped out.
A Larger View
For any of this to make sense, I’m going to need to revisit some of Palpatine’s exact words in Revenge of the Sith. For example, Anakin is shocked at the revelation that the Chancellor has studied the Dark Side, and Palpatine tells him that “if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi.”
In encouraging Anakin to become “a complete and wise leader,” the Sith says that “you must embrace a larger view of the Force.”
Sol’s Mistakes
The Acolyte centers around a big mystery that select Jedi have been hiding, and the revelation of what really happened proves the truth of Palpatine’s words. If the Jedi didn’t have such an insanely narrow view of the Force, they would likely have taken more of a “live and let live” approach with the Force-sensitive witches of Brendok.
And if Sol knew a bit more about other aspects of the Force, he could have avoided needlessly killing the Nightsister who wasn’t actually attacking him, sealing the fates of so many people, himself included.
The Jedi Are Focused On Control
Additionally, Palpatine warns Anakin in Revenge of the Sith that the other Jedi fear the young man because “they know your power will be too strong to control.” In a vacuum, it’s a pretty wild claim, but The Acolyte shows that the Jedi will do almost anything to study, contain, and control powerful things like Brendok’s vergence in the Force.
Anakin is himself a vergence in the Force, and we have every reason to believe the Jedi will treat him the same way: as a tool to be used by themselves and nobody else.
The Jedi Are Corrupt
In that final prequel movie, Palpatine’s most explosive claim is that once the Jedi realize the two of them murdered Mace Windu, “they will kill us, along with all the Senators.”
That once seemed like a crazy stretch, but the end of The Acolyte’s first season reveals that Vernestra Rwoh, an honored Master and public face of the Jedi, is willing to lie directly to the Senate and destroy the reputation of the deceased Sol as a way of keeping the government from even trying to curtail Jedi power.
Quite frankly, if the Jedi are willing to go to such lengths to simply protect a secret, they may well have taken extreme measures after the head of government killed several Jedi.
These guys are out-of-control space cops without a shred of oversight, and assuming this was just one of countless situations the Jedi have made worse through arrogant intervention, the galaxy is likely better off without them.
The Acolyte Showed The Jedi Accurately
None of this is to excuse Palpatine’s evil, of course, or unseat him from his throne as the biggest bad guy in all of Star Wars. Rather, I’d like to praise The Acolyte for presenting the Jedi in such a cynical manner, one that forces us to recontextualize almost everything that Palpatine and his allies said and did during the prequels.
The show may have suffered from pacing problems galore, but it ultimately helps us appreciate the core ideas of this franchise (including the Force, the Jedi, and the Sith) in a brand new way, and that’s worth raising a glass of blue milk in salute.
