Spoilers down below
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So the finale has arrived and at the end of the day, I thought it was ok and unfortunately, that’s probably the best I can describe the series as a whole. Undoubtedly, there were several aspects to it that I enjoyed. I personally liked most of the characters, especially Sol and Qimir, the visuals definitely helped to set the series in another period, and the choreography was quite stellar. The story itself was also intriguing, but alas, the execution certainly wasn’t the best. My biggest gripes were with the script and very distracting editing. The characters of Mae and Osha were just lacking in depth and a bit inconsistent with each passing episode. With only eight 30 or so minute episodes, this series either should’ve had longer runtimes or a higher episode count. Overall, I’d probably give the series as a whole a 6.5/10.
Speaking about this episode in particular, I have to say that it was one the better ones. The performances were stronger this time around and the episode offered some emotional moments to be sure. It answered some questions, but also created more to follow up on. There have been talks of a second season, but I just wasn’t a fan of ending the finale on some big cliffhangers. With all the controversy, I sadly have a bit of difficultly imagining a second season being greenlit, though it’s clearly the intent for there to be one. With how it ended, I’m certainly not opposed to it, but it can’t repeat the same mistakes of this season.
Mae and Osha were the central characters to this story, but were unfortunately some of the weakest aspects for me. I don’t know if they were intentionally written to be this way on account of being a split conscious, but their behaviors just felt unbelievable. Mae going from targeting the four Jedi to briefly wanting to turn herself in to then wanting to kill Sol again. Osha, on the other hand, joining Qimir so suddenly after their first encounter and his slaughter of the Jedi. I don’t mind the two swapping paths, with Osha falling to the dark side and Mae kind of gearing toward the light, as that was to be expected, but needed more time to develop. Osha has now bled Sol’s Kyber crystal and fully joined Qimir while Mae gets mind wiped to protect them.
As expected, Sol dies and was blamed for the events of the series. There were a lot of great performances, but Lee Jung-Jae was easily the star and helped give us a pretty flawed, but tragic Jedi master. His fight scenes were also the best, thankfully having another badass duel with Qimir. His confrontation with Osha and acceptance of her anger were pretty sad. Vernestra fully knows it wasn’t him, but maintains the lie to prevent an external overview of the Jedi Order, or perhaps to prevent herself from becoming a controversial figure. It was confirmed that Qimir’s claim about being a Jedi and the theories about him being Vern’s fallen padawan were true after all. She knows he was the main culprit, but doesn’t tell anyone, expect possibly for one grand master. Yoda does make a very quick cameo. For season 2, it looks like Vern will use Mae as a way to find Qimir and Osha.
The other big cameo is from Darth Plagueis the wise himself. Actually seeing him, albeit for quick voiceless cameo that was mostly hidden in the shadows, was actually pretty surreal. He was very creepy and still a Muun. I won’t lie though, I was hoping for Tenebrous instead. Now, I suppose the question remains of who exactly are the current Sith. Is Qimir the apprentice to an aged up Plagueis, who may be interested in Osha for her conception? Has he been sent by Tenebrous to destroy these Sith claimants, which is why he only showed up after the two left? I don’t think we’ll be getting answers for some time though.