The ending of “The Acolyte” could have been much worse if they had used this alternate scene

sidekick it’s also over if you’ve read my reviews of the latest Disney+ Star Wars Show, you’ll know I don’t particularly like it – and I disliked almost everything about the season finale. There was a lot of potential in this show, but for whatever reason – lack of writing talent, corporate meddling, etc. – that potential was squandered in a half-baked story and poor production.

But the season finale could have been much, much worse. Somehow I dodged a bullet. On the other hand, you might have missed one of the most memorable moments of Star Wars history. You can be the judge. Was this a blessing or a missed opportunity?

What I mean is the kiss-that-never-was. Qimir (Manny Jacinto) and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) almost kissed at the end of the finale. They even filmed a version of their last scene together where the kiss took place.

“I’ll put it in there. There was a version that we shot where Osha and the stranger actually kiss,” Jacinto said in an interview with Vulture after the season finale. “But I felt maybe it wasn’t too earned at the time. I think it was too early.”

He went on to explain that the kiss right after Osha kills Sol (Lee Jung-jae) would have been inappropriate and unearned.

“The stranger killed a bunch of her friends and she just killed her father figure. For them to have this sensual moment just didn’t feel right. It’s just on the cutting room floor. But I suggested, “Maybe not the kiss, but how about a handshake?” A kind of wanting to comfort, a kind of physicality that expresses that he cares about her and feels for her and that they’re in this together now. It’s something that if we do a season 2, maybe we can work on, if the fans want it.”

That’s how I ended up with this image:

This is actually a pretty clear homage to the excellent 90s movie, Wrestling Club:

It’s also a much, much better moment than what we would have gotten with the stranger/Qimir and Osha kissing, which wouldn’t just feel out of place because of her very bizarre, almost emotionless, killing. Sol’s (which was perfectly justified in killing Aniseya, by the way, although it could have been explained better) would also be unearned because the two characters barely knew each other and had almost no romantic chemistry. Or at least that chemistry has yet to be explored or ignited. It would have felt incredibly rushed without more build up. Also, the twin thing makes it even weirder because Qimir spent a lot more time with Mae but never seems to have romantic feelings for her, and the two twins are basically the same person.

Of course, many fans are upset that the kiss didn’t happen and are hoping against hope that if the show is renewed, Qimir and Osha can make little Sith babies together. This is a problem with modern audiences in the internet age. The phenomenon known as “delivery” comes to every fandom and is similar to a disease or infection. When TV show creators listen to shippers, we have disasters like ARROW “Olicity” who took a declining show and helped it dig its own grave. The last thing Star Wars needs is another confused love story.

The last thing sidekick what was needed was the death of his best character, Sol, in such an anticlimactic scene. Well, that and killing off Carrie-Anne Moss’ character in the first ten minutes of the show. And Dafne Keen’s character. Oh my. What a mess.

Maybe we deserve these terrible shows after all. Or maybe we need to bump into Tyler Durden and burn it all down (metaphorically, of course) and build something new from the ashes. After all, “Only after we’ve lost everything are we free to do anything.”

Read my review on Of the Acolyte season finale right here. Watch my video review below:

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