The Acolyte: What transpired upon Osha donning the helmet of the Sith Lord?
Many of the season 1 stories came to an end in the Acolyte season 1 finale, which also hinted at where, should The Acolyte season 2 be revived,. Though it all starts with her wearing The Stranger's cortosis helmet, one of the most important things the finale did was further Osha's path into the dark side, where she finally falls due of her anger against Master Sol's lies.
Qimir explains that his helmet serves as a sensory deprivation tool, depriving him of sight and substituting a closer relationship to The Force. Osha slips this helmet on at the end of The Acolyte episode 6, and her steady breathing reminds me quite of Darth Vader's own. But the Acolyte episode 8 carries on this moment and what happens is shockingly unexpected. Exactly what happened to Osha while she was sporting that helmet, and what implications this had for her future?
Osha's Sensual Deprivation and Force Sensibility
Audiences watched Osha struggle with using the Force throughout The Acolyte; although there were hints that much of what she learnt of the Force was gradually returning back to her. The Stranger tells Osha that the sensory deprivation feature of the helmet lets the user concentrate on The Force and whatever else they carry with them into that space when he advises her to don her helmet at the end of The Acolyte episode 6. When Osha put on the helmet when The Stranger left her alone, the sensory deprivation really helped her to concentrate on the dark side and her feelings.
Part of the reason Osha left the Jedi is said to be her difficulty controlling her emotions. Experiencing sensory deprivation helped Osha to connect with and restore her apparently lost Force-sensitivity. Whereas the Sith use their strong emotions to connect with The Force, the Jedi view their relationship to it as a muscle that must be continuously used to maintain. Being in that sensory deprivation environment helped Osha to connect to her emotions and thus the dark side.
Osha's Vision of the Future
She said Mae had Master Sol's lightsaber in her hand and was killing him, just not with the saber, when The Stranger took off his helmet from Osha's head. Many Force-sensitive people have experienced visions of their future prior. Anakin Skywalker actually dropped to the dark side because he was trying to save his wife, Padmé Amidala, from dying in childbirth like his vision had shown him. Though these are images of the future, they are famously faulty and frequently show just half of the picture.
It's unclear if Osha's vision depicted Mae killing Sol and the future altered, or if she merely believed that her sister rather than her was the person killing Sol.
Osha said that the future isn't set when she saw this vision; but, by the end of The Acolyte episode 8, she was clearly seeing herself killing her former Master and formally sliding into the dark side. Osha and The Stranger traveled to Brendok for separate purposes: Osha to save Sol, and The Stranger to kill Mae. It's unclear if Osha's vision depicted Mae killing Sol and the future altered, or if she merely believed that her sister rather than her was the person killing Sol.
Though Mae wanted the Jedi to answer for his mistakes and notify the Jedi Council everything, she had the opportunity to kill Sol in the same way Osha did.
Osha's Route to the Dark Side and the Sith Helmet
Although The Stranger was trying to seduce Osha to the dark side in episode 6 of The Acolyte, he never offered to train her until episode 8. But Osha was ready to go those next steps toward the dark side, shown The Stranger by putting on his helmet and reestablishing connection with the Force. Osha insisted that their arrangement was fair, which showed him that on some level she trusted him even though she turned down The Stranger's offer to train her as they left the planet.
The Stranger's helmet helped Osha to connect to her feelings of anger and pain from her past, something that finally led to her totally embracing those emotions and killing Sol rather than turning her to the dark side. Osha bled Sol's lightsaber blade and changed it red, so confirming her path as a Sith. The Stranger had done a good job of getting Osha ready for this ultimate event in The Acolyte and making her comfortable enough to welcome the dark side, but it was her decision to put on the helmet and finally walk toward the dark side.
