This overview accommodates full spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1, episode 5.
Well, holy crap, huh? The fifth episode of The Acolyte fully blew up the present we’d been following thus far, not solely revealing the identification of Mae’s Master but additionally mercilessly dispatching Jedi left and proper, together with central characters on this collection, in a manner seldom seen on this franchise away from the confines of Order 66.
Earlier this week, I noticed some followers joking round on X/Twitter about how all these unnamed, principally silent Jedi from final week had been virtually definitely going to be assembly their finish tonight, going full purple shirt because the Master unleashed his energy. And certainly, that was precisely what occurred.
It initially felt like a fairly amusing instance of fundamental character plot armor, as Sol, Jecki, and Yord had been actually the one three Jedi to outlive the preliminary encounter with the Master. Except then, all of the sudden, Jecki received killed too, brutally stabbed again and again by the Master! It was very tragic and unhappy to make sure, nevertheless it definitely felt like that needed to be every little thing for main deaths this episode – till Yord received his neck snapped and was taken out too! This was an enormous shock, deftly taking part in in opposition to expectations. Our fundamental crew for this present had been Sol, Osha, Jecki, and Yord and now half of them are gone, like that, with three episodes of the present nonetheless left to go. After a lot construct up, the Master really wanted to make an affect as a reputable menace and wow was that the case right here.
This breathless episode additionally revealed the identification of Jeki and Yord’s assassin: Qimir is the Master (Yes, I do know our sleeveless villain says he has no title, however that being the case, I’m sticking with Qimir in the meanwhile). This was just about what most viewers had come to anticipate from this thriller. However, the predictability of the reveal is balanced in a few methods. It’s occurred with three episodes to go, so it’s not like they had been making an attempt to make the Master’s identification some large finale gotcha. On high of that, Qimir’s dialog with Osha within the aftermath, incredulously asking her if she really didn’t already suspect, deep down, that he was her Master, seems like an acknowledgement from the writers that should you had been paying consideration, you can determine it out.
For a lot of its runtime, episode 5 was basically one extended motion sequence damaged into smaller fights, as all the Jedi gathered on Khofar tried to cease Qimir to no avail. There had been quite a lot of terrific, very effectively choreographed beats all through the numerous struggle sequences, displaying the superior ability of assorted combatants. Ultimately, Jecki was no match for Qimir, however she gave it her all, getting in some fairly cool moments, particularly when she used Kelnacca’s lightsaber to struggle with two blades without delay.
Even earlier than he started slicing down the principle forged of the collection, Qimir was pulling off some wonderful and undeniably spectacular strikes, together with when he stabbed one Jedi by way of together with his saber, then used the Force to tug a second Jedi in the direction of him, piercing each on the identical time like he was Jason Voorhees stabbing by way of that couple in Friday the thirteenth Part 2. Sol, in flip, received some appropriately badass moments right here, from deflecting Qimir’s lightsaber because it hurtled by way of the air, to the extraordinary sequence, following Yord’s loss of life, the place he and Qimir fought with out their lightsabers, virtually any pretense of Jedi civility pushed to the facet as Sol violently punched and kicked his opponent.
Qimir lastly mentioned the phrase ‘Sith’ on this episode, however he did so in an intriguing method, declaring “I’ve no title however Jedi such as you would possibly name me Sith.” So fairly than a full Sith zealot, it seems like Qimir is extra about renouncing the Jedi’s teachings, realizing the Sith’s methods are those he pertains to extra. As had been established in earlier episodes, the place he was nonetheless posing as a goofy lackey, Qimir really believes the Jedi overstep their bounds, declaring he needs “the liberty to wield my energy the best way I’d like.” This very a lot feels hand in hand with the depiction of the witches of Brendok, who additionally felt the Jedi noticed their path as the one appropriate path, wanting to regulate the best way everybody makes use of the Force.
It’s all splendidly difficult, as Qimir is clearly unhinged and a assassin, however we’re now getting a number of examples of how the Jedi’s strict programs set in movement others who would see them because the enemy and push again onerous. Of course, Qimir citing the Sith to Sol now means we’ll should see how and why Sol doesn’t go this data on to others who would unfold the phrase. It feels most unlikely Sol will make it out of this collection alive, that’s for certain, with Qimir actually immediately warning “They see my face, all of them die.”
Of course, he additionally burdened his need to seek out an Acolyte and the way he discovered Mae to be a failure in that regard. We know Qimir received’t be the final Sith (or Sith-esque) Force consumer, in fact, so presumably both he or somebody who carries on his teachings must survive this collection. This episode, and the way it shook up the whole dynamic, has me now extremely suspecting that individual will find yourself being Osha, who’s discovered by Qimir on the finish of this episode. Hell, who is aware of, it might even be Sol who falls to the Dark Side. But given how the collection started, with these two twins on totally different paths, it seems like Osha, now on the cusp of studying the total fact about no matter it’s Sol and the opposite Jedi did, but nonetheless craving to as soon as extra use her powers, is ripe for a brand new Master to take her underneath his wing.
