This review contains full spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1, episode 5.
Well, holy crap, huh? The fifth episode of The Acolyte completely blew up the show we’d been following so far, not only revealing the identity of Mae’s Master but also mercilessly dispatching Jedi left and right, including central characters on this series, in a way seldom seen in this franchise away from the confines of Order 66.
Earlier this week, I saw some fans joking around on X/Twitter about how all those unnamed, mostly silent Jedi from last week were almost certainly going to be meeting their end tonight, going full red shirt as the Master unleashed his power. And indeed, that was exactly what happened.
It initially felt like a rather amusing example of main character plot armor, as Sol, Jecki, and Yord were literally the only three Jedi to survive the initial encounter with the Master. Except then, suddenly, Jecki got killed too, brutally stabbed over and over again by the Master! It was very tragic and sad to be sure, but it certainly felt like that had to be everything for major deaths this episode - until Yord got his neck snapped and was taken out too! This was a huge shock, deftly playing against expectations. Our main crew for this show had been Sol, Osha, Jecki, and Yord and now half of them are gone, like that, with three episodes of the show still left to go. After so much build up, the Master truly needed to make an impact as a credible threat and wow was that the case here.
This breathless episode also revealed the identity of Jeki and Yord's murderer: Qimir is the Master (Yes, I know our sleeveless villain says he has no name, but that being the case, I’m sticking with Qimir for the time being). This was pretty much what most viewers had come to expect from this mystery. However, the predictability of the reveal is balanced in a couple of ways. It’s happened with three episodes to go, so it’s not like they were trying to make the Master's identity some huge finale gotcha. On top of that, Qimir’s conversation with Osha in the aftermath, incredulously asking her if she truly didn’t already suspect, deep down, that he was her Master, feels like an acknowledgement from the writers that if you were paying attention, you could figure it out.
For much of its runtime, episode five was essentially one prolonged action sequence broken into smaller fights, as all of the Jedi gathered on Khofar tried to stop Qimir to no avail. There were a lot of terrific, very well choreographed beats throughout the many fight sequences, showing the awesome skill of various combatants. Ultimately, Jecki was no match for Qimir, but she gave it her all, getting in some rather cool moments, especially when she used Kelnacca’s lightsaber to fight with two blades at once.
Even before he began cutting down the main cast of the series, Qimir was pulling off some amazing and undeniably impressive moves, including when he stabbed one Jedi through with his saber, then used the Force to pull a second Jedi towards him, piercing both at the same time like he was Jason Voorhees stabbing through that couple in Friday the 13th Part 2. Sol, in turn, got some appropriately badass moments here, from deflecting Qimir’s lightsaber as it hurtled through the air, to the intense sequence, following Yord’s death, where he and Qimir fought without their lightsabers, almost any pretense of Jedi civility pushed to the side as Sol violently punched and kicked his opponent.
Qimir finally said the word 'Sith' in this episode, but he did so in an intriguing manner, declaring “I have no name but Jedi like you might call me Sith.” So rather than a full Sith zealot, it sounds like Qimir is more about renouncing the Jedi’s teachings, realizing the Sith’s ways are the ones he relates to more. As had been established in earlier episodes, where he was still posing as a goofy lackey, Qimir truly believes the Jedi overstep their bounds, declaring he wants “the freedom to wield my power the way I’d like.” This very much feels hand in hand with the depiction of the witches of Brendok, who also felt the Jedi saw their path as the only correct path, wanting to control the way everyone uses the Force.
It’s all wonderfully complicated, as Qimir is obviously unhinged and a murderer, but we’re now getting multiple examples of how the Jedi’s strict systems set in motion others who would see them as the enemy and push back hard. Of course, Qimir bringing up the Sith to Sol now means we’ll have to see how and why Sol doesn’t pass this information on to others who would spread the word. It feels very unlikely Sol will make it out of this series alive, that’s for sure, with Qimir in fact directly warning “They see my face, they all die.”
Of course, he also stressed his desire to find an Acolyte and how he found Mae to be a failure in that regard. We know Qimir won’t be the last Sith (or Sith-esque) Force user, of course, so presumably either he or someone who carries on his teachings needs to survive this series. This episode, and how it shook up the entire dynamic, has me now highly suspecting that person will end up being Osha, who is found by Qimir at the end of this episode. Hell, who knows, it could even be Sol who falls to the Dark Side. But given how the series began, with these two twins on different paths, it feels like Osha, now on the cusp of learning the full truth about whatever it is Sol and the other Jedi did, yet still yearning to once more use her powers, is ripe for a new Master to take her under his wing.
