The Acolyte: Episode 5

Hello there!

Welcome to my latest episode review for The Acolyte. The reviews will follow my usual format: an overview of the plot (so be aware, there will be spoilers!), my review of the show, then a few “Moments in Canon” – references that link to other media and the galaxy as a whole, though they may be lacking compared to usual as this will be my first foray into the High Republic Era, having not yet read any of those books or comics. Today, we’ll be looking at Episode 5: “Night”.

Plot Summary

Osha returns to consciousness after having apparently been thrown into to tree. She immediately sees the body of one of the Jedi who had accompanied her and Sol, and soon sees the rest of the group fighting the figure with the red lightsaber. As she watches, their assailant injures Yord in the leg and kills the 4 other Jedi they had been fighting, notably using their mask to momentarily short out some of the Jedi’s lightsabers.

The assailant prepares to strike a killing blow on Yord, but Osha shoots them with the stun gun she had been given. The weapon fails to stun the assailant, but it gets their attention. Yord tells Osha to run, which she does, followed by the assailant. The figure throws their lightsaber after Osha, and it is only the timely arrival of Sol to deflect it back which saves her. Sol prepares to fight the assailant, and when Yord appears, he orders the younger Jedi to get Osha back to the ship. As the 2 of them flee with Bazil, Osha tries convincing Yord that they must go back to help, but he remains loyal to his orders and threatens to subdue Osha if necessary to get her back to the ship. The pair continue to return to the ship, while Bazil has ran off ahead. The assailant makes it clear that they know Sol and have a past, while Sol also feels something familiar. The pair begin to fight, and it is clear to Sol that though the assailant carries a Jedi weapon, they are no Jedi.

Having seen the early stages of the fight, and Osha being chased away, from inside Kelnacca’s home, Mae looks for a weapon and find’s the Wookiee’s lightsaber, which she takes. However as she leaves the home, she is attacked by Jecki, who tries arresting her for the deaths of Indara, Torbin, Kelnacca and the victims of the fire 16 years ago. During the fight, Mae wounds Jecki, who momentarily cries out in pain. Sol and the stranger continue to fight, and the stranger refuses to take off their helmet, so as to stop Sol reading their thoughts. Sol asks how they can hide their true face from their pupil, but the stranger suggests that Sol is doing the same. As the pair fight, the stranger knocks Sol down to the ground, but has disappeared by the time Sol regains his feet. Yord and Osha hear Jecki’s cry, and Osha again tries to convince him that they must go back. Yord notes that this stranger is dangerous: the don’t follow the rules of combat and their is no method to their movements, which don’t make sense, putting them in Yord’s head. Osha notes the similarity to a power her mother had. The pair continue back towards the ship.

Jecki successfully beats Mae and binds her hands, but is attacked by the stranger. The stranger taunts Mae that she can learn something about loyalty from the padawan. As they fight, the stranger’s helmet shorts out Jecki’s saber, but she defends herself from the next attack with Kelnacca’s saber and fights back wielding both. Mae escapes as the pair fight, and when the stranger notices, they momentarily get the upper hand on Jecki, destroying Kelnacca’s saber, before disappearing before she can react. As they continue back towards the ship, Osha realises that they are where they had discovered the giant insects (umbramoths), which are no longer sleeping on the trees and instead flying higher in the canopy.

The stranger catches up with Mae and cuts of her binders. Mae begs for forgiveness. The stranger goes to strike a killing blow, but Sol and Jecki arrive just in time to attack them. As they continue back towards the ship, Osha appears to sense the child version of Mae call out to her. She again tries convincing Yord that they need to go back, telling him that she senses that the stranger will kill them all. They realise that the umbramoths are flying in the canopy above them and that Pip has a strong torch on him, and Yord agrees this time to go back and help. They begin running back with Pip’s torch shining. As Sol and Jecki fight the stranger, they manage to short out Sol’s saber. Jecki goes on the offensive to cover Sol and manages to break their helmet into two pieces. She attacks again, but the stranger splits his lightsaber into 2 weapons, using one blade to block Jecki’s attack and the other to stab her with 3 fatal blows to her torso. As Jecki’s body falls to the side, Sol finally sees the face of the Master: Qimir.

“Jecki.”

“Was that its name?”

Qimir taunts Sol at the death of his padawan, before pulling Mae into his grasp and using her as a human shield against Sol. Qimir says that the Jedi would call him a Sith, and says that he just wants the freedom to wield his power the way he likes without having to answer to Jedi, and that he wants a pupil: an Acolyte. Qimir notes that Mae betrayed him and exposed him, which means that he now needs to kill every last one of them. Yord arrives with Osha and attacks from behind, using part of Qimir’s helmet to short out both of his blades, but Qimir uses his bracer to short out Yord’s saber and physically overpowers him, breaking his neck before throwing his body aside. Mae uses the distraction to escape, but Mae stuns her. An angry Sol attacks Qimir hand to hand and overpowers him. Igniting his lightsaber, he goes to kill Qimir, but Osha stops him. Qimir taunts her that she trusts Sol even after everything that he did to her, and that he has accepted his darkness, which Sol has not. Osha gets Sol’s attention and manages to make him notice the umbramoths above them in the canopy, and he regains his composure, putting away his saber as the Jedi do not attack the unarmed. As Qimir goes to attack Sol, Pip turns its torch to full beam and Osha attaches the droid to Qimir’s robes, and he is quickly attacked and carried away by a group of umbramoths.

Osha asks Sol to explain what Qimir went, but he is stunned by Mae. Osha argues that everything Mae has ever done has always been for herself, and that she is responsible for everybody who has been killed there. The pair argue, with Mae saying that the Jedi have brainwashed Osha and turned her against her. The pair embrace and Mae thinks they are reconciling, but Osha instead attempts to arrest her, only for Mae to use the Force to push her away and knock her out. Mae picks up a lightsaber and uses it to cut her longer braids off, leaving just her shorter braids like Osha has.

Elsewhere in the forest, Qimir escapes from the umbramoths and begins to make his way back through the forest, while Pip is left on the floor. Bazil finds Pip on his way back to the ship and picks him up.

Sol returns to consciousness and “Osha” helps him up. She tells him that Osha got away and the pair return to the ship. Bazil is already back at the ship with Pip, and appears to smell that something is wrong.

Qimir returns to the site of the duel to regain his helmet, and finds Osha—now stripped of her civilian robe—unconscious. He puts his cape over her and appears to tend to her wounds.

Review

Oh boy! I’d been a bit disappointed by this show, but this was everything I’d been waiting for! I’d heard rumour that this was Leslye Headland’s favourite episode, and I can see why.

This show has generally been at its best so far when we have been focused on action scenes (such as Mae v Indara and Mae v Sol. So to have so much of this episode taken up with a series of action scenes (Mae v Jecki, 4 separate fights for Qimir and even a couple of other quick tussles and some unarmed fighting). Somehow, each of these fights felt unique, with different people having the upper hand, Jecki and Qimir both temporarily using 2 blades and the fantastic choreography on show for each of them. I especially loved the opening battle between Qimir and the whole group, as the gold sabers amongst the red, blue and green helped break everything up slightly more than just red vs blue and green would have, while the use of a helmet and bracer made of (I assume) cortosis was a great idea as it was a way to either momentarily put a Jedi out of the fight without overpowering them. Each Jedi’s death also felt unique, even the 2 who were killed together as one was impaled on Qimir’s saber the normal way, while the other was pulled onto the blade… and to see so much of this fight from Osha’s point of view allowed a great opportunity to hint at a gruesome death without fully showing it.

Now to focus a little more on Qimir’s fights with our heroes, and while I fully expected our wider group of Jedi to become one with the Force (and even thought before the show that surely none of these Jedi can survive the season) I was still shocked and gutted to see Jecki and Yord meet such tragic ends. It does however make some sense with the way the story is going, as it feels like we are now entering the third and final act of the show, which will be much more focused on the twins and their masters. What I especially liked about the deaths was how they did not feel like the characters made silly mistakes and died dumb deaths. Jecki was caught out by the sudden switch to 2 blades, while Yord was overpowered physically. I also really appreciated how fast their deaths were, there was no long set-up or feeling that we were building to the moment (as we do get a little with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan being separated and the transition of the music from Duel of the Fates to the chanting associated with Darth Maul). I do however feel that both deaths could have been more impactful had we had more character moments to really fall in love with them.

And now the big reveal. While I had guessed that Qimir was the Master (I always feel like I’m writing about Doctor Who when I write that), I absolutely loved Manny Jacinto’s performance in this episode, and it will now make me appreciate his performance in previous episodes too, as we see him act completely different following his reveal here compared to how he had been wen undercover in previous episodes. The confidence and taunting was a stark contrast to the character we had been following, while the change in physicality and the reveal of such sculpted arms was the complete opposite of that hunched figure hiding in baggy clothes.

A great episode, I just think that we would have benefitted from this and episode 4 to be combined into one longer “Day/Night” episode as it had everything that last week was missing.

“What extraordinary beings we are. Even in the revelation of our triumph, you see the depth of our despair.”

A few final thoughts on the episodes:

• Some may feel that Sol should have felt that he was leaving with Mae rather than Osha, but considering everything that had just happened and the mixture of emotions that he must have been feeling, I can let that slide… for now at least.
• Notice how Osha’s tattoo got a payoff in this episode by being a physical difference between her and Mae to make sure that we were 100% clear that Mae had pretended to be Osha and gone with Sol, while it also makes sense that Bazil recognises the different scent. Will the tattoo be the giveaway to Sol, or will he just trust Bazil?
• While the editing on the whole was really good in this episode, there was one strange landscape shot just after Sol was stunned, even though the next part was apparently an immediate follow-on in the same place. I’m not sure if it was just a change of camera angles, but it looked like the location actually changed a little, so I wonder if there was a scene (or part of a scene) cut and this establishing shot was used to try hiding this.
• It’s sad to know that Yord finally denied orders to help his friends only to immediately die.
• 2 from 2 on my stated predictions last week… I’m going to quit while I’m ahead.

Moments in Canon

“Why did he say that? Sol? Why did he say I shouldn’t trust you? What did you do?”

• Qimir confirms that he is Sith
• Qimir’s saber is able to break into 2 separate lightsabers. Cal Kestis has something similar, but his is 2 full hilts that have been attached in a way that allows them to also detach, whereas Qimir’s looked like 2 short hilts, which combine to a normal-sized hilt
• As mentioned above, I assume that Qimir’s helmet and bracer are made of cortosis, as that has been described previously as being able to withstand a lightsaber blade and momentarily short it out

What did you think of the episode?

Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you….