Warning! The Following Contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 5, “Night.”
In the words of Anakin Skywalker: “You’re the Sith lord!” Yes, as expected, the big cliffhanger thought up by showrunnerLeslye Headlandand her team to concludeThe Acolyte’sfourth episode paid off with a huge lightsaber fight, plus the identity of the mysterious, helmeted Force user. Granted, the so-called secret that Qimir (Manny Jacinto) is the Sith was about as inconspicuous as Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) turning out to be Darth Sidious in theStar Warsprequels. Nevertheless, Jacinto is relieved that he doesn’t have to lie anymore. The actor said in an interview withEntertainment Weekly:
“I’m the worst liar. I’ve been lying to people for the last two years — to their faces.Some of them, they straight up call me out, and they’re like, ‘I don’t trust what you’re saying.’ Some of them believe me.But I’ve been lying, and it gives me a lot of anxiety, having to lie to people.I mean, right nowI’m tingling [smiles], just because this is the first time that I’m actually able to talk about it.”
The Acolyte
Star Wars series that take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.
Prior toThe Acolyte’sfifth episode, “Night,” Jacinto’s Qimir has been painted solely as Mae’s (Amandla Stenberg) friend and confidant. All the while, Mae has been on a bloody quest to avenge the deaths of her witchy family by killing all the Jedi she holds responsible. And inThe Acolyte’slatest episode, Mae too discovers that her pal is also her evil master — although Qimir’s no-name alter ego is infinitely more powerful than his pupil. In fact, Qimir wipes out ALL of the Jedi he faces, with the exception of Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae).
For those fans following Disney+’sThe Acolyte,it’s not hard to forget actressDafne Keen wanting to pull off a lightsaber duel to “top” that of Darth Maul(Ray Park) vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) inStar Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. Whether that actually happened in “Night” is left up to those who beheld the no-name Sith wiping out ALL of the Jedi he battled, except for Master Sol (Jung-jae).
And showrunner Leslye Headland kind of stole a page out ofStar Trek’splaybook with regard to the easily killable Redshirts. After all, there’s a whole team of Jedi facing off against one Sith lord. Nevertheless, fans are lulled into a false sense of security, believing only the background “Redshirt” Jedi will be killed by Qimir’s Sithy alter ego. Headland elaborated in the same sit-down:
That’s what I loved about starting with the red shirts. You’re kind of like, ‘Oh, he’s a [Sith Lord] just going to kill a bunch of red shirts, and everybody is going to be fine and… OH MY GOD, JECKI’S DEAD! Okay, I’m listening.’
The Acolyte Star’s Musical Response to Racist Backlash Slammed as ‘Out of Touch’
The Acolyte’s Amandla Stenberg has found herself on the receiving end of more backlash after releasing a music video against “intolerable racism.”
The death of so many Jedi, including both Jecki and Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) — who had his head twisted and snapped like a twig — shouldn’t have come as that big a shock in hindsight, seeing as how Carrie-Anne Moss’ Master Indara was murdered by Mae in the very first episode of the series. Headland continued:
I just figured someone would stop me and nobody did [laughs]. I figured someone would say, ‘This is too far!’ But they didn’t.
DespiteThe Acolytereceiving an 84% Rotten Tomatoes scorefrom the critics, fans continue to voice their displeasure with the newStar Warsshow. In fact, at the time of this writing,The Acolyte’sRT audience score is only 13%! Well, the Sith is out of the bag, but will it help the show moving forward? Plus, where is Yoda? The Jedi Master could wipe out this dark warrior without breaking a sweat, right?
New episodes ofThe Acolytedrop every Tuesday at 9 p.m. EDT onDisney+.
