This is a tricky one to write about, because the sixth episode of The Acolyte is the most uneventful one yet, though we do get a handful of interesting conversations between masters and pupils. The episode is called “Teach / Corrupt” and I suppose that’s apt enough.
We get The Stranger / Qimir (Manny Jacinto) talking with Osha (Amandla Stenberg) on an “unknown planet” that looks a lot like Ahch-To from The Last Jedi. That’s the isolated island planet that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) hid away on where he ends up grouchily training Rey. I’m not sure if it is the same planet, but it would be kind of cool if it was, as there were some interesting things about that place that the sequels never really dove into.
There’s lots of vague hints at The Stranger’s past, some discussion of why Osha never became a full Jedi, a bit of heart-to-heart about their abandonment issues, and Osha tries on the Sith’s helmet in what may be a symbolic moment of her own heart changing. Will Osha drift to the Dark Side while Mae comes to the light? That could be interesting, but I’m just not loving anything about the twin plotline. I think it’s by far the weakest link in this series, and it’s the central storyline so that’s problematic.
(The other big issue with this show is one that I’ve had with Star Wars for a long time now: The gradual decline of the Jedi as a cool, mysterious order of badasses into a stuffy, rather bland bureaucracy).
The second pupil/master subplot follows Mae and Sol (Lee Jung-jae) as they escape Khoftar and she tries to dig into what really happened when she and her sister were girls. The show has been dragging that mystery out far, far too long and continues to do so here. It’s quite annoying since it’s not an actual mystery that needs to be solved. Sol just has to tell Mae and/or Osha (and the audience) what happened. He continues to delay doing that so that the mystery is dragged out onscreen.
The third master/pupil thing going on is between Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) and her brand new pupil, a Jedi named Mog (Harry Trevaldwyn) who seems about as bright as Yord (Charlie Barnett) though a lot more alive. They go to investigate the murders of the Jedi on Khoftar. It’s a pretty bland investigation. In fact, the alien Bazil’s investigation into Mae’s identity is quite a lot more interesting!
Ultimately, not much happens this episode and then it ends. I’m left feeling completely underwhelmed. I think the episode lengths are a big problem here. Either they need to be longer and meatier, or Disney should have released them three at a time or all at once (I don’t like the binge model, but I think this show might have benefited from it). Almost every episode this season has ended too soon and each time it’s felt kind of rushed and sudden. This episode—following the show’s most action-packed and deadly—lost whatever momentum and sense of urgency we’d picked up last week. It’s all a bit jarring.
Meanwhile, the whole “Parent Trap” / lightsaber haircut /twins changing places thing was silly, and both Sol and The Stranger saw right through it, though it took Sol longer since he was a bit rattled from the fight and Mae was actively trying to deceive him. Why even bother with the subterfuge? Why not just have Sol capture Mae and Qimir capture Osha and get right down to business?
We have just two episodes remaining and frankly I don’t know how this ends in a satisfying way unless both those episodes are a lot longer and the story starts moving. If the season ends with an irritating cliffhanger, don’t say I didn’t warn you. This show has a lot of potential but I can’t help but feel it’s pretty half-baked in its current state. It needed a lot more time in the oven.
What I did like:
- We got a “power of two” callback. Oh my.
- Qimir is a great character. The show should have been more about him and less about the twin stuff and the Jedi. This should have been a Sith-focused series, and Jacinto its star.
- Mae factory resetting the droid was cold as ice. She really is a bad person!
- Thank the Force, the deaths last week were real. They didn’t pull their punches and we get to see poor Jecki (Dafne Keen) dead in daylight. I don’t think it was a great choice to kill off the best female character on the show like that, but at least it wasn’t another fakeout like some other Disney Star Wars shows!
- I liked that we learned about cortosis and its properties that make the Sith helmet so powerful. I liked Osha putting it on as a way to end the episode, too. But it still felt like not enough happened in an episode so late in the season.
- That scar on Qimir’s back looks like a whip-saber mark, and I’m guessing that since Venestra has one of those, she’s his old Master. That’s kind of cool, but the show hasn’t made her a particularly interesting character so far. We shall see.
This makes sense for another reason. The Acolyte takes place roughly around 132 BBY. Venestra Rwoh is a Mirilian, and Mirilians with a strong connection to the Force can live a very long time. Having been born in 288 BBY, she clearly has lived a long time already and doesn’t look her age.
When Osha and Qimir are talking, he tells her he used to be a Jedi a long time ago. She says she’s never heard of him and he emphasises that it’s been a long time, indicating that he is perhaps much older than he looks as well. It’s entirely possible that Venestra trained him decades ago. He says he was discarded, so this is clearly very personal. Perhaps he’s used this whole Mae revenge thing as a means to his own revenge against his old Master.
All of this is pretty interesting stuff. I wish the show was better so that I could care more about it!
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