TV Review: ‘The Acolyte’ Episode 5 Manages To Be Both Good And Bad At The Same Time
by Frank Martin
The online discourse surrounding The Acolyte has become extremely heated. The show itself is a litmus test for where someone stands in the Star Wars culture wars. Both sides of the debate take strong positions declaring the show as a triumph or a failure. The truth lies somewhere in the middle as the show is all over the place on the spectrum of quality. A lot of it is just okay. However, this week’s episode broke the door wide open for both camps. It delivered the incredible Sith action that viewers have been craving while also highlighting some of the show’s weaknesses.
After the mysterious Dark Force user arrives on the scene, a fight breaks out between him and the other Jedi. He manages to kill the majority of them one-by-one until Osha (Amandla Stenberg) figures out a plan to turn the jungle’s creatures against him. Before she does, though, his mask is knocked off, revealing him to be Qimir (Manny Jacinto) — the merchant they questioned earlier. Meanwhile, Osha and Mae confront each other in a minor scuffle with Mae coming out on top. She decides to use this opportunity to switch places with her sister and heads back with Sol (Lee Jung-jae) to the Jedi Temple.
It’s hard to argue that the episode’s action wasn’t incredible. It delivered some of the greatest lightsaber battles Star Wars as whole has seen in a very long time. It also had a bunch of cool and brutal features that were new in live action, such as armor that can render a lightsaber briefly inoperable. Unfortunately, excellent action can’t make up for a poor story and uninteresting characters. The episode was amazing just as long as the characters weren’t talking. After being built up for so long, Qimir was all flash and no substance. There was no true characterization underneath his mask. If The Acolyte is to succeed in its final episodes, they are going to need to find some way to give meaning to his place as a Dark Force user.
The Acolyte streams Tuesdays on Disney+.
