The Acolyte Recap: The Dark Side

Let’s consider, just for a moment, the climactic sequence of The Empire Strikes Back. Luke Skywalker ignores the warnings of Master Yoda and races off in an ultimately failed effort to save all his friends and exact revenge against Darth Vader. After Vader bests Luke, the villain rocks his world by admitting he’s the boy’s father. This remains one of the best cinematic surprises ever, undiminished by all the times it’s been parodied, paid homage to, and excerpted in “All Hail The Magic Of The Movies!” montages.

But you know a big reason why that scene was so effective back in 1980? Because it wasn’t something the audience anticipated. There had been only the vaguest indications in the original Star Wars (mainly recognizable retroactively) that there could be more to the story of Darth Vader “killing” Luke’s father than either Luke’s family or Obi-Wan Kenobi had said. Darth Vader’s true identity wasn’t presented as some big mystery that might one day be solved. Yet the twist didn’t just make narrative sense, it also enriched the series’ larger mythology… even though it pretty much came out of nowhere. It deepened the story; it didn’t drive the story.

In last week’s Acolyte review, I complained — just a bit — about stories that withhold crucial pieces of their central premise for as long as possible while still teasing the profound revelations to come. These kinds of stories demand a lot of patience and trust on the part of the viewer. In the case of The Acolyte, we had to wait until episode three of this eight-episode season to find out what turned Mae against the Jedi and separated her from her twin sister Osha. And even then, we only got half the story — and learned nothing about Mae’s masked Master, the identity of whom has very much been presented to us as a big deal. So I’m of two minds about this week’s episode kicking off the season’s second half with some long-awaited answers, which felt, honestly, a bit unsatisfying.

As expected, “Night” directly follows last week’s “Day,” which ended with the enigmatic Master killing the Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca before easily swatting away Sol and all of the other Jedi who had come to Khofar in search of Mae. Nearly all of this companion episode — roughly two-thirds, I’d say — continues that big fight, as the brave Jedi keep coming at this Master, setting themselves up for certain death. Yord fights bravely. Jecki fights very bravely. Both are struck down.

The action is taut and exciting throughout this half-hour (albeit underlit, even for nighttime). The lightsaber-dueling is thrillingly kinetic and even beautiful at times; and once again Michael Abels’s score enhances the sense of grandeur and fateful drama, with choral voices that echo some of John Williams’s best music in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Jecki’s death is especially powerful, as the Master’s blade punches three holes through her torso, just as his mask falls away to reveal….

Qimir! The most likely suspect! What a… surprise?

On the one hand, I’m glad The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland and her team (represented this week by director Alex Garcia Lopez and credited writers Kor Adana and Cameron Squires) didn’t drag out this reveal any longer. There’s a brief tease early in the episode, when Yord describes this mystery man’s M.O., marveling at his disregard for combat conventions and his ability to mess with the Jedi mind. Osha notes that her mother had that power too, setting up the possibility that it might be Mother Aniseya who is out for revenge. But no. It’s Qimir, who also tells us something a lot of Acolyte-watchers already predicted, saying to Sol, “Jedi like you might call me… Sith.”

But what does this really tell us?

Sure, this is all meaningful information to most Star Wars fans, who know the Sith as the primary anti-Jedi order, disdainful of the Jedi rules about how and why to use the Force. Qimir sneers at these divisions himself during his big standoff with Sol, saying that the Jedi have left him no choice but to do the terrible things he does, because if they had their way all Dark Side adherents would be hunted to extinction.

Still… Beyond his affiliation, we don’t know much about who Qimir is or where he came from. Mind you, we wouldn’t necessarily need to know much if the show hadn’t established that his identity and origins are important. But since we’ve been told this matters, there will continue to be a sizable hole at the center of this show until we learn more.

Honestly, the same could be said of Mae and Osha — and heck, even Sol — each of whom has secrets still untold that could help explain the mess they’re all currently in. After Osha ends Qimir’s immediate threat by attaching a lit-up Pip to the Sith’s back and coaxing a swarm of Umbramoths to carry him away, she gets a few minutes alone with Mae, where they find they have nothing really to say to each other. They’ve been apart for 16 years. They each thought the other was dead. And yet rather than telling each other their stories, they simply rehash the one-note argument they had on Brendok when they first met Sol: “The Jedi are bad!” versus “The Jedi are good!”

Perhaps these two will dig a bit deeper next week — though I have my doubts, given that at the end of this episode Mae cuts her hair and goes undercover as Osha, joining Sol back on the ship. Osha, meanwhile, is found unconscious by Qimir, who seems to know who she is. I expect more reticence from these ladies, given their current circumstances.

I am however looking forward to more of Manny Jacinto acting all sinister and wounded as Qimir. If nothing else, him taking off the mask this week led to some fun scenes of him peering through his tousled hair, whispering ominous phrases like, “I’ve accepted my darkness. What have you done with yours?”

Jacinto threads a needle here, making Qimir sound somewhat reasonable and sympathetic, while at the same time perhaps — at last — pulling The Acolyte back from the brink of being staunchly skeptical about the Jedi. Sure, Sol and his fellow Knights have their problems. But when Sol cries out “Jecki!” after the Padawan is killed and Qimir blankly asks, “Was that its name?”…  Well, that’s a reminder that a warrior without a code should be feared, not cheered.

• Star Wars fans who saw the original movies in theaters (like me!) may be inclined to pop up here to remind me that the secret of Luke’s parentage was spilled before The Empire Strikes Back came out, in books and trading cards and newspaper articles and… Yeah, I know. We were less spoiler-phobic back then; I remember. But my point still stands: The question of “Who is Darth Vader, really?” wasn’t a plot-driver in those first two films.

• I have to say: Qimir’s hand-crafted Sith mask is pretty badass. Who needs a shiny Darth Vader helmet when you can put a hunk of metal over your head that makes you look like you’re about to go on a Halloween-night teenager kill-spree?

• Yeah yeah, RIP Yord and RIP Jecki… but please spare a thought for those of us who wanted to see more Pip. RIP Pip. Unless….

• Maybe Pip is saved? It’s hard to tell but it looks like Bazil may have rescued a piece of Pip while tracking Mae. C’mon, Pip! Hang in there!