After a seven-day grieving period, The Acolyte returns with Episode 6, “Teach/Corrupt.” This episode is a bit slower than last week’s, but I definitely needed it to be. After the spectacle fights of Episode 5, spending time with characters who aren’t in immediate danger of being murdered is good for my heart. Despite the lack of murder, this might’ve been my favourite episode yet. Pieces are starting to fall into place, and mysteries are so close to being solved. Sure, they blue-balled us with some cliffhangers here and there, but it did leave me wanting more. Enough of this preamble; let me tell you why I think this is the best episode of The Acolyte yet!
SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 6 OF THE ACOLYTE
After the exciting (and depressing) confrontation between the Jedi and Qimir (aka The Stranger), this episode shows the aftermath. After Mae (Amandla Stenberg) switches places with Osha (Amandla Stenberg), she meets up with Sol (Lee Jung-jae), and they head back to the ship. But the communications aren’t getting through to Jedi council (sabotage perhaps), so now Sol is trying to get them back up and running while Mae is trying her best to keep her cover and kill Sol.
While all of this is going on, Qimir (Manny Jacinto) has taken Osha to his secret hideout on a currently unknown planet (they’ll probs name-drop it at some point). Here, Osha wakes up alone in Qimir’s hidey hole and ends up finding him taking a dip nearby. After some back and forth (with a little bit of will they won’t they), Qimir starts to prod Osha with questions that challenge her beliefs, leading to her nearly giving him the Count Dooku treatment.
And our final plot point in this episode was Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) travelling to Khofar (fuck, these names are a lot) to find Sol and his group. They find the dead Jedi (RIP Jecki and Yord again), Vernestra shows off her lightsaber whip (it’s pretty cool), and they’re now blaming Sol for the murder of the Jedi (fun times for everyone).
This episode took its time to deal with the fallout of Episode 5, and that’s why I really liked it. Some of my favourite episodes in all of television aren’t the big bombastic fights or thrill-seeking chases; it’s the ones where characters who need to talk finally do. This episode had that in spades, and I loved every second. Qimir challenged Osha’s view of the Jedi and what she could become, which made me wish the entire series was just these two. And Mae, trying to keep her cover around Sol, was tense to say the least (even though I think Sol figured it out pretty quickly). I don’t know how to feel about Sol being blamed for the Jedi deaths, but only time will tell. All in all, it is the most character-driven episode by far.
As I said previously, this episode was very character-driven. Almost every scene was used to show us more about these characters (the ones left alive anyway). Sol, in particular, received some interesting development alongside grieving the loss of his padawan and comrades. That moment where he struggled to tell the Jedi what had happened was masterful and almost brought a tear to my eye. But then there was the continuation of the uneasy vibe I get from him, especially when he was talking with Mae. I would bet any amount of money that he’s done some shady stuff. Speaking of Mae, she probably received the least development in this episode, but I’m ok with that. She’s probably my least-liked character so far, but I think it’s because, compared to everyone else (even her sister), she hasn’t had the screen time to get me to like her. Hopefully, that’ll change in the last two episodes.
On the topic of minimal screen time, Vernestra finally does something in this episode that doesn’t involve walking around the Jedi Temple. I’m not overly familiar with her character beyond the fact that she first appeared in the High Republic novels, but I’m glad she’s finally doing something on the show. I enjoyed seeing some of her personality, and I found it funny that she gets travel sickness from space travel. Her lightsaber whip was also dope as hell, as she sliced one of those bug things on Khofar in a second. I want to see more of that from Vernestra in this series, but with only two episodes left, I think this was her moment in the spotlight. She might get a bit more screen time when the council blame Sol for the Jedi deaths, and she will most likely defend him (please don’t take up a whole episode if you go this route). If nothing else, I want to read her stories in the High Republic novels more now than before the series started.
Undoubtedly, my favourite part of this episode was everything related to Osha and Qimir. I loved how Qimir could see right through Osha, even goading her into killing him. He’s been in a similar position to Osha and, in his own odd way, is trying to help her (and himself, obviously, because he is still an evil dude). I also liked the way Qimir presented his perspective to Osha because even I thought to myself that he was in the right. Breaking away from the Jedi and channeling the force differently seems good on paper; it’s just the mass murdering that is a no-go for me. And then there’s Osha’s struggle with wanting to kill Qimir at the start of the episode, but by the end, she’s following his advice and seems to believe more of what the shredded man is saying (the shredded man is Qimir, in case you couldn’t tell). They also had the best chemistry in the show, and I wish there were more than two episodes left so we could spend even more time with these two (one of them is definitely gonna die).
In terms of what the final two episodes will entail, I have a few theories. The first is that Osha will become the real acolyte. She could be Qimir’s pupil or follow another Dark Side user, but either way, Osha turns to the Dark Side. Sol and the Jedi 100% had a part to play in the destruction of Osha and Mae’s home, and that guilt will be his downfall. I think there will also be a trial (similar to Ahsoka’s in The Clone Wars), where Sol will try to warn them about Qimir, but they’ll dismiss it and maybe throw him in jail or something (which wouldn’t break canon). I also think Mae’s gonna die, but I’m unsure who will kill her. I’m leaning towards Osha, but it could really be anyone. We’ll check back on these theories when the series has wrapped up.
Episode 6 of The Acolyte was my favourite episode of the series so far. I loved the slower, more character-driven moments, especially between Osha and Qimir. I enjoyed how everything has started to fall into place, and I can’t wait for the next episode to hopefully answer some of the mysteries this episode has only made more enticing. I’m still keeping my expectations in check, but I have a feeling these last two episodes will be bangers. Keep it locked to Couch Soup for all the Star Wars content to feed your hungry nerd soul.
Have you seen Episode 6 of The Acolyte? What did you think? Were you mesmerised by Qimir’s muscles? Let us know in the comments where we can all still grieve over the loss of Jecki and Yord.
