The revelation of the Master and shocking deaths in episode 5 of “The Acolyte” make the episode their best yet

I’m a little conflicted about The Acolyte, but very annoyed by the over-the-top reviews online and annoyed by the cast being bullied. But overall, I’ve found the show to be “okay” most of the time. That changed last night with Episode 5, Night, which was one of the most breathtaking 30 minutes of Star Wars I’ve seen in the entire Disney era. Spoilers follow.

The entire first 20 minutes of the episode is one long lightsaber battle with the “Master,” the red lightsaber-wielding warrior, taking on an entire force of Jedi Padawans, Knights, and at least one Master. It’s some of the best lightsaber choreography I’ve ever seen, and one of the most memorable fights since “The Phantom Menace.” Dafne Keen, aka X-23 from “Logan,” was particularly eye-catching.

But the most shocking thing was not how good the lightsaber fight was, but how brutally it was. I was a little surprised that we saw the Master quickly and effortlessly murder several Jedi. But it didn’t stop there. The Master kills two important fan-favorite characters, Keene’s Jecki and Charlie Bennett’s Yord, by running Jecki through with lightsaber daggers after she knocks the helmet off his head, and literally breaking Yord’s neck. I was paved. I always thought The Acolyte was going to be darker than it was portrayed in the first few episodes, but this? I never thought it would get this far. And it was incredible.

The main reveal of the episode wasn’t the biggest surprise, but it was excellent nonetheless. In fact, the master turned out to be Qimir, the goofy smuggler played by Manny Jacinto. That was just an act, a way to stay close to Mae, and when he’s fully revealed, Jacinto gives an absolutely cooling down Appears as an apparent Ronin Sith who split from the Jedi to use the Force as he pleases and raise a Padawan who can do the same – a Padawan he now seeks to kill for betraying him.

I cannot praise Jacinto’s performance highly enough here, where he Is still kind of funny, but also newly terrifying (it’s crazy to see him in this role after knowing him best as Jason from The Good Place). He is extremely powerful as he just slaughtered a platoon of Jedi like it was nothing. I’m willing to say that was the best villain introduction I’ve probably seen all these Disney shows.

Despite the reveal of his identity, there are still some mysteries here. He hints that Master Sol knows him and is hiding something “dark.” Mae also hints that Osha was brainwashed by being fed a false version of the events of the Night of Fire, and that maybe what happened wasn’t her lighting it and the Jedi saving her. Qimir hints that Sol can “get inside his head,” and we saw witch magic do something similar in the flashback. I suspect there was some sort of memory wipe here that gave Osha a different story and absolved the four Jedi of their role in the Circle’s destruction that we haven’t seen yet. However, I don’t know how Qimir and Sol know each other, unless Sol has a dark past that we don’t know about yet. That seems likely at this point.

This was an incredible episode. I just don’t care about the criticism it gets and I don’t know how you can, as a supposed Star Wars fan, not the least enjoy the lightsaber fights and be amazed at how it got to the point where two important, healthy characters were killed within minutes of each other. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

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