Is the situation finally turning around for “The Acolyte”? “The best Star Wars action we’ve ever seen”

Whether you like it or not, the latest war of stars Show comes to Disney+, The Acolyte, just proved that it can more than handle lightsaber combat. And I dare say… the action sequences in Episode 5 may be some of the best we’ve seen since the George Lucas era.

So far it has been a bumpy road for The Acolyte, in which Amandla Stenberg plays the force-sensitive twins Mae and Osha. The series is set during the High Republic era and features Osha, a former Jedi who reunites with her fallen sister after she is framed for the murder of Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss). Similar to pretty much all Disney-directed war of stars efforts, toxic fanboys have crawled out of nowhere and harassed X The Acolyte for a number of ridiculous reasons, be it the diverse cast, the LGBTQ+ representation, or Stenberg’s 2018 comment that he wanted to “make white people cry” – which was adopted wild taken out of context, mind you.

For all these reasons The Acolyte currently has a truly astonishing audience score of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. Look, I can admit that The Acolyte struggles with its pacing and dialogue, but its production quality and convincing performances – especially from Lee Jung-jae (Master Sol), Charlie Barnett (Yord) and Dafne Keen (Jecki) – somehow make up for it. The whole thing with the unreliable narrator, the slow-burning mystery and the high stakes make it a unique show, especially for War of stars. But now The Acolyte With episode 5, “Night,” halfway through, it could finally convert even the most diehard haters.

Warning, spoilers!

The Acolyte is best when there is action involved

The Acolyte Showrunner Leslye Headland once described her new war of stars show The Acolyte as “Kill Bill meets Frozen”, and the latest episode, titled “Night,” absolutely delivers on that promise with a shockingly brutal bloodbath that left me rightly gasping. Director Alex Garcia Lopez keeps the tension high throughout the entire 30 minutes, making for a truly tense experience. The story picks up immediately after last week’s cliffhanger ending and makes some bold decisions about the fate of two of its most interesting characters almost from the start. Did I mention that this thing violent?!

Surprise: Mae’s sinister dark side master – we’ll call him a Sith – is Qimir, played by Manny Jacinto. OK, it wasn’t exactly the turn of the century when the former smuggler turned out to be the man behind the mask, but still. His performance here is great, especially when he faces off against the Jedi on Khofar. The speed of their strikes doesn’t quite reach the intensity of Duel of the Fates, but it’s still fun to see the frantic movements of all those sabers working in tandem against a common enemy… even if Quimir mows them down in an instant. RIP to all the nameless Jedi.

Jecki starts a bar fight with Qimir and we have no choice but to support her. She even goes all out on Jar’Kai during her fight with Qimir (Ahsoka style), but unfortunately that is not enough. The Sith Lord stabs her three times with his lightsaber, which absolutely brutal on the screen. Sol’s reaction to the death of his Padawan (“She was a child”) is just as heartbreaking, and yes… is that still considered TV-14? Qimir then continues with Yord literally breaks his neck— including juicy sound effects — which proves that this show doesn’t mess around when it comes to killing off its heroes. Plot armor, who?! And that creepy line from Sol to Qimir: “What kind of master hides his face?” Ouch!

Story-wise, this is a smart move by the writing team because we, the audience, are not truly afraid of the Sith until we see them take away someone or something we care about. We have formed an emotional connection to Yord and Jecki after seeing snippets of their backstories and personalities. The #YordHorde lives on in our hearts. And yes, given that The Acolyte as a criticism of the Jedi Order, this incident could be the trigger that finally wakes her up.

It raises the stakes when you see Qimir so effortlessly slaughter Jecki and Yord, who, let’s face it, are the most likable characters in the whole thing so far. For those who moan and whine about The Acolyte, THIS is how the Sith should be portrayed! This is why we hate them! Even though social media is collectively mourning the loss of these two Jedi, their deaths have significantly increased the excitement for the series, with viewers praising the episode’s impressive fight choreography.