Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Acolyte Episode 5.
What happens in this week’s episode ofThe Acolyteis something no one saw coming. “Night” has a shocking twist unlike any other in live-actionStar Wars, but what surprised people wasn’t really the information that was revealed. After all, many fans had already guessed that the Stranger, Mae Aniseya’s (Amandla Stenberg) Sith master, was in fact the drifter Qimir (Manny Jacinto).What left the audience in shock was actually how his identity was revealed. Not even in the wildest Dark Side dreams would anyone have imagined what transpired between the Sith Lord and the team of eight Jedi in the jungle of Khofar.
The Acolyte
The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.
The Stranger Kills Nearly All the Jedi Before Revealing His Face
There were countless hints dropped throughout the first half ofThe Acolytethat Qimir was the Stranger. In Episode 2, “Revenge / Justice,” for example, he mentions the “peace is a lie” line in the Sith Code, and overpowers Mae as she attacks him at the gates of the citadel on Olega. Then, in Episode 4, “Day,“he lets on that he knows Mae’s master in ways she couldn’t, and, when she tells him of her intention to go back on her deal to kill Jedi Master Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo), Qimir takes on a serious expression and says the Stranger will kill her. Moments later, there is the Stranger revealing himself to the Jedi, in a way that only someone who was already on Khofar could.
It was so obvious, that most of us thought the series could only be leading us on. Indeed, it was, but not with the information about the Stranger’s identity. In “Night,” an exhilarating lightsaber takes most of the episode’s runtime, with the Stranger facing a team of eight Jedi by himself, while also trying to capture and kill the twins Mae and Osha (also Stenberg). His identity is finally revealed when Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) knockshis cortosis helmetoff his head, but we still don’t see who it is; instead, the series gets Jecki to block him from the camera. We only get to see who it is once he actually kills her and her body falls limp.Killing one of the audience’s favorite characters in the series is simply as shocking as his identity being revealed. Shortly after, another fan favorite, Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett), joins the fight, only to be quickly overpowered and killed — without a weapon!
From that moment on, it’s clear that the person on screen isn’t Qimir.Everything about him changes: his tone of voice, the way he carries himself, his furious movements when fighting. Most of all, though, the Stranger has a coldness about him that is almost disturbing. He was already constantly taunting Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), but now the Stranger dials it up to eleven, even telling the Jedi that he was the one who brought Jecki to bekilled in the fight.The quirky drifter we knew from the previous episodes is now gone, replaced by a ruthless killer who the audience could never have guessed he was.
What Is Shocking About the Stranger’s Identity Isn’t the Reveal Itself, but the Delivery
Nowadays,plot twistsare almost a must for any respectable TV show that wants to keep its audience hooked. Shock value is important and perhaps the most common tool to impress people and keep them coming back for more. But, while most of us usually think aboutthe Red WeddinginGame of Thronesas an example of a great twist,The Acolytereally goes in the opposite direction.It gave us everything we wanted to know an episode earlier. With the series entering its second half now, it even felt like it could be running out of plot.
Speaking toEW, series creatorLeslye Headlandreveals that this was precisely her intention. She argues that “a good twist is not about hiding everything from the audienceand then throwing it on them,” but rather about “telegraphing what’s going to happen, and then once it does, executing it without an ounce of pity or sentimentality.” Of course, the Red Wedding is very brutally executed, but there were barely any hints about it — people talked about Lord Walder Frey (David Bradley) being treacherous, but he even welcomed the Starks to the Twins and reaffirmed guest rights.The Acolytedoes the opposite and, as Headland says,points out exactly what is going to happen, going on to break viewers' souls afterward by killing nearly all major supporting characters, including two fan favorites who were thought to be safe because of the plot.
It also helps to have a great cast behind it. Jecki Lon, for example, was already a character loved by the audience, but Dafne Keen elevates the character with her charisma and fierceness taking center stage as Jecki fights Mae and the Stranger. We firmly believed she could beat the Stranger. The villain himself probably wouldn’t feel as terrifying without an actor of Manny Jacinto’s caliber playing him. Usually associated with comedy roles, like inThe Good Place, he changed everything about how his character comes across to the audience. The Stranger’s quirky “Hello!” to Mae is almost disturbing, showing that, although the audience got it right,no one could ever have guessed that the Stranger was so cold.
‘The Acolyte’ Episode 5 Is Teasing an Even Bigger Connection
Who isn’t the Master connected to?
‘The Acolyte’s Twist Also Raises Questions About the Remainder of the Season
More than a shocking bloodbath, “Night” also marks the beginning of a new phase inThe Acolyte. The mystery around the Stranger’s identity is now over, but it doesn’t mean there is nothing left to happen. In fact,if anything, the twist around his identity raised more questionsfor the show to address towardsthe end of its season. The first Sith encounter in a millennium happened a century beforeStar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, so what happened for it to be covered up?
As menacing and ruthless as the Stranger is, his behavior in “Day,” before his cover is blown, now gets another layer of suspicion. “Qimir” may have been an act all along, but the Stranger is far from perfect. He does get overpowered by Sol and fails to kill Mae. In fact, he failed to get Mae to fulfill her end of their deal, and he was there with her the whole time.Star Warsusually presents the Sith ascerebral villainswho make no mistakes and have long-term plans, but the Stranger is far from that.So, is he the master or the apprentice at this point in time?He never uses the word “apprentice” when talking about Mae,only “pupil” and “acolyte,“so could he be the apprentice to a darker and more powerful master?
Also, the Stranger seems to have known Master Sol for a long time. Sixteen years prior, the Brendok incident took place, killing Mae and Osha’s family and setting the events that culminate inThe Acolytein motion, and the Stranger knows everything about it, including its importance.Is he aware of how the twins were created?Or was he even present? According to the canon timeline, the series takes place a hundred years beforeThe Phantom Menace, so the Sith should be one or two generations before Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid) shows up. We know his master to be Darth Plagueis, but couldthe Stranger be him? Or Plagueis' master, Darth Tenebrous? There are three episodes left for The Acolyte to answer at least some of these questions — hopefully without another bloodbath.
