‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Episode 6 Review - The Master and the Pupil

Going through various articles regarding The Acolyte, I found some of them praising Manny Jacinto for being an impossibly, ridiculously hot villain. According to an article on Inverse.com (it's an interview with Leslye Headland), The Sith Lord has given rise to a handful of viral video edits. While I have personally not come across any such edits, I can only predict that people will make more clips based on a naked Qimir. Yes, the distractingly hot Sith Lord is seen swimming in the sixth episode of The Acolyte. His bare upper body is visible to Osha as well as to the audience. An R-rated series would have flamed the erotic undercurrents vigorously. The Acolyte goes as far as giving us shy glances covered with hostility. Osha, after all, is pissed about the Khofar deaths and wants to kill Qimir. Qimir, on the other hand, casually walks out of the water ("If you are not gonna join me, I'd like to put my clothes back on") and "reads" Osha's mind.

Qimir wants Osha to join him and come to the dark side. He tells her that the Jedi cannot form deep connections and describes ways to access the Force, mentioning powerful emotions such as anger, fear, loss, and desire. Osha claims that she cannot be easily corrupted like Mae, but she ends up wearing Qimir's black mask by the end of the episode, making her previous assertion seem empty. In the meantime, Mae, who cut her hair to take on her sister's identity in the previous episode, finds herself on a spaceship with Sol and Bazil. The PIP droid on the ship recognizes Mae but is easily overpowered by its new owner with a quick factory reset.

What the sixth episode indicates is that Sol's soul might not be pure. Is this suggestion merely a red herring, or is he actually a bad guy? Given how uninteresting The Acolyte is, it could probably end up pulling rugs for shallow shocks and intrigue. A series like this, for surprises, merely depends on reveals. That's where the "strength" lies. And when some twists become predictable, i.e., not so surprising, you look towards the sky and pray for the end credits. This is what happens here when we are told that Sol knows he is talking to Mae on the spaceship. Thankfully, the end credits also come a few minutes after this reveal. Phew, what a relief.

Final Score - [4.5/10]