Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode 6 Recap (Spoilers)

Star Wars: The Acolyte changed the game for the series and the larger franchise with Episode 5’s reveal of The Master (or “The Stranger”), who proved to have the dark side powers of a true Sith. However, there were just as many new questions as there were answers when it was revealed that affable and goofy smuggler Qimir (Manny Jacinto) was the murderous villain under The Stranger’s helmet – not to mention the The Acolyte throwing in a Parent Trap plot turn, which saw twin sisters Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) switch places to get first-hand views of master the other sister chose to follow. 

But did the light/dark side trade-off have a profound effect on Mae and/or Osha? And what more do we learn about Qimir and the nature of his dark side powers, as well as his grudge against the Jedi? 

The Acolyte Episode 6 “Teach/Corrupt” Recap (SPOILERS) 

Wrong Side of the Bed – Osha wakes up in a bed in a strange cavern-like dwelling. She finds the wound on her side to be treated and bandaged. Osha cautiously gets out of bed and starts surveying her surroundings, finding a canteen of water that she drinks down greedily. Osha spots some kind of critter native to place she’s in – she also finds a pile of clothes with “The Master’s” cloak in it. Osha walks out of the cavern and finds she’s on a plush island surrounded by a violent ocean. 

[Title Logo Appears]

Meet the Master – A wider shot of the “Unknown Planet” Osha is on reveals a second, smaller, island nearby with ship docked on a thin strip of land. Osha emerges from the cavern and walks onto the rocky beach – where she spots Qimir walking along the shore a ways ahead of her. Osha crouches low and follows after him. 

Calling For Help – Sol ‘s (Lee Jung-jae) ship takes off from the Planet Khofar. A battered Sol calls into the Jedi Temple to report what happened in the battle with The Stranger. Sol hesitates before confirming that his entire team of Jedi are dead. The transmission is garbled and broken; Sol cuts it off rather than making a second attempt. Meanwhile, Mae sneaks through Sol’s ship, finding herself flooded by memories of when she was last on it, taking the test to be a Jedi as a young girl (see Episode 3). Mae hears Sol in the cockpit attempting to call for help; she sneaks up on him brandishing one of her throwing knives, ready to strike; instead, Sol calls to “Osha” saying he’s attempting to reset the communications transceiver and asks her to pilot in his place. Sol goes down to the ship, where he’s overcome by emotion and grief. When Sol departs, tracker-critter Bazil emerges from his hiding spot and embarks on his own side-mission: getting the head of Osha’s droid Pip recharged. 

Bath Time – Qimir makes his way down a path to a calm water pool in a secluded enclave. Osha sneaks up behind him, stealing Qimir’s lightsaber from his piles of clothes. Osha pops out and orders Qimir not to make any sudden moves, fully understanding the danger of his power. Qimir takes a relaxed, unbothered, approach, asking Osha if it feels good to hold a lightsaber again and how it’s probably the first time since she left the Jedi Order. QImir coaches her on her stance and says that if Osha isn’t coming into the water if he can get dressed again. Standing naked before Osha, Qimir gets her off-balance by seemingly reading her thoughts and doubts about just killing him there, unarmed, explaining that her anger betrays her thoughts. Osha asks why she was abducted instead of murdered; Qimir points out that she’s holding the lightsaber and has the power. Osha inquires if Sol and Mae were killed – giving Qimir another opening to call out her asking about Sol first. Qimir gets under Ohsa’s skin, critiquing the intimate nature of the master-student relationship with Sol. Qimir gets dressed and grabs his bag, walking away calmly. Osha follows, still clutching the lightsaber. 

Off The Books – Mae docks Sol’s drop-ship with its main thrusters in orbit above Khofar. Sol returns to the cockpit and unexpectedly grabs Mae and embraces her in a hug. He thanks “Osha” for saving him from the dark place he went to during the fight with Qimir, nearly slaughtering the villain. Sol solemnly proclaims that he’s sorry, and it’s time to tell Osha the entire truth of what happened on Brendok, sixteen years ago. Before Sol can tell his story, the comms come back on, with the Jedi temple attempting to get clarity about Sol’s transmission. When Sol tries the comms, the lights on the entire ship go out; Sol looks at Mae for an awkward moment before asking “Osha” if she can go examine the problem (since she’s a mechanic). Mae snaps back into character, saying she’ll need a few minutes. Back on Coruscant, Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) is making a call to Senator Isedwa Chuwant about the increasing popularity of a Senator named Rayencourt, who is making the Jedi presence in the expansion territories unpopular. Vernestra is approached by a fellow Jedi named Mog (Harry Trevaldwyn), who informs him about Sol’s distress call and the news that the entire team of Jedi was killed. Vernestra is clearly disturbed by the news and orders Mog to get Sol back on comms. When Mog asks why Sol and his team were on Khofar, Vernestra replies that she sent him there. 

It’s Your Force – Osha catches up to Qimir, asking if he is a Jedi. Qimir explains that he was a Jedi a long time ago – much longer than Osha might assume. She asks Qimir why he really brought her there, and he deflects by asking what she thinks the reason is. Osha deduces that it could be a leverage play: by having her with him, Qimir can bait Sol into coming to him, instead of hunting his enemy down. When Osha asserts that Sol’s strength in the Force will help him beat Qimir, Qimir counters that someone should’ve taught Osha that the power of the Force actually belonged to her. Qimir offers to let her leave – if she can swim to the ship on the other island – or join him for a meal. Osha takes a long look at the ship but follows Qimir. 

Mae vs. Support Staff – Mae heads into the bowels of Sol’s ship and gets jumped by Bazil. After doing some unimpressive martial arts Bazil stomps on her foot, while Pip uses the ship’s controls to squirt oil into her eye. Mae retaliates by taking Pip’s head off its dock and rebooting the droid, to follow her commands (switching Pip to a display of red lights) 

 The Sith Way – Osha is curious about what Qimir meant about ‘her Force.’ As he cooks, Qimir gives his sales pitch, saying that the Jedi’s method of accessing the Force is just one way; that emotions like fear, anger, or desire are another way to get there. Isha recognizes the rhetoric as the pathway to the dark side, which Qimir calls “semantics.” He rationalizes the Jedi he killed as survival, defending his own existence; that Yord’s principals made him betray Osha’s friendship, while Jecki would’ve only been loyal to the Jedi Order. Qimir questions why Osha shows such loyalty to those who can never love her back the same way. Osha proclaims that she’s not as easily corrupted as Mae was and walks outside; Qimir follows, grabbing Osha’s hand and his own lightsaber and demanding she complete her goal of destroying him. Qimir goads her into acknowledging her feelings of anger and acting on them, saying that it was that anger – that darkness – the Jedi saw in her, causing them to ‘throw her away.’ Osha denies that take, but when Qimir keeps asking why she isn’t a Jedi, Osha loses it, sparking the lightsaber and holding it to Qimir’s neck, saying she failed to make it as a Jedi. Qimir shares that he too knows that pain, as failing to become a Jedi made him lose everything – and that only after losing everything did he gain freedom. Osha relaxes her grip on the saber. 

Not Fooling Anyone – Vernestra approaches Mog about leaving the temple and heading to Khofar to investigate what happened to Sol. Mog reminds her that hyperspace travel makes her ill, but Vernestra insists that this matter is one she has to investigate herself. Rwoh, Mog, and several other Jedi board a ship. Back on Sol’s ship, Mae returns to the main den of the ship and finds Sol brooding over his blindspot in sensing Qimir’s dark side power when they first met him on Olega (Ep. 2). Mae tries to play her part, telling Sol in semi-self-confession that personal feelings create personal delusions, making us see what we want to see and miss obvious truths. Sol switches to talking about “Osha” being reunited with PIP, and Mae clearly doesn’t have the same emotional connection to the droid. Sol presses by saying he admires Osha’s love of even a droid being, and Mae spins that into saying her actual family bonds were destroyed by the Jedi. Sol apologizes if her feelings about her experience are that bad – but Mae questions if there is any other way to feel. She presses him to confess what happened on Brendok, but Sol demurs. The ship lights come back on and Mae goes to the cockpit to send a comms message – only to be shot with a stun beam by Sol, who shakes his head sadly, calling “Mae” by her name. Bazil and PIP are shocked, but when a Jedi calls the ship saying the rescue team is inbound, Sol inexplicably turns off his locator and hits the hyperspace drive, jumping away just as Vernestra, Mog, and co. arrive. Vernestra’s ship lands on Khofar and Mog interviews those at the camp site where Sol parked his ship. Mog comes away with a story about the giant insects that Sol’s party encountered in the forest, saying that locals suspect the Jedi wandered into a hive of the bugs and were killed that way. Vernestra says it’s a possible explanation, but leads her team into the woods, regardless. 

Seduction of the Dark Side – Osha watches Qimir repair his helmet and asks if he’s simply repeating the same pitch he gave to Mae. QImir admits that he misjudged Mae as someone who wanted more than revenge – to become a second dark side power to his own. Ohsa spots a gnarly, crooked scar lining Qimir’s back and asks how he got it; Qimir claims it came from “someone who threw me away,” but won’t confirm if it was his Jedi master, or someone else. Qimir switches topics to talk about his cortosis helmet, revealing that it’s a sensory-deprivation helmet, that brings him into greater attunement with the Force when fighting. He invites Osha to put it on and see what visions the Force reveals to her; Osha says she doesn’t trust Qimir enough to do that, and he counters that she only needs to trust herself. 

True Detective: Jedi –  Jecki Lon and Yord Fandar’s corpses are still lying in the dirt of the Khofar forest outside Kelnacca’s hut, as Vernestra, Mog, and co. all come upon the grisly scene. Vernestra can hear the echoes of what happened through the Force, but says nothing, inquiring what Mog sees before him. Mog’s reading is that a single powerful Force user battled and killed the Jedi – and he wonders aloud if Master Sol could’ve fallen to the dark side. Vernestra refuses to confirm such a wild leap of speculation – but also doesn’t dismiss it entirely. As she and Mog are talking one of the giant bugs still nearby attacks; Rwoh slashes the bug in half without looking, using her whip-style lightsaber. When Mog wonders who else would have the power to kill so many Jedi, Rwoh quietly recites the earlier thought from Sol that Mae’s Master was trying to tip the scales of balance in the Force – almost like it reminded her of something. When Mog then questions why Sol would send a distress signal if he was the killer, Rwoh orders everyone back to the ship to prepare the bodies for burial. 

Right Side of the Bed – Mae wakes up on a bed in Sol’s ship, in restraints. Sol is sitting in the shadows watching her, claiming he means her no harm. Mae wants to be let go and Sol pledges he will, as they need to find and defeat Qimir and save Osha. But first, Sol says he and Mae are going to have a conversation that he’s been waiting sixteen years to have, and he’s making sure she will have to listen. 

Visions of the Dark Side – Alone in Qimir’s lair, Osha approaches the cortosis helmet and touches it. She feels the metal and seems to notice more of the ore lining the walls of the cave. Osha puts the helmet on her head and we get her perspective inside the helmet, barely seeing light through the thin slit for the eyes, before the light fades altogether and all we hear is the sound of her breathing in the darkness. 

[End Credits]

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