‘The Acolyte’ Episode 4 Spoiler-Review: Mysteries Continue to Unfold as the Series Crosses the Half-Way Point
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The fourth episode of The Acolyte, titled “Day”, jumps back to the present timeline following Mae’s mission to assassinate Jedi targets. Osha and Sol are right on her heels trying to save her before she gets into more danger. Alex García López directs, from a script written by Claire Kiechel and Kor Adana. This episode likely won’t change people’s opinions about the show, but I would like to present a few points about this episode to at least think about the direction the show is going.
Overall, this episode featured some high points and some low points, like the other episodes. It unfortunately ends right as the story gets going. And even though the episode is less than thirty minutes, many of those moments feel like they weren’t used valuably with some directionless scenes. But, the episode still holds up thanks to strong performances and new mysteries revealed.
Spoilers below …
Before I get into the episode, I’ll lay out “where I’m at” with the show. I am enjoying my time with the show more than I thought. Does it have flaws? Absolutely. Tonally, it can be all over the place. Characters jump from decision to decision on a whim with very little to no explanation. But overall, I’m very engaged with the overall mystery of the show, its characters, and the performances, even if the overall plot is predictable. I even enjoyed the last episode, “Destiny,” with its overall ambiguity.
But The Acolyte is definitely a show of “good news and bad news” and this episode is no different. I’ll start with the “bad news.” I’ve said this before in my reviews of Ahsoka, but the weekly episode releases that last only 30 minutes are doing no favors for the show. Just when the episode finally gets going with the up-close reveal of the Sith-looking antagonist, the credits roll. I think this episode makes it even more obvious that Manny Jacinto’s character, Qimir, is the masked villain, but seeing him in action will be a pleasant surprise since he doesn’t look all that intimidating outside of the outfit. But please, Disney, for the show’s sake, release these episodes all at once. By drip-feeding audiences like this, it’s only exacerbating fans’ frustrations, as people only assume and jump to conclusions in between episodes. I’d like to have solid answers — like how Mae and Osha were born and who’s under the mask — but instead, we have to wait another week.
Not only that, but there’s a lot of filler here in this episode which only makes the drip-feed all the more agonizing. With this episode, there are plenty of “having a nice chat in our walk through the forest” moments. It chews up a lot of the episode’s run-time. By my counts, there were at least three moments where Osha had a conversation that ended with someone saying something along the lines of “it’s time to confront your past.” Once at the beginning with Master Sol, again with Yord in the middle, and a third time with Jecki at the end. It feels redundant.
But now on to the “good news.” The show jumps back to the present timeline to show Osha and Mae’s interactions with their “masters” and to unravel more of the mystery. I like the way the show is slowly unraveling its secrets, continuously answering questions while providing new ones, even if the answers can be predictable. At the end of the episode, Mae does run toward Kelnacca in hopes of turning herself in only to find him killed by most likely the secret villain. Why the sudden turnaround from Mae and what’s going to happen to her in the future is an intriguing question that I hope we get answers to.
The second aspect I’ll commend the show on is its production values and performances, as thankfully, the show continues to use practical sets and on-site location shots that add realism to the show. Manny Jacinto continues to play the “fumbling buffoon” role very well, making it seem like he’s not all the more important. And Charlie Barnett plays the “strong, stoic, albeit unaware” Jedi convincingly, making me care for Yord.
But truthfully, there wasn’t a whole lot to comment on as — like I said earlier — the show’s weekly, 30-minute releases don’t do the show any favors. The big moment was of course the ending where the masked, red-lightsaber-wielding villain shows up at the end, but besides that, not a whole lot happens, as the show creeps forward. While the overall pacing works as a whole, when viewed segment by segment, it’s brutal. And this episode won’t change people’s opinions, especially after last week’s division. What possibly could? Releasing all the episodes already.
We’ll be back next week to discuss episode 5 of The Acolyte. Look forward to our discussion of the fourth episode on SWNN Live! on Thursday night, too.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
