After a flashback episode last week, The Acolyte returns to Mae & Osha’s present conflict, but things are looking a bit stale. Here’s our The Acolyte episode 4 review.
Spoiler warning! These reviews are spoiler-free for the week in question, but will discuss previous episodes in detail.
The Acolyte episode 4 brings us to the halfway point of the new Star Wars series. Episodes 1 and 2 were intriguing, but slightly uneven and last week’s episode was a full flashback episode featuring spacewitches, but episode 4 brings things to almost a halt.
In it, Mae (Amandla Stenberg) arrives on Khofar with Qimir (Manny Jacinto), intending to kill Master Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo). If she manages to kill the Jedi Master without using a weapon, she’ll fulfil her promise to the mysterious Sith Master. If not, she’ll be killed.
Naturally, Sol (Lee Jung-jae) is still after Mae and convinces Mae’s twin Osha to accompany them. Sol and his team of Jedis follow Mae to Khofar, but things don’t exactly go to plan. That’s the guts of the plot here.
I’d love to be able to say that by now The Acolyte has found its groove and finally committed to the promise of exploring more Sith, but – you saw this coming – it has not. Episode 4 is the most disappointing episode yet for me, mostly because not much happens. It’s a very talky episode and as soon as lightsabers are finally drawn, it comes to an abrupt end.
I’ve already spoken a lot about the series’ impeccable cast but the further we move, the clearer it becomes that the writing of The Acolyte isn’t on their level and is not giving them enough to work with. Many of the series’ scenes feel thematically empty and the generic dialogue doesn’t offer us any insight into any of the character motivations or their history.
In fact, I’m still a little unclear what The Acolyte is really about. Is it about Mae and Osha reuniting? Is it about Mae’s turn to the dark side of the force? By now, the narrative endgame should surely be clearer than what it is.
Despite Stenberg’s stellar work, Mae and Osha are frustrating characters. Mae’s motivations are still shrouded in secrecy and as this episode shows, Mae is a flimsy presence, quick to change her mind. Meanwhile, Osha is perhaps the series’ most passive character. Things seem to happen around her, despite her rather than because she’s an active agent of the narrative.
I’m also going to throw a wild guess into the ether here, one that I’ve had since episode one, but it’s now strong enough to put out there. I’m calling it; Jacinto’s Qimir is Mae’s Sith Master. Showrunner Leslye Headland and her writers have made Qimir into such an over-the-top bumbling fool, it’s feeling like a very obvious misdirection. I might still be wrong, but as we finally glimpse the Sith at the end of the episode, it’s only Qimir who is missing from the scene, last seen hanging from a tree by his ankle.
There’s still a lot of potential in The Acolyte. The episode finds the Jedi traversing through a thick forest where creepy space critters are sleeping on the trees. One of these attacks Osha, who is saved by Sol. I expected all of the critters to suddenly awake and our protagonists to finally be in a proper fight, for a scene to finally have some stakes, but I was proven wrong. Then again, maybe it’s my own fault for getting my hopes up.
I won’t sugarcoat it; this week’s episode has left a bad taste, as The Acolyte continues to prove my biggest worries correctly. I’d argue The Acolyte seems to be repeating all of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s mistakes. It’s not utilising its premise or setting and it’s simply – all considered – a little dull. The episode ends on a highly intriguing note and I’m trying to muster up some excitement for next week’s episode, but I fear it’ll all be for nothing. I’m really hoping I’m proven wrong here.
The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+ now with new episodes released every Wednesday.
