‘The Acolyte’ Episode 5 Recap: The Master Is Unmasked

Editor’s Note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Acolyte Episode 5.

The Big Picture

• Episode 5 of
  The Acolyte
  delivers epic lightsaber duels and high-octane action.
• The Master’s identity is revealed.
• The final act sets up some compelling new conflict for Osha and Mae.

We have officially crossed the midway point for The Acolyte, and this is truly where the fun begins — especially if you’ve been waiting to see the Jedi face off against the ominous Master, though that long-awaited battle was not without a shockingly high body count. From the very beginning, Leslye Headland’s series hasn’t been afraid to strike down the Jedi we’ve come to love, and Episode 5 is certainly no different.

“Night,” aptly titled following last week’s “Day,” opens with Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and her adorable PIP droid waking up to what can only be described as a living nightmare. Laying in the dust where the Master flung her last week, one of the first things Osha sees upon awakening is the twisted body of a dead Jedi—and that’s only the beginning of the horrors that lie ahead for her. She follows the sounds of lightsabers clashing and discovers the majority of the Jedi that arrived on Khofar with them have been killed during her impromptu siesta, and Yord (Charlie Barnett) is about to meet the same fate. Thankfully (for now), his life is saved by Osha’s quick thinking, though drawing the Master’s focus in her direction is only a brief reprieve for the remaining Jedi.

Mae (Stenberg) also watches in horror from Kelancca’s (Joonas Suotamo) home as her Master starts after her sister. Sol (Lee Jung-jae) is there to save the day, but Mae seems to have plans of her own as she snatches up Kelnacca’s lightsaber and heads out to, presumably, lend a helping hand. While Sol orders Yord and Osha back to the vessel that they arrived on (an order that Yord follows, despite his own desire to stay and fight), Mae faces off against Sol’s plucky padawan, Jecki (Dafne Keen), who is keen to see Mae arrested for her crimes.

Who Is “The Master” in ‘The Acolyte’?

After four episodes of theorizing about who “The Master” might be, Episode 5 finally delivers a twist that the majority of viewers likely saw coming. But before the big reveal in the middle act of the episode, The Acolyte continues to taunt audiences with the obvious answer. As Sol and the Master face off, the Master taunts Sol: “You don’t remember me?” On the surface, it seems as though the Master is trying to disarm Sol, to make him question where their paths may have crossed in the past, and it works, to an extent. Sol seems more perplexed by the fact that a master would hide his face from his pupil, but the Master is quick to lob that back at him. After all, isn’t Sol hiding something from Osha about what really happened on Brendok? A mask doesn’t always have to be a literal thing.

After besting Sol, the Master tracks down Mae, where she’s been handcuffed by Jecki, and he decides to use Jecki’s loyalty as a new lesson for Mae. For a Padawan, Jecki holds her own against the Master. They engage in a pretty epic lightsaber battle—the coolest of the episode—which includes double-bladed fake-outs and a really impressive show of skill from Jecki. But as Mae slips away into the forest, the Master sets his sights on her, leaving Jecki in the dust. When the Master catches up with Mae, he’s quick to point out that she is “weak” and a “disappointment,” but his verbal assault is cut short by Sol and Jecki sweeping in to save Mae.

This is where tragedy finally strikes. As Sol and Jecki launch their attack against the Master, it seems as though Jecki has once again gained the upper hand. After she brutally hilt-whips the Master’s mask off of his head, the Master drives his lightsabers through Jecki, not once but three times, cutting her down in her prime. As her body falls to the forest floor, the Master is revealed to be Qimir (Manny Jacinto) — who has now, easily, claimed the title of the hottest Sith in Star Wars history. Sorry to Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, and Darth Maul; your winning streak has come to an end.

Sol is, understandably, devastated to see his young padawan brutally murdered by the squirrely man he let go on Olega. Qimir mocks Jecki’s death by referring to her as an “it,” but he makes a pretty good point by alluding to the fact that it’s Sol—and the Jedi’s—fault for bringing a child into a fight like this. As Sol tries to get to the bottom of Qimir’s motivations, Qimir holds Mae at lightsaber-point, expressing a sentiment that is one I happened to allude to after Episode 3. While his actions may be those of a villain, Qimir tells Sol that his motivations are fueled by a desire to wield his power how he sees fit, without the Jedi interfering. It will be interesting to see if this is a theme that is continued throughout The Acolyte, as it is a defining aspect of The High Republic novels and their clash with the Nihil as well. Qimir does eventually tell Sol that the Jedi would likely refer to him as a “Sith,” which—sorry to break it to you nerds—still doesn’t wreck any of the canon established in The Phantom Menace. Do you really think the Jedi are going to let anyone find out about the Sith when they wouldn’t even tell the High Council about Mae? Qimir even mocks this notion, as he says he has to kill everyone who’s seen him because the Jedi say he can’t exist.

Throughout the episode, we see the Master—Qimir—absolutely destroy the Jedi in combat. He’s swift to use the Force to draw Jedi together so he can deliver a fatal two-for-one blow, and somehow he’s able to deflect their lightsabers with his armbands and helmet. We have seen material that is able to withstand the heat of a lightsaber before, but this metal does far more than beskar has ever been shown to do. It’s far more likely that this is cortosis, a material that can cause lightsabers to essentially short circuit. First introduced in Legends, the material has made appearances in more recent canon stories, like Doctor Aphra.

Who Dies in Episode 5 of ‘The Acolyte’?

Elsewhere in the forest, Osha hears the voice of Mae’s younger self as all of this conflict is beginning, and she realizes that the Master is going to kill everyone. She and Yord rush back to offer assistance, unaware that further tragedy is about to strike. Yord rushes in, lightsaber armed and ready to take out their enemy, but Qimir effortlessly deflects the hit, and kills Yord. There’s some ironic tragedy in the fact that Yord, who has been so noble and uptight throughout these first five episodes, didn’t even get a noble death. He didn’t die in an epic lightsaber duel. He had his neck snapped like a twig.

Mae seizes this as another opportunity to make a run for it, but Osha puts a stop to her escape by hitting her with a stun blast. Sol and Qimir engage in yet another fight, but this time it’s a mix of hand-to-hand combat, which is honestly quite sexy of Star Wars to do, and Osha stops Sol from killing Qimir. As Sol holds his lightsaber to Qimir’s throat, Qimir plants seeds of doubt in Osha’s mind about her former master, alluding to a darkness in Sol that he hasn’t accepted. Osha isn’t so quick to spare Qimir, however; she just has other plans in mind for how to take him down. With the help of PIP, she draws the giant bugs from the last episode to them, and they carry Qimir off, kicking and screaming. It’s honestly an incredibly hilarious and entirely on-brand Star Wars moment and a reminder that this franchise can be delightfully goofy when it wants to be, even after it’s killed off two fan-favorites.

‘The Acolyte’ Goes Full ‘Parent Trap’ in Episode 5

As Osha questions Sol about what Qimir meant by the “darkness within him,” Mae wakes up and pulls the blaster on Sol, stunning him and leaving the sisters to hash out their differences alone. Mae is convinced that her sister has been brainwashed, but she’s ever-hopeful that she can help deprogram her and make her see the truth. The pair embrace, with Mae begging her sister to choose her, but Osha—as Sol said in Episode 4—isn’t ready to let go of the trauma of what happened to them as children. Osha still sees her sister as the little girl who allegedly murdered their family and tried to kill her. As the hug comes to an end, Osha attempts to take her sister into custody, hell-bent on following through with the Jedi’s plans to arrest her, but Mae isn’t about to let that happen.

Mae uses the Force to knock her sister out and steal her identity. In a twist that everyone should have seen coming from a series that features a pair of identical twins, Mae uses Yord’s lightsaber to chop off her braids, so they’re the same length as Osha’s, and steals her sister’s clothes, before trotting off to find Sol, pretending to be his erstwhile padawan. Sol seems to sense that something is off, but after everything they’ve endured, he’s more interested in getting off Khofar. However, it does seem like Bazil, with his adorable nose for tracking, might realize it’s Mae they’re traveling with, not Osha.

As the episode draws to a close, it is revealed that Qimir survived his encounter with the deadly rolly-pollies and he finds Osha (who Mae has dressed in her clothes). It’s unclear if he knows that the unconscious girl isn’t his treacherous acolyte, but it certainly sets up some exciting conflict, as Mae and Osha have now switched places and masters. Perhaps Osha will prove to be the acolyte of Qimir’s dreams, since she has so much hate and darkness in her own heart.

The Acolyte is streaming now on Disney+, with new episodes released weekly each Tuesday.

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