‘The Acolyte’ Recap: ‘Teach / Corrupt’

7/3/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Six of ‘The Acolyte’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

It is definitely safe to say, that the majority of fans of the Star Wars Universe, have a great deal of questions about the Dark Lords of the Sith. Simply because, the general audience’s dealings with these ancient masters of the Dark Side of the Force, have been quite limited. For they’ve only met a handful of Sith via the Skywalker Saga and they’ve only really seen how corruption works through Anakin Skywalker’s journey. Ergo, all those questions. Such as their origins, who are other Sith of note, and of course… how on earth do these ancient masters turn people that are just and good to their cause. For not everyone fears loss in the manner that Anakin once did.

Well slowly but surely, the SWU is working on exploring just that, as evidenced by the next episode of The Acolyte on Disney+. Since ‘Teach / Corrupt’ spent a lot of time with Osha and Qimir on a faraway world and while there were not a ton of answers regarding the broader questions, so many have regarding the Sith… some answers were present. Some of which were related to Qimir’s past and what turned him to the Dark Side and much of that was related to a falling out with the Jedi. Since he revealed he was once a Jedi Knight himself and that his Master turned upon him and left him for dead, and feeling worthless and broken, opened his mind and his soul to the Dark Side.

Which brings forth some understanding of how people turn, and Qimir’s time with Osha, also brought forth an understanding as to how the Sith bring others into the fold. Which revolves around kindness, understanding and downright openness. So, there is trust built between the Master and their future Apprentice, and open dialogue. Wherein the Sith can use what they learn to their advantage, and sow doubt through manipulation and well… that’s what Qimir did here. Since slowly but surely, Osha began to wonder about her past, her present and her future, and where exactly she belonged. To the point where she donned the Sith helmet to see what the Force, be it dark or grey, might show her.

But while that made for a fascinating exploration of the Sith and how they operate when the Chosen One isn’t in their presence, there was more to explore within the framework of this episode. After all, Master Sol had an imposter aboard his ship, and he needed to check in with the Jedi. Which brought about… a cat and mouse game between Sol and Mae, wherein Sol decided to go rogue and make right all the chaos that had come forth from that fateful day long ago, and where Master Vernestra showed enough worry over what happened from Sol’s brief distress call… to handle this personally. Since she took a team to Khofar to uncover what happened there.

Which oddly, brings forth more questions as well. Since there were some interesting moves made by Vernestra here, since she didn’t alert the High Council to her actions, nor did she really handle this in a calm manner. As though there’s vested interest in this. But of course, time will tell, and in the here and the now we can celebrate another thoughtful and unique chapter in this saga. For this episode really did a great job exploring the nature of the Sith and how they really function when they’re not in a place of supreme power, and that made for one engaging tale. For it was fascinating to see those interactions play out and now that we’ve reached the end of this story, it’s onto the next one. One that may finally answer what happened sixteen years ago since Master Sol seems ready to talk. Until next time.

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