A powerful Sith, a compelling mystery and a thrilling lightsaber battle; The Acolyte is proving to be one of the strongest stories of the Disney Star Wars era, but reactionary fans are being extremely weird about the show.
What Happens In Episode 5 Of ‘The Acolyte’?
Episode 5 of The Acolyte boasts a tense battle, with the masked Sith using his helmet to deflect lightsaber hits, and even short-circuit the deadly weapons.
Despite being outnumbered, the Sith ruthlessly mowed down his opponents; the battle results in a surprisingly high number of fatalities (in a predictable twist, the Sith was revealed to be Qimir, played by Manny Jacinto).
Meanwhile, long-lost twins Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) clash over their value system; Mae attempts to reconcile with her dogmatic sister, but Osha stubbornly clings to the narrative that the Jedi told her, and rejects Mae.
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In frustration, Mae knocks Osha out and switches places with her sister, in order to get closer to Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and presumably get her revenge.
At this point, it’s obvious that Mae has been framed — she lost her temper as a child and burned Osha’s book, but the fiery lantern in Mae’s hand was shattered offscreen, a clear indication that someone else started the fire that killed the witches.
Mae blames the Jedi and Osha blames Mae, but there’s a possibility that Qimir was involved, as Sith tend to provoke in-fighting among the Jedi while hiding in the shadows.
The episode has everything that a good Star Wars story should — a family feud, a powerful, manipulative antagonist, and a tense lightsaber duel that introduces a creative new fighting technique.
Many Star Wars fans are loving the series so far, but a segment of the fanbase has been overly critical, nitpicking minor details and review bombing the show.
Star Wars fans have been angry about Star Wars since the prequel trilogy, but the current split in the fandom is even more petty than usual.
Indeed, some of the criticisms directed at The Acolyte have proved absurd.
The War Over Wookieepedia
The editors of the official Star Wars wiki, Wookieepedia, recently received intense backlash from angry fans after editing the birthday of a Jedi from the prequel trilogy, an alien known as “Ki-Adi-Mundi.”
If you don’t know who Ki-Adi-Mundi is, you’re not alone, as the Jedi is a background character with a handful of lines. The character appears in The Acolyte, a century before his introduction in The Phantom Menace, and his date of birth was changed to reflect the cameo.
Following the edit, Wookieepedia editors were startled by the viciousness of the backlash, with some reportedly receiving death threats.
The absurdity of the “controversy” inspired many memes online, with commentators wondering how any Star Wars fan could possibly get emotional about the birthday of Ki-Adi-Mundi.
The cone-headed character managed to spark controversy again, after his quote about the Sith being “extinct” was brought up in the wake of The Acolyte unveiling Qimir as the masked stranger, with critics viewing the moment as “breaking canon.”
This is far from the first time that Star Wars lore has been altered with a new story.
However, the point of Ki-Adi-Mundi declaring the Sith extinct is that he is wrong. Indeed, one of the biggest plot points of the prequel trilogy is that the Jedi had become too complacent to recognize a Sith in their midst.
Some of the criticisms from reactionary influencers were openly hostile, and clearly made in bad faith. For example, the scene in which Mae cuts her hair with a lightsaber was heavily criticized, for some reason.
The trope of a samurai or knight cutting their long hair with a sword is common, and represents a new beginning — one of the most famous examples can be seen in Disney’s animated adaptation of Mulan.
The show was also criticized for Padawans being too skilled at lightsaber duels (another common Star Wars trope), the fact that the Jedi could not sense the Sith before he revealed himself (this occurs repeatedly in the prequels), and the fact that the Sith helmet could deflect lightsaber blades (the helmet is made of Cortosis, a special metal).
The barrage of bad-faith critiques implies that some Star Wars fans would probably hate the original trilogy if it was released today — all of these films have retcons, mistakes and awkward lines of dialogue.
There has been much to criticize about Disney’s handling of Star Wars — the excessive use of nostalgia, meandering storylines and too many spin-offs — but The Acolyte is an attempt to tell a new story within the Star Wars universe, using familiar tropes.
The show is not for everyone, but it’s far from a disaster — getting upset over the birthday of a background character indicates that some fans are trying (and failing) to find fault with the series.
It might be the case that reactionary influencers have become accustomed to making bitter complaints for the sake of their subscribers, and keep watching the series in order to attract engagement.
Manufactured controversy aside, The Acolyte, I think, is pretty good.
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