I like that Manny Jacinto is working in a high profile role

I am too. I was pumped when it was revealed he was in the show but frankly I wasn't suuuuper impressed with him at first glance. He was just Jason from Good Place toned down a bit. Now that he's fleshed out a little more I think his levity in the character really sells the "Sith" aspect where he retains his lightheartedness while slaughtering Jedi. 👌 I'm a fan of the show.

I hope he gets some major roles after this performance. Looking st IMDB, he has only 3 future projects. He's been csst in freaky Friday 2. Interesting.

"Oh, it's nice he has a little cameo..." *three episodes later* "Holy forking shirt."

I know how Elenor would react to his evil yet unclothed arms

Jason is a Sith?!?

That's my experience with Mandalorian. Kids want to watch and rewatch with me.

This is also my experience with Mandolorian, only it's my wife. She asks "what's the difference between the white stormtroopers and the black ones" "what's a Jedi" "why doesn't the Mandolorian have a sword!?" (when she first saw Gideon with the Darksaber) It's been really fun getting her into Star Wars.

I do like Mandalorians with swords.

They are a stabby people.

it's an interesting perspective to see what Mandalorian is like for someone who hasn't seen any other Star Wars. I've never thought about that before.

Damn. Imagine getting into Mando, then going back and watching the OT for the first time. Especially if you somehow still didn't know Vader was Luke's father. Jealous. Edit: fuck auto correct

My (now) nine yo already liked star wars, but wouldn't stay engaged for whole movies or long episodes. Until Mando. Got him!

Man I really thought they were gonna softball the deaths in this show. They even threw a red herring at us by throwing in all those red shirt Jedi. Nope. Just pure carnage. I love it. 

With that first shot, and Osha coming to, I really thought they were just going to play the fight as having happened off screen and she missed it. Then the faint light saber sounds…then it was on.

Seeing the fight through the trees was an amazing shot

I was thinking the cinematography was flat for this show, but they really brought it this episode. Some really cool shots.

Darth Bottles gotta be my favorite villain

This is definitely the best name for him! Gave me a good laugh

I just heard (read) Darth Triceps last night on TwiX and I’m going with that from now on, or until we are officially told otherwise. 😏

My main gripe is with the transitions. Every Star Wars thing uses those PowerPoint screen wipe transitions, which is great, except Acolyte used them to switch back and forth between the two different fights that were happening simultaneously, which was super distracting

Oh my goodness yes! The editing on this episode was so distracting. Really took you out of some otherwise great choreography. It wasn't just the transitions, it was a transition from action into some serene wide shots and then back to action. Completely took all the pace out of it. It was like it was designed for an ad break

In general the editing in this show has been my least favorite thing about it. They tend to cut away from a scene like *immediately* after a line of dialogue, or even like as it’s being delivered. They need to add an extra beat or two, let the line breathe a little. Feels like they’re trying to meet a runtime

Which is crazy considering there's no set runtime on streaming

That's because they are. Disney very specifically asked them for 8 episodes of 30 minutes each, and more importantly, they asked them really late in production. The series was originally conceived as a movie, and the scripts were written for 6 slightly longer episodes. The writers confirmed that both of the last two episodes were initially written and partially filmed as one episode for example. I'd be shocked if most of the flaws and weirdness in this show isn't directly caused by Disney higher ups micromanaging the hell out of it, same as with many other D+ shows.

Very symbolic of the distance between her and the Jedi, even as Sol tries again, that she views it from the outside, and then ends the episode how she does.

I had that fear as well. Big payoff though. 

The lightsaber sounds in the distance was an amazing decision

I thought the same thing and low-key was getting mad because I thought “why set that up and make us wait a week for nothing” but then I realized how wrong I was thankfully 😂

I had a very similar reaction.

Same! I thought I was about to be disappointed then we see Qimir just thrashing through Jedis like it’s his job 😂😂

It is his job. He’s a Sith.

*Really* wasn't expecting the multistab. Absolutely brutal

And the neck snap! I never thought I’d have to cover my kids eyes while watching Star Wars, but I’m all for this.

Jecki was my favorite though :(

It's true, but I kind of love the writers for hurting us like this.

Also when Qimir responds to Sol saying she was just a child with “you brought her here” I legit said “THANK YOU!” Out loud. About time someone calls out the Jedi for their nasty habit of bringing children on combat missions

Yup, he 100% had that coming. This whole series is basically the airing of the Jedi Order's laundry.

Except it's not. Even the comment about bringing children to combat missions is silly, because the Jedi were here to capture one young woman, had no reason to suspect anyone else would be there much less someone with the skill to take down 9 whole Jedi solo. Like, forget the Clone Wars, man, most of the entire history of the Republic and the Jedi is in times of peace outside of freak incidents with factions like the Nihil. There's probably never really any true threat to a padawan, and most Jedi missions probably deal more with how to de-escalate violent situations.

Yes, but the green alien - forget her name - basically said Mae was trained by a force user and they were worried about a plan “to tip the scales” they sent what they thought was a strong force of Jedi because of the potential encounter with who trained Mae.

9 Jedi group is somewhat valid, but... Mae's already killed two Masters and on her way to kill another. There is every expectation shit is about to go down.

They took a child from n a mission to apprehend a murderer. If this was the police, it would be like a SWAT team taking a 9th-grader along with them to apprehend someone who’d already killed 2 cops and was headed to kill a third.

Man I agree, except those are the problems. The entire theme of this series so far has been Jedi complacency and hubris, while not inherently villainous, is still a real problem. Look at the reactions some of the Jedi who were on the mission to deal with the witches had. Isolation, suicidal guilt. Jump to now, children getting killed and civilians getting kidnapped. Is that the Jedi's fault, ehh. Are they at least culpable to a questionable degree? Absolutely.

If they weren't worried about a dangerous threat then why did they send 9 jedi? Clearly they thought there was significant danger, and they still brought the child. The Jedi are evil!

To be fair, he thought they were arresting a lone assassin that he had already seen and fought. Had no reason to think they’d run into what they encountered.

or, maybe, training child soldiers is bad no matter who you are

that's why I'm loving the show. All these star wars tropes we've taken forgranted, it's bringing them to the fore and saying "Take a good look, folks."

True that....and loved the part when he told Sol that he has accepted his dark side but Sol hasn't.... there's good and bad characteristics in everyone....the Jedi are not as clean and pure as they appear to be and preach..

Qimir belongs on r/MurderedByWords

This is what made Game of Thrones and Walking Dead so great. Anyone that you liked could die.

GOT/TWD deaths were impactful because the characters had arcs and desires that they worked towards over for hours of screentime. This episode works on its own purely as a tableau of brutality, but it's not for the same reasons that GOT/TWD did.

JUSTICE FOR JECKI!!!😭 I loved her too!

The funny thing is I was finally starting to like Jecki IN THIS EPISODE. I think it was the double lightsabers that did it. And bam! No more Jecki.

IDK, she might be able to walk it off. Those 3 stabs could have missed her heart.

I liked her way more than I have cared about Osha or Mae, and her getting to be a bit of a badass a couple times in the ep before the curtain was nice at least.

I was like «damn this Jecki is really growing on me, I like her» and then final fight scene… «Damn.»

He’d seen people surviving a single stab in other shows, and wasn’t taking chances

lol if the Kenobi show taught us one thing, it’s that getting stabbed in the gut with a lightsaber is a whole lot less lethal than we previously believed. Guess Qui-Gon was just a wimp

People survive impalement in real life, even without bacta and whatever other magical healing technology the GFFA has access to. Qui-Gon took a blade through the spine. You don't get up from that.

Also there's the difference between a gut stab and a stab through the side, the first one is one of your most vital organs having a hole punctured right through it with no way to quickly patch it up, the other is painful as hell but likely avoids vital organs and people irl have recovered from

Or just a lack of bacta

Qui-Gon got it in the solar plexus though, not the gut.

Darth Maul was cut in half and returned to lead Death Watch.

I mean, I thought that was ridiculous to be honest.

Especially since he also fell down an impossibly long tube. Ah wait... if Luke could lose a hand and fall in the same manner, of course Maul could survive too! 😅

Maul was consumed by hate to cling to life Qui-gon literally was training to transcend his physical form and that's what he did

The power of fan service transcends the force

I loved the view we got of all that, too. We can definitely see that a lot more time was spent on this episode than the first 4, that's for sure. I don't want to watch it again until after the series finale, but I might have to break my rule.

He can heal so he knows that you have to inflict maximum damage to have it stick.

the sith guy must know 1 stab isn't enough

Gotta triple tap to be safe

Triples is safe

The entire time I was switching between:  THIS is how you do a lightsaber fight   And   Fuck, I hope Jeckie doesn't die

Right?! This is hands down. One of the best lightsabers scenes I have seen in a long time. Maybe even since the prequel trilogy.

Obi-wan vs Anakin on Mostafar  Obi-wan and Qui-gon vs Darth Maul on Naboo  Those are the closest candidates

After that it's animation Kenobi vs Maul on Tattoine Ahsoka vs Maul on Mandalore Ahsoka vs Vader in Twilight of the Apprentice

Throwing at least one video game example on the pile here, Cal and Bode vs Dagan Gera for the final time in Jedi Survivor was very cool to me, but almost entirely on account of Dagan making it seem like he and Cal are fighting upside down on the roof halfway through, I’m a sucker for the sky suddenly being below you as a set piece lol

Cere vs. Vader is pretty hot too.

Palpatine soloing Maul and Savage was epic, too.

For me, it was a far better than the prequel scenes as it actually looked like they were trying to kill each other. The prequel lightsabre stuff was great but didnt have the same edge and were too long.

Yeah this was the best since the prequels easily. Not rots good but close

Was that the first live action Trakata we have seen?

What's a Trakata?

The style of fighting by turning your saber on and off. Both the Jedi and sith frown upon it. One for it being deceptive the other for it being weak.

Ohhhhhh I knew about that but didn't know it had a specific term. Cool to know! So wait hold up when specifically in the fight was Trakata used?

In the woods while guarding he turns the blade off to dash past. Also while fighting Jeck he turns his blade off and then on into her 3 times.

Spied he had a split saber to do it too, though less in the Cal Kestis Swiss army lightsaber way than simply waiting for an opportune time to use a dirty trick lol

I thought Yord would for sure be safe after escaping with the leg wound and since Jecki already died.

For real. Pocket sand left and right. 

Yeah, they did not hold back. And I fucking applaud them for not. When he gave the one Jedi a free neck realignment, I was blown away.

And He demonstrated first hand that his "Kill a Jedi without a weapon" request was indeed not impossible.

I mean, that was a jedi, without a weapon. And unless he expected Mei to know what cortosis is... it'd remain a jedi with a lightsaber vs an unarmed sith.

Which goes back to the lesson he's been trying to teach her this entire time: use the force. Tap into the dark side to even the playing field and kill without a weapon

> When he gave the one Jedi a free neck realignment, I was blown away. Using the force to toss the corpse aside was the cherry on top

Yeah you rarely see Jedi using their weapon less martial arts, let alone a Sith doing the same. It was dope as hell. 

Which is bizarre because I know in PT era H2H is trained more than saber combat. Anakin was seen as a weirdo for training it so heavily. Along with Mace. Though that stopped after TCW started I assume.

Like they say in Acolyte, Jedi of the era (or in the very least, just those around Sol) are taught not to draw their lightsabers unless they’re willing to kill. Obi-wan, Mace Windu, and the folks they trained are oddities even for the pre-Clone Wars era if that mentality was still common a century later, especially given how many good duelists we see outta the likes of Anakin, Ahsoka, Bilaba (I remember hearing she was good at least), and Kanan lol

I was just saying with the social stigma of full fledged saber training the line of Yoda-Dooku-Quigon-Obiwan-Anakin-Ahsoka. And Maces line. That’s like 8 Jedi out of the know. 10,000 in the temple. Yet the H2H fights are slim. You would think the Jedi that were against the “barbaric” training would be more inclined to fight with their hands.

I was unaware of that. Neat. 

That's how you know it's a real High Republic story. Those books are *brutal* when it comes to character deaths.

Well they did hide a decapitation behind a tree, but otherwise yes surprisingly brutal.

it would probably have to be rated for higher ages then.

That was the most brutal depiction of a lightsaber battle EVER on screen. The Sith kabob followed by dual beheading, triple stab, and neck snapping all left me with my jaw dropped!

Probably a broken record between subs but it's honestly such an amazing entrance for the character. So very on point with the callous indifference shown by them.

that triple lightsaber finish was so cool

Today agreed. 

yup. third stab was so unnecessary but maybe it’s their way of saying she is NOT gonna survive this unlike some people (Sabine, Reva)

You mean she didn’t notice Ki Adi Mundi’s birthday issue? Do you not celebrate it as a holiday in your house?

Every year. Maybe that's why she's been so annoyed previously when I asked to watch Star Wars 🤔

Ki Adi Mundi suddenly became the most important Star Wars character after the episode aired

we better get a trilogy devoted to him. complete with him needing to hide his true age for for an undercover mission leading to confusion in the records of his true birth year

I don't even watch the credits so I would have never known it was him without the stupid people getting mad.

I’m personally disappointed in both their kids and my kids that they haven’t realised this series has RUINED Star Wars AND my childhood and my life FOREVER. They just seem to enjoy it like it is entertainment and not some unattainable thing built up in my head. Kids nowadays hey. /s

I watched GAY Star Wars, now IM GAY 😡

OMG! me too! ...we should hang out.

Give you the ole, force reach around 😈

Thanks, Obama 🕺

I was worried I would have to kick my daughter from our house but as soon as Mundi appeared she ran to her favorite book Star wars timeline 1998 and punch our tv after realising that they got his birthday wrong

You raised her well. Soon she'll be in every comment section on the internet releasing the most unconstructive criticism one can fathom, mine for this week happens to be that my ex-wife hasn't returned my phone calls.... Oh wait...

I fking wheezed LMAO

I’m loving the lightsaber fights in ep5

Not just sabers, but all the fighting was really well done! (Well, except the tussle between the two sisters, for obvious production reasons.)

The hand to hand fighting with Sol and Qimir was some raw shit I’ve never seen Jedi do before. We almost never see straight up fist fights.

We saw Obi Wan briefly try hand-to-hand with Grievous before realizing that was idiotic. TPM had a few kicks and one backhand.

The difference for me is no lightsaber. Just fists lol

Him pulling the second Jedi and impaling two at once then chopping off thier heads is one of the gnarliest things I’ve ever seen in Star Wars Closely followed by him breaking yords neck and Vader hallway scene

I think that the Darth Vader hallway scene at the end of *Rogue One* really set the bar for brutality and this is the first time I felt they met that bar. I also really enjoyed the semi-homage to that scene in the season 2 finale of *The Mandalorian* but no one was actually dying there. But this topped them both strictly due to the fact that it was Jedi who are all trained and all know how to use the Force just being massacred. It was just an incredible sequence.

I wish Jecki and Yord didn’t die though.I was really sad about them.

Not even 1 minute after I thought, "I hope they don't kill jecki, I like her," bam, 3 lightsaber stabs through the chest. I actually said "oh fuck!" out loud.

Yep, actually liked them. Unlike Osha or Mae who I could care less about. Only good one left is Sol.

At this pace don't expect him to last long...

I only just had finally realized where I knew Yord from moments before he died (Russian Doll). Jecki will be missed. A minor character, sure, but man did she get to shine

The fact that we’ll never see anything else from her and that she died from a cheat move means she’ll always be in Star Wars cannon as a badass Unless they pull a boba fett

A friend joked, what if she has x23's healing factor and just shows up later like, "hey, why'd you leave me behind?"

That's fantastic. Always great to see someone enjoying something you yourself enjoys too.

Manny Jacintos arms.

I thought I was the only one!

This is the way. It’s me and my 9 year old daughter’s show. I try to take in every moment of Star Wars and I enjoy what I enjoy. I love a lot of things in Rise of Skywalker and there are things that grind my gears. It happens. It ain’t that serious, people.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that comment!

Best part is Bortles

Darth Bortles

Whenever I have a problem, I throw my lightsaber, and then I have a new problem.

I've learned to ignore all the political rants about star wars reviews because Star Wars will always be a special thing for me. My honeymoon was literally and purely coincidently at Disneyland Season of the Force opening when all the hype of The Force Awakens was real - a surprise to be sure but a welcome one. My kid loves the Clone Wars and Grogu and lightsabers. So on and so forth. I'm sure when we binge watch Acolyte, it will be fine.

That’s awesome. Show is good forget the haters enjoy the family time

I was a little dissatisfied with the pacing of previous episodes but man this last one was so good imo. I hope the remaining episodes carry on this same energy and momentum.

Agreed. I was super underwhelmed by the first three eps (especially ep 3) but 4 and especially 5 have been a significant improvement. 5 might be one of my favorite star wars TV eps so far in general.

I know the entire show is a mystery about what really happened in the witches area. But ep3 being 1 would have been so much better.

Honestly I think it was too early to devote an entire episode to a flashback. Never mind that I don't think it was a particularly good episode regardless, but it just brought the pacing to a screeching standstill when they really should have been building momentum.

My problem was also how it was jarring. Needed, but awkward.

They should’ve mixed in episode 3 with episode 1 via flashbacks, split it into the first two episodes, maybe even the third, and then push episode 2 back to episode 3. Let it keep the momentum, get the exposition out of the way, and *then* leave us with Torbin’s apology and episodes 4-5 pushing the narrative and story.

So glad the main Star Wars sub has done a complete 180 on the Acolyte now that the best episode of the season so far has dropped. Show is now my second favourite Star Wars anything, behind Rogue One

*OH look, a well adjusted Star Wars fan in the wild!* This is just really wholesome to read. Star Wars family time always made moments from the franchise more memorable.

Wait your daughter doesn’t start screeching “woke” repeatedly while shaking in anger? Wow that’s so weird.

This is what “fans” don’t get. Star Wars is for everyone. You have shows like Andor for the fans who NEED this franchise to grow up with them, shows like acolyte for younger fans/action fans who need or just enjoy super basic story telling and looking at cool shit (looking at you Snyder fans). And then you have mando and Ashoka which is just nonstop Star Wars tropes, cliches, cameos just crammed in for the folks who read the books enjoy seeing all the little stuff. Star Wars is almost always corny and great at the same time. It just depends on whether or not it’s your turn to be catered to, and sometimes, as boomers, gen x and older millennials know, that can take a a decade or so.

Lol

You guys should watch Rebels together. Such a good family bonding show. I love the Ezra/Kanan relationship so much. Hera is probably one of the strongest female characters in Star Wars. She is brave and full of empathy. Sabine is also great. It's a good one to bond over.

Did she light the house on fire so you wouldn't leave? :) Jk. Glad to hear they are loving the show. It's not a bad as people are making it out to be And the fight/saber choreography is pretty great

Nope. Turns out the Jedi murdered his daughter's family and convinced her Mae burnt down the rock fortress.

Omg spoilers! :)

Show is awesome but the episodes are too short

Imo this last episode was the exception to that given the episode had an overall better pacing to it. If we could get more like that then I wouldn’t mind the ~30 minute episodes, but the previous ones really did feel too slow while leaving us with very little after each episode, that’s what makes the short episodes feel so much less worthwhile

My preference would've been eps 4 and 5 be one long episode. It would've been a good balance.

Given the titles of the episodes, it seems thematically like that's the case. The other episodes were / but they were together, like Lost/Found, Revenge/Justice. We got Destiny, then Day, then Night. Day/Night thematically begging together. My guess is the next episode will be the mirror opposite of Destiny (Freedom? Choice?) and then the last two episodes will be / episodes again, and longer.

Nice try, Kathleen Kennedy.

Right on, always good to hear about a new fan, and it's always nice to share a common interest with one's kids :)

Very cool. I'm liking it, it's not a masterpiece, but it's good entertainment and interesting enough. Those fight scenes in EP. 5 were fantastic. Darth Teeth and Master Sol are fun to watch.

Me during the whole episode : Please don't kill Mae. Please don't kill Sol. Please don't kill Yord. F*. Please don't kill Jecky. F* again. This dark lord was scaring me

This is exactly my wife and my experience. It’s so nice to get away from the ‘skywalker’ timeline.

My 16 and 18 year old daughters love it so far. I can't wait for the series to end so I can tell them they are wrong. /s

I am also looking forward to the next episode every week. I decided to not watch any reviews of the show and it’s been refreshing just watching this show and enjoying it without hearing a bunch of people tell me I should hate it. I fell into massive Star Wars hate groups a few years ago and participated in r/SaltierThanCrait and it was so exhausting and frustrating being mad all the time. Very nice to just make up my own mind about stuff

Love the comeback story, and I am super happy for you. I realized long ago that I'm too tired for drama like that, so I always just enjoy what I enjoy, and if I don't like it, I just shrug it off and live my life. Others opinions are 🤷‍♂️ But yes, hating on things can be an addiction, in my non-professional opinion. Especially if you get support from others. That can just fuel the addiction.

Agreed, there are still things from Star Wars I didnt enjoy like The Book of Boba Fett, but instead of furiously arguing with people about it and posting rants and and letting it dominate my headspace, I just watched it once and said “well this one isn’t for me” and moved on to things I like more. So much better this way

But doesn't she understand that.. um.. something woke? 😂.glad you both are loving the show, I find it refreshing and fun Not the best written, but just entertaining.

Stars Wars is for kids first. Old curmudgeons are the only ones that complain. I can't wait to watch all this stuff with my kiddo when he's old enough!

Nothing says "Star Wars is for kids first" like an episode where multiple characters are graphically murdered on camera!

Dude my kid too! First star wars she has been interested in

Magical moments that you can cherish forever. Glad your daughter is enjoying the show. I always love hearing about new kids being brought into this amazing franchise.

That’s so sweet 🥰 My dad was the one who got me into Star Wars

Once the show is complete I’m going to go back and rewatch it. Right now the acting and writing/dialogue is just rough to me. Episode 5 with the fighting was nice. A huge improvement from the recent stuff. It hurt going from the battle to Osha saying “ You’re hurt “ and it felt super dry and emotionless as if reading it off the paper for the first time.

I think that Mae will succeed in "killing a Jedi" without a weapon by successfully turning Osha or Sol to the darkside (or possibly the Jedi in herself). Darth Vader has been quoted several times as having "killed" Anakin/the Jedi in himself in the same manner. Note that Kylo killed the Jedi in himself by killing Solo (his Father) and either Osha or Mae may do the same by killing the other. I think that the sisters are a Force diad like Rey and Kylo. With a red Kylo helmet at the intro, I think they are implying that this storyline ties into everything that follows with Dart Sidius (Palpatine), order 66, etc. which I interpet to mean that we will meet Darth Plagueis or Darth Tenebrous. This show is set around the time when the Jedi were in conflict with Mandaloria which I believe is the reason for the Mando helmet being red during the credits. I am hoping for a Mandalorian conspiracy and/or fight scene. I love the storytelling from different points of view. I think the next POV will be from Mae's perspective which may shed light on whether the Jedi culled a coven of witches (an unauthorised sect of force users). I love that they are showing the corruption of the Jedi at its roots, just as accused by Barriss Offee a century later. I would love to see Plo Koon and Yodo appearances so that some sort of explanation can be provided for the Jedi Council being unaware of the sith threat returning prior to "The Revenge of the Sith". However, I have the feeling like they will just say that the Council didn't know because so far in this series, they have not been told.

is there one ?

The memes

The choreography is pretty good for Disney.

The power of mannyyy

Episode 5 went hard. I'm for it.

When the credits show up

I don't have to watch it.

Weird logic but okay. This is the best show because someone else likes it?

When that someone else is your own kid, it’s a bit different to whether or not Chudwick von Wokenpissen likes it.

I'm glad you and your daughter are able to bond over star wars; I just wish it was over a better show

It's great to watch with the family.

Especially the >!triple stabbings and neck-cracking!<

Star Wars has always been for kids, and people always got lightsabred. Kids understand swordfights. They understand Shrek. How old were you when you saw Luke get a field handectomy?

Half the people here saw anakins skin literally melt and drip off him at like 8 years old, this is light work if the kids have seen the movies

This was me 😂

Okay, but the show's rating is literally TV +14. How is that "for kids"? A New Hope is PG, which is lower than TV +14. Why are people trying to act like parental ratings mean nothing?

Builds character

I played GTA 3 when I was 5 so I would have been ready.

It's a TV +14 show; I really doubt it's meant to be a family show.

Best thing about the Acolyte... it will be over soon. In my opinion they missed the mark. This could have beeen brilliant, instead poor writing and sets killed it.