This actually makes things interesting... 

Sol and Qimir have been carrying this series so hard

Qimir looking like he's in an Old Spice commercial.

Qimir showed Osha his cortosis vein.

The best way to gain Osha's trust is to let her hold your lightsaber

I'm thinking that Qimir was rejected by the Sith AND the Jedi, and he forms the Knights of Ren. It isn't a coincidence we keep hearing Kylo's theme with him.

Sith Master: “Somehow, Qimir survived” Pappatine: “Write that down. WRITE THAT DOWN!” 📝

I'd rewatch for Lee Jung-jae, his performance is honestly captivating beyond words.

I was surprised that Disney actually introduced nudity to Star Wars. But then again, sex was introduced in Andor

"squad wiped" 💀

Would it be so hard for Disney just to make a series about a Jedi cataloguing species on planets? No empire, no sith, just a space monk Steve Irwin. Edit: it doesn’t have to be a full series, it could be like how visions had its episode length.

That is an interesting catch with Vernestra. Qimir also asked Sol if he remembers him. To which Sol answered, “I feel something familiar.” And Qimir said that he once was a Jedi and the Mesters under Vernestra believe that who Sol claims was Mae must have been trained by a Jedi. And he brings up the sensory deprivation helmets that hound Jedi use to sharpen their connection to the Force by letting it guide they lightsaber moves to block training lasers. What if Qimir was one of Vernestra’s old pupils? While the other Jedi are starting question whether Sol is using Osha’s trauma of what happened 16 years earlier to go on a killing spree, since it left him messed up too like Torbin and Kelnacca. BUT, Vernestra now suspects Qimir because sometimes Force users leave traces of their presence behind when emotions run high just as we heard echos of the skirmish. And maybe she recognized a bit of the style too. She probably isn’t thinking Sith, she has no reason too. Just that her wayward former Padawan had fallen to the Darkside and decides to start a path to vengeance.

A good analogy I read about the sith problem was this: The Vikings dissapeared 1000 years ago, so when someone commits a murder nobody is gonna assume its a viking, unless someone survives and directly says a Viking is responsible. Likewise the sith dissapeared long ago so unless there is a direct witness, which Qimir tried to avoid, nobody is going to assume the sith are back because a fallen jedi is a much more likely explanation.

I think they’re going to merge Bal’demnic and Ahch-To, it’s gonna be the same place…the first Jedi Temple would also be sacred to the Sith, because they splintered off from the Jedi even their roots come from this place and the location is lost to the Jedi Order. Luke finds it later and hides himself in the force, he has a red Kyber Crystal hanging on his wall, it’s in the outer rim, it looks identical…in my opinion, everything lines up to Bal’demnic and Ahch-To being the same exact place.

It was okay. Took 6 episodes for the show to be where it should have been by at least the third episode

People are saying vernastra or whatever her name is qimirs ex master. Sith wise. Which would be very interesting. But knowing that the showrunner is very familiar with Kotor/high republic lore, i have a feeling his old master is tenebrous. But the markings on his back look similar to how a lightsaber wip could hit someones back. I can see her being his former jedi master before he turned to the sith and then left them. But either way i can see her covering up what happened to also cover her ass

Qimir is giving the exact same argument that every sith has given about why the dark side is better to follow than the light side. I'm disappointed that the writers couldn't come up with anything more interesting or convincing. It's ridiculous that Osha could even remotely buy into anything he's saying after what she's seen him do.

The acolyte, the movie. . . Is what should have happened

Thank you for being levelheaded and a great review unlike hating

One of my biggest issues with the show so far is that it struggles to stick the landings on episodes endings. Last week's was by far its best, but this week's episode felt like it needed an extra beat before cutting to credits. As it was, it would have worked better as the end of a much longer episode or even the season as a whole. As for why Sol doesn't check in with the Jedi, I honestly feel like too many people view character actions through the lens of being 100% logical at all times, as if every character is a Vulcan from Star Trek. Sol's entire team, including his Padawan, was just murdered. His past was called into question by The Stranger, and you can see the turmoil he's going through. He's clearly not thinking straight. People in emotional turmoil don't always do the logical thing, it's what makes characters flawed. This is my two cents on it, people may not agree, but that's my take.

It was quite horrific when the Jedi find their dead. Particularly Jecki, staring almost right down at the audience. A great piece of direction. The Acolyte doesn't pull it's punches like most other Star Wars media.

It’s the dialogue writing, cheap look/feeling, and acting that is really holding this show back. I mean the origins of the modern Sith and Jedi corruptions and cover ups could’ve made an extremely interesting show. Like wtf is happening

The show really seemed to round into its full form in this episode. Ep 5 was a real banger, but the plot threads are starting to form a full picture now

"Maybe if your into Qmir, but probably not." Eck have you not seen how much thirst is surrounding Qmir.

I have enjoyed the whole series, I see the writing has been weak... but the last two episodes are trending upward in terms of quality. My complaints are short episodes, and the rapid pace of the villain unmasks. I dont think Qimir should have been unmasked until the end of the season.

Genuinely how do you like this show for the amount of terrible dialogue, scenes, writing. What even is the mystery? It’s like if Sol said “what’s in this lunchbox?” You’d all be like “ooooh wow! So great!” Like literally nothing is happenin, character motivations are changing so much. This girl just lost her sister for 17 years and finds out the dark side used who trained her alongside seeing him kill tons of Jedi. Then checks him out 💀, doesn’t bother killing him because of the plot.

Osha has clearly always had an underlying attraction to the darkside as seen by how she treated that butterfly bug in episode three. She then condemns mae for using the force to trap and harm the bug. In episode 4, osha is again clearly shown to be attracted to the bugs which were corrupting the forest. To me, it seems the bugs feed on the Darkside or are Darkside aligned. Osha also discovers the bugs are attracted to light sources. In episode 6, Vernestra is attacked by one of the bugs but unlike in episode 4, there is no light source that would have attracted the bug as Vernestra activates her lightsaber AFTER the bug starts its attack run. This tells me that Vernestra is giving off Darkside vibes which the padawan accompanying her can't sense. Let's not forget that in legends continuity, purple lightsabers are associated with those who come close and can touch the darkside without fully succumbing to it

“Hold my lightsaber”. Um bro, how about some coffee first? 😂

Your comment that it's an 8 hour movie got me thinking: the problem is that they're trying to treat it like an 8 hour movie AND a show at the same time. It lacks the flow of a movie, which I have difficulty thinking of a single show that managed to pull off the movie feel across an entire season. Maybe 24? It would be an interesting cinematic experiment to actually make an 8 hour film then chop it into hour(ish) long pieces.

Yeah this was a good episode

When I heard Qimir's non-explanations about his past, being older than he looks, and having been a Jedi a a LONG time ago, I began wondering if he might in fact be a reimagining of aspects of EU character Set Harth, one-time apprentice to Darth Zannah, who fled the final confrontation with Darth Bane stealing the secrets of Essence Transferal that were thought lost with Bane's Death. This would track with his not quite having the vibe of a rule of Two Sith but still being around at this point. And could make for quite the twist when one of the actual current two Sith shows up.

Qimir does not restrain Osha, while Sol restrains Mae. Show is going out of its way to make the Jedi look bad and the Sith look good.

I told you for severel weeks that the Jedi has encountered fallen/dark Jedi often enough to go clue hunting for those rather than assuming its a Sith. Its part of what make the Sith be able to work in the dark for all that time. So its does not really matter if there is a Sith or not since they will basicly fold themselves to belive its a Fallen Jedi. J.

If Plaguies appears in this show (With the same traits and personality of the book) this series will be redeemed.

The reactions to this episode are wild. Some people are calling it their favourite and others easily the worst.

When the subtitle “unknown planet” came up i laughed out loud

How is this your favorite episode? NOTHING HAPPENS

I dunno, at this point I'm starting to get annoyed at the show already, because I feel like it wastes time deliberately. All these details that they throw in are basically meaningless without greater context, and the show constantly yanking that context out, seemingly determined to wait until last possible moment to reveal it. At this point I don't even believe that next episode would be a flashback. The show said this episode would be a flashback, and it did everything to stop master Sol from talking. Maybe a pipe falls on him in the opening and stops him from explaining, since this ship seems to be allergic to elaboration, malfunctioning as soon as Sol opens his mouth. And considering how literal and heavy-handed the show was with its "foreshadowing", at this point Master Sol might as well BE the other Sith in question.

Qimir doesn’t look like a different species. I’m assuming it wasn’t that long ago that he was near the Jedi.

Jesus so there's literally an active plot to cover up the resurgence of a massively powerful Dark Sider, and you think it's reasonable for someone in the know to assume a decades-experienced Master literally just murdered a dozen Jedi for nothing? The very first of which he literally could not have been near at the time of her death? How much do you people have to fucking cope? Christ.

I might binge on all eight episodes together when it's done. The serialized format is nice to keep the mystery alive, but otherwise this is very obviously a four-hour movie split into 30 minute segments.

Mysterious Sith: "I am... Darth Plagueis!!" Eck: "Pleggis" Sith: "...No, Plagueis! Like a plague upon the Jedi!!" Eck: "Pleggis" Sith: "Look, stop that will you?" Eck: "PLEGGIS"

Very good episode for set up, restarting the story after that wild action of last episode.

if it wasn’t for episode 3 I’d have a much higher opinion of this show I think. This episode made me actually interested in what’s going on.

Surrounding cast is great, but I'm still waiting for either twin to make me care about them at all. Still no defining purpose, direction, eseence of character, etc. Mae is angry and scared but that's it, she doesn't even have a solid direction for those emotions. Osha is just indecisive nothingness, she started out as a character whose goal was freedom from a shackled childhood and a desire for independence in the galaxy, but is now just... nothing. They gotta fix that (along with the whole "movie that isn't a movie" thing) if this is gonna be a "good show". But tbh its already too late if we only get 8eps and the main characters are still like that

Vernestra Rhoe in the High Republic books is certainly a different character as here in the Acolyte. Vernestra became a jedi very early. She is loyal to the jedi...she isn't a shady character. Why can't they create their own character?

Still enjoying it. The only issue of course is episode length. Episode 4 and 5 should've been one episode for sure. We should be further along in the story by now, if not done. Excited to see how they resolve this for canon. One possibility that I know would upset a lot of people is that they don't outright resolve the conflict with Mundi's line from Phantom Menace by the end of the season and choose to explain it in supplementary material. Or we're getting a second season still.

I rewatched the episode this morning and noticed a couple of things: 1, Osha asks Qimir what it is he wants, and he responds: "The power of two." To me, this implies he is not an apprentice, and is operating independently under the guise that the Sith are in fact extinct. He has educated himself on the Sith and their teachings, but has had no contact with a Sith lord at this point. 2: Mae didn't kill her "family". She wouldn't be so mad at the Jedi for her own over-reaction. The one scene in Ep. 3, all of the (assumed) Nightsisters were lumped into a pile just about, insinuating that they were masacred, not just victims of a fire. This is likely what is weighing on Sol's mind. He is clearly working through some conflicting emotions. 3: I'd like to buy off on the Venestra/Qimir Master/Padawan theory, but I think it might actually be a deliberate misdirect. There is definitely a connection, but I'm just trying to put it together. What struck me as odd was the intentional comment her padawan made about her reluctance for hyperspace travel and her response being: "It's... unsettling." She is clearly disturbed by this entire chain of events. While not upfront about it, she appears rather shaken, and is doing a good job to just push things forward faster than they should be. Whether this is being done intentionally, or just poor acting/directing, really dictates the substance.

This obsession that one line is wild. The Jedi simply could’ve meant the sith havnt been a threat for this time. They obviously knew the sith weren’t extinct

My current theory is that Vernestra Rwoh was Qimir's master. She has a hyperspace vision of him turning to the dark side and tries to kill him, which leads him to turn.

Problem with Bal'demic is that respirators are required to be on that planet.

Unfortunately, the second sith the showrunner keeps teasing might simply be Mae/Osha (whichever is which)

Aparently this island was shot in Portugal while Achto was shot in Scotland.

I'm dubious about the prospect of a season two, so they better wrap Qmir's story in full by the end of the season

Qmir showed Osha his engorged Cortisis vein!!!

Definitely a better episode, but I did find it a little silly no one check on the wookie who they knew lived there and the line" they were all killed by a lightsaber" but one had a snapped kneck. Still not as bad as cutting your hair with a lightsaber 'when you have knives' and then no noticed the smell of burnt hair, that smell lingers. I get it though was meant for dramatic effect. But the two best story arcs are Sol and what he knows, and what's the go with the sith.

the scars look like force lightning scars

7:15 "The Sith, long lost enemy, gone for a thousand years." Imagine hearing in 2024 that Italy had been raided by the Sea-Peoples. Sure, the Sea-Peoples actually existed once upon a time, but nobody's heard from them since the Bronze Age so.... maybe the light saber they saw was more orangish.

As someone who's generally liked the series and has defended it somewhat, this episode kind of pissed me off. I thought the directing was great and the story has compelling moments but then... the episode just ended. It wasn't even like a cliff hanger, it was like the episode just ended early.

Also they find out this Jedi team is all but wiped out and they send a rescue team that is less than half of the original team’s numbers. Why the hell would you go into an obvious dangerous combat situation with less warriors?

I can see Qimir being Sol's son, that he was given to Venestra as a pupil and when she found out Sol had a connection to his child she got rid of the child... or at least thats what I think they where hinting at.

Could Qimir be Set Harth?

The average life span of a Star wars galactic citizen is 200

My take is that that scar on his back is definitely from Vernestra's lightsaber. I'm thinking he was a former Padawan of hers, Sol was either the Padawan before or immediately after, which is why he said Qimir seems familiar. I also suspect that they weren't originally on May and Oshas home world for them. I think they were tracking Qimir and stumbled upon the girls, who Qimir was eyeing up for Acolytes and Sol trying to be a good Jedi went out of his way to recruit them knowing full well they were too old.

Someone needs to compile these episodes into a single movie

My theory is that Qimir was a Jedi and Vernestra was his master. He was seduced to the dark side by Sol and after some training Sol sent Qimir to kill Vernestra as his first test, but he was still relatively young, maybe 15/16. Vernestra defeated him thinking she’d kill him, hence the back scar. Then something happens with Sol where Vernestra erases his memories like what happened with Revan. I think Qimir wants Sol to remember so he can then fight and kill him because he feels Sol puts kids in the line of battle. So he blames Sol for what happened to him and even though he killed Jekie, he blames Sol. Alternatively maybe Sol and Qimir are brothers, there’s a few avenues this could take, the same as I mentioned or maybe Qimir was a baby when Sol joined the Jedi, but Sol can’t remember having a brother. Growing up, Qimir lived under Sol’s shadow, the son chosen by the Jedi at just 4, but then Qimir is taken on when he’s a little older and later rejected, perhaps even by Sol and he never told Sol he was his brother which pushed him to the dark side.

I think Qimir is Sol's father, long lived because of the dark side. That's why he is eager to take Sol's apprentice the way the jedi took Sol. Either that of he is using a force glamour at all times except when he's wearing the helmet and he's one of the sith lords.

That sure was six characters split into 3 pairs talking about things that have already happened in the series for the whole episode. Episode 6 of The Mandalorian was when Din is roped into the Republic prison ship heist with Mayfeld, the pacing of this one is just, agonizing sometimes in comparison man!

This is why i think the acolyte would've wokred better as a one off movie instead of an show

I think Sol is protecting Mae to get to Osha and Qimir faster than the other Jedi. I think it's clearly implied that Qimir was in fact whipped, probably for prying into Sith stuff and questioning the order at the least. Probably outcast and marked as punishment.

The whip and scar was actually show not tell in this show for once

Qimir and Sol are easily the best thing about this series, do hope it is building up to a Plagueis reveal showing him find Palpatine at the end or something....

I wonder if the whip scene was a red herring. That scar looks like it could have been done with force lightning

Like I’ve said before, it’s really nice to hear a take that isn’t blindly scathing. There are other creators on this platform that are clearly too offended by the comments and opinions of the showrunner to actually watch this “lore breaking” show. They’re more concerned about spinning a profitable narrative. As this series has gone on, it’s become more and more apparent to me that the people behind it know what they’re doing, and I had very low expectations for the show. I give more credence to Eck’s critique of the cinematography than some theorist complaining about Ki-Adi Mundi’s age.

3:13 is that image concept art from the 2003 show?

Qimir could have been Vernestra's padawan. During a fight, she may have accidentally hit him, and thought he was dead, and had to flee. 🤷🏻‍♂️ She has to recon the deaths, and showed her saber, so there could be a connection there. I prefer ep 5 the most. The sheer brutality of it. Then followed up by 6 as it shows Qimir is just at peace and matter of fact about the situation.

Sol cannot hide the truth forever.

Man, this is how the show should've been. But I feel it's too late. The show shouldn't "start being good" on episode 6 of 8...

My theory is Qmir was Ventestra jedi apprentice and Venestra had to fight it him at one point, thinking he was dead she never thought he would emerge untill she learned about the recent events and thats why she went to investigate personally. Still not quite sure how everything will be a cover up though. Many jedi have died, my only theeoy on that is Sol will be blamed for all their deaths and then die himself

Is it just me, or does the lightsabers and whip looks bigger in one shot, then others. I also noticed this in the last episode.... Their hands seems to only be able to grip a bit over half of the hilts for some of the persons....lol.

The "fallen Jedi" hypothesis they make after discovering the bodies makes absolutely no sense. Sol is a master but he's certainly not powerful enough to take on seven armed Jedi and come on top.

we've only got 8 episodes, and at least 2 of the 6 episodes have been nothing but lead ups to the next episodes...yeah this could probably be a two hour movie with virtually no loss of content.

Azlin Rell. I know many havnt read the high republic, he was around 100 years before Vern, used the dark side to extend his life, etc. He came back for some reasons aftwr the path of the open hand had turned into Marchion Ros Nihil. The nameless were a threat to all users of the force, i actually would bet that tenebrous and plaugius if they were alive during this time (its actually within a few decades of when plaugius would have been picked up by his master after basically being produced like a prized dog) and i cant imagine the sith being down with something so dangerous lurking around. and thwre are many ways this could still tie into those novels. Im really enjoying this and kinda hoping they dont make them conflict. Id love for them to be able to reintergrate the plaugius novel, as long as Dave filloni doesnt have anything to do with it. Hes the mastwr of destroying characters as a cheap trick to stroke his own ego

Been looking into some things and theres a thing called the doctrine of the dyad, and i mean its about twins and is a predecessor of the rule or two could this be an old sith cult trying to inact the doctrine of the dyad (i think the ultimate purpose of the dyad to transcend or something?) just wondering what you think of it? sorry if i missed some other comments or videos about this let me know if i have.

Qimir's helmet might not be his helmet. Not counting out she's about to be face to face with the original Sith to wear it. We know from the comics that putting on a Sith's mask is dangerous.

The sexual tension between Qimir and Osha was... interesting.

I like tuning in every week to hear your thoughts on the show, despite not watching it. Much love, Eck

I agree about this feeling like a transition and the 8-part movie problem, but I'm ok with that because we got character development and it feels like something important happened in each episode. I could easily see myself sitting down one weekend and watching Acolyte as a 4-hour movie. I find the 8-part movie problem much worse with shows like BoBF that don't meaningfully advance character arcs or Andor with 12 episodes.

"Interesting" is a good descriptor of where this show is now for me. It's still not great but it's getting interested. I'm curious to see if Sol is gonna turn away from the order.

I love your channel so much Eck and you've given me some absolute amazing perspectives on Star Wars media as a whole. I say that first so you know I respect you and everything you do, but... This show hurts to even think about. It just isn't for me. I won't shame anyone who still watches it or genuinely enjoys it because thats wrong. However, this show is just bad. It is. I will never like it, I won't hate it, but I'll never like it. I appreciate your videos on The Acolyte and especially everything else. Your opinion is valued by me. I think it's important to always get both sides, and your videos/input help me to not hate this show. But I will never like it.

I don’t like how it took 4+ episodes to get decent. I do start to think this may be how Yoda finds out about the rule of 2. And one of the Jedi in this episode is definitely the old master of Swole Sith over here.

I swear, if they make the two Asian characters in the show father and son, I'm going to mald.

thanks eck! i'm thinking the same thing about vernestra because of the twist of her lightwhip hilt and the twist of qimir's hilt to get the shoto

Cortosis is fine, but they need to introduce it to the viewer before showing it on its finished formed

Looking at the comment, I'm really the only SW fan super excited with that show? No preexisting characters, good choreographies, Lore is getting expanded...

this episode was good but they really should've either doubled the length of episodes or dropped them 2 at a time

I’m actually invested in the show now. Complete turn around since EP 5

I'd watch episode 6 again just to double check the dialog and see if there wasn't something else I missed. In particular the Qimir mentions the helmet provides sensory deprivation, but I wasn't sure if that had anything to do with the cortosis or if it just didn't have usable eye openings (which is didn't). If you remember, Obi-won stuck a helmet on Luke with the blast shield down to make him use the force instead of his eyes.

Didn't notice watching the episode but their some kind of large aquatic animal in the shot of the island.

I still cannot unsee Jason Mendoza on screen, sadly. That heavily lessens the seriousness of that character for me. 😅

The planet shouldn’t be Ach To. The nature looks similar but not entirely the same as Skellig Michael, where ach to was filmed