Picking up right where we left off last week, The Acolyte’s fifth episode, titled Night, was all about action and revelation; something the series seriously needs. And it was pretty entertaining, not gonna lie. The show is still flawed and I’ll get into that, but this one offered some entertaining action as well as some surprising deaths.

The episode opens with Osha waking up after being knocked unconscious by the mysterious figure with the red lightsaber. When she comes to, she starts to notice fallen Jedi around her and clues into the fight that’s going on. At first, I was worried we weren’t going to see the fight happening, as we only heard it off-camera, but the episode actually devotes most of its runtime to the Master and his rampage.

And the extended lightsaber mayhem was actually pretty damn good if I do say so myself. The Sith’s fighting style somehow balanced relentless intensity with expert precision. His helmet is also saber-proof and he straight-up headbutted a lightsaber and it was great. I do wish the fight wasn’t in a forest though, as unlike The Force Awakens’ final duel, I found the trees here sometimes obscured the duel. We all knew the Red Shirt Jedi were toast, but I can honestly say I didn’t think The Acolyte would kill off both Yord and Jecki. Nice to see a show not put plot armour on its characters. And I actually felt bad for their deaths, they were brutal and unexpected, with Jecki getting stabbed multiple times in rapid succession and Yord getting his neck snapped. Yikes.

But during the duel though, the Master’s helmet was finally stricken off his head and we got our reveal that the Sith, as he called himself, was in fact Qimir. Called it, not like that wasn’t the most telegraphed reveal since Palpatine. But I did like how Qimir’s whole personality changed, instead of being a bumbling sidekick, he’s confident, eerie, and came off as someone to take seriously. Considering his ruse, he was basically playing Undercover Boss with Mae, right? Now to channel my inner Mace Windu and ask is Qimir, as I’ll refer to him until we learn his real name, the Master or the Apprentice. He stated he’s looking for an acolyte, but does that make him the master or the apprentice looking for his own pupil for when he kills his own master, as per Sith tradition. There’s also the possibility he isn’t even a true Sith, as he said “You can call me Sith”, which could be taken as he’s adopted their ways but isn’t a full-on Sith. Considering his helmet looks a lot like Kylo Ren’s and that character’s musical theme can be heard throughout the episode, he could also be the proto Knight of Ren as opposed to being someone in the Sith lineage.

When he revealed the name “Sith” to Sol, he didn’t really react to the word, making me wonder if most of the Jedi have forgotten or not been taught about their ancient adversary. Qimir saying to Sol, who put up one intense fight against him, is basically a dead man walking, as no Jedi will be able to return to the Temple to report the name “Sith” to the council, lest it break canon. So Sol’s going to die, or he’ll willingly omit details to cover his own ass. But there’s more going on here, as Qimir seemingly knows Sol from a long time ago and challenges Sol’s own darkness, so we probably don’t have the full story from the flashback yet.

Meanwhile, as all this is going down, the twins come face to face again and after trying to reconcile, Mae knocks her sister out and trades places with her, cutting her hair down and taking her clothes, which may seem like a good idea on paper, but I can’t see it actually working. Anyone smell burned hair? Mae is now aboard the ship with Sol, but the tracker Bazil is likely going to spring that trap before long, I guess because Sol won’t be able to sense the change in Osha/Mae in the Force due to grief. But Osha, who was left behind on the planet, is taken in by Qimir. I wonder if Osha will fall to the Dark Side and Mae get redeemed instead now that they’ve swapped places? Seems likely.

What hasn’t been working in the show is still on display in this episode though. Clunky writing and dialogue are found throughout, especially between the twins towards the end of the episode. The forest set felt way too much like a forest on a soundstage, contributing to that “cheap” feeling the show has been plagued with, despite its massive $180 million budget. Where did the money go? There’s also a few too many wipes between scenes, it was a little jarring.

Yet the episode was pretty entertaining and despite being really, really obvious as to who was under the helmet, the episode still felt satisfying, especially since I have the sense we still don’t have all the answers to the puzzle. Solid lightsaber choreography and actually not putting plot armour on some of its more prominent characters was a good move. Let’s hope the show can keep this momentum and focus over the final three episodes.