Season 1, Episode 6 of the Disney Plus series The Acolyte, titled “Teach / Corrupt,” is directed by Hanelle Culpepper and penned by Jason Micallef and Jocelyn Bioh. The episode begins with Osha waking up on an unknown planet’s island. The planet is likely Bal’demnic, an ocean planet adorned with rocky tropical islands in the Bak’rofsen system of the Auril sector, located within the Outer Rim Territories.
It is a world where the Sith Lord Darth Tenebrous and his apprentice, Darth Plagueis, discovered rich deposits of cortosis. The Sith took control of the planet and began mining the world of cortosis since its properties can short out and weaken lightsaber attacks as well as those of the Force. From this information, it is likely that Qimir is one of Darth Tenebrous’ apprentices, perhaps the Canon version of Darth Venamis. The reason is that Venamis’ story and personality is similar to that of Qimir’s.
Qimir and Osha
When Osha (Amandla Stenberg) wakes up, Qimir (Manny Jacinto) sees potential in her to be his new acolyte. However, he takes a different approach in tempting Osha to be his apprentice and fall to the Dark Side. He initially tried fear, abuse, and brute force to make Mae (Amandla Stenberg) his apprentice but that method failed. Therefore, it is likely that Qimir changed strategies by acting as a nicer and more socially relatable teacher.
Qimir’s strategy to corrupt Osha is similar to Palpatine, when he used kindness and Anakin’s desire for a father-figure to corrupt the Chosen One to be a scion of the Sith Order. Qimir ensures Osha feels comfortable staying on the island and makes her believe she has a choice of whether to stay or not. This helped Qimir earn Osha’s tolerance and trust, and the two became more and more casual and less distant from each other. Qimir’s manipulations are so effective that Osha began to trust the Sith, even taking his offer to wear his cortosis helmet and learn how to connect with her surroundings relying only on the Force and its powers.
It becomes even more apparent in this episode that Qimir is the founder of the Knights of Ren. Kylo Ren’s theme song is subtly played in the background and Qimir’s appearance looks like that of Ren, Kylo Ren’s predecessor as leader of the Knights of Ren.
Sol and Mae
Back in the ship, Mae (Amandla Stenberg), in her disguise as Osha, tries to kill Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) but grows to somewhat sympathize with the broken Jedi Master. However, Sol soon discovers that Mae is not Osha when he realizes she shows no care for her droid Pip. As a result, Sol stuns her and locks her up. When Mae awakes, Sol begins to tell Mae what really happened on Brendok.
Master Rwoh and the Galactic Senate
Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) talks with Senator Isedwa Chuwant, a representative of Abednedo and a strong ally of the Jedi Order, regarding Senator Rayencourt. Rayencourt is trying to get an external review on the Jedi Order due to his anti-Jedi sentiments with the support of his allies, the senators of the Expansion Region. Chuwant assures Rwoh that Rayencourt will not get what he wishes, since he is just an ambitious senator who is power hungry and selfish, willing to throw the Jedi under the bus to achieve it. However, it will be interesting if Rayencourt is actually a servant of the Sith Order who is merely paving the way for the fall of the Jedi’s popularity within the Galactic Senate.
Rwoh is later met by Jedi Knight Mog Adana (Harry Trevaldwyn) who shares Master Sol’s distress report regarding how his team was massacred. As a result, Rwoh travels with Mog and other Jedi Knights to Khofar and discovers the Jedi corpses, including that of Yord and Jecki. Rwoh orders the Jedi to take the bodies so they can be given proper burials before contemplating what to do next.
From the revelation of Rayencourt, it is likely that Qimir is not merely having Mae kill Jedi just for Acolyte training. He wants the Galactic Senate to slowly find out the truth of the Jedi’s involvement on Brendok which would allow Senator Rayencourt’s petition for an external review on the Jedi Order to pass. In other words, the Sith are trying to make the Jedi less popular in the Senate by planting seeds for the Jedi’s downfall. This will lead to the Republic destroying the Jedi Order in the long-run, culminating in Order 66 during Darth Sidious’ era.
Rating: 9/10