Move Over, Vader, ’The Acolyte’s Sith Lord Is Already Creepy As Hell (2024)

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 4 of The Acolyte.

The Big Picture

The Acolyte uses horror tropes to create a tense episode with a suspenseful cliffhanger.
The Sith Lord's first appearance is surprisingly unsettling, establishing them as a legitimate threat.
Episode 4's frightening conclusion raises more questions about the Sith Lord's identity and the Jedi's future downfall.

The horror genre might not be the first thing one associates with Star Wars, but the sci-fi saga is no stranger to eerie moments. Whether it's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's charred skeletons in A New Hope, Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) haunting visions in the Dagobah swamp, or Rogue One's Darth Vader slaughtering helpless rebels, when the franchise employs horror's stylistic trappings, it employs them well. The Acolyte Episode 4 joins the aforementioned category, and with a frenzied, nightmarish energy. Screenwriters Claire Kiechel and Kor Adana and director Alex Garcia Lopez cleverly exploit tension, atmosphere, and imagery throughout the episode's 30 minutes, building to a startling and unsettling cliffhanger heralding the first real appearance of Mae's (Amandla Stenberg) mysterious Master. Presumably a Sith Lord, we don't know this villain's name, their origins, or the extent of their power. At The Acolyte's halfway point, we don't need to; our imaginations conjure enough to fill in the blanks, especially after an entrance disquieting enough to give Vader pause.

The Acolyte

Sci-Fi

What Makes ‘The Acolyte’ Episode 4 Unsettling?

The Acolyte Episode 4, titled "Day," puts its heroes and antagonists on an intercept course. Osha, hoping to prevent Mae from murdering her next target, the Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo), reluctantly joins Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Yord (Charlie Barnett), and Jecki (Dafne Keen) on the planet Khofar, Kelnacca's current location. Meanwhile, Mae and Qimir (Manny Jacinto) advance toward Kelnacca's domicile. Both parties converge at the end of this thematic race against time, albeit in ways that no one (except Mae's Master) anticipates.

This would be Star Wars business as usual if it weren't for the suspicious opening scene. As Kelnacca cooks a meal in his home, the camera creeps around corners like a concealed observer; the score's minor key sets expectations on edge. Episode 4 doesn't reconvene with Kelnacca until its last moments, and by then, it's too late for the poor Wookiee. That specific reveal proves a larger surprise to Mae than to eagle-eyed audiences; "Day" weaves a permeating sense of offness in between character exchanges, that something, or someone, waits around Khofar's every corner.

The Khofar setting does considerable heavy lifting in that regard. The wide, mountainous landscapes shrink into a claustrophobic forest covered by heavy fog — invisible to see through from the ground above, and up-close, crowded with alien creatures who are dormant unless they're disturbed. Sol felling a massively tentacled umbramoth with his lightsaber allows for a mildly suspenseful rise-and-fall beat, but nothing outrageous. Few things are more quintessentially Star Wars than a Jedi dispatching a gnarly creature. Nothing seems like an obvious threat or an ill omen, but as twilight falls, Sol senses a disturbance. Already more emotive than a typical Jedi, he becomes intensely apprehensive for reasons he either doesn't understand or won't disclose. He practically seals their doom by promising to tell Osha "the truth," but only after they finish their mission (sir, don't you realize that's asking for trouble?).

‘The Acolyte’ Episode 4 Uses Horror Tropes to Its Advantage

The Acolyte's episodic format lets the growing tension unfurl across Episode 4's runtime to the breaking point: when "The Master" floats to the ground like a vampiric specter, and in a shot composition that evokes Hereditary more than it does space wizards with glowing swords. Moments earlier, Mae discovers Kelnacca's slumped body, the fresh lightsaber slice across his chest still sizzling as it cauterizes. Having just renounced her vengeance quest, terrified realization slams into the former Sith Acolyte faster than a Force shove. "He's here," she whispers to herself, her harsh breathing audible. On cue, an unnatural darkness drowns the inside of Kelnacca's hut and the Jedi surrounding it from the outside. For the second time, Sol's instincts attune him to impending danger; he glances over his shoulder at Mae, who stands behind the group of Jedi, objectively protected.

Is [SPOILER] 'The Acolyte's Sith Lord, or Is the Show Leading Us On?

Is it all a red herring? Or a red lightsaber?

The Acolyte's previous glimpse of the anonymous Sith Lord is deliberately brief. After killing Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) in Episode 1, Mae meets her nameless teacher on a beach. As she watches from a distance, the Sith activates their red lightsaber, standing elevated on a jagged chunk of rock. The master and apprentice's positioning, the implicit yet tempting threat behind a Dark Side lightsaber, and Mae's vicious deference, speak volumes. The series structures itself like a murder mystery, yet the true draw is retroactively discovering how the Jedi crumbled from their golden High Republic height into military commanders successfully manipulated by a Sith Lord.

The Master officially arrives on the heels of a 30-second teaser, Jedi Council speculations, Mae's fearful loyalty, and nothing more. And, apparently, like Stormtroopers, Sith Lords can fly now. At first, with the camera focused on Osha, The Master's all-black garb blends into the shadowy treeline. They silently push forward and glide down behind her right shoulder, little more than a blurry outline yet a crisp threat. Their slow, slithering approach, neither unhurried nor fazed by the Jedi's warnings, is deeply unsettling. Osha performs a full-body turn as the Sith halts inches from her face. The detailed helmet design has the skin-crawling effect of shark's teeth joined in unholy matrimony with the Joker's smile (Kelnacca's lethal wound even matches the pattern). Osha freezes, rigid with terror; a wide-eyed Mae stares out the hut's window.

’The Acolyte’s Introduces Its Sith Lord With a Bang

Move Over, Vader, ’The Acolyte’s Sith Lord Is Already Creepy As Hell (3)

The sound of an ignited lightsaber shrieks like sandpaper before a tell-tale red glow swings up into the frame, reflecting off The Master's helmet and Osha's petrified expression. The Jedi charge into synchronized action. The Master stays nonplussed, barely glancing at the group before dismissing Osha with a light flick of their fingers that sends her brutally flying. Their neck snaps like a skeleton on a swivel toward the approaching Jedi; one Force shove catapults them all backward off their feet, and The Acolyte crashes into its credits with a cloud of dust.

To say the series pulls the wool over our eyes is an understatement. Imposing villains from the past aside, a horror movie framing isn't an expected direction for Star Wars projects to take. Injecting horror cues disrupts the pattern for the better. Episode 4 taps into an existing and underutilized Star Wars strength enough to intrigue, enough to prove this villain's threat through action instead of words, and enough to elevate the stakes.

As for the Sith Lord's identity, theories abound, ranging from Qimir to Darth Traya from the video game Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Until The Acolyte reveals the face underneath that Jaws-like helmet, the audience knows little about this figure and the Jedi less. Their formidable power and arrogant, animalistic personality, however, is readily apparent. Therein lies the strength; if one likens the Emperor's energy to, say, Freddy Krueger, then The Acolyte has dropped the saga's Michael Myers equivalent.

The Acolyte is streaming now on Disney+, with new episodes releasing weekly each Tuesday.

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