Episode 5 of The Acolyte delivered two very shocking deaths, with Dafne Keen’s Jecki and Charlie Barnett’s Yord being slaughtered in cold blood by Qimir, the show’s resident Sith warrior.
While there have been a slew of criticisms levied at the show, Episode 5 of The Acolyte is largely being considered the least objectionable of the ones released. Dafne Keen has come out in defense of the choices made by Leslye Headland, especially killing off her character.
Dafne Keen believes Leslye Headland is a writer with some ‘spine’
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Dafne Keen was all praises for Leslye Headland’s writing. The actress went on to talk about the problems that a lot of franchises face with character death and liked the fact that Headland did not shy away from killing characters like Jecki and Yord. She said:
I really like that she was actually killing people. Because if you’re not making it dangerous, then why are we even here?
Why are we concerned by the story? Why do we care? Leslye [Headland] has such a backbone as a writer, to make you fall in love with these characters and then slaughter them all like pigs and be like, ‘Yeah, this is our villain. We’re not just saying he’s so big and scary, we’re actually showing you how big and scary he is.
Dafne Keen pointed out how Headland was a writer who did not shy away from making tough decisions for her characters, putting the narrative of the story above everything. Yord and Jecki were two deaths that had to happen to communicate the menace of Qimir, which was soundly communicated to the audience with his feats in the story.
Episode 5 has brought up a few interesting questions for Star Wars canon
Episode 5 has brought up some key questions that the series needs to answer going forward. To begin with, we know for a fact that Qimir identifies as Sith. Whether he is an actual Sith Lord or a Dark Side pretender is yet to be seen. However, given that Ki-Adi Mundi categorically mentioned that there hasn’t been a Sith for millennia in The Phantom Menace, which poses a slew of questions for our protagonists.
Are all members of the investigation party going to die? Is Qimir actually just a pretender? Are Sol, Mae, and Osha going to have their memories about a Sith Lord wiped out before they can send the information back to the Jedi Order? These questions have created a potent air of intrigue in the story, which perhaps the coming episodes will pay off.
However, the existence of Cortosis in the canon now needs to be addressed as well, given the massive implications it has for the Jedi and the Sith in the Star Wars universe
