Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Acolyte episode 4.

Summary

• Khofar's visuals in episode 4 continue the show's positive production design, conveying a sense of foreboding in Star Wars' natural vistas.
• ing characters get more focus in episode 4, with Yord and Osha sharing a compelling scene, and Bazil offering levity like a George Lucas-esque character.
• The episode ends with a fantastic cliffhanger, setting up a tense Sith vs. Jedi confrontation, even though the mystery elements and rushed character changes in the first two-thirds may have felt lacking.

Star Wars' High Republic Era is a personal favorite section of the timeline, and I appreciate it when stories in a galaxy far, far away delve into the weirder, philosophical side of their subject matter. With that in mind, this could be why The Acolyte episode 4 is the weakest thus far, though one I still enjoyed overall.

Khofar Makes For A Beautiful Continuation Of The Acolyte’s Impressive Production Design

A big strength of The Acolyte remains its visuals

Beginning with the more positive side of The Acolyte episode 4, I continue to appreciate the show's production design. Earlier episodes had fantastic settings, costumes, props, and a nice blend of practical and visual effects, and episode 4 is no different. The episode takes place entirely on Khofar, a distant planet where The Acolyte's Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca has chosen to go into hiding. Khofar's sweeping, mist-covered forests look fantastic and convey a sense of foreboding that Star Wars' natural vistas usually do not.

What helps continue the show's positive production design is the setting. The episode features several tracking, establishing shots of various characters walking across Khofar's varied foothills and dense forests, which all seem to be shot on location. In an era where the volume of entirely CG environments are commonplace, this was a welcome change.

The Acolyte’s Varied Cast Get More Time To Shine

The Acolyte episode 4's group adventure gave more characters the spotlight

Where The Acolyte's cast of characters is concerned, I cannot deny that Lee Jung-jae's Sol and Amandla Stenberg's Osha and Mae have been the standouts thus far. That said, episode 4 gives the ing characters a bit more to do. Dafne Keen's Jecki Lon gets some nice scenes to bond with Osha, even if their budding friendship could do with even more development. Similarly, Charlie Barnett's Yord Fandar receives a bigger focus, transcending the lovable, albeit underdeveloped, stickler for Jedi rules from The Acolyte's premiere.

Yord and Osha share a compelling scene, with the former being trusted by the latter to kill Mae if the time comes. Yord then offers a nugget of wisdom, telling Osha that she must face her own fears, giving him more of a sense of character than in previous episodes. Undoubtedly a standout is Bazil, the Jedi's companion responsible for tracking Kelnacca through Khofar's dense jungle.

In a show that more often than not feels self-serious and grim, Bazil offered levity in a way that feels inherently like Star Wars...

Bazil is a George Lucas-esque character, a silly little creature who immediately captures the hearts of viewers while offering comedic relief. In a show that more often than not feels self-serious and grim, Bazil offers levity in a way that feels inherently like Star Wars. If he only appears in this one episode, it's safe to say that Bazil has captured my heart in a way the likes of Grogu, Sabine's Tooka from Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian's Anzellans have managed to in recent years.

The Acolyte Episode 4’s Ending Is A Fantastic, Tantalizing Cliffhanger

The Acolyte's climactic moments make for excellent, tense teases at future battles

Although much of The Acolyte episode 4 left me wanting some forward propulsion plot-wise, I was quickly silenced by the shining jewel of the installment: Its ending. As Mae, the Jedi, Osha, and their allies converge on Kelnacca's hut, they find the solitary Jedi dead from lightsaber wounds. As Mae's fear heightens, the dazzling sun of Khofar sets on the horizon and allows darkness, figurative and literal, to step into the fray. The first appearance of The Acolyte's Sith villain is menacing, as the fading light makes way for imposing darkness.

The strong ending of The Acolyte episode 4 alone was enough to rate the episode positively, with its sense of impending dread only heightened by the three-episode mystery and the lighting perfectly conveying Star Wars' light vs. dark themes.

The slow walk toward Osha is terrifying, and the feeling of dread as the masked figure ignites his lightsaber perfectly caps the tension. The trailer shot of the High Republic Jedi lighting their own weapons and being blasted by the Force cuts The Acolyte episode 4 to black, marking a brilliant final scene that left me keen for more as I viscerally reacted to the installment ending where it did. When done correctly, cliffhangers are fantastic storytelling tricks, and episode 4's ending more than stoked my excitement to see the ensuing Sith vs. Jedi confrontation.

The Acolyte Episode 4’s Mystery Elements Are Lacking Compared To Prior Installments

The Acolyte episode 4 sacrifices enticing mystery for a climactic cliffhanger

Despite the cliffhanger ending endlessly working for me, the first two-thirds of the episode did suffer as a result. Whereas other episodes gave answers and questions in equal measure, building The Acolyte's compelling mystery, episode 4 was more of a plateaued entry. No real answers or questions are given, with the episode instead content to use the mystery of the first three episodes to make its cliffhanger ending more explosive.

The hints and nudges that Qimir is the secret Sith villain are too on the nose as a red herring that I found it hard to invest in them...

While this certainly worked, it does leave The Acolyte episode 4 feeling more like a placeholder than other episodes. I will it that episode 4 tries to raise more questions, but they are simply too few and too predictably misleading to match the dark hints that The Acolyte episode 3's climactic fire was more sinister than first believed. Kelnacca's witch-like symbols in his hut are intriguing enough, but the hints and nudges that Qimir is the secret Sith villain are too on the nose as a red herring that I found it hard to invest in them.

Some Character Choices Feel Unearned In The Acolyte Episode 4

The wider character implications felt rushed

The last element that disappointed me in The Acolyte episode 4 was the rushed character arcs. Although the further development of Jedi beyond Sol and Osha was welcome, Mae's development felt unnatural. After The Acolyte episode 3 outlined her dark tendencies and outright attempt at murdering her sister, her wavering faith in the Sith now that she knows Osha is alive felt unconvincing. Osha being alive does not change Mae's perspective about the Jedi appearing on Brendok being what tore her family apart. Her switch from vengeful Sith Acolyte to surrendering prisoner felt hastened at best, inconceivable at worst.

Mae's character change could have been spread out over the entire season to feel more logical from a storytelling perspective.

Similarly, Kelnacca already being dead in The Acolyte episode 4 left me with the same hollow feeling as Indara's untimely demise from episode 1. I'm aware that flashbacks will continue detailing their characters, but the overwhelming promise of Carrie-Anne Moss as an all-knowing Jedi and a Wookiee Force- has not been capitalized on enough, for my liking. Regardless, The Acolyte episode 4 was a good installment with a brilliant ending that overcame other issues with the storytelling, resulting in a middling episode that lacked forward plot propulsion but left me continually wanting more.