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Disney+‘s latest series, The Acolyte, continues to push the limits of what a Star Wars show can be. The series is not only set during the waning years of the High Republic, taking us a century before anyone named Skywalker had anything to do with the Force, but it’s also given us lesbian Force witches, morally ambiguous Jedi, and some brutal Sith-on-Jedi violence. Leslye Headland‘s contribution to the Star Wars canon asks what if the Jedi were wrong? What if the Force isn’t what we think it is? And, most troubling, what if a Sith Lord was designed specifically to seduce you to the Dark Side of the Force?
**Spoilers for The Acolyte Episode 6 “Teach/Corrupt,” now streaming on Disney+**
The Acolyte Episode 6 “Teach/Corrupt” follows twins Mae and Osha (both played by Amandla Stenberg) as they swap places with their former masters, Parent Trap-style. Mae attempts to trick Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) with the hopes of murdering him, only to be caught in the process. Meanwhile, Osha awakens on a mysterious island — which is literally just the Portuguese island of Madeira — where Manny Jacinto‘s scintillating hot Qimir launches a disarming campaign to woo the young woman to the Dark Side. Or at least, away from the Jedi way of thinking.
It was this episode, specifically, that made me break. The Acolyte Episode 6 “Teach/Corrupt” proves that Leslye Headland must be stopped! Manny Jacinto’s Sith Lord is just too damn sexy! He’s all up in Star Wars with his incredible biceps, chiseled cheekbones, and bare naked bod just luring us to the Dark Side. The nerve of this show to literally have this “bad guy” acting like the tortured hero of a gothic romance novel, giving aide to our lost heroine as well as a choice peek at him in the bath! Leslye Headland’s version of Star Wars is one where the Dark Side is too enchanting to resist — and it’s making me lose my mind!
It should go without saying that Qimir is far from the first Star Wars bad boy to get fans’ hearts aflutter. The sequel trilogy’s fanbase was teeming with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) fangirls and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) himself was portrayed as an absolute dish up until he was deep fried on Mustafar. However, there’s something undeniably extra hot about Manny Jacinto’s Qimir. He seems to be literally designed to represent the most seductive elements of the Dark Side of the Force.
Philosophically, Qimir is able to accurately punch holes in the Jedi’s otherwise bulletproof ethical code. Martially, he is a beast in combat, using a combination of instinct and athleticism to mow through the rule-following Jedi. Then, there’s the fact that Manny Jacinto is simply a very, very pretty human being. Anyone who’d seen him in The Good Place or Nine Perfect Strangers would already know this, but The Acolyte emphasizes his good looks, turning him into a literal object of desire. Think I’m making that up? Check out how Disney+’s literal audio description sums up Qimir’s little swim in this week’s episode:
Throughout The Acolyte Episode 6 “Teach/Corrupt,” Qimir acts less like a scheming supervillain and more like a misunderstood antihero. He’s not only healed Osha, but also reiterates that he’s not a threat. That little sexy skinny-dip doubles as a moment of pure vulnerability for the Sith Lord. Osha has the upper hand; he is merely a guy. A handsome guy. A nice guy. An empathetic guy. A guy with a scar on his back gifted to him by his former Jedi Master. Star Wars is frolicking headlong into ACOTAR territory, causing me to swoon into the embrace of the Dark Side of the Force.
Obviously this has been Leslye Headland’s plan from the jump. She’s made no bones about the fact that she wanted to make a Star Wars show that would make fans root for the bad guys. I simply couldn’t have imagined that she would do so by transforming a Sith Lord into a hunk. This is the Star Wars show that adolescent me yearned for, one that embraced the feminine, the messy, and the seductive. This is a Star Wars show made for the girlies, the queers, and the horny little freaks.
God bless Leslye Headland for making The Acolyte, but also god damn her because it’s too much. Manny Jacinto’s Sith Lord is too sexy to resist. The Jedi are a bunch of dorky herbs and Qimir is the dark and handsome stranger poised to grind them into the ground.
