In The Acolyte, the dark side of Star Wars has a good reason to be sexy

Manny Jacinto is hot; that is well known. But The Acolyte takes advantage of this fact by leaving the demonstration of the seductive nature of the Dark Side of the Force in his very capable hands (and very strong biceps). And let’s be honest? The Sith have never looked better.

Episode 6 of The Acolyte““Teach/Corrupt” continues the competing narratives of Mae and Osha (both played by Amandla Stenberg), with the twins having switched places. Now Mae is on a ship with Sol (Lee Jung-jae), who she wants to kill, and Osha has been kidnapped (or “rescued”) by Qimir (Jacinto), who she hopes to kill—or so she thinks. She follows him to his swimming hole, watches him strip, tries to take his lightsaber (no euphemism), almost tries to kill him, but then…she listens to him.

And how can you not listen to this man, so calm, cool, and collected. Maybe he’s up to something – he’s a self-proclaimed Sith (basically), so, yes, he probably is. But it’s understandable that Osha would want to get to the bottom of him. He keeps slipping into her orbit, undisturbed unless he’s intensely focused on something. her and make them embrace their power.

Image: Lucasfilm

But all this Manny Jacinto smoldering isn’t just for show; the creators know what they’re doing. Aside from anything else that Episode 5’s use of the Kylo Ren motif might mean, it’s the one that most immediately evokes the Dark Side’s latest bad boy. Playing the song while Qimir strokes Osha’s arm while she’s unconscious feels like exactly the kind of moment that will be a headache well beyond the show’s runtime – especially if Jacinto approaches Sith re-education the way Jess Mariano talks about books; a true seduction to the dark side if I ever saw one.

Control The AcolyteStar Wars had a problem with the Sith – supposedly the libertine, hedonistic (and thus dark) side of the Force – who were pretty much sexless. Their cause had no real passion other than “evil,” and certainly none that seemed to have any lure.

But what makes Qimir’s seduction so powerful is the way he looks at her and sees Osha, the way a romantic lead might stare longingly at his co-star. Although Jacinto doesn’t play Qimir as lovestruck, he seems like he could forever ride the halfpipe of bad-boy energy while telling you that you’re a person so full of anger and pain that people “throw you away” because of it. He looks at Osha and seems to get to an inner part of her (even if that inner self is “exploitable fear”!), speaking truths with smooth-tongued precision. It’s a tantalizing kind of attention, and one that Osha clearly never really got from the Jedi.

And while he may be a corrupting force, the scar on Qimir’s back, coupled with the whip lightsaber we see elsewhere in the episode, seems to suggest he has good reason to hate the Jedi. The Acolyte continues its dance between the light and dark sides of the Force, it is important that the dark side has a face and that that face has as much appeal as Jacinto’s – because otherwise, what appeal would there be if Osha or Mae were in such poor health?