The Acolyte: 5 more questions we have after episode 4, "Day"

Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 4, "Day," was a whirlwind episode. Episode 2, "Revenge/Justice," ended with the introduction of Wookiee Jedi Master Kelnacca, now stationed deep in the forests of Khofar. This directly followed the revelation that Mae had believed her sister dead for the last sixteen years, and whatever that meant to her, it did not change her decision to face another of the Jedi who betrayed her as a child.

Here are 5 questions we still have after episode 4, "Day."

1. What Does Master Sol Have to Explain to Osha?

If we rely on the storytelling rules of several other franchises, promising to explain something later means we'll never get an explanation. It is a sure way to invite interruption or calamity. The person needing enlightenment will then either have to live with uncertainty about a truth they never knew or move on with their quest without ever needing an explanation.

But the fact remains that we don't know exactly what Sol has been holding back until now. There is a good chance that he thought the truth would never need to come out because of Mae's death. To quote their quarry, her "being alive changes everything." Maybe Sol is waiting to tell Osha something about that night on Brendok because of that.

2 Just how intertwined are Qimir and the Master?

There are a lot of theories going around about Manny Jacinto's character. Some say that he's the Master, while another theory posits that he is the Acolyte himself. It's the age-old question from Episode I - The Phantom Menace, "Who was killed, the Master or the Apprentice?"

Qimir stumbles over his words and his own foot when talking about his previous visit to Khofar. He is the obligatory character to warn of the dangers of entering a haunted house in a kids' spooky movie. But there is a moment after he has been trapped when he says in dead earnest that the Master will kill Mae for turning herself into the Jedi. Just after that, Mae comes upon a murder scene, and the Jedi arrive to arrest her. If Qimir isn't the Master, he is bound closely enough to him that the plan change was transmitted very quickly.

3. What would the confrontation with Kelnacca have been like?

It could be argued that Kelnacca's fate was sealed long ago. He was one of four Jedi who left a family in ruins and set a survivor on the path of vengeance. Two Jedi have already paid for those crimes with their lives, and Kelnacca was another unknown quantity.

Would Mae have talked him into suicide, as she did with Torbin? Would she have dared to give the same order as Indara and demanded that the Wookiee attack her with all his strength? Qimir keeps goading Mae with the need to kill without a weapon, but this seems like the wrong target to do so. At least if she wanted to escape with both her arms.

4. Have we met the Master already?

While many discussions focus on the helmeted figure's power and personality, debates also focus on its physical traits. It can't be Darth Plageuis; his head would be too big for a Muun. It can't be Mother Koril; she has those horns.

With the first up-close look at the dark figure, we also see an ungloved hand when they send Osha flying with a flicking gesture. We get a better sense of their build, and this means that people are starting to check their theories against skin tone and which already-established characters we've seen around that same height and weight.

5. Do the Master's plans for Mae include Osha?

We learned in this episode that Mae considers this quest to be a deal and refers to the killing without a weapon as "the final lesson." It's been sixteen years since Brendok, and Mae, in all of that time, has never realized that she did not lose her sister on the same night that she lost her mothers. She knows that the survivors of that night are four Jedi.

One wonders how early on in their relationship the Master knew about Osha or her decision to leave the Jedi Order. Did he instigate this deal with the assumption that the sister would no longer be involved in the Order? Did he think that the sisters' reunion would be a possibility? Yord mentioned in conversation with Osha that "Mae was always your wound." Mae bears the same wound, so how does that factor into the story?

We're going to have to wait and see the answers to these questions.