The Acolyte‘s review-bombing looks even more absurd after episode 5. Helmed by Leslye Headland of Russian Doll fame, it’s no exaggeration to say The Acolyte has been one of the most controversial Star Wars shows to date. Truth is infinitely stranger than fiction when it comes to The Acolyte, with the real-world story of this show involving everything from review-bombing to death threats against Wookieepedia editors.

In truth, the backlash and review-bombing had always seemed more than a little absurd. I simply refuse to believe anyone was particularly invested in Ki-Adi-Mundi’s age until the Cerean Jedi Master made a cameo that contradicts a (non-canon) 1999 CD-ROM and a (non-canon) 2013 trading card. But now, after the success of The Acolyte episode 5 and its stunning action sequences, this reaction looks even more ridiculous.

The Acolyte Backlash Has Always Been Exaggerated

The fury is exaggerated

Image via Disney+

In truth, The Acolyte‘s backlash and review-bombing has always looked more than a little fake. At time of writing, The Acolyte has a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of just 13 percent, meaning it’s officially ranked below the Star Wars Holiday Special – which seems unlikely. Even more striking, though, is the fact it apparently has a staggering 25,000+ reviews, more than all three seasons of The Mandalorian put together (and more than Game of Thrones season 1 after 13 years). To say all this is improbable, is an understatement.

For the record, I don’t think The Acolyte is the best Star Wars TV show ever made. I’m genuinely interested in the era, but it’s sometimes seemed a little faltering, and I think the episodic structure hasn’t always worked to the show’s favor. But I’ve seen the Star Wars Holiday Special, and The Acolyte most certainly isn’t worse than that. When you look at the actual reviews, the comments are often wince-worthy; I randomly took a sample of 30 into an AI-checker, and all but one came through as probably written by AI rather than by real humans.

In other words, there’s a very vocal part of the Star Wars fanbase that has decided to hate The Acolyte no matter what. These are the trolls who’ve wrested statements from Leslye Headland and star Amandla Stenberg out of context, trying to find ways to anger viewers before the show’s release. These trolls are now working overtime to create an online “discourse” that’s far from reality.

The Acolyte Episode 5 Makes The Backlash Look So Much More Ridiculous

The Force was strong with this episode

The Acolyte has been something of a mixed bag so far, but episode 5 is a game-changer in terms of sheer quality. This episode featured some of the best lightsaber combat I’ve seen since Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, perhaps bettered only by the Ahsoka-Maul animated duel in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7. The fight choreography was stunning, and all the more impressive given much of it really was performed by the cast of The Acolyte; Manny Jacinto in particular deserves high praise.

If you’ll pardon a technical observation, this was also shot with tremendous skill. Star Wars has often struggled with nighttime action scenes, especially when lightsabers are involved; the LED lighting causes problems, an especially pronounced issue with blue light. But The Acolyte episode 5 is beautifully shot, with the lighting carefully controlled to make sure everything can be seen perfectly. It was delightful, and a massive improvement from previous Lucasfilm stumbles such as the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale.

The tremendous quality of The Acolyte episode 5 puts the lie to the review-bombers. It serves as a reminder that it’s best not to attack until a show has finished, until it has been given a chance; these are instead people who had long since made up ther minds, resolving to hate The Acolyte simply because it is somehow “woke.” The sheer scale of their actions – review-bombing, AI, and death threats – already seemed as though it was out of all proportion. The Acolyte episode 5 seals the deal, proving that is the case.