The following contains major spoilers for The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 5, "Night," now streaming on Disney+.

Whenever fans think they know precisely what will happen in the next episode of The Acolyte, the Star Wars show comes up with some shocking new obstacles for them to overcome. Showrunner Leslye Headland has a knack for crafting some of the galaxy's most fascinating twists and turns, turning the show into one of the most compelling mysteries the franchise has seen up to this point. It's been an absolute joy to watch, and the remaining episodes are sure to be just as delightful. The characters each encounter problems that speak to their personalities, which makes them even more compelling.

Mae's challenge to defeat a Jedi without a weapon has proved one of her greatest difficulties. So far, she has eliminated two of her targets (though three of them are dead, as Master Kelnacca fell at the hands of her master after she renounced him). She took down Master Indara with a knife, and it took poison (taken willingly) to kill Torbin. However, an unlikely character - Mae's twin sister Osha - managed to do what she was supposed to with very little training.

How Did Osha Defeat Qimir?

The combat in The Acolyte's fifth episode packed a massive punch. However, interestingly enough, the show's protagonist, Osha, didn't get to partake in much of the action. Rather, she's sent away at the beginning of the fight. After all, she's no longer a Jedi. In their eyes, she's nothing more than a civilian who happens to be on the battlefront. She doesn't want to go, of course, but when Master Sol tasks Yord, the most rule-following Jedi the Order has possibly ever seen, ensuring she makes it back without incident, she has no choice but to obey. However, Osha has her plan. When she realizes her friends are in danger, she appeals to the love Yord has for them as well - and it hits her that she knows just how to save them if everyone will simply trust in her abilities.

Though she's spent the whole walk back to the ship chiding Yord for still having his lightsaber on in a forest full of deadly moths that are drawn to light, now, she clicks on her flashlight. When she takes off running, a stirring in the trees suggests that she's not the only one on her way toward Sol, Jecki, and Qimir. They arrive back on the scene and startle Qimir, though his true identity shocks Yord long enough for Qimir to snap his neck. This pushes Sol close to his breaking point, and he nearly takes Qimir down on his own.

Osha pulls him back from the dark side, reminding him that Jedi don't attack the unarmed, no matter what they may have done in the past. Right as she does so, she hears rustling from above and knows that her plan is about to come to fruition. Qimir, of course, talks as much smack about the Jedi Order and their foolish rules as he can muster, which allows Osha to catch him even more off guard. She rushes from the shadows, the flashlight head of her beloved droid Pip in hand, and plants the brilliant light in the harness on his back. The umbramoths swoop down and carry him away, saving the lives of all those present and effectively defeating him even though he wasn't killed - all without the use of a weapon, just as Qimir challenged Mae to do in her quest for vengeance.

Osha Fulfilled Mae's Mission

By (momentarily) defeating Qimir in this way, Osha involuntarily fulfilled the very mission Mae claimed was impossible in the previous episode. The flashlight certainly wasn't a weapon in the way a lightsaber, a knife, or even poison is. Rather, Osha determined how to best use the circumstances she found herself in so that she could guarantee her success. She thought on her feet in a way that would be admirable to even the strongest warriors and used her mind to her advantage. In doing so, she also proved wrong everyone who insisted that she couldn't hold her own when in situations like this, especially since the other Jedi there insisted on referring to her as a civilian and trying to escort her away even though she was, at one point, a Jedi just like them. She did precisely what Qimir wanted, and demonstrated that not only was it possible, it wasn't nearly as difficult as anyone made it sound. She had no idea she was doing any of that, of course - she just thought she was saving Sol's life - but regardless, it's an impressive feat.

The ease with which Osha did this suggests, perhaps, that Mae had doubts about what she was tasked with doing from the very beginning. During her conversations with Qimir, before she knew he was the person giving her all these seemingly insurmountable goals in the first place, she suggests that there's no way to defeat a Jedi without using a weapon. The idea was that, if Mae were to try to take a Jedi down while unarmed, the Jedi would retaliate simply because someone was threatening their life. This would prove that their idea of refusing to attack someone who wasn't armed was inherently flawed and that by violating it, the Jedi Order would become the villains both Mae and Qimir believed them to be. It was the final lesson for her to learn, and perhaps that's why she was so hesitant to do it in the first place. If she committed to this, there could have been no chance for her to ever return to the light and try to be a good person again. Though she had no love for the Jedi, perhaps killing them wasn't the best move, especially since her sister, whose survival changed everything, cared so deeply about them. It's an interesting window into Mae and something that will only be fleshed out more in the remaining episodes of the series.

Will Qimir Try to Train Osha?

However, there could be a much darker side to Osha's defeat of Qimir. At the end of the fifth episode, Mae stuns Osha, swaps their clothes, and goes back out to meet Sol, who, at this point, doesn't seem to have any clue that the girl with him isn't his former apprentice. The two of them leave together - which could provide the background for her attack on him, given that her previous attempt fell short. More interestingly than that, Qimir's the one to find Osha lying where her sister abandoned her, dressed in Mae's clothing, and dealing with a terrible wound. He cares for her with more tenderness than audiences have seen from him up to this point, covering her with his cloak in a way that suggests, despite everything, he did genuinely have affection toward his apprentice as a human being rather than just as a stepping stone on his path to greatness.

It's foolish to think Qimir doesn't know that he's got a different twin than the one he started with. Though the girls may be identical, their Force signatures are unique, as everybody's are. Similar, sure, but they certainly aren't quite the same. Combined with his pre-existing knowledge that Mae swore off his teachings and sought to forge her path in the galaxy, perhaps he's leaping at the opportunity to take someone else under his wing. All he wants is a pupil, someone to be loyal to him and help him carry out his mission (though the nature of that remains unclear). He's lost one. Now, another one has risen from the ashes, and he won't let her get away this time.

After all, Osha could prove to be far more malleable than Mae despite her Jedi background. He's already planted the seeds that everything she knows about the people she grew up around is a lie. He made it clear that Sol isn't someone to be trusted, and now that she's with him instead of her master, Qimir has the chance to tell Osha whatever he wants her to hear without the risk that Sol's going to disagree with him or provide his version of events. She already completed his most difficult task (though, of course, she didn't take down a Jedi, but Qimir himself, which could be more impressive). This might make Qimir believe she's more worthy of his legacy than her sister was. Therefore, it would make sense for him to try to indoctrinate her in the wake of her sister's betrayal, and this could lead to an interesting change in roles for the latter half of The Acolyte. Fans will just have to see what direction The Acolyte takes in the remaining episodes before leaping to any sort of conclusions.