Parallels Between 'The Acolyte' And 'Kill Bill'

Star Wars

Jul 29

Kill Bill and The Acolyte side by side — Image Source: CultureSlate

Ah, revenge, sweet revenge. This has been a motif for many movies and TV shows for decades, and many of these center on men seeking revenge for their dishonored women, such as The Crow, Gladiator, and The Northman. But, what happens when the women stand up for themselves? Throughout history, we have been warned that “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned”. As soon as I watched the opening scene of The Acolyte, I thought to myself, “Wow, this is just like Kill Bill”!

Why would I make such an instant connection?

5. Revenge

It was apparent that Mae was out for revenge when she walked up to Carrie Anne Moss’s Jedi Master Indara telling her to attack her with all her strength, as they had “unfinished business”. Uma Thurman as "The Bride” starts Kill Bill in a similar fashion: The title card at the movie’s opening is “Revenge is a dish best served cold” (Old Klingon Proverb) pretty much tells us what this feature is all about. These ladies have a score to settle.

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4. Flashbacks

Both The Acolyte and Kill Bill use flashbacks to explain their characters’ thirst for revenge. The use of black-and-white filming in Kill Bill, Vol.1 lets us know that the opening scene takes place in 1998, while the rest of the movie takes place in the present of 2003. In the opening sequence, we see The Bride’s bloodied face looking up at the off-screen Bill as he’s talking to her and finally shoots her. It takes a few episodes of The Acolyte before we are finally shown the events that happened sixteen years before the present-day action. This is also a violent event, as a fire has destroyed the setting and there have been many casualties, all of Mae’s family. This is what drives her in the present day.

3. Mentors

Both Mae and The Bride have mentors that lead them down the assassin’s path. The Bride was part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, under the tutelage of the legendary David Carradine, AKA “Snake Charmer”, the Bill of the title. He is the father of her baby and, by having The Bride train with him and the martial artist Pai Mei, how The Bride has all the skills she needs to hunt down the members of the Squad and, finally, kill Bill. As the theme in Star Wars goes, the learner has surpassed the master. Mae also has a mentor. Played by Manny Jacinta, he is the mysterious “Stranger”, who, like Bill, goes by an alias, Qimir. This stranger goads Mae to kill a Jedi without using a weapon.

2. Hit Lists

Both Mae and The Bride have their hit lists. This also smacks of Arya Stark’s kill list in the Game of Thrones series, but I digress. Mae is tracking down the Jedi who were on her homeworld of Brendok. We see through flashbacks exactly how each had a role in the tragedy that led to the deaths of Mae and Osha’s mother, along with the entire coven, leading to their being tracked down and killed. In both Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, we see through flashbacks each of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad’s roles in the attempted murder of The Bride.

1. Unusual Techniques To Kill

OSha kills Sol — Image Source: Screenrant

At the end of The Acolyte, it’s realized that Osha is the true Acolyte, and she and The Bride, whose name we find out in Kill Bill Vol. 2 is Beatrix, use unusual techniques to kill their former mentors. They can only use these because of their own unique situations. Osha Force-chokes her former Jedi Master and mentor Sol upon learning the truth behind her mother’s death, thus fulfilling the mandate by the Stranger that the Jedi should be killed without using a weapon. This shocks everyone who is witness to the scene. While Osha had been Sol’s Padawan, she had never been trained in the Dark Side of the Force; the revelation that Sol admits brings out the Dark Side in her. Unlike Osha, who has only been trained in the Light Side of the Force, Beatrix has been trained by the highest-level martial artist, Pai Mei, for her to accomplish her assassin goals. They both had a hiatus in their training: Osha left the Jedi Order six years before the beginning of The Acolyte, and Beatrix had a forced vacation from being an assassin when she was in a coma for four years; however, the power they need is still inside of them, ready to use. With the knowledge and training still inside of her, Beatrix is able to use the Five-Point-Palm Exploding Heart Technique, emotionally killing Bill.

It took two full-length feature films to show the complete story of Beatrix and Bill. With Mae’s kill list complete and Osha the true Acolyte, will we be treated to Season Two of The Acolyte to continue the story?

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