The penultimate episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi is another mixed bag of an episode where the highs have you soaring, and the lows have you falling asleep. I am going to come in hot on this review; I don't care about Jabiim and the people on it. The show has not given me a reason to care about the residents of Jabiim, my attention was on Obi-Wan, Vader and Reva. I even found myself not enjoying Leia whenever she was on screen, the actress for Leia has done a good job, but the character has served her purpose. When I reviewed the first four episodes I mentioned that the episodes varied in quality, but with only one more episode to go I think this series has so far been a disappointment. The only reasons fans were excited was because of the Obi-Wan and Vader conflict that we were expecting, but I wonder if doing a 2-hour film might have been better. I liked whenever Vader and/or the inquisitors are on the screen, but unless Obi-Wan is with them than I find his stuff boring. I do not believe Obi-Wan Kenobi is a bad show, but its lack of consistency is keeping it from being a good show.
The Disney era Star Wars has been careful with how they are using Darth Vader; we are not seeing him dominate screen time, but it is working that fan are always left wanting more. Seeing Vader play Reva was amazing, there is a reason he was so feared across the galaxy. I am glad that the Grand Inquisitor was revealed to be alive, I figured as much because we know he was alive during the Rebels series. I liked that Reva was so blinded by her anger that she did not think Vader could sense her true intentions. It is the little touches like Vader sensing her true intentions and using her until she was no longer useful that make the series work for me. The inquisitors are such a cool creation that I never expected, but I am glad someone had that idea. It was almost comical that Reva believed she could have any chance against Vader, Reva is so clouded by her hatred that she was blind to how powerless she is when compared to Vader. Vader is such an animal in this series, and it is the coolest thing that Vader is very scary here just like he was in Rogue One.
EPISODE FIVE RECAP
The episode begins with a flashback to Coruscant, we see Obi-Wan, and Anakin start a lightsaber sparring session. The episode switches to an Empire starcruiser where we see Reva report the location of Obi-Wan to Vader who makes her kneel and he gives her the rank of grand inquisitor. Obi-Wan and Leia arrive on Jabiim, Haja is now there because he is on the run after having the run in with Reva. The refugees on Jabiim are preparing to evacuate the planet, but Vader orders the city be sealed. Reva says they can hold out for days, but Vader replies that breaking the refugees is not his goal he wants to break Obi-Wan. The Empire is able to control L0-LA59 so they make the droid disable the facility locking them inside so they cannot escape the planet in a ship. The action flashed back to the sparring session, Obi-Wan says that Anakin is being too aggressive, a Jedi's goal is to defend life, not end it. Anakin replies that mercy doesn't defeat the enemy. Obi-Wan tells the refugees that they will defend the entrances, and that the focus is on getting away. Reva and a team of Stormtroopers arrive at the entrance to the base, they use a heavy gun to start blasting away at the door. Leia is climbing into the vents to see why the overhead doors won't open, Haja is instructed to watch over her. Obi-Wan gets a communication from Bail saying that the silence has him worried, Bail is worried that Vader has learned of the children and that if he does not hear from Obi-Wan soon he will go to Tatooine to help Owen with Luke.
Tala tells Obi-Wan why she is helping, when she worked for the Empire, she was tasked with rounding up four families who were force sensitive. Tala said they were told that these families had not paid their taxes, but the inquisitors arrived and killed them all. Tala says that there were fourteen of them, eight adults and six children. Tala is trying to atone now for those deaths, they are interrupted by the Empire about to breakthrough the doors. Obi-Wan goes to the door to try and speak with Reva, he wants to buy the refugees as much time as he can. Obi-Wan figures out that the only way Reva could know that Vader is Anakin was if she was a youngling at the Jedi temple. Reva tells Obi-Wan her story which starts on the night of Order 66. Reva witnessed Anakin kill the Jedi and younglings in the temple, she pretended to be dead. Obi-Wan senses that she is not serving Vader, but rather she is hunting him, and he tells her he can help her. Reva says she cannot trust him, she believes he cannot/will not kill Anakin she says it is partially his fault for not stopping him since he was Obi-Wan's Padawan. Reva then breaks door open forcing the refugees to engage the Empire which they do.
The refugees suffer losses, but they push the Empire back after Tala who becomes wounded and sacrifices herself using a grenade to take out the charging Stormtroopers. On the Starcruiser Vader orders Reva to stand down, he believes Obi-Wan is already theirs. Another flashback to the sparring session sees Anakin winning the fight against Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan says he will surrender to the Empire, as this will buy the refugees the time to get the door open and escape. Leia find L0-LA59 in the control panel. Obi-Wan surrenders and is brought before Reva where he tells her that he is bringing Vader to her, will Reva let him do it again kill all the refugees including the children. Obi-Wan says they could end this together; Reva then asks why he won't see it coming to which Obi-Wan replies that all he will see is me. Reva then instructs the guards to bring him inside the refugee base. Another flashback sees Obi-Wan losing to Anakin again, and when Anakin thinks he has won Obi-Wan says that his need for victory blinds him. Vader has arrived on Jabiim, and he plans on bring Obi-Wan in himself, but Obi-Wan has dispatched his two guards and is returning to the refugees.
Leia has freed L0-LA59 from the Empire's control, and they start working on how to fix the overhead doors. The refugees make for the transport ships as the doors open, including Haja who loses the communicator that Obi-Wan gave him that has Bail's message on it. Vader arrives and sees a ship escaping which he uses the Force to pull it out of the air and back to the ground. The ship was a diversion as when Vader's focus was on the one ship the other was able to leave safely. We see another flashback of the duel and now Obi-Wan without a lightsaber fights off Anakin, and then takes Anakin's lightsaber. Obi-Wan tells Anakin that even though he is a great warrior, his need to prove himself will hold him back until he can get past that need. Reva comes behind Vader to attack him, but he sensed her presence, and he is able to block her lightsaber thrust. Vader and Reva fight, but Vader easily defeats her impaling her with a lightsaber. Vader admits he sensed her anger all along, and we see the Grand Inquisitor is still alive. The Grand Inquisitor takes his position back from Reva, and they leave her on the ground. The refugees are not free yet, as the hyperdrive is down and the Empire is following them. Reva finds the communicator that Haja dropped, and she hears the message Bail sent to Obi-Wan; Reva now knows to head to Tatooine. Obi-Wan senses this and we see a sleeping Luke as the episode ends.
WRAPPING UP EPISODE FIVE
This episode really worked for me, but as I mentioned above it was not a perfect episode for me as any time the focus shifted away from Obo-Wan, Vader or Reva, I found myself bored. The flashback to a sparring session between Obi-Wan and Anakin was a good touch that finally gave Hayden Christensen something to do. Those sparring sessions were fun, and they managed to capture the style of the prequels with those flashbacks which I thought was a nice touch. The prequels are not great films, but they are not as bad as people think they are (watch the prequels and then Rise of Skywalker). The prequels suffered from George Lucas not having anybody keeping him in line, there was nobody overseeing him which meant all his worst ideas made it into the final cut of the films. There is a reason that some of the best films come from a team effort of writers, producers, directors, editors and actors. The prequels were just actors and George Lucas, and Lucas was known for not giving actors much to work with in terms of direction. We know George Lucas is a capable director, writer and producer, but his best work was always done in a collaborative way which the prequels were not done in that way. The Disney era Star Wars has been a collaborative effort, and that is why I believe that is has overall been a success (except for Rise of Skywalker). The one complaint I have is with the sequel trilogy, and how it is now obvious that there was absolutely no plan for that trilogy. The new trilogy did not have a story map before they started making the films, each one felt disconnected from the previous film, and that is on the creative team behind those films.
The series is titled Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I find that the show has not always managed to give Obi-Wan the dramatic material we were hoping for. The series was described using Logan as an inspiration, but where Logan gave Hugh Jackman a lot of material to work with, Obi-Wan has left Ewan McGregor feeling like a secondary character at times. The writers seem a lot more interested in Reva's story than in Kenobi's which has left me a little disappointed. I like Reva as a character, and I think the performance given by Moses Ingram has been a lot better than I expected. I believe that her pain and anger has twisted her into someone who has embraced the darkside, and it also makes sense that she would be easy for Vader to read. The appearance by the Grand Inquisitor was perfect, he has the perfect voice for the condescending tone he uses with Reva. I always thought that Reva was going to be revealed as a youngling, and I thought either she would be saved Obi-Wan and brought back to the light or she would turn against Vader by embracing the darkside further. I believe that Reva will use her anger and hate as weapons to make herself stronger. Despite Reva being given a mortal wound, we see that she is still able to move which is something established in the Clone Wars animated show. In Clone Wars it was revealed that Darth Maul didn't die at the end of The Phantom Menace; Maul was able to survive by using the darkside and his anger to fuel his will to live. I think Reva's desire for vengeance will give her the strength needed to keep her going long enough to be important in the final episode.
I am not sure what will happen in episode six, we have established that the refugee has no hyperdrive so I am curious where it will go. Reva learning about Tatooine will be interesting since we know Vader won't learn about Leia and Luke for a long time still. Tala's sacrifice while impactful also felt like a trope that Star Wars has been using too much since Rogue One. I know that the show used an image of Obi-Wan standing in what looks to be a desert facing off against a red lightsaber. I am sure that will be revealed to be Reva, but I wonder if the last episode will feature Obi-Wan in two confrontations one with Vader and the last will be Reva. In Rebels Obi-Wan finally kills Darth Maul, Maul goes to Tatooine, and he sees Luke and Obi-Wan cannot let him live with that information. Obi-Wan quickly dispatches Maul, and then comforts him with the knowledge that Luke will do what they could not. My favourite part of Obi-Wan's history is the moment with Maul from Rebels and his fight with Anakin on Mustafar. I was hoping that Obi-Wan and Vader would have another fight on Mustafar (in Vader's castle) that will end with Obi-Wan getting away but barely. I am not sure that will happen, but the show has me excited for the finale.
My rating for episode went up after my second viewing, as even though I had issues with the Jabiim refugees the stuff with Vader, Obi-Wan and Reva was all so amazing. I am going to give episode five a 9/10 since I think it was the most exciting episode we have seen so far. The show has probably been a 6-7/10 for me, but this episode has delivered what I wanted which is more Vader and Obi-Wan. I think Leia's presence should have ended at either the end of episode two or the beginning of episode three. If the refugees on Jabiim contained some familiar faces than I might have cared about them, but to me they meant nothing but wasted time. The show's strengths were on full display in this episode as we saw Vader demonstrate just how powerful he was during that time. In the prequels we were told that Anakin was the most powerful Jedi, but we never saw it in action as others like Yoda and Obi-Wan shone more brightly. This series has put into perspective the idea that Anakin was powerful, but he never managed to reach his potential as a Jedi because he was not a Jedi. Anakin was never able to exceed Yoda or Obi-Wan because his instincts did not fit with what a Jedi was. The path of the Sith allowed Anakin to reach his full potential and seeing him pull a starship from the air was amazing. This episode has left me pumped up for the finale, I believe this series can be great if it delivers an incredible ending to the series.
Thank you for reading my review, and please let me know if episode five worked for you like it worked for me.
Post a Comment