Viewer Log: Obi-Wan Kenobi ep 5

Vader and Anakin are intertwined, and that can be useful. 

Last time on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Leia was being held at Fortress Inquisitorous on the moon Nur in the Mustifar system. Obi-Wan, injured but at least not on death’s door after his fight with Darth Vader, insists they go save her. The Path agents are less than thrilled to help, but Tala volunteers to help. They make it to Nur just as Reva begins interrogating Leia. Thankfully, she takes after her bio parents in terms of being obstinate and in resisting Force Mind delves. Tala used her Imperial clearance to break into the facility and help Obi-Wan through. In the bowels of the facility, Obi-Wan finds that the Inquisitors are housing the bodies of Force users in amber cells. Obi-Wan freed Leia before she was really tortured. This was possible in no small part thanks to Tala outing herself to Reva and giving her fake intel on the Path. Obi-Wan, Tala and Leia escape, Obi-Wan using the Force to hold back water from a busted observation window to help them escape. This was the biggest thing he’d moved in years. They escape into the hanger and get away thanks to a pair of Path pilots flying in to save their asses. One of them is killed and everyone is broken up about it who knew him. Vader upon hearing this is, well, Vader pissed and starts choking out Reva, but Reva reveals she has a tracker on Obi-Wan that he won’t get rid of. The tracker having been implanted in Leia’s LOLA droid. Damn. Well, that’s enough recap. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Episode 5: Part 5

 

Okay, he can't pass for 20 anymore, but you're on
something if you don't think Hayden looks good
for his age.

We open on a flashback to Obi-Wan and Anakin on Coruscant sometime between Episode 2 and 3, before Anakin’s promotion to full Jedi. They have a friendly training duel with their lightsabers. As their lightsabers touch, we jump forward to Vader looking out on space. The Third Sister arrives and lets him know that Obi-Wan is on Jabiim. He tells her she did well and tells her to kneel. He dubs her the Grand Inquisitor and has his captain put the little pin on her. Then orders they head toward Jabiim.

 

The Path ship lands on Jabiim. The assembled fugitives watch as Obi-Wan and crew disembark. Obi-Wan sees Haja in the crowd. Turns out, after standing up to Reva, he’s now a wanted fugitive… so he had no choice but to come here. He’s keeping chipper about it though, saying this is a great business opportunity for him. I guess he left Jayco? Dick. Obi-Wan asks to use their ship to get Leia to Alderaan. Roken agrees, but after they get the refugees out. The people they’ve gathered have been waiting for months and they’re on a very tight schedule. Obi-Wan agrees that’s the right call. Roken tells his people to get ready.

 

So sad to see the thing he has become.

Vader watches out the window as they fly through Hyperspace. Reva tells him they’re almost there. He says to lock down the facility. Reva points out that giving them time to prepare would make them hard to break, Vader claims that they aren’t the ones they need to break.

 

Lola comes online and flies off, her evil red eye glowing. She flies into a hatch and starts looking around. Obi-Wan sees a wall of signatures of people that had been through the Path. The note The light will fade, but is never forgotten, sticks out to him. He sees a pile of lightsabers and other Jedi gear by the wall. As he looks at them, Lola shorts out the hatch, sealing it. They realize that the controls aren’t responding at the same time a Star Destroyer warps in. Obi-Wan, knowing the man behind the mask, says that Vader will attack next, as he has no patience for a siege. Roken asks how he knows.

 

Obi-Wan flashes back to his duel. Anakin fights his master doggedly, with Obi-Wan telling him that he grows too aggressive. Anakin claims mercy never defeated the enemy and keeps attacking. And that’s why he’s going to lose

 

Vader in space orders the attack to begin.

 

Obi-Wan gives a speech to the crowd. He tells them they don’t have to beat the Empire, who is better equipped, armed and trained, but just hold out until they can escape. Obi-Wan tells Roken to get the door open in one hour, Roken said it’d take 3, and to everyone else to lock down remote access to the facility.  

 

Dropships start their approach as we see a quick montage of the Path refugees quickly locking down the facility ant turning it into a war bunker. They finish as the Stormtroopers land and load up some sort of large cannon. Reva lands and order them to fire on the door. Meanwhile, Roken hasn’t gotten the doors open. Haja sarcastically asks if he’s tried climbing into the vents to see what’s happening. Leia hears this suggestion and volunteers to do it. Roken is skeptical, but Obi-Wan vouches for her and says to get her the ladder she asks for. Obi-Wan asks Haja to look after her as his communicator starts going off. Leia gets into the vent and starts working. Obi-Wan turns on his communicator. Bail left him a message saying that he’s worried and that if he doesn’t hear from Obi-Wan soon he’ll assume the worst and head to Tatooine to look after the boy. Tala joins him. She tells him her “I was just following orders” story. Basically, on a planet called Garel, she helped gather up four families of Force Sensitives and watched as 14 people (six of them kids) die. It’s because of that moment that she turned against the empire. She says that there are some things that they can’t forget, but they can fight to make them better. Roken comes in and tells them they’re in trouble. He also has a bowcaster? Huh. That’s cool. The doors won’t hold much longer, so Obi-Wan tells them he wants to speak to the Inquisitor.

 

Bet you that Obi-Wan really misses the days when
the guys in white armor were on his side.

Upon hearing he wants to negotiate, Reva bites and goes to the door to speak with him. Through the heavy door they speak. Reva says this stalling tactic won’t work because Vader wants him at all costs. Obi-Wan asks her how she knew the Vader = Anakin Skywalker, as obviously few people knew what Anakin’s Sith name was when he still had 3/4ths of his limbs. Obi-Wan realizes that she was a Youngling on the night of Order 66. We flashback to the opening scene of the series. A young Reva watched as Anakin cut down her friends. She played dead and hid amongst the bodies until everyone left. Obi-Wan realizes that Reva isn’t serving Vader, but is hunting him, doing her best to get close enough to him to kill him. He offers to help him, but she’s not sure she can believe him. She asks why he didn’t stop him, his padawan. Reva says she doesn’t need his help. When Obi-wan says she won’t stop him alone, she says “You have no idea what I’ve done alone,” and lightsabers the door open. Obi-Wan throws her back and the fight begins.

 

Definitely, definitely misses them.

Obi-Wan does his best to take out Stormtroopers while the others shoot who they can. They’re forced back into tighter confines, which kind o f works for them. Haja, nervous, yells at Leia to hurry and find the red breaker. The Path folks fall back, Tala and NED-B being at the front as they move. When they get in real close, NED-B starts throwing people about. Tala takes a gut injury, and NED-B is killed protecting her. Obi-Wan tries to reach her but the Stormtroopers hold him back. Tala tells him to go, shoots the door controls to close them and tells Obi-Wan “May the Force be with you,” as she holds up a grenade. She set it off, presumably forcing the Empire back for a while. They fall back to the hanger, where Leia is still working on getting the doors open.

 

On his ship, Vader is told that Reva is through the doors. He orders her to stand down, as he feels that Kenobi is already theirs.

 

We cut back to the duel, Anakin gets Obi-Wan down to the ground and tells him to surrender. Obi-Wan in the hanger says that they’ve lost and goes to face Vader. Roken and Haja are against this, but Obi-Wan insists it’s the only way. He knows Vader and knows he won’t stop until he has Obi-Wan. He also knows Vader knows he’ll do anything to help these people but is expecting him to surrender. He’s going to fight instead. He hands over his lightsaber, blaster, and communicator to Haja, telling him to look after Leia. Roken asks how he can fight without weapons, and Obi-Wan says there are other ways to fight. He goes outside and is seized. Leia is still looking for the switch and doesn’t see evil Lola floating.

 

Reva orders they inform Vader that Kenobi is theirs. When Reva gloats that he’ll die soon, Obi-Wan tells her that they aren’t bringing him to Vader, he’s bringing Vader to her. He pokes at Reva’s psychological damage and ask if she’ll really let Vader slaughter innocent families again just to get what she wants. She whispers to him and asks how he knows Vader won’t see it coming, to which Obi-Wan claims, all he’ll see is me. Reva walks back and orders they bring Obi-Wan back inside.

 

During the duel in the past, Obi-Wan gets back up and the fight continues. Anakin disarms him. He claims victory. Obi-Wan tells him that his need for victory blinds him.

 

Vader lands and marches through troops. Reva tells him that Obi-Wan is secure inside. Inside, Obi-Wan frees himself and kills the guards. Leia, meanwhile, has found the right wire and begins to fix it. Lola attacks her… sort of. Imagine if someone’s pet pigeon started flying at their head, a bit shocking but, like, not even a little dangerous. She grabs Lola, sees she has a restraining bolt in her wing and removes it. Lola goes back to normal instantly. Vader walks in and sees his men dead and just keeps walking. Leia gets the doors open and the Path people load up as Obi-Wan joins them. He congradulates Leia and gives her the bad news about Tala. During the shuffle, Haja accidentally drops Obi-Wan’s communicator. They head for the ship.

 

Light, Vader is a badass.

Vader stalks in. The ship takes off, he catches it with the Force, though, and pulls it back down. He rips it apart to get to Obi-Wan… only to discover the ship empty. No, they were on the other ship, farther back in frame. I guess they were controlling this one remotely. While Vader was distracted, they power on their engines and fly away. Need for victory blinds him, indeed.

 

In the flashback, Obi-Wan gets around Anakin and uses the Force to disarm him. He tells his student that he is a great warrior, but his need to prove himself is his undoing. He tells him he needs to overcome it, and he’ll be a padawan until he does.

 

In the present, while Vader (I assume) angrily looks up at the escaped ship, Reva tries to kill him. But he stops her saber with the Force. He turns and tells her that Obi-Wan was wise to use her against Vader. Reva keeps trying to attack him, but Vader blocks with the Force. He completely owns the fight, stealing her doubleblade saber and splitting it in two to allow her to defend herself. He ends up with both Sabers again shortly, though. He runs her through and lets her drop to the ground. He asks her if she really believed that he didn’t recognize her. The Stormtroopers come in, lead by the OG Grand Inquisitor. He takes his little pin back. He claims that her rage was useful, for a while, but it grew tiresome. He tells her they’re leaving her in the gutter where she belongs before they leave.

 

Meanwhile, the ship leaves the atmosphere and flies off. Roken tells Obi-Wan that the hyperdrive is down and the Empire is in pursuit. On the ground, Reva gets her saber back, and notices the communicator a few feet away. It was smashed into the ground during the retreat. On the ship, Obi-Wan starts zoning out, sensing the immense danger. Reva gets the communicator working just well enough to hear that there’s a boy on Tatooine that is important. Well… shit. Obi-Wan tells Roken not to worry. The episode ends on a young Luke sleeping at home. Crap.

 

This is a great penultimate episode. This episode really played with the most underutilized aspect of the Star Wars mythos, at least since the duel on Mustifar, the connection between Obi-Wan and Vader. We got to see both sides react and counter each other based on what they know of each other. The line from Obi-Wan about Vader not having the patience for a siege and Vader knowing that Obi-Wan is the one they need to crack were two of the best ones. I liked the flashback duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin. I’ll say it, Hayden Christensen has aged amazingly well. Like, I don’t believe he’s 18-20, but I won’t guess he’s 41. Using the duel as the framing device of how Obi-Wan knows the best way to mislead Vader is great. A good way to highlight how, despite Anakin becoming Vader and “moving past” Obi-Wan, he’s still that boy Obi-Wan beat. The reveal of Reva’s plan was pretty good. I almost had forgotten about the children in the beginning, so the reveal that that was young Reva is crazy. The duel between her and Vader is great. You see all her rage and hate, but also Vader’s complete and total indifference to her. Like, half the fight he was basically saying “nope” and willing her lightsaber away. I am a little fuzzy how she survived a gut wound, but what you going to do. I totally saw the Grand Inquisitor still being alive, though. Why? Because I saw Star Wars: Rebels, where he’s the first season antagonist, and saw him die there. Rebels happens about five or so years after this. Tala's sacrifice was extremely well done. I got choked up a bit as she pulled the May the Force be With You before her death got me chocked up a bit. The foreshadowing that Luke is going to be in trouble while Obi-Wan can’t get away from Darth Vader is terrifying. Like, I know Luke is fine, both for the movie and how I also have already seen the next episode, but I’m still scared. Reva might mess him up. But we’ll see tomorrow. Have a good night. 

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