At long last, the penultimate episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi delivered on a moment that Prequel Era fans have been long-awaiting since the start of the series. In the opening moments of Episode 5, a young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) waits to duel with his Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and this moment is revisited throughout the episode as both Darth Vader and Kenobi recall their differing approaches to battle. Anakin is impatient, hungry for victory, and rage-filled, something that drives him towards short-term victories, but long-term defeats.
Kenobi has quietly set up another character to be a foil to Vader; the clues have been there all along, but with Episode 5 the audience gets to see it all pulled together as Obi-Wan Kenobi pieces things together. Early in the episode, with victory looming as the Empire has Kenobi and his band of supporters pinned down on Jabiim, Reva (Moses Ingram) gets what she’s been impatiently waiting for. Seeing her potential—or perhaps seeing how he can harness her determination—Darth Vader promotes her to Grand Inquisitor and sends her after Kenobi once more.
On Jabiim, things are getting dire and Kenobi sees how his mission to rescue Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) may impact an entire operation that has been designed to protect people just like him. He idly examines the graffiti on the walls that stand as, perhaps, the last records of Jedi who have fled for their lives. The weight of Order 66 looms heavily over Episode 5, just as his inaction over the past decade weighs on him. Despite the odds being heavily against them, Kenobi and Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) rally the forces to hold the line when the Empire arrives, buying them enough time to get systems back online.
In last week’s episode, Reva planted a restraining bolt on Leia’s droid L0-LA, but this doesn't just allow her to track the group's whereabouts. The device also allows for remote control of the droid, allowing Reva to use L0-LA to shut down the facility, trapping Kenobi and the others inside. Leia volunteers to climb up into the vent system to investigate what’s going on and, with a little resistance from Roken, she heads up a ladder and into the vent system under the watchful eye of Haja (Kumail Nanjiani).
Obi-Wan receives a message on his holoprojector, and he steals away down one of the cavernous corridors to listen to the message that Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) has left for him. Like any father of a kidnapped child, Bail is worried about Leia’s fate, but he is also concerned that Darth Vader may have learned the truth about who the children are. He informs Obi-Wan that he is headed to Tatooine to offer help to Owen—a risky message to send across the galaxy, even Kenobi is the intended destination. Before Kenobi returns to the rest of the group, Tala (Indira Varma) joins him in the corridor and speaks to him about why she does what she does. And if this speech didn’t spell the end for her, I would have honestly been surprised.
When Reva arrives on Jabiim, Obi-Wan devises a plan to hold them off, buying the group enough time to prepare their escape vessel and hopefully get the systems back online. He and Reva engage in conversation through the heavy metal door, and Kenobi attempts to sway her to his side. Like the audience of the past few weeks, Kenobi deduced that Reva’s actions are not entirely in line with the other Inquisitors, and it seems personal—because it is. During their conversation, it is revealed that Reva was one of the Jedi younglings shown in the premiere and that is how she knows that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker. She was there when he attacked the younglings, and she survived by playing dead. From that moment forward, she devised a plan to get her revenge and take down Darth Vader from the inside. Her animosity towards Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t entirely for show either, as she chastises him for letting his Padawan cause all of that death and destruction.
Kenobi’s attempts to sway Reva are unsuccessful and she and her Stormtroopers begin to attack. Most of the group is able to survive the siege, but there are tragic losses. As they retreat down a corridor, Tala is struck in the stomach by a blaster bolt, and rather than die in vain or try to limp out of the situation, she opts to go out in a blaze of glory with NED-B—giving Kenobi and the rest of them more time to escape. It’s a tragic end to a character who had a lot of potential, but it is also reminiscent of Rogue One, where the stakes are high, and the losses are tragic. Following Tala’s death, Kenobi devises a plan to surrender, much to Roken’s chagrin. But Kenobi is confident that surrendering will give them the most time to escape, considering Vader is after him, and he assumes that playing into Anakin’s particular brand of overconfidence will provide Reva with a perfect opportunity to get her revenge.
By the time that Darth Vader arrives on Jabiim, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of the group are already aboard their transport and fleeing from the scene. With Darth Vader’s focus on Obi-Wan’s escape, Reva makes her move to strike him down. But of course, Vader has known all along that she has ulterior motives. Likely because of his connection to the Force, but also because they are kindred spirits. Her actions are not dissimilar from the actions he would take. Reva is a lot like Anakin. She’s impulsive and driven by a need for revenge, and ultimately someone who was never given the tools to overcome childhood trauma. Palpatine may have been skillfully orchestrating Anakin’s fall to the dark side, but that descent was made easy by the Jedi teachings.
Vader and Reva engage in a duel that mirrors the flashbacks between Anakin and Obi-Wan—with Reva taking on the role of the ambitious Padawan who is easily bested by the Master. Darth Vader runs her through with her own lightsaber and taunts her with further failure. The Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) strolls in, entirely recovered from Reva running him through in one of his stomachs, and goads her about revenge. Defeated and left to die, Reva makes a discovery that will undoubtedly lead to major repercussions in the finale.
Aboard the transport, Kenobi feels the disturbance in the Force as Reva recovers his holoprojector and plays the message from Bail. Not only does Reva know that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader, she now knows that there is something important about Luke and Leia.
The fifth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi is a masterclass of skillfully integrating flashbacks that actually propel the story forward. While the flashbacks may not have been what fans were hoping for, they were exactly what the episode—and the series—needed. As fun as it would have been to see flashbacks of the brotherly bond between Anakin and Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars, they wouldn’t have had the same impact as the simple dueling scene. Not only did it tie in with Obi-Wan’s plans to play into Darth Vader’s fighting style, but it also drew much-needed parallels between Reva and Anakin. The combination of Joby Harold’s keen understanding of what’s at the heart of Star Wars, in tandem with Deborah Chow’s exquisite ability to draw the most out of every scene, has easily made Obi-Wan Kenobi one of the best programs to come out of this new era of storytelling.
Rating: A+
Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming now on Disney+.