Spoiler: Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5
So far, Obi-Wan Kenobi has proven to be inventive and surprising despite the number of leaks that have reached the inquisitive public. At a certain point, it becomes a matter of discovering how something inevitable will play out. As far as penultimate episodes go, this one felt flat. Typically, the last episode is meant for clean-up and final showdowns, while the next to final is where the surprises and heartbreaks happen. The surprises and the heartbreaks in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5 were fairly predictable.
The Disney+ Star Wars series has projected its plot like headlights on a highway. If you’ve ever driven a lonely road at night, you understand that seeing the road ahead does not always prepare you for what may be crossing in the dark up ahead. “Part V” of Obi-Wan Kenobi resorted to a few contrivances that felt clunky. Put those aside, and it was still, at worst, a weak link in a fairly strong chain of episodes. Weak link or not, there are several moments we’ve been waiting for.
We open at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Hayden Christensen, aged down to appear as a younger Anakin circa Attack of the Clones, still looks too weathered. It’s something you’ll have to let go of. Close-ups did not work well, but the flashback’s mirror plot helps tell the story. Take it for what it is. Master Obi-Wan and his Padawan, Anakin, begin a sparring session that parallels the psychological match between the two as distant adversaries.
Inquisitor Reva has been invited aboard Darth Vader’s ship for an informal promotion. “Where is he?” Darth Vader asks, indicating his priority of Obi-Wan over the band of rebels they will potentially capture. After revealing that her tracker has worked, Vader sets a course for Jabiim, and Reva is promoted to Grand Inquisitor. Take note of Moses Ingram’s face when Vader commands her to kneel. Her motivations are a little too apparent. Is Ingram that good, or is the direction dangerously close to telegraphing Reva’s arc? Her reluctance is only visible briefly, but the character should have been prepared not to show it at all. Nevertheless, Reva has become Grand Inquisitor. The voice of James Earl Jones continues to send chills.
Obi-Wan shows up on Jabiim with his new friends and Leia. Haja (Kumail Nanjiani) is there to greet them with a bit of unnecessary comedy relief. Obi-Wan promises to help Roken evacuate the base before delivering Leia to Alderaan. Meanwhile, in hyperspace, Vader’s ship is approaching Jabiim. His one-track mind is obsessed with locking Obi-Wan in the facility. Luckily, the restraining bolt Reva put on Lola helps Leia’s droid act not only as a tracking device but also as a saboteur. Somehow, Vader’s order to “lock down the facility” causes Lola to enter an out-of-reach control panel that closes the bay doors to the Path’s facility. Is he controlling Lola? Did Reva install an override system as well as a beacon? Or is this plot device a little too convenient?
Obi-Wan reflects on the lost Jedi and the Jedi who’ve passed through the facility on Jabiim as the bay doors close. He surmises quickly that it’s Vader’s doing, and he predicts Vader’s next move based on his knowledge of his tendencies. Anakin’s tendencies come through in a rhyme as the scene cuts to the sparring match that we flashed back to earlier. Anakin was always open to learning from his master once the lesson had been taught, but he needed the experience to understand. Anakin rarely took Obi-Wan’s word until he was shown in action. Flashing forward to Vader’s approach indicates he is reminiscing about his lessons. Every shot of Vader in this episode is a callback to his ominous presence in the original trilogy, always painted in a thoughtful composition. Unfortunately, this is a surgical strike. No TIE fighters drop from the Star Destroyer, no Walker transports. A couple of troop shuttles make their way to Jabiim’s atmosphere with little pomp. Luckily the score plays well throughout these scenes.
Obi-Wan’s penchant for alternatives to fighting leads to a lackluster prep speech, as tension should be building. The plan is to lock all the entrances and override the locked bay doors. If the Empire intends to come in at ground level, they can use the docking bay doors as their exit. Wouldn’t that be the only exit anyway? Wouldn’t Vader have had a fleet of TIEs waiting to stop any ships from escaping? Is Darth Vader actually relying on Lola to keep them inside? He must know that the rebels would have a hacker among them who could get the doors open. All they need is a ladder. Leia. It’s Leia.
Both troops transport land side by side at the ground entrance to the base. Stormtroopers disembark and form at the entrance with a heavy cannon. Reva’s ship lands behind them, and she gives the order to fire. Meanwhile, inside, Obi-Wan is checking his messages because there are a few other pressing issues. It may have served the pacing to have this scene happen before the fight began. Bail Organa hasn’t heard from Obi-Wan, and he’s worried Vader’s learned of the children. He assures Obi-Wan that if he doesn’t hear from him soon, he will head to Tatooine to watch over Luke. Has Bail ever been this careless before? A moment later, Tala shows up to tell Obi-Wan (and remind us) why she’s a part of the early resistance. It’s a little too easy to recognize where that’s going.
Roken informs them that the facility is about to be breached, so Obi-Wan plans to stall them. He speaks to Reva through the blast doors. It may be the first time we see her let her guard down. She voluntarily divulges that she was one of the Younglings among Anakin’s slaughter during Order 66 for some unapparent reason. It’s an involuntary confession that Obi-Wan derives through the Force, but she’s a willing participant in the communication. She becomes too vulnerable for what we’ve seen of her character in the exchange. Obi-Wan concludes that she’s not serving Vader but hunting him instead. How much closer she would expect to get to Vader for revenge is unclear. She’s been in his presence multiple times without ever taking her shot. Refusing Obi-Wan’s offer to help her take out Vader, she tears through the blast door with her lightsaber.
Obi-Wan’s strength continues to be renewed as he Force-pushes her back several meters, but it’s too late. The troops are inside, and the firefight has begun. The rebels retreat back to the hangar as Obi-Wan and Tala cover them. Tala is taken down with a blaster shot to the gut, and she’s given the opportunity to perform her final heroic act. Samuel Morse couldn’t have telegraphed it better. Last week it seemed more likely that Roken would be the one in this position, but he may be more suited for a “save the day” moment that doesn’t involve self-sacrifice.
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Reva is ordered to stand down as Vader contemplates the capture of his old master. The scenes flashback to the sparring match, and Obi-Wan recognizes Anakin’s intentions. He volunteers to surrender to Vader in order to give the group a chance to escape. For some reason, he hands his blaster, communicator, and lightsaber over to Haja for safekeeping. When he’s on his knees in front of the new Grand Inquisitor, he pleads with her to join him in destroying Vader once and for all. It’s similar to the moments Vader pleads with Luke to join him on the Dark Side, a mirror moment. The rhyme continues in the continued flashback of the training session between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan is without a weapon in both scenes, yet he has the advantage: an opponent who underestimates his ability to succeed without his lightsaber. A lesson Vader will apparently never learn, even in that final duel in Star Wars: A New Hope. This is the episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi that should have warned Vader of Obi-Wan’s new hidden Ace ten years ahead of this chapter. Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5 shows once again, Obi-Wan is always a step ahead of the obvious. Anakin’s need for victory blinds him.
Meanwhile, Leia discovers that Lola has been compromised. In an instant, she manages to get the hangar doors open. It’s too bad Vader didn’t think of having some TIEs waiting outside. And then, we know why the writers chose this scenario. Vader has already landed, and he’s made his way to the hangar bay. He demonstrates his immense power by Force-grabbing the escape shuttle and wrenching it from the sky. It crashes to the ground, and he rips the hull apart from a safe distance. Empty. It was another lesson. You are but the learner, Vader. Obi-Wan has more to teach you. The real shuttle takes off safely with too much momentum to Force-catch. We cut to Anakin, having been taught the art of distraction but refusing to learn it. Instead, he concedes defeat in the sparring lesson. He also realizes this in the present, but he senses a different danger.
Reva sneaks up behind him, perhaps a few instances too late for the opportune moment. He easily defends her and then plays with her as a cat plays with a mouse. She calls on her rage, but it’s not enough. He finally cuts through her, tired of the game. Instead of executing her, he allows the (surprise?) real Slim Shady Inquisitor to stand up and gloat. These moments of plot exposition are a tad Scooby-Doo, but perhaps necessary to right the canon that was threatened when Reva “killed” the Grand Inquisitor. The score gets tender as she reflects upon the first time Anakin put a lightsaber through her. She survived the first time, so what makes Vader and the Grand Inquisitor leave her “for dead” this time? More contrivance.
After she’s left alone, she uses the last of her strength to crawl across the floor in order to pick up a communication device. Haja inadvertently dropped Obi-Wan’s iPhone during the evacuation. It’s a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, though. There are no passwords, thumbprint security, or facial recognition available on Jabiim (how else would a toy droid lock up a pair of hangar doors for an hour?). Reva finds his holo voicemail. The message is damaged, but she gets enough to learn of Anakin’s children just before she goes unconscious, and the camera pulls away. She’s not dead yet, folks. Cue the Monty Python memes.
Obi-Wan can sense a disturbance in the Force. He knows there’s something wrong but doesn’t know what it is. It’s as if millions of voices cried out in horror and were suddenly silenced by the visual of a sleeping ten-year-old Luke. He’s next.
The finale is only a week away. We may not get the epic duel between Vader and Obi-Wan after all. Will Reva turn into an assassin? Will she go after Anakin’s son? She’ll head to Tatooine for certain.
Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5 is now streaming.
