Spoiler: Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 4
Some may walk away from Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4, feeling that the story hasn’t progressed, but the story has leaped through the muck necessary to connect the end of Act Two to the beginning of Act Three. Director Deborah Chow has expertly placed each character in the position of getting exactly what they want.
Reva (Moses Ingram) has shown that she has the foresight to plan for contingencies in a fashion suitable for the Grand Inquisitor. Her decisions reflect those of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars. The voice of Tarkin echoes in the exchange between Reva and Vader (Hayden Christensen) as he Force chokes her for losing Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) at the end of the episode, “You’re sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship. I’m taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.” They let them leave the Death Star to go for the bigger fish — The Rebel Base on Yavin IV.
Reva thinks on her feet despite being several feet off the floor inside the Fortress Inquisitorius. “I let them go,” she choked out even as her life was about to be ended for her “failure.” Vader admits to underestimating her when she is allowed to utter through her pain, “I put a tracker on their ship.” It’s exactly what Vader would have done had he been involved in the planning. Obi-Wan is Vader’s white whale, but even he is smart enough to recognize that the bigger fish is the Jedi network, The Path. Now, they can gamble on one white whale for the entire pod. Vader likes those odds enough to let Reva live another day. Perhaps his empty promise of a promotion to Grand Inquisitor isn’t so empty. Vader is always prepared for contingencies. He recognizes when to use the talent around him, and he knows when to eliminate his weak links.
It might seem backward to recap Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 by telling first what happens at the end, but writers Joby Harold and Hannah Friedman brought us to a better ending to episode 3 with what they’ve done. Act two is at an end, and now we can expect the final two episodes to be filled with all the action and surprises we are hoping for.
Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 begins with Obi-Wan being rushed to a Bacta tank on Jabiim. The imagery brings us back and forth between Obi-Wan and Anakin’s respective suffering. In his induced healing, Obi-Wan can feel his old Padawan’s pain. They shudder in agony as if experiencing trauma together. Their burns are different, though. Anakin has too much scar tissue to heal enough to become Anakin again. His scar tissue is Darth Vader. Obi-Wan’s burns are fresh enough to give him a chance to heal properly. He comes out of his inner visions as he pre-rhymes Luke’s jolt into consciousness after being mauled by the Wampa on Hoth. Tala (Indira Varma) is there to urge Obi-Wan to remain in the chamber. His burns are not fully healed. His first and only concern is Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair). Our hero is reborn.
Leia is being held captive in the Fortress Inquisitorius. She bravely defies Inquisitor Reva. Vivien Lyra Blair gets better in every scene. You can almost hear Carrie Fisher in her voice. She’s no spoiled princess asking her captor if they know who her father is. She clings to the notion that there is an order to things. There are rules and processes that involve the government. Her father, Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), wouldn’t stand for this. She clings to the idea that she has rights, something an ambassador Leia will always fight for, whether Legends or canon. Reva is genuinely impressed with her captive’s plucky exterior, but she also recognizes a bit of herself in the girl. Later she will try to reach her through familiarity.
Tala brings a healed Obi-Wan to Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), an early Rebel (perhaps a Partisan, but he is not named as such) in the cause against the Empire. He’s upset with Obi-Wan’s presence, and rightfully so. Obi-Wan is important enough to be someone the Empire would track, which puts the network in danger. His instincts are on the wrong end of the episode. We’ll likely see him sacrifice himself for the others in one of the next two parts. He’s explained that Inquisitors killed his Force-sensitive wife. His commitment is to the cause. He concedes to help Obi-Wan find Leia. In the Mustafar system, the water moon Nur is home to the fortress where Leia is being kept. Obi-Wan volunteers to go alone, but Tala insists on using her Imperial credentials to get him inside.
Inside the Fortress Inquisitorius, Reva continues her interrogation of Leia. Vivien Lyra Blair continues to kill it in this role. Beyond her script, she’s showing us what a person looks like when she’s scared on the inside but brave on the outside. Her lionhearted delivery allows us to see that it’s a ten-year-old girl who knows fear is only a detriment in moments like these, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any. Somehow, Blair plays this complexity with the skill of a seasoned actor. Her expressions betray her while she’s not giving up her friends with words. Carrie Fisher portrayed the same countenance in her defiance of Grand Moff Tarkin until she heard the order to destroy Alderaan. And through it, they both held strong. When Reva tells Leia that Obi-Wan burned to death on Mapuzo, she is heartbroken and immediately steadfast. She can grieve later. Leia Organa must do what she needs to go on another day. She graduates herself to Rebel at that very moment.
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Tala’s officer clearance allows her to dock inside the fortress, and here, Indira Varma has her chance to demonstrate her chops while demonstrating that her character has chops of her own. Watching actors have their characters act can often be cringeworthy moments, but when done right, you can feel the tension as if it’s your own. During this episode, Varma has several opportunities to bring us inside her nervous system. As her facade unravels, you can see her holding her role until there is no choice but to drop it altogether. No one calls her bluff long enough for her to panic until she’s on the landing deck later, about to escape. She talks Obi-Wan inside through an underwater passage from an officer station in one of the control rooms. Deborah Chow nods again toward the original Star Wars film with a cropped image of Tala’s communicator. The shot resembles the moment C-3PO is sidetracked, and our heroes are in the garbage compactor. No need to curse your metal body, my dude. Tala is also equipped to handle imperial entanglements. She puts one questioning official to sleep so she can continue her guidance.
Reva unsuccessfully probes Leia’s mind. We can’t blame her for missing Leia’s Force sensitivity. Leia doesn’t even know she’s connected to it. She can’t give up what she’s unaware of. Not even Vader caught it in all his interactions with his own daughter. Or maybe Reva does know. Perhaps that’s what she’s hiding from Vader and us. It could be the Ace up her sleeve, one she savvily still does not play even when her life is threatened at the end of the episode. She has more than one Ace. The tracker is the only one she needs to convince Vader to let her go on. Reva sees “something” in Leia, though we can’t be sure just what it is yet. “You’re strong,” Reva admits upon her mind-probe failure. She HAS to know it’s an unconscious Force shield, right? She goes on to say, “The braver you seem, the more afraid you are.” The truth of the line resonates with Leia, perhaps enough to give her the wise line, “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan continues to practice what he has ignored for so long. His specialty (once again, in a nod to the original film, A New Hope) is the art of distraction. Obi-Wan sneaks through the corridors of the fortress. A couple of stormtroopers are distracted by Obi-Wan’s talent for throwing sounds across the room. He soon discovers a tomb of Jedi bodies imprisoned in what looks like amber. These are the collected trophies of the Inquisitors, possibly those who had a chance to turn to the dark side but refused.
As tension builds, the scenes in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 accelerate in returning to the other’s predicament. Leia is now on the verge of literal torture after her last unyielding refusal to give up her friends. Obi-Wan is brought to an emotional charge seeing a Youngling among the lost Jedi. He already knows what the Empire is capable of, but this image reflects his concern for the young Skywalker (Organa in this case) he can save. Tala creates the distraction he needs to buy enough time to rescue Leia. Tala is brave enough to attempt to fool Reva with her, so far successful ruse. Obi-Wan attacks Leia’s guards in the darkness, and Chow does it again. She brings us to the tender moment in The Empire Strikes Back when Han is about to be frozen in carbonate. The lighting is unmistakable, an homage to that scene. Leia is bathed in red light from beneath as she recognizes Obi-Wan is alive. After assuring him she didn’t tell them anything, Obi-Wan replies, “I know.” I love you, Deborah Chow. You know how to show fans what matters to you in Star Wars, and very little of it is blatant or awkward fan service.
Here’s where Reva proves she’s just as acute as Vader. Even as early viewers complain that Obi-Wan Kenobi Part IV is a “filler episode,” they are missing the point of this particular mile in each character’s journey. Leia has become a Rebel. Ben has reminded himself that he’s still Obi-Wan. Tala has shown us just how much gumption she actually has (I wouldn’t mind a spin-off for Indira Varma). Reva has proven to Vader that she is still an asset worth keeping. And unfortunately, we have what may be the first active casualty of the Rebel Alliance. Wade was not a soldier, but he will be named one posthumously. He sacrificed himself for the cause. Wade was one of the two speeder pilots who flew in to extricate Obi-Wan, Tala, and Leia. He doesn’t make it out alive. He will never know the importance of his sacrifice. Getting Leia to safety will eventually ensure the destruction of the Death Star, which is now being built in secret.
Our heroes are out of immediate danger, but the shrewd villain, Reva, is still two steps ahead of everyone. It’s heavily implied the tracker is in Leia’s droid, Lola. Something about this move shows she takes chances, and they don’t always pay off. She didn’t ask a crew to plant a device on the ship. She took care of it herself. If the gambit hadn’t ever paid off, she’d never need to mention it or question it. Instead, she now has Darth Vader’s unexpected respect, but temporarily.
The tracker is practically on Leia’s person. She knows this girl is important. How much she knows is still up for debate, but there’s no question she knows more than Darth Vader or any of the other Inquisitors. She’s a lone wolf, not a team player. This is her best trait to give her the power she seeks, but ultimately, it may be her demise.
Vader will use her as an asset as long as he can control the threat. Always two there are, never more. He’ll allow her to do what she wants as long as it benefits him, but he will cash her in when his investment pays off. The secret she’s keeping from all of us will be revealed only to the audience, allowing Vader’s timeline of learning he has children to remain intact. T
he next two weeks have the potential to blow us away. Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 is now streaming on Disney+.
