The worst kept secret in Star Wars officially comes to light, fans get the lightsaber battle they were clamoring for (sort of), and somehow the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) returns. Following the daring rescue of Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) in Part IV, we learned that Reva (Moses Ingram) had a contingency plan in place and hid a tracker inside Leia’s droid, LOLA. With the Empire closing in on their location, Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) must act fast to get Leia and others off Jabiim before they are captured.
One of the best sequences of the episode, and perhaps the series to this point, comes from the nostalgia of seeing Obi-Wan and Anakin (Hayden Christensen) fight in a training flashback. The use of flashbacks intercut with present insights into the psyche of the characters is an interesting plot device, and Christensen seamlessly steps back into his role. Their duel reminds you of what you liked most about their time together in the prequels, so why did it take this long to get here? Also, yours truly must point out the obvious, and it’s not a knock at all on McGregor or Christensen who look tremendous at their respective ages, but it was a wild choice to not use more of the episode budget on better de-aging to fit the timeline, or at least to not have it be such a well-lit scene. Twenty years is a long time for anyone, and Disney had been getting better with it.
In just a few episodes Tala (Indira Varma) has become a well-developed and beloved character, and that’s furthered in the episode by a stirring monologue she delivers to Kenobi just after he’s finished playing a message from Senator Organa (Jimmy Smits), who’s determined to really mess up the works. Maybe don’t talk about the secret kid, and where to find him, on a message that could be intercepted by anyone, who may or may not have already killed the person you’re contacting, because you haven’t heard from them and you’re worried? It’d be a real shame if someone else got a hold of that.
As Obi-Wan stalls for more time, he makes the connection that Reva must have been a youngling at the Jedi Temple when Anakin and the clones carried out Order 66, a revelation she reluctantly confirms. It’s a cool connection that most fans saw coming, but you also have to hope that they aren’t pushing for a redemption arc here. This is the person that was ready to mercilessly torture Leia an episode ago, and someone that has clearly committed countless atrocities to get close to Vader. The logic behind her endgame is severely flawed based just on what we know now, with her essentially blinded by a quest for revenge and becoming the person that she hates. Even if you accept that she has no love for the Jedi because they didn’t protect her and her friends, it still seems like a large leap. She’s a good villain, but if you want to redeem yourself in Star Wars, you’ve got to do it in death, sacrificing yourself for one of the good guys. Those are the rules.
After emphatically rejecting Kenobi’s offer to help her against Vader, she advances her attack, and it is once again confirmed that Stormtroopers are the absolute worst. The average range for their blaster must be about 2 feet on a good day – same as their hearing apparently – unless there is a need for a poignant death. Clones would never. Tala and her droid Ned-B sadly make the ultimate sacrifice in a genuinely well-earned emotional scene, reminiscent of one Kenobi will ultimately make in A New Hope. It’s tough to criticize one of the best bits of the episode, but in future battles, anyone with an explosive should think about using it BEFORE being fatally wounded.
Leia can’t concentrate on getting the roof of the place to open for their escape with Haja (Kumail Nanjiani) nagging her, so Kenobi decides to give himself up in a last-ditch effort to manipulate Reva into manipulating Vader. There is some pretty audible back and forth in mixed company, before Reva ultimately has Kenobi taken back inside to wait for Vader’s arrival. It’s not entirely clear if the whole leaving him alone with just 2 inept guards routine was on purpose, but one has to assume it was. If she thought he was going to stick around for the fight rather than just serve as a distraction, however, she was mistaken. Enter Vader in all his glory, force pulling an escaping transport back down to the ground and ripping it apart to get to Kenobi. It was visually the most satisfying thing we have seen from the series so far, and clearly Vader has decided he’s done dragging things out, but unfortunately for him, the ship was a decoy and he watches as another pulls safely away.
Clearly, Reva didn’t see what he just did with the transport because she still thinks it’s the right time to take him by surprise on her own. It’s Vader, so she’s defeated easily, but cinematically the fight offers us a lot of beautiful shots, not the least of which is him briefly wielding dual lightsabers. Even though she should be considered unredeemable at this point, it’s powerful to watch her recall Anakin approaching her just as he did when she was a youngling, and again running her through.
Vader confirms he knew all along, and the Grand Inquisitor appears from the shadows to let her know she no longer serves a purpose. Apparently, everybody but Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) can survive a lightsaber to the abdomen. That’s probably why his force ghost hasn’t made an appearance; it’s pissed. Regardless, Darth Vader and the Grand Inquisitor should know better than anyone that it’s never a good idea to leave someone for dead. As effectively as Reva has carried being the main antagonist for the show, the episode seems like it should have been the natural conclusion of her story.
There is a lot to love about Obi-Wan Kenobi Part V, including some nice character moments, a storyline steeped in nostalgia for fans of the prequels, and Darth Vader flexing on everyone as he likes to do. It’s by no means perfect, with another drab planet setting, a script that probably needed some more eyes on it, and some forced dialogue, but it still serves as the most entertaining episode of the series, and the story could go anywhere from here, like back to Tatooine.
