Obi-Wan Kenobi Part II review
Whelp, it looks like Wednesday morning at 3 a.m. has become my most anticipated hour of the week. Part II of Obi-Wan Kenobi did exactly nothing to dissuade me that this series is going to be one of my favorites of the year. The bad thing? Having to wait until Wednesday to pay off this episode’s big cliffhanger.
Obi-Wan continues searching for the bounty hunters on Daiyu. He’s thrown off when he sees one of the 501st — Anakin’s brigade — begging for money. These were the perpetrators of the atrocity at the Jedi Temple, but Obi-Wan can’t seek revenge so he does the merciful thing and deposits a few credits in the trooper’s helmet.
The trail has grown cold, but with a little resourcefulness he gets a lead on another Jedi. Two on one adventure? Nope, this one is a fraud named Haja Estree (Kumail Nanjiani), who utilizes magnets to dupe unsuspecting suckers into buying his Force abilities.
That’s a crazy hustle since being a Jedi could get someone killed. Nanjiani easily pulls off this role and seems like he could be a fan favorite in no time. Haja does point Obi-Wan in the likely location of where Leia’s being held. I loved this sequence as we got to see more of the playful prequel Obi-Wan in action.
Obi-Wan gets tricked by the bounty hunters and narrowly defeats them. This scene accomplishes two goals — it shows Obi-Wan’s reluctance (fear?) of using The Force and that this former general actually had to struggle against a trio of bounty hunters. He’s hardly in Clone Wars fighting shape.
After the fake out, Obi-Wan does find Leia, who thinks he’s a little old to be a Jedi, let alone her sole rescuer. That’s a nice callback to Leia questioning Luke being too short to be a Stormtrooper.
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It’s been a while since Obi-Wan interacted with kids so he’s taken aback by Leia’s quick wit and intelligence for her age. He definitely seemed to be playing it close to the vest when he asked her age. Or maybe Tatooine doesn’t have calendars?
At some point with the expansion of the movies via TV, some dialogue won’t match up fully like Leia’s New Hope message to Obi-Wan now sounding odd since they actually met nine years before she gives R2-D2 the Death Star plans. It’s a compromise worth making to get new in-continuity content. Leia rightfully isn’t sure she can trust this old guy and tries to run off.
Reva has arrived on Daiyu and she’s all set to raise a ruckus by recruiting all the lowlifes to find Obi-Wan. Anyone else feel the John Wick: Chapter Two vibes when the bounty hunters get the message about Obi-Wan? The Grand Inquisitor and the rest of the gang arrive just in time for the Grand Inquisitor to chew Reva out again and prepare to snatch all the credit for finding Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan probably hasn’t done much strenuous activity in seclusion besides chopping meat so it’s understandable that he can’t keep up with a 10-year-old full of energy. And bounty hunters blasting away at him doesn’t help either. It takes Leia falling from a building for Obi-Wan to tap into the Force again. This should be a big moment and Director Deborah Chow successfully made it feel very significant. Obi-Wan feels the Force again, but can he control it?
Haja helps Obi-Wan and Leia out and offers them a way off planet. While he came off shady earlier, Haja assures Obi-Wan he’s not alone. Has he encountered other Jedi? Reva catches up to Obi-Wan’s location and after a brief distraction from Haja, she heads after them to the cargo bay.
As he listens to Leia take charge, Obi-Wan is bemused as he reflects on his dear friend Padme. Wanda might have gone through her share of grief in WandaVision, but Obi-Wan can match her tragedy for tragedy. It’s another nice moment of Obi-Wan thinking about the past and maybe in seeing Leia for the first time in a long time, Obi-Wan has…hope.
Reva catches up to them and Chow throws back to Return of the Jedi with Reva taunting Obi-Wan a la Darth Vader and Luke in Return of the Jedi. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that the best Star Wars moments make for excellent callbacks. In this case, Reva is desperately trying to unleash Obi-Wan’s fear after she drops the bombshell that Anakin survived. Ewan McGregor does an amazing job of conveying Obi-Wan’s devastation and underlined trauma rushing back to the forefront. It’s a great moment.
She can’t do anything about it yet since the Grand Inquisitor shows up at the cargo bay all set to claim the glory. Reva’s not having it and promptly kills him. Gee, he was my favorite Grand Inquisitor.
That ties Reva up long enough for Obi-Wan to get into the ship with Leia, away from the Inquisitors’ clutches for the moment. But Obi-Wan is rattled. His worst nightmare of his beloved brother turning to the Dark Side didn’t end on the lava beach of Mustafar. Darth Vader is still alive. Obi-Wan mouths Anakin and Chow immediately cuts to Anakin in a bacta tank eyes opening like a horror movie villain. Now he knows Obi-Wan is alive and knows he survived their first clash as well.
In hindsight, how fortuitous was it that George Lucas had Vader trail off before saying the last time he faced his old master? That allows for all kinds of interesting rematch possibilities.
Speaking of possibilities, Part II of Obi-Wan Kenobi made good on several setting up Reva as a major villain, quality bonding with Obi-Wan and Leia and a major tease of Darth Vader entering the chat. It’s gonna be a very long wait for Wednesday.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney
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