Obi-Wan Kenobi Part V review

June 15, 2022 Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments Deborah Chow, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Indira Varma, Kumail Nanjiani, Moses Ingram, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rya Kihlstedt, Sung Kang, Vivien Lyra Blair

From an Anakin vs. Obi-Wan clash to a Rogue One style battle sequence, Part V had a lot of scintillating moments fitting the season’s penultimate episode.

Maybe the coolest aspect of the episode was the Attack of the Clones era flashback. Obi-Wan and Anakin are dueling and Anakin’s reckless and aggressive style eventually leads to his defeat. Director Deborah Chow wasn’t too worried about making Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen look like 20 years hadn’t passed. Sure, CGI would have de-aged them appropriately, but this was not a big deal.

Of course in opening up the Pandora’s box of flashbacks, this is begging for more either in the season finale or a hopefully second season. Specifically set in the Clone Wars time period. We do get a glimpse of the Clone Wars though not quite what was expected.

Obi-Wan, Tala, Leia, Roken and company return to the base in time to start planning the evacuation. It can’t happen fast enough as Reva’s convenient tracker is already on them. She’s happy to share the news with Vader who makes her his new Grand Inquisitor. That seems a hasty promotion from Vader since he typically is more of the downsizing supervisor in the Empire.

Reva sending her forces to storm the gate definitely had a Last Jedi vibe. Although in this case, the Jedi was actually present and was successful in mostly securing a safe retreat.

Obi-Wan calls for a time out so he can talk with Reva, who bitterly explains she was a youngling that watched Anakin massacre the others at the Jedi Temple. Reva only saved herself by playing dead. The disclaimer that this episode might be upsetting to some viewers was accurate as this felt far closer than a galaxy far, far away.

Reva has only been so obsessed with getting close to Vader so she can kill him. Obi-Wan tries to explain that’s a bad idea, but Reva is locked in on her plan. When the cease fire is over, Obi-Wan, Tala and Roken have to lead the evacuation out while fighting off Stormtrooper squads.

It’s not looking good and the odds seem overwhelming just like another recent Star Wars film…

Drawing strong parallels to Rogue One isn’t a bad strategy. It’s the strongest movie in the Disney Star Wars catalogue and doubles down on tragedy and heroic sacrifice. These deaths are necessary to ultimately get Luke and Leia on the battlefield and confront Vader and Palpatine.

Tala and NED-B stave the Stormtroopers off but take some fatal damage. Yes, Tala was going to be problematic if she survived as she easily could have been Obi-Wan’s Satine in the post Clone Wars era. The dude has basically been a monk and it would have been interesting to even entertain the thought of a love interest for him.

The series has definitely found a better pitch for James Earl Jones as his Vader voice in Rogue One sounded weak and less intimidating. Now it sounds as strong it did in the 80s.

Obi-Wan isn’t ready for a rematch with Vader, but is fine deploying Reva to stop him. The flashbacks reinforced Anakin’s arrogance, which we saw in the “present.” Vader catches the transport ship as it starts to leave. It’s an impressive display of his Force abilities, but Obi-Wan is able to fake him out again with a smaller ship in the shell of the decoy.

As Vader watches it fly off, Reva tries to get her long-awaited revenge. This doesn’t work out well for her as half the fight Vader doesn’t even bother using his lightsabers until he stabs her in the stomach. It’s not an immediate fatal blow however. Reva gets to watch The Grand Inquisitor she killed earlier return to Vader’s side.

Vader knew exactly who Reva was but was content using her rage to ferret out more Jedi. That’s pretty cold and shows Anakin is learning from not just his former master, but also his new Emperor.

Reva discovering Bail Organa’s message to Obi-Wan was a solid cliffhanger. Will she hold out and use this information against Obi-Wan or try to enact her revenge against Anakin by killing his son? There’s some interesting possibilities here.

Like a second season. The show has worked and there’s still a lot of story left on the bone for Obi-Wan and Vader before A New Hope.