Ahoy there, Star Wars fans! We’re back with another episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and surprisingly it was quite good. Not amazing, but good. Much better than the previous three entries. There’s not a ton to cover — it was essentially just 15 minutes of exposition followed by 15 minutes of action — but still plenty to enjoy.
We open with Ben still smarting from his red hot encounter with Darth Vader. He floats in a Bacta tank (i.e., Star Wars‘ solution to any problem) and reminisces about Anakin’s mutilated corpse. They’re the same now, you see? Eventually, Ben emerges from his bath and is immediately scolded by Tala (Indira Varma) for getting water on the floor. She then assures our Jedi hero that they are safe on the planet Jabiim. At least, I think it’s a planet. We don’t get any shots outside of what appears to be a small base (?) — who knows what lurks beyond these walls.
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“Where’s Leia,” Ben cries.
Well, it turns out Reva (Moses Ingram) was able to catch our plucky little heroine following their secret cave run-in, which is a win for team Dark Side considering the difficulty everyone else has had in similar situations. Leia (because she’s Leia) does her best to annoy her captors, declaring, “I am a princess of Alderaan,” which is totally something a 10-year-old would do and say in such a predicament. Reva arrives and shares some bad news: “Obi-Wan is dead. No one is coming for you,” which is enough to silence the child for the time being.
Back with Ben and Tala, they converse with a man named Roken (now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time), played by O’Shea Jackson Jr., who, like every man in this show, has no desire to risk his life fighting against the Empire. “Get [Ben] on the first transport out of here,” he says, perhaps not knowing that Ben can hear him. “Too many people are looking for you. You’ll put us all in danger.” Ben steps in and says, “I need your help,” which prompts Roken to say, “So does every kid making a rock float from here to Coruscant.” Like Harrison Ford once said, “You can type this shit …”
The best bit about this exchange is when Roken calls Ben “General,” because, well, he was a General in the Clone Wars. Everyone who is anyone knows the great Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is why it was so weird when none of the Stormtroopers in the previous episode (who are actively looking for him) recognized his very recognizable face.
“I can’t lose her,” Ben states for the first time in this series. Someone needs to remind him that he sent Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) away with Tala before making a run for it in the previous episode. Still, suddenly Ben has a bounce in his step, which is great to see. Also, Ewan McGregor is awesome.
“I had a wife once,” Roken shoots back. “I knew what she was before we got married. We tried to hide it. And the Inquisitors found her anyway.” That’s either a really sad story or the plot to Braveheart. At any rate, Roken somehow convinces himself to help Ben with his cause and they discuss an attack on Fortress Inquisitorius. What a name! Like, who thought of that? We also have Fortress Vader, which makes me wonder how many other fortresses there are. Fortress Stormtrooprius? Fortress Sithius?
Roken and some guy named Wade’s overall positivity is offset by Negative Sully (Maya Erskine), who pops in to shoot down everyone’s hopes and dreams with a series of depressing doozies: “It’s impenetrable, Wade,” “Truth is, nobody knows what it looks like in there,” “Yeah, well, we’re not soldiers. Those speeders are for hauling sewage,” “You can barely stand, you’re not going in there.” Someone get this hot head outta here!
Tala decides she’s going with Ben and hopes that her cover as an Imperial Officer is still intact. Hint: it probably is.
Next, we get a brief moment of Ben actually using the Force to pull a device across a table. Tala interrupts this exercise to tell Ben (and the audience) that he cares about Leia. Show, don’t tell Star Wars.
Back with Reva, the evil Inquisitor interrogates Leia while a Stormtrooper stands guard, which seems a little drastic for a 10-year-old prisoner. No matter, Moses Ingram does a good job in this scene, as does Vivien Lyra Blair. Though, someone should tell our villainous Inquisitor that empty threats/promises don’t work on pint-sized heroes. In this instance, I imagine a stuffed animal (or marshmallow) would go a long way.
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(Side note: the issue I have with Leia is that she hasn’t undergone any kind of interesting character arc. When we first met her in Episode 1, she was feisty and strong. Three episodes later and … she’s feisty and strong. Imagine if she behaved how an actual child would under such conditions — you know, scared? — and then found her courage as the season progressed. Essentially, we’re meant to believe Leia has always been a tough cookie, which means her persona never changed throughout her 60-year lifespan. I’m a lot different today than I was when I was 10, but a lifetime of evading student loan collectors will do that to a person.)
Our heroes arrive at the Fortress. Tala heads to the security checkpoint as Stormtroopers wander about the landing zone trying to look busy. She happens upon the Empire equivalent of a mall cop and pulls rank. “I’m your commanding officer, and you will address me as ‘Sir,'” she orders. Her bluff works and the mall cop allows her to pass. She immediately goes to a console and very noticeably gets up to no good, but nobody pays much attention to these officers, amirite?
Prequel nerds immediately dance with joy at seeing Ben swimming underwater using that weird breathing apparatus he and Qui-Gon used in The Phantom Menace. “It’s like poetry, it rhymes,” a great man once said. Ben makes his way inside the Fortress and immediately snaps a Stormtrooper’s neck. Nice.
Reva tries to use the Force to extract data from Leia, but the child is too strong — which seems counterproductive from a character standpoint if the writer’s aim is to make Reva threatening — and so the Inquisitor’s next move is to mess with her Mickey Mouse droid. Now, if Leia would recognize that this droid has no soul, feels no pain, and is basically a walking battery, then Reva’s plan would fail. But, since Leia believes in equality for robots, this moment is pure torture.
Back with Tala, she’s having a hard time keeping her mission under wraps, stating quite loudly, “God, look at this place. What are they keeping down there?” Is this the first time someone has mentioned God in Star Wars? Knowing Disney, they likely dropped in the reference to pave the way for a special appearance from God in later episodes before giving him his own spin-off series. Also, what are they keeping down there? What if it’s just another Rancor and Ben gets to ride it? I’m betting 72.3% of fans would forgive every issue they have with this clunky series if that actually happens. (Alas, it doesn’t.)
Finally, 15 minutes into the fourth episode, Ben actually becomes Obi-Wan Kenobi and starts doing the kind of stuff we wanted to see him do from the beginning of the series. He uses the Force to distract some guards and eventually pulls out his lightsaber to chop up anyone who steps in his path whilst running through the corridors of Disney’s Rise of the Resistance ride. Actually, wait. I got ahead of myself. He’s still just Ben right now …
Back with Reva, Leia acts like a brat and the Inquisitor says what all parents wish they could say to their child — “I hope you like pain” — before summoning two guards to haul the kid to the Empire’s elaborate torture chamber. It’s red because it’s evil. (Blair is great in this scene.)
Ben finds the Fortress’ big secret — a bunch of bodies encased in what looks like amber. Are they cloning these people because that looks like the same type of substance those mosquitoes were stuck in back at Jurassic Park?
Now comes the moment where Ben morphs into Obi-Wan, whips out his lightsaber, and engages in some Stormtrooper killin’. Our first glimpse of action sees Leia’s torture room go dark, followed by the recognizable pssshhew sound of a lightsaber. Obi-Wan makes mince meat of the two troopers standing guard, saves Leia, and proceeds to engage in some wicked Jedi action. Where was this level of quality in the previous three episodes? I love how our Jedi power battles his way through a number of soldiers, deflecting lasers left and right; and even uses said lasers to blast door controls. More of this, please.
At one point, a laser cracks a window and Obi-Wan uses the Force to push the water on the other side towards the incoming Stormtroopers. Go Obi-Wan, go! (Still, where are the classic Star Wars music cues?) This entire sequence evokes memories of Luke, Han, and Leia’s adventures aboard the Death Star, leaping from one climax to the other. Except, Obi-Wan and Co. aren’t on the Death Star and Luke is still pretending his igloo is a spaceship. We got a loooong ways to go kids.
After regrouping with Tala, the threesome again walk onto the busy landing deck but are quickly stopped by Reva. (Hats off to Ingram in this episode.) Luckily, a pair of snowspeeders (?) show up and save the day. I love how Reva destroys one of the escaping craft out of pure spite — the one driven by Wade, no less. Too bad, he was a positive chap. Now, we’re left with Negative Sully, who will no doubt be unbearable after witnessing her comrade’s death.
No time for emotions, though, because Darth Vader leaps on screen and immediately Force chokes Reva, noting that he told her what would happen if she failed. Considering Reva never acknowledged the Dark Lord’s threats in the previous episode, maybe she can plead ignorance? The other two Inquisitors (who have yet to do anything on this show) watch with delight as this problematic Third Sister gets her comeuppance.
“I let them go,” Reva manages through the pain. Apparently, she put a tracker on Leia’s droid, which is a savvy enough move to draw praise from Vader. I mean, if that’s all it takes to impress the big guy Admiral Piett likely wracked up a gazillion Officer of the Month awards before his tragic and noble death in Return of the Jedi.
Back with our heroes, Negative Sully leads the weary party to the ship’s cabin where they enjoy a quiet moment together. Leia even holds Obi-Wan’s hand — awwwww. The camera pans over to her droid and dammit, that’s why you can’t trust anything that can be hacked into! The damned thing is bugged and suddenly I’m wondering if this entire series is nothing more than a way to explain why Leia treats C-3P0 like shit in the original trilogy.
Cue credits.
Overall, this was easily the best episode of the season. At a brisk 30 minutes, the pacing never lagged and the action scenes actually carried some heft. Not to beat a dead horse but if Disney doesn’t want to take the time or effort to make six really good episodes, then just give us three … or even two. Hell, make a two-hour movie. Again, quality over quantity, please.
I’ll give this entry a solid 8. Shout out to the cast, particularly Ingram and Varma who held their own on this go-round. And it was great to finally see Obi-Wan do something worthwhile on his show. With just two episodes left, here’s hoping the series goes out with a bang!
Odds and Ends
- Where was Vader throughout this episode? I’m curious as to why he can’t sense Obi-Wan unless he’s only 10-feet away. Also, why does he continue to have Reva do his dirty work? He should hop on a ship and chase down his former master himself.
- Also, in these instances, why doesn’t anyone ever chase after the good guys? I mean, clearly, that base had a number of ships on standby. While the good guys had a 5-minute start, it’s probably worth it to send up some aircraft just in case.
- I still think Reva turns to the good side at some point, though it might be hard for her to explain why she’s killed so many people. She did Wade dirty.
- Apparently, there are a lot of Force-sensitive children lingering about … at least, that’s what I took away from Roken. Are they all on Jabiim?
- It was great to see Obi-Wan decked out in his Clone Wars garb doing what he does best. I’m curious to see how powerful he becomes by season’s end. He has to do something to make Vader believe he’s still the master, right? Or was he just speaking in generalities when he said that?
- The Empire needs to hire sharper people to do its bidding. Tala 100% did not behave like an Imperial Officer, yet she somehow convinced a handful of soldiers that she was their superior. She almost convinced Reva!
- Leia will use the Force. I’m calling it.
- I expected this episode to be filler, so it was nice to see that it provided some fun action … even if it didn’t really move the plot forward … and was essentially filler. Reva could have just as easily tagged Leia in the previous episode and tracked her to Jabiim without missing a beat. Still, at this point, I’ll take whatever action this series can muster. Especially when it’s good.
