Warning: Spoilers for episode 2 of Obi-Wan Kenobi ahead!
Disney + made a good move in releasing these two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi together. One is a slow-paced personal story while the other is a tension-filled chase sequence across a new city. It’s a callback to Obi-Wan’s younger days and feels like he is off on another Clone Wars adventure.
Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 2 review
Obi-Wan certainly is out of practice. Hiding on a desert planet for ten years probably isn’t the best way to stay in shape as a Jedi, and this episode proves that. He arrives at Daiyu, which feels like a very seedy and lowlife type city, not too far off from the Coruscant Underworld he and Anakin traversed in Attack of the Clones.
A man on a mission, Obi-Wan wastes no time in tracking down Leia and unfortunately walks right into a trap. He’s rusty and it really shows. Aside from that, he is also alone. Time and time again we have seen Obi-Wan usually tackling missions with Anakin or another Jedi at his side. But there is nobody to help him this time. Luckily this is Obi-Wan and he always has a few tricks up his sleeve, taking out the mercenaries and rescuing Leia.
I’ll just say it now, for a while I was thinking “Wow Leia is such a brat, can’t she see Obi-Wan is helping her?” Though by the end of the episode those feelings were gone. It’s in this episode that I really began to see some similarities between Leia and Padme. This is something Obi-Wan himself mentions later on and it’s heartbreaking to see him thinking back to his good friend and her death.
But this isn’t the only jolt from the past Obi-Wan receives. The moment where Reva reveals that Anakin is alive truly shatters him. Up until now, he presumed Anakin was dead and that he had killed him in their last duel. We can see the shock and horror in Obi-Wan’s eyes and he is unable to speak except to utter one name, “Anakin”.
But backtracking a little bit, this episode also had a lot of moments that made me smile. I truly felt like a kid again while watching. Haja Estree (Kumail Nanjiani) was just a very enjoyable character. I laughed at his con man demeanor and was very happy when he decided to help Obi-Wan and Leia escape.
Leia shopping and making Obi-Wan buy the gloves for her also got me. I love that he just couldn’t say no. And again the Inquisitors create a powerful presence, I can’t wait to see them in action for real. So that brings me to the moment in the episode that literally made me stand up and yell “What?!”. Reva appears to kill the Grand Inquisitor after another argument between them, impaling him with her lightsaber. If this is the case then this is a major retcon for Star Wars Rebels as he is the primary antagonist of season one. But this is Star Wars and deaths aren’t always what they seem.
Obi-Wan does come back into his own a bit in this episode. We see his first use of the force in what is presumably years. It takes him a moment to get the hang of it again but with Leia’s life in danger he has no choice. From infiltrating a gang of mercenaries to a chase across the rooftops, Obi-Wan is slowly returning to the Jedi he once was.
The journey he started in the previous episode continues here. The personal narrative continues to flow very nicely into this tension-filled episode. But the revelation of Anakin’s survival might just break him all over again. And that final chilling image of Anakin in the bacta tank with the breathing sound we all know can only mean one thing, Darth Vader is coming.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming now on Disney Plus.