WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5.
The fifth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi delivered on the confrontation promised in the previous episode, creates paralells to The Empire Strikes Back in an exciting fashion, and gives fans what they have been speculating about for months.
This episode opens with something fans have been looking forward to and speculating about since the beginning. Well sort of. We get a flashback to before Attack of the Clones where Anakin is practicing his dueling skills with Obi-Wan.
This moment alone got me so excited and even though it wasn’t the Clone Wars flashbacks everyone was speculating about, it was plenty for me. What really made this exciting was that at multiple points throughout the episode we jump back and see more of this scene as it mirrors Vader and Obi-Wan’s strategic moves in the present. Each of them is inside the other’s head and know’s the other so well. And I mean come on, seeing Hayden as Anakin again was just fantastic. But all the same, I hope that there is more and we see him again.
Things are not looking good for anyone on Jabiim as “Evil Lola” leads Vader right to them. The newly made Grand Inquisitor Reva leads the attack while everyone inside the base attempts to stall for time so everyone can escape in the transport. It feels a lot like the Echo Base sequence in Emprie Strikes Back.
All our characters are there and need to escape. This week’s episode also brought back Haja Estree and it was a delight to see him again. He brings a subtle amount of comedy, not too much that it overtakes the show, but just enough to be enjoyable.
Eventually, Obi-Wan is forced to speak with Reva in order to buy more time and we finally learn how she knows Vaders identity. Turns out she was one of the younglings in the Order 66 scene at the start of the show. I had suspected this so it didn’t come as a big shock but what did was the revelation that she plans to kill Vader. It finally makes sense why she has been after Kenobi, only he can lure Vader out and therefore allow her to take a chance at killing him.
While Reva has been very hit or miss with fans, I personally like this new development. Though it might feel out of nowhere, I also feel that It gives her actual motivations beyond simply power and adds to her character.
But this is futile as she blows down the door and a battle ensues, resulting in Tala, and her doids, death. We didn’t know her very long but this still makes an impact because of the way she impacts Obi-Wan throughout the show. She shows him that good people do exist and for Obi-Wan, this is someone else he was unable to save.
But we don’t have time to mourn as Obi-Wan surrenders himself to save everyone while Leia enters the vents to try and override the controls. I like how she still has her time to shine and even a battle, if you could even call it that, with Lola that brings her back to their side.
Obi-Wan’s cooperation with Reva is something unexpected but it displays both of their drives to end Vader however they can. And then Vader finally arrives and once again I’m on the edge of my seat ready for another confrontation between Vader and Kenobi. He marches into the base and using the force PULLS THE ESCAPING TRANSPORT OUT OF THE SKY.
This is a moment that truly shows off how terrifying Vader can be. Lucky for our heroes they were all on board another one and successfully escape. But then Reva attempts to kill Vader resulting in an even more epic display of his skill where he duels her without a weapon, shatters her lightsaber in two, fights her again, and then wields two lightsabers and defeats her. It’s in these moments that we finally see that Vader is an unstoppable monster.
The return of the true Grand Inquisitor moments later is a sigh of relief for Rebels fans and he is quick to dismiss Reva and they leave her to die. But the Grand Inquisiotry really should have taken a lesson from Reva, make sure your opponent is dead. Reva survives and from the looks of things, Luke might now be in danger. I’m not sure how to feel about that and we will have to wait and see how it plays out in the series finale next week.
Episode five does a lot of things well from the flashbacks being perfectly interwoven with the story to Vader’s terrifying abilities on full display. It’s difficult to see how this can be topped in next week’s episode but after this episode, I would say that anything is possible.
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