Obi-Wan Kenobi Part IV begets big moments for its title character.
I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm here to rescue you.
The Short Take:
The core plot of Part IV is a good, old-fashioned rescue mission worthy of the Star Wars tradition. The execution of that plot plays to the strengths of its ensemble cast, with riveting scenes with and without Kenobi.
[I sense many SPOILER disturbances in the Force ahead, not only for Obi-Wan Kenobi but for The Mandalorian as well (especially the Season 2 finale).]
The Long Take:
Infiltrating enemy territory to rescue a captive hero has been a long-standing staple of Star Wars stories. The tradition began with “I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you” on the Death Star in A New Hope and continues to this day, most recently and memorably with the jaw-dropping return of Luke Skywalker to help rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon’s light cruiser at the end of The Mandalorian’s second season. Full disclosure: Screen Rant’s top ten list was especially helpful in refreshing my memory of just how many great ones we’ve gotten over years.
While reasonably foregoing the swagger and levity of the Original Trilogy’s Leia rescue, Obi-Wan and Tala’s suicide mission to rescue a much younger Leia from the Fortress Inquisitorius certainly checked all of the other rescue mission boxes. They disguise themselves as imperial officers. Kenobi dodges probe droids as he sneaks around austere hallways. Leia brazenly resists Reva’s interrogation tactics. Tala hacks into computers for intel she shares with Obi-Wan over their comlinks. Many storm troopers die gracelessly. (I don’t think we’ve ever seen them just floating in water like dead goldfish before, and it amused me.)
Any great Star Wars rescue, though, isn’t just about the rescue itself; rather, it usually serves as a platform for additional character development, conflict, and maybe even a shocking twist. Finn, Chewbacca, and Han rescuing Rey from Kylo Ren at the end of The Force Awakens precipitates that heartbreaking confrontation between father and son. Padme and Anakin’s rescue of Obi-Wan on Geonosis in The Attack of the Clones initiates their fateful romance in earnest when they think they are about to die. Even Grogu’s retrieval prompts a huge moment for Din, who goes against The Creed — which he has devoutly followed all his life — and removes his helmet so he can tearfully say goodbye to his adopted son. It also manages to squeeze in political intrigue around the Darksaber, which will hopefully pay off in The Mandalorian Season 3.
In Obi-Wan Kenobi Part IV, the rescue mission to get to Leia before Reva tortures her for information catalyzes two huge moments for the series’ title character: 1.) Going behind enemy lines compels (I was about to say “forces” but thought the pun, however unintentional, may be a bit too much, even for me.) Obi-Wan to reconnect with the Force and 2.) Leia reciprocates the love and care we have seen in Ewan McGregor’s eyes in past episodes, perhaps in the first found-family love he has felt since his brother, Anakin, fell to the Dark Side. The former was fan-affirmingly spectacular while the other hit hard on a deeply emotional level.
Similar to the praise I had for Part III’s thoughtful approach to what a Vader v. Kenobi duel would actually look like at this point in the timeline, Part IV very gradually and realistically shows Obi-Wan finding his way back to the Force. We see him trying to move a small non-descript object on Tala’s ship, still straining and able to move it, even a few inches. Tala says to him that he just needs time to heal, both physically and mentally. Only he has no time. Leia needs him now.
As such, this rescue really serves as a crucible for Obi-Wan reforging his connection with the Force. Inside the Fortress, he uses a Jedi mind trick to redirect some storm troopers who are dangerously close to discovering him. When he gets to Leia, he takes down the troopers guarding her with his lightsaber. All this paves the way for the epic hallway chase scene in which Obi-Wan approaches his former fighting form and, in a climactic moment, can use the Force to hold back a cracking window with an ocean’s worth of water bursting behind it.
Deborah Chow was so smart to withhold — until this climactic moment — the proper spin and other flourishes of movement that I associate with glory days General Kenobi. This return to form (or at least the start of it) was well worth the wait. McGregor’s skills as an actor once again come through here, as I believed it was excruciatingly difficult for Obi-Wan to hold the weight of all that water. At the same time, I believed that he was able to hold it for as long as he did not because of his Jedi fitness, but because of his sheer will and desire to protect Leia.
These fist-pump-inducing breakthroughs were only rivaled by the development of the Leia-Ben relationship, which continues to be a highlight of this series for me. The way she takes his hand and the looks they exchange with one another? I melted. McGregor goes from looking surprised and confused to touched in a matter of seconds. When Leia pulls Obi-Wan’s hand towards her and clasps, the corner of McGregor’s mouth goes up ever so slightly, but then disappears. It’s clear that he’s going through so many mixed emotions — love, pride, and comfort, but also fear and sadness.
Even though McGregor’s performance is phenomenal and does justice to his character more than any of us could have ever hoped for, Obi-Wan Kenobi still has a powerhouse ensemble cast, introducing new minor characters that I care about more than I expected. And they’re actually integral to the storyline. An alternate version of the series might have — in our darkest timeline — used fan service and nostalgia as a crutch and gotten away with one-dimensional archetypes in its supporting cast. What I’m trying to say here is that a series bringing Obi-Wan Kenobi back into our lives doesn’t necessarily need to have fully-formed supporting characters; fans will show up regardless. I’m so grateful that this series has produced not one but at least three or four characters that I’d like to see more of in other Disney+ series.
Exhibit A: Moses Ingram. This episode was her — and by extension Reva’s —time to shine. The way she manipulates and tries to psych people out was charismatic in the way that only a really great villain can be. She twists the truth so much that it does at first blush kind of make sense. And she’s clearly using arguments that others have used on her (probably when she first became an Inquisitor): that the people who supposedly left Leia behind don’t deserve her protection. That the only person who can save Leia right now is herself.
She even pulls this kind of mind game on Vader at the end of the episode when she says that she let Obi-Wan, Tala, and Leia go on purpose because she placed a tracker on their ship. The gaul! When she interrupts the Fifth Brother’s whining with “Kenobi is all that matters,” she’s playing Vader like a fiddle, and I have so much respect for her for it. She clearly understands what makes Vader tick and how to survive as his servant.
But “little” Leia goes toe-to-toe with Reva, fooling both Reva and the audience (or at least me) into thinking she — very understandably — would crack under pressure because she’s a ten-year-old child. Vivian Lyra Blair continues to impress me, especially when she flashes from scared to defiant, saying, “I don’t know anything” or “I’ll never tell you where they are.” It’s actually kind of scary how she goes from terrified child to brave rebel so quickly.
The writing here, once again, gives these actors so much to cook with. When Reva tries to use the Force to control her mind, for example, Leia says, “Is this a staring contest?” The bold sarcasm built into that line does so much to set Blair up for success. It’s trademark Leia. And the way she reels Reva in, making her think she’s made some progress, only to say, “I’ll need to tell my father first. You said we’re all on the same side, right?” Brilliant. Ingram plays Reva’s response incredibly well here too, initially angry but then kind of impressed by Leia’s shenanigans.
In earlier episodes, I had picked up on some light parallels between Reva and Leia, and their scenes together here reinforced that for me. They’re both strong and strong-willed, wanting to take charge and do things their own way. They both had/have droids as children. And they may have similar Force sensitivities, specifically being able to read people and weaponize their fears against them. In particular, I think back to Leia telling off her cousin and Reva threatening Owen’s family in Part I.
Reva, of course, tries to capitalize on any potential similarities, trying to get Leia to think that she’s a friend rather than an enemy. Reva says that they’re both alone, and recalls that she too had to learn “the braver you seem the more afraid you are” at a young age. The way these two try to manipulate each other throughout the interrogation scenes made something click for me: could Leia and Reva be two Force sides of the same coin?
Ultimately, though, neither can fool the other. Reva becomes wise to Leia’s attempt to contact her father (or just resentful of having the phrase “we’re all on the same side” thrown back in her face? I’m a fan of either interpretation.). And Leia never falls for Reva’s rhetoric. Tala, on the other hand, is actually able to fool Reva, even if only for a moment.
She is magnetic as the double agent. Indira Varma plays her as bold and brave — she’s so convincing when she’s puffing herself up as an Imperial officer — but then also scared and nervous. Again, her character could have been flat and disposable, but between the significant role she plays in this rescue mission, her rapport with Obi-Wan, and Varma’s stellar performance, I am already attached to her and want her to have her own Disney+ series.
There are two more installments of this limited series, so, naturally, I begin to question what next week and the week after will bring. Based on the cliffhanger of Evil Lola (which I am NOT okay with…to invoke The Ringer-Verse’s Mallory Rubin, “Protect Lola at all costs!”), corrupted by the tracker Reva placed within her (her comment about them both having droids was foreshadowing too!), it would make the most sense for Part V to start with the Inquisitors descending upon Jabiim. Our heroes try to defend it, but then must flee in hopes of preserving some remnant of their operation, finding a new base and building a new Path.
We may get one episode in anticipation of this battle on Jabiim, in which Obi-Wan finally communicates with Qui-Gon and levels up in some way that will make a rematch against Vader possible. Maybe Kenobi gives himself up or stays to fight Vader so that the others can get away. Tala nearly got herself killed trying to create a diversion so he could find Leia, so maybe he decides to return the favor in either Part V or Part VI.
I do think that at some point we are due for some kind of pay-off for all the Anakin/Prequel Trilogy backstory woven into the series of far. In Part III, Anakin as he appears pre-Mustafar literally haunts Obi-Wan in some kind of PTSD mirage. In this week’s episode, we see that Obi-Wan cannot forget, he cannot let go of what happened to Anakin. He cannot even heal in a Bacta tank without reliving the pain of the past. I loved the disorientating editing in this sequence because seeing Ben in the Bacta tank and then sneakily intercutting shots of Vader in his own tank creates cognitive dissonance. My brain hurt the most when the camera cuts to Vader’s missing limb.
Considering all the time we have spent with Hayden Christensen in the Vader suit and considering how much time Obi-Wan has spent thinking about Anakin, I feel like this series must conclude with a deeper conversation between them. Fans of Revenge of the Sith need it. When the Pink Milk podcast recently discussed Parts I, II, and III, they made a convincing case for how we can see Hayden Christensen acting through the suit and how his performance will now make Vader as a character across the franchise feel more whole. The second they starting sharing insights about that I could totally see it. And Twitter is full of screen shot comparisons of Hayden in the Prequel Trilogy mirroring poses, gestures, or his angry walk in this new series.
So, I’m not saying that they’ve been hiding Hayden in the suit or that he hasn’t really been in the series yet. Seeing his face, either as Vader without his helmet or in a flashback would be great, but I think what matters more is that they exchange more words. Obviously, such a conversation cannot resolve in any tangible way to maintain continuity with A New Hope, but perhaps the final events of this series can help Obi-Wan make peace with himself.
A thought that's crept in after this episode: I have seen a lot of speculation that Reva is so fixated on Kenobi not just to curry favor with Vader but for her own reasons, and that those reasons are related to the Order 66 scene that opened the series. But after this fourth episode, I wonder if her anger is fueled less from the end of her padawan career and more the beginning of it. When she mentions that she had a droid once too, but that it was taken from her along with everything else, it made me think of Ben talking about the fleeting memories he has of his parents and brother. And all this, of course, ties in with Obi-wan's charge from Qui-gon to train Anakin, the boy who was taken from his mother and then returned only in time to watch her die. I am wondering if part of the final act of this show is going to circle around the cost of children having to leave their lives behind to be a Jedi. And, for Reva, how the burden of those costs increased when the Jedi Order crumbled and abandoned her to the gutter.
First inquisitorious mention! Tala is maybe starting to steal Leia’s thunder.