With “Obi-Wan Kenobi’s” fourth episode in the books, we only have two installments left before the limited series is done (there have already been unsubstantiated reports of the show being renewed for a second season but that is neither here nor there). This show is going by faster than the Boonta Eve Classic pod race!
And this episode certainly establishes that we are nearing our conclusion, as alliances are reinforced, desperate missions mounted and stakes significantly upped. But let’s stop talking and dig into it, shall we?
Heavy spoilers for “Obi-Wan Kenobi’s” fourth episode follow! Turn back now if you haven’t watched!
Rebels Without a Cause
Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) is injured and clearly out of it after his battle with Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen, with help from James Earl Jones and an AI voice generator). He’s badly burned and in rough shape. Tala (Indira Varma), the Imperial higher-up turned Rebel leader, is rushing him to a Rebel base. “You’re going to be okay,” she tells Obi-Wan. Then, to somebody else: “Get the Bacta tank ready.” (You know, because we didn’t have enough Bacta tank shenanigans in “The Book of Boba Fett.”) Mercifully, his time in the tank is brief; he has some flashes of Vader (and his own healing vat) along with images from their most recent duel.
When Obi-Wan gets out of the tank he has one question: “Where’s Leia?” (Can we pause to just recognize that some of the angrier “Star Wars” fans might have been unhappy with Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi,” but its influence is still clearly felt. This editorial cut – from “Where’s Leia” to where Leia actually is, echoes the “Where’s Han?” moment from “The Last Jedi” and the general editorial pattern of that film.)
We then cut to the water moon where the Inquisitors have their base of operations. Reva, the Third Sister (Moses Ingram) tells Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) that Obi-Wan is dead. She might as well give up now. Leia, plucky as ever, refuses.
Back on the Rebel base where Obi-Wan was taken, he talks to O’Shea Jackson, who plays a Rebel engineer. He tells a story about tangling with the Inquisitors. He had a wife who exhibited Force sensitivity. He hid her well. “An Inquisitor found her anyway,” he tells Obi-Wan. Still, he encourages them to help him get Leia back.
There’s then a cut to a small group of Rebels, including Maya Erskine (here she is!) They’re just technical people, not soldiers. Still, Jackson brings up a nifty, old school hologram of the Inquisitor’s world. Apparently it’s a water moon in the Mustafar system, not far from Vader’s planet and his very severe castle. He pleads with them to mount this mission. Leia is a child. Even if the tech and vehicles aren’t completely up to snuff, it’s worth attempting anyway. “I’ll be alright,” Obi-Wan says. Tala and Obi-Wan, at the very least, are in.
Back on the water moon, Reva is trying to get Leia to tell her about the secret network called The Path, used to help Jedi after Order 66 was issued. Why Leia would know more about this network than anybody else is sort of baffling. She was just introduced to the concept in the last episode and didn’t even get to use one of its underground tunnels before getting picked up by a murderous maniac. It also somewhat muddles Reva’s intentions. Is she after Obi-Wan with a singular intensity, or is she more about finding out what is going on with this network, for possible career advancement? It’s a little confusing.
Making Waves on the Water Moon
Tala lands her Imperial cruiser on the Inquisitor fortress. As she’s going in a security guard stops her. She isn’t clear for this station. She tells the security guard that she outranks him. “I’m here with classified intelligence,” she snaps. He lets her through.
We then see Obi-Wan swimming up which is a nice callback to his time under Naboo. It doesn’t look like it’s the same breathing apparatus he used in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.” But it’s close. And sometimes close is good enough.
Tala opens a door for him to swim into. Weird creatures swim around in the water but don’t interfere with him. He goes into the fortress. A Stormtrooper investigates but Obi-Wan takes him out off screen; moments later we can see him floating in the port behind Obi-Wan.
Elsewhere in the fortress Reva attempts to use the Force to read Leia’s mind. She’s unimpressed. “Are we having a staring contest?” Leia asks. Leia’s droid Lola then attacks Reva. Reva stops it with the force and holds it in her hand. “I had a droid when I was younger too … it was taken from me, like everything else,” Reva tells Leia. Ouch.
On an Imperial workstation in the fortress, Tala is able to see the entire building, including some secret junk going on in the lower depths. “What are they keeping down there?” she asks Obi-Wan. He hasn’t a clue.
He’s making his way through the corridors and sees a menacing probe droid pass by. Tala tells him they’re all over the place. They aren’t quite the probe droid that was looking for Luke on Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back,” these are smaller and sleeker. But still scary.
As she’s communicating with Obi-Wan, she gets caught by another Imperial officer and taken away from her station. She leaves behind the small communicator that she was using to keep in touch with Obi-Wan. In the hallways, Obi-Wan is nearly spotted by the probe droid but he hides behind some doors. Never underestimate the power of doors! We cut back to Tala’s station and she’s killed the other officer. She makes some offhanded comment to Obi-Wan about how she was preoccupied but she was actually murdering another human being. Absolutely ruthless.
In another chamber, Reva is still attempting to interrogate Leia. Leia even cries, saying that she’ll help Reva. But it’s all a ruse. Also Leia’s little green outfit is reminiscent of the poncho Leia wears on Endor in “Return of the Jedi” many years (in “Star Wars” chronology later). If Leia can’t answer her questions the easy way, they’re going to have to do things the hard way.
Tomb of the Jedi
As Leia is being carted off for more “extreme interrogation,” Obi-Wan is stumbling upon the Inquisitor fortress’ big secret. “I found the secure sector,” he tells Reva. Not that there’s any additional security or hoops he has to jump through. He just sort of walks in. NBD.
It’s a long hallway filled with creatures and humans preserved in an amber-like fluid. “It isn’t a fortress, it’s a tomb,” Obi-Wan says. Eagle-eyed viewers are sure to spot characters from the extended universe and comic books and who knows what else. They were all alien to me, even if they were human. Although the last amber chamber he walks by is clearly a Jedi youngling, just to double-underline the cruelty of the Empire and the Inquisitors. Obi-Wan tells Tala that he needs a distraction.
There’s a very scary interrogation device headed towards Leia. At the last minute, Reva is interrupted. She leaves the chamber and is greeted by Tala. She tells Reva about the Path and about how she knows where Obi-Wan is (on some other planet, she’s clearly stalling). She thinks she’s telling the truth, but then says, “Unless, of course, you’re lying.” Gulp.
In the interrogation chamber, Obi-Wan kills the lights and takes out some Stormtroopers. A lot of Stormtroopers die in this episode and considering what we learned in the sequel trilogy, that they are basically child soldiers separated from their families and forced to work for the evil Empire, there isn’t quite the same joy to be had in the death of countless Stormtroopers. Anyway. Leia sees Obi-Wan and says, “You’re alive!”
Just outside the chamber, Tala is still stalling, telling Reva that she is still very much aligned with the Empire. She’s spent two years undercover, saying that she’s helping the Rebellion but really it’s all a ruse.
A probe droid spots Obi-Wan and Leia. That familiar Empire alarm starts going off. “It’s him!” Reva exclaims.
Stormtroopers rush Obi-Wan and Leia he deflects a number of the blasts, “throwing” the laser fire back at the Stormtroopers and killing them all, along with the probe droid. But one of the errant blasts cracks a window. Tala finds them and Obi-Wan tells her to take Leia. He tries to hold the water from bursting back. Then a bunch of Stormtroopers (and a single Death Trooper!) show up and he angles the crack to take them all out. He escapes through some blast doors (the true hero of this episode is reliable doors).
Tala, Obi-Wan and Leia (hidden under Obi-Wan’s coat) try to make their escape. They’re dressed as Imperial officers. We briefly see the other Inquisitors, who are deeply enraged. Finally Reva comes and calls them out. “Traitor! Child! And an old man!” (Ewan McGregor is 51.) Just as their collective goose is about to be cooked, a couple of speeders (like the ones in “The Empire Strikes Back”) show up. They jump onto the speeder piloted by Maya Erskine. Reva takes out the other speeder, killing the young Rebel engineer. Sad!
Back in the fortress, Darth Vader comes stomping in. He starts to Force-choke Reva. “You were warned what defeat would bring,” Vader booms. Reva says that there is hope. “I put a tracker on the ship,” she tells Lord Vader. (Again: echoes of “The Last Jedi” and Hux’s assessment that they are “tied on the end of a string.”) “Where he goes, it will follow,” Reva says. Vader loosens his grip. The other Inquisitors are furious. How many tiems is she going to get away with this stuff?
The speeder goes into another, larger vessel and they hightail it out of there. O’Shea asks where the other Rebel is; Maya tells him that the other Rebel is dead. “Guess you’re soldiers now,” Tala says.
Leia and Obi-Wan are sitting together. She takes Obi-Wan’s hand; a lovely moment of tenderness. The camera lingers on Lola, Leia’s droid. It’s single eye turns red. It is the tracker.
This week’s installment was action-packed and with very little dialogue and even fewer genuine character moments. Hopefully the next installment, co-written by Pixar legend Andrew Stanton, will take things a little slower, as we barrel towards the finale.