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obi-wan-episode-4-recap.jpg

Your Boy Obi-Wan Is Feeling Like His Old Self Again

By Mike Redmond | TV | June 9, 2022 |

By Mike Redmond | TV | June 9, 2022 |


obi-wan-episode-4-recap.jpg

Previously on Obi-Wan Kenobi: After narrowly escaping Reva the Third Sister, Obi-Wan and Leia find themselves stranded on the mining planet Mazupo and struggling to avoid running into Imperial forces. Thanks to the assistance of Tala, an Imperial officer secretly facilitating what’s essentially an underground railroad for Jedi known as the Path, Obi-Wan and Leia are just about to make it off-planet until Darth Vader arrives. As the Dark Lord of the Sith ruthlessly plows his way through innocent bystanders, Obi-Wan entrusts Leia with Tala and attempts to draw his old apprentice away so they can escape. However, that plan goes sideways as Vader easily wrecks Obi-Wan. I’m talking he literally whips his ass single-handedly then drags his former friend and master across fire to give him a taste of how it feels to be burnt alive. Obi-Wan is only able to get away thanks to Tala, who foolishly left Leia alone resulting in her being captured by Reva.

Coming out of Part 3, a lot of people assumed the next episode would focus on Obi-Wan getting his strength back and learning how to reconnect with the Force. Kinda! That stuff does happen, just in a matter of seconds. In what’s becoming a recurring theme for these shows, a severely burned and unconscious Obi-Wan is dropped in a Bacta tank at a proto-Rebellion base where we’re shown that Obi-Wan is connected to Vader because, holy sh*t, their scars match. Never mind that their relationship has been pretty well documented across not one, but two whole film trilogies, their burns look the same, you guys!

Obi-Wan’s time in the tank lasts all of 30 seconds before he snaps awake, asks Tala where Leia is, and is already drying himself off to do this thing. It’s a show about space wizard, folks. Case in point, Obi-Wan learns where Leia is being held, and it’s called, I swear to God, the Fortress Inquisitorius. What an incredible time to slather your franchise in pure, uncut J.K. Rowling. Way to read the room.

Dangerously banking on her cover as an Imperial officer not being blown, Tala and Obi-Wan head to — goddammit — Fortress Inquisitorius where the episode will make the very odd decision of highlighting how Obi-Wan Kenobi truly is a way sh*ttier version of Jedi: Fallen Order. It’s actively inviting comparisons at this point by setting one-sixth of its runtime inside a level from the game, which is a terrible idea. Fallen Order is hands-down one of the best Star Wars stories in recent years, and Obi-Wan is… well, not.

Anyway, while Tala helps Obi-Wan slink around Sanctum Saberium, Leia is being interrogated by Reva who is now hyper-focused on shutting down the Path. Credit where credit is due, Vivien Lyra Blair is finally given a chance to really embody Leia’s fearlessness and cunning, which is in full-display during these scenes. Blair nails it. Her exchanges with Reva also hint at the Inquisitor’s backstory that’s being carefully guarded. I know others disagree, but Reva’s whole deal makes her a compelling character because we know exactly where Obi-Wan, Leia, and Darth Vader will be at the end of this thing. Reva could go in any direction.

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After trying to use the Force to pull information out of Leia, who is able to resist thanks to them Skywalker Genes™, Reva gets fed up and prepares the princess for some old school torture. Not going down without a fight, Leia repeatedly screams for help, which Obi-Wan hears. He knows time is running out and pleads with Tala for a distraction, which she provides by summoning Reva to her location in an extremely risky move.

While Tala keeps Reva’s attention/tries to stay alive by revealing she was a double agent who infiltrated the Path, Obi-Wan makes his way to Leia where the Jedi Master finally starts to throw down like the Obi-Wan we know and love. Don’t get me wrong, this episode was still a (mostly) mediocre, prison break rehash set to the blandest backdrops imaginable, but there is something captivating about Ewan McGregor making his lightsaber go “FWOOSH.” Despite getting wrecked by Vader in the last episode and taking a 10-second Bacta bath, he’s back in full fighting form, and it makes for easily the best moments of the series so far. Taking out those Stormtroopers in the dark? Even my cranky ass will admit that was dope as hell.

With Leia secured, Tala catches up with Obi-Wan to warn him that Reva is on his ass. They make their way back to the hangar where Tala’s ship is waiting as Obi-Wan not very subtly hides Leia under an Imperial officer coat. They almost make it out, but Reva catches up to them with a squadron of Stormtroopers. In one of the worst special effects moments of the show, snowspeeders T47 speeders piloted by Tala’s resistance fighters somehow zoom into the hangar despite it looking like they should have barely three feet to maneuver. The minute they fly in, they should’ve smashed into a wall, but again, show about space wizards. Our heroes escape, but not without one of the pilots dying as Reva takes out his speeder.

After sitting out the episode, Vader arrives on Castle KilltheJediola and proceeds to Force choke Reva to death for royally screwing the space-pooch. The dude is pissed, but she’s able to get out that she planted a tracker on Leia’s robot. This jarringly switches Vader’s entire mood from full rage to “Oh damn, good job. Great hustle, everybody.” I seriously don’t know what the f*ck this show is anymore.

That said, clearly, I’m a basic bitch who’s all too easily swayed by lightsabers going “FWOOSH.” I loathe everything that Obi-Wan Kenobi says about the state of Star Wars, and yet, look at me writing a practically glowing review because the laser sword was all like, “TSSSSH. Die space Nazi.”

I’m part of the problem!


Obi-Wan Kenobi Recaps

Part 1 & 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6