Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5 Review: Shows Us A Throwback That Continues To Influence The Present
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Moses Ingram, Vivien Lyra Blair, Hayden Christensen
Director: Deborah Chow
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (Three and half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Another week has already passed, and another Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5 has arrived. We begin Obi-Wan Kenobi’s fifth episode review by saying that the series has been a topic of conversation on social media for the past few weeks. Reactions to the episodes have been polarizing, to say the least. Many people defend the “swordplay” series, saying it is one of the best made. Others don’t have the same opinion. There is a clear qualitative gap between the story that Obi-Wan Kenobi wants to tell and the inevitable taking time on the altar of the minute god. And this week we have had further confirmation of it: there is no comparison – on the narrative, dramatic, and staging level – concerning the poor chase seen on Mapuzo, although in our eyes the third episode still had a lot of conceptual sense.
It was mostly dwarfed by mediocre accomplishment and omnipresent superficiality, as we pointed out in our special on what’s not working in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Does this mean that the Disney+ show almost miraculously did he gets back on track and correct all the problems? Not, it is now clear that certain shortcomings will keep us company until the end, but at least they return to be – in part – counterbalanced by some positive glimmer. The feeling remains that, as a miniseries, it puts too little meat on the fire to capture the viewer, and the surrounding aspects that should act as a sounding board for the events affect its effectiveness.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5 Review: The Story
Part V opens with what should be a brief flashback of a training session between Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, both still Jedi, although the time since we last saw them in that form is revealed by, I aged faces of both actors, most notably Hayden Christensen. The scene then shifts to Vader and Reva, who tell him that the locator he planted in Leia Lola’s droid tracked them down to Jabiim. Reva is promoted to Grand Inquisitor for information. The truth lies somewhere in between. There are indeed some interesting things in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, especially in episode 5. Ewan McGregor continues to be the highlight of the episodes, and this episode tries to make up for the lack of action in later episodes.
However, this episode suffers from the same problems as the last four episodes: lack of great moments together with the character and strange musical positioning. Episode 5 starts in the same place Episode 4 ended. There we learned that Lola, Leia’s companion, had been violated by the Empire, and was acting as a bug. The Empire was able to pinpoint refugee routes and follow them, with Reva as the de facto leader of the Inquisition. What we see in this episode constitutes the aftermath of that event, and the result is an episode that functions as an action piece. This is the first episode that gives Hayden Christensen a lot of moments, both in the form of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader.
We find our protagonists on the planet Jabiim following the rescue of Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) from the Inquisitorius fortress on Nur unaware of the locator placed by Reva (Moses Ingram) inside the little robot Lola. They will soon notice, as the Empire and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) will soon come knocking on the doors of their base and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) is left with the task of buying as much time as possible to allow the numerous refugees to flee and thus save themselves. Stake at the base of extreme and pleasant linearity, which moreover finally gives us the image of a proud, courageous, and why not, even heroic rebellion at times – a decisive step forward compared to the cloying randomly inserted towards the end of the last episode.
There is always that banal rule according to which to give a strong emotional blow to the viewer it is necessary to build it over time and here it has been done, with a simplicity and frankness that we cannot fail to appreciate. Just as a decisive place for Reva was found within the narrative fabric, a necessary turning point for a character who started with fascinating bases and quickly became a dark parody of himself. Does the twist on her work? She has a certain aura of forcing a little sterile but confirms herself as a potentially interesting embodiment of the adage “the end justifies the means” in Jedi sauce.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5 Review And Analysis
Much of its success will depend on the series (or season given the recent rumors) next week, there is a need for an outlet or a proof for all this background. The same two problems fail for the umpteenth time: first of all, the glance, excluding the double premiere, continues to be confirmed at rather unsatisfactory levels and the CGI – especially on ships – consequently struggles to get into gear and satisfy. Also, in this episode certain movements of the spaceships seem anything but natural, resulting mostly cumbersome and delayed.
And at the same time there are still other situations that could have been solved in much easier ways using the most basic logic possible – why does Reva bomb the door when he could open it right away with the lightsaber in two seconds as he will do next? And it is not the only cause of a series that too many times proposes forcing to get out of scenarios that she has created or lengthen the soup, with the result of alienating the viewer repeatedly. And then we might as well close on a happy note, as the episode creates an immense parallel between this tactical ranged battle between Obi-Wan and Vader and their training duel when they were still Jedi and Padawan respectively, perfect for framing the events.
We move to the conclusion of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s fifth episode review by saying that it all begins when Reva makes her way through the door. In the frantic retreat, the loader robot is slammed to defend everyone and Tala takes a blaster shot to the stomach. In an obligatory moment of heroic self-sacrifice, she seals Obi-Wan behind next door and releases a thermal detonator to delay the Empire’s advance. But it ends up being a little pointless. Vader can sense that he already has Obi-Wan in his hands as he knows Obi-Wan will do everything he can to protect people. And protecting these people means giving in to Vader to buy him time.
What Obi-Wan is counting on is Reva’s help. He’s allowing her to try and attack Vader, and he hopes that Vader’s obsession with victory – contributed to his fall to the dark side in the first place, which we see in the microcosm in the repeated flashbacks of that sparring session. – will make him keep his focus on Obi-Wan to such an extent that Reva has the opportunity to strike. By the time Vader arrives in person, Obi-Wan has already broken free and returned to the Path members, where Leia, who removed the tracking device from Lola, managed to open the doors. But in a moment of extreme severity, Vader rips the retreating ship with the Force into the air, drags it back to shore, and tears off pieces. Another smaller ship takes off from the inside, much faster and more agile. The Path has escaped, though a clumsy Haja accidentally left Obi-Wan’s communicator behind, which contains a message from Bail about “children” and a specific mention of Tatooine and Ben.
Reva takes the opportunity to attack Vader, but it is a complete failure. He doesn’t even take out his lightsaber. He simply hits her with the Force, takes her double-bladed sword from her, and passes it to her revealing that he knew who he was from the start – And so did the original Grand Inquisitor, who arrives just in time to get his badge. It is a tremendous loss for Reva, who writhes in the earth. Is there an arc of redemption coming? Revealing that he knew who Reva all the time was, Vader, gloats over his dying body with (surprise!) The original Grand Inquisitor, who is not dead after all. The best part of the series is when Darth Vader is on screen and hopefully Disney will get the hint to do a series where he’s the central character. The flashback scenes of Obi-Wan training with Anakin were a nice reminder of the prequel trilogy and should have been the focus of the episode. Hopefully, the showrunners are saving the best for the latest episode, and fans of the franchise will have a satisfying conclusion.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5 Review: The Last Words
It will not be an overwhelming episode, but the penultimate date with Obi-Wan Kenobi hits the target more times than it misses. And this is already a reassuring figure compared to a subdued central part of the season. He succeeds with an episode of extreme and pleasant linearity, which wants to focus on a few elements to make them at least at their best. For example, he gives us a portrait of a rebellion that is finally proud, courageous, and at times even heroic who knows he is at a disadvantage but does not want to surrender to the inevitable. Just as wonderful is the enormous parallel between the long-distance battle between Obi-Wan and Vader and their old practice duel: they are two people who know each other perfectly and continue to foresee their every move and every weakness. And review the Hayden Christensen’s Anakin still does his part regardless, albeit for brief moments. The Achilles heels are the usual, from a glance that continues to be unsatisfactory (like CGI) and the now well-known forced situations to the limit of the improbable, easily solved in a thousand other ways.
