Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 4 Review

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Obi-Wan Kenobi takes on the Inquisitors in a wonderfully filmed episode, but the combat doesn’t quite stick the landing.

“Part 4” of Obi-Wan Kenobi is back to sci-fi passageways after some empty-looking landscapes last week in Star Wars. It’s hard to argue that the setting isn’t a factor in the episode’s emotional lull. However, as the series nears its conclusion, Ewan McGregor continues to establish himself as a key player in the galaxy far, far away.

A figure with a very straight expression states that Leia has been seized by the Empire and sent to Fortress Inquisitorius. O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays the operative Roken, one of the proto-rebels on Jabiim who assist Obi-Wan and Tala liberate her. No more Legends canon tie-ins for the world’s fans here unfortunately. Rather, Obi-Wan only sees the interior of a bacta tank and a few small chambers in the base. Meanwhile, Darth Vader uses his healing bath to stir up even more sorrow as these two estranged brothers endure the agony of being burned alive while he recovers.

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Obi-Wan and Tala use her officer clearance codes to get enter the stronghold. The Third Sister’s attempts to intimidate and coax Leia fail, as Reva interrogates her. Reva loses her cool and takes Leia to an interrogation chamber, where she is subjected to physical and psychological abuse. Obi-Wan and Tala fabricate a phoney confession in order to distract Reva before Leia is injured. This time, Obi-Wan draws attention from stormtroopers, but the Inquisitor refuses to believe it. The good guys will not give up. An underwater passage is flooded and Obi-Wan uses the Force to save the good folks. Our heroes are besieged by the mighty force of the Empire when a crew from Jabiim comes to their rescue, sacrificing one of their pilots in the process.

After the powerful opening bacta sequence, “Part 4” never quite returns to the explosive blend of history and character development, emotion and world-building it delivered. At the very least, it makes considerably greater use of the bacta tank than did The Book of Boba Fett. When it comes to infiltrations of Imperial bases, I think Obi-Wan Kenobi does a better job than The Mandalorian season 2 at it (despite the fact that the two programmes have very different run times).

And there’s a lot of self-assurance in this episode. When it comes to lighting, Deborah Chow, Chung-hoon Chung, and the rest of the team go off (to use a professional term). Every time Obi-Wan uses his lightsaber, he creates a stunning display of neon glows and shininess. We see Obi-Wan Kenobi as an evil shadowy force, slaughtering terrified stormtroopers one by one. They know they’ve got a good thing going when it comes to using a lightsaber at night. This episode’s water also looks fantastic, with a variety of shades of green and white. It’s still a long way from feeling like a genuine place, but the basis is getting there. Look at the marine monster that’s clinging to the door of the undersea entry.

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Ewan McGregor’s absence from this programme would be unfathomable. His gestures and body language alone convey how troubled his character is in this role…. However, his very presence has an impact. That much-discussed topic of recasting in the Star Wars universe is effectively disproved by his clothing, makeup, and whole demeanour. The fact that Alec Guinness was cast as a younger Alec Guinness retrospectively validates his inclusion in the first place.

“The Believer,” the episode of The Mandalorian I referenced earlier? The emotional arc was solidified when Din Djarin was made to remove his helmet at the end of the episode. That’s not precisely how Obi-Wan Kenobi comes off. Once green water began pouring into Fortress Inquisitorius, the writer no longer cared about the characters and instead focused solely on the action. Obi-Wan and Leia’s personal stakes aren’t raised enough by sacrificing one of the lovely pre-rebel warriors to the cause. When Tala explains that Obi-Wan might have to forget some of his history in order to save Leia, he doesn’t truly feel the presence of Vader. Vader, on the other hand, appears to have missed the whole thing by a minute, emerging just in time to attack Reva.

The Third Sister has more material to deal with in the screenplay. Moses Ingram’s portrayal of Leia’s snarky resistance to her interrogator is both frightening and almost intentionally odd. Observing Reva, it’s clear that she’s attempting to persuade Leia to dig her own bitter self-sufficiency into her, as if she thinks they can emerge from this together. A balance had to be struck between alarming but not frightening and revealing yet restrained in their encounters together. Even if the programme doesn’t go nearly as far as depicting Leia being tortured, it quite successfully tries to scare her into submission. Moreover, I really appreciated Ingram’s performance of “Was it worth it?”

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Additionally, the one-off rebels are a diversified band that manages a few lines of description. However, the addition of these folks at the end took away from what could have been a big decision moment for Obi-Wan, but Star Wars continues to thrive at making you wonder what adventures the smaller characters had just off-screen.

Tala gets into the base by faking Imperial authority and acting like she owns the place. Her efficiency and trained reluctance to accept no as a response are entertaining to observe. However, I would have preferred if the script had been more detailed about when and why she lost faith in the Empire. There are two possible pitfalls for Indira Varma in this episode – generic Imperials and generic strong people — and she’s unsure how to avoid them. It’s amusing to watch her employ the skills she learned from the Empire against it.

Vivien Lyra is a character in the series Blair’s royal-trained power initially delights and then breaks the hearts of those around her. To believe that a brilliant, exceptional 10-year-old girl who has always been conscious of her own value would do or say what she does here doesn’t stretch credulity. In the end, Leia takes Obi-hand Wan’s in one of those subtle moments in which Star Wars tries to address epic tragedy in a subdued and modest manner. Think of Leia’s comforting Luke after Ben’s death in A New Hope and the way Leia isn’t seen lamenting the destruction of her homeworld. Like the entire series, this episode excels in weaving together the action-packed storylines of many characters to create a cohesive whole that advances both the plot and the characters. When forced to choose between the two, it opts for the latter.

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