Check out our previous reviews of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series here.
When we left Chapter Three, Obi-Wan was worse for wear because of the torture he experienced in his fight with Darth Vader. Reva also presumably captures Leia — if this feels a little familiar, it should because it’s the premise for Chapter Two. Also mirroring the episode length, Chapter Four is another rescue mission for Obi-Wan to take Leia from the clutches of evil yet again. This time, however, he has a fire in his soul again and resolve despite his physical condition. It’s a welcome sight for a man living with a lot of fear, making him doubt himself. But here, he’s yielding his lightsaber, confidently fighting off Stormtroopers and using the force.
When Obi-Wan has a brief conversation with Tala, she says, “the past is a hard thing to forget,” and he replies, “some things can’t be forgotten.” Hopefully, this episode is the beginning of Obi-Wan recognizing what’s done is done, and as you heal from it, you must do. The light that shines within Leia is showing the way out of the darkness for him. Chapter Four deals with some tropes audiences have seen throughout the Star Wars canon. Tala infiltrates the Inquisitor base, almost gets caught, but helps Obi-Wan get in to rescue Leia. There’s a lot of focus on the interrogation that Reva conducts, trying to extract information from Leia about “the path.”
Leia is tuned into the force, if you don’t realize it by now. It’s to where Reva can’t even extract information from her — passing the exercise off as a “staring contest.” (ouch, that has to hurt the ego). We have two episodes left where the lore of the Inquisitors and the final battle have been set. Reva speaks about having a droid, and someone took it away from her, like everything else. The problem potentially on the horizon is time is running out to explain why she has so much hatred for the Jedi. You can deduct from dialogue throughout the four episodes that something happened to Reva as a youngling. She came to the Empire at her lowest point, and her character keeps a focused, intense line.
Usually, a flashback episode happens where we would get context for this — and there are a lot of things to visit. Perhaps we can see a younger Obi-Wan with Anakin right before turning to the dark side, along with Reva’s backstory. These things, along with the whereabouts of the Grand Inquisitor, are questions that have to get wrapped up. Reva placing the tracker in Leia’s droid, being the plan all along, could be feasible. However, it’s hard to overlook the ineptitude of the Empire in failing to capture three people. No wonder Vader was so angry.
While Chapter Four doesn’t have as much emotional weight as previous episodes, they are quick moments that stand out. For the crux of this series, Obi-Wan has only been concerned with his grief and feelings. In introducing the rebel fighters who eventually help him, Obi-Wan realizes that other people have lost things and loved ones. The heavy, coarse hand of the Empire has spared very little. Finding out the contents of the Inquisitor base containing the dead bodies of fallen Jedi pushes this realization even more. Think of how heart-wrenching it was for Obi-Wan to see his former comrades propped up like trophies — it’s monstrous. One of the last scenes showing Obi-Wan taking Leia’s hand in a way is being the father figure Anakin can’t be.
Previous episodes set a high bar from a narrative standpoint, whereas ‘Chapter Four’ feels like a small step down. Obi-Wan has undergone a baptism by fire and is (hopefully) ready to confront Darth Vader a second time if needed. I mean, they have to have one more dual.
Photo Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm
