It’s Obi-Wan to the rescue with a few stumbles along the way in an action-filled episode.   

Spoilers ahead!

Hello there! We’re down to the final episodes of this (season? series?) of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and like its Disney+ brethren, it’s wavering between plot movement and filler as the end draws near. “Part 4” is that classic Star Wars plot: the rescue, but while this episode was full up on action and tension, it still hit repetitive beats in several scenes. Deborah Chow’s direction, particularly in the fight sequences, shines as we meet a collection of new characters and plunge into a chilling Imperial stronghold. How tired will Obi-Wan be this week? Let’s find out. 

Note: for ease of reading, I’ll be separating the Obi-Wan/Tala story from the Leia/Reva story, though they significantly overlap in the episode itself. There’s going to be enough bouncing around this week! 

Tala (Indira Varma) has taken Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) to Jabiim, where he’s promptly deposited in a bacta tank. Inside the tank, Obi-Wan has flashbacks to his recent fight with Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), who is having similar flashbacks in his bacta tank on Mustafar. Obi-Wan pops himself out of the tank to ask an alarmed Tala if anyone knows where Leia is. Tala: Whoops. They go to see fellow rebel Roken (O’Shea Jackson, Jr), who is none-too-pleased that Obi-Wan is on their base, endangering their entire operation. Obi-Wan argues that they can’t leave a 10-year-old girl in the hands of the Empire, and Roken, whose wife was Force-sensitive and taken by the Inquisitors, reluctantly agrees to help. 

Roken shows Obi-Wan and Tala a rough holo-map of the Fortress Inquisitorius (yes, that’s still its name), explaining that it’s in the Mustafar sector. Obi-Wan, kicking back into Republic General-mode, wants to use some of the available ships to launch an attack and rescue Leia, but Roken and his fellows, Wade (Ryder McLaughlin) and Sully (Maya Erskine), aren’t down for that plan. Frustrated, Tala decides that they’ll use her Imperial credentials and ship and she’ll sneak Obi-Wan in alone. 

Tala lands on Nur, where she bosses her way to a terminal and accesses a map of the Fortress, opening an underwater port for a swimming Obi-Wan to sneak into. Just like back on Naboo! Tala gives Obi-Wan directions to Leia over the galaxy’s most obvious comm conversation, but another Imperial interrupts her, asking her to step away from what is not her terminal. Tala makes (semi) quick work of the man, but gets back on comms just in time to alert a couple of stormtroopers that Obi-Wan is hiding nearby.

He uses the Force to distract them and finds his way to the “secure sector,” which is not, as they’d suspected, the prison sector, but is instead a tomb. The bodies of Jedi and other Force-sensitives line the walls, encased in what looks like amber, faces frozen. One of them appears to be Jedi Master Tera Sinube and one, which stops Obi-Wan in his tracks, is a youngling, still with his little training helmet on his head. Obi-Wan hears Leia screaming in the distance and tells Tala that they need a distraction. 

During these adventures, Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) has been imprisoned in the Fortress, being interrogated by Reva (Moses Ingram). Reva tells Leia that Obi-Wan burned to death and that the people running “The Path,” whom Leia is protecting, are the ones who left him to die. Leia denies knowing anything and Reva attempts to read Leia’s mind. “Is this a staring contest?” an unmoved Leia asks and Reva has to admit that Leia is strong. Leia attempts to sneak Lola out, but Reva grabs the little droid and muses that she had a droid when she was young, but that it was taken away from her, just like everything else.

Deciding to use a friendlier tack again, Reva tells Leia that if she just tells Reva what she knows about The Path, then she can go home. After all, they’re on the same side. Leia agrees, but only if she can tell Bail first since they’re on the same side and all. Reva has had it with this kid, and sends Leia to an interrogation chamber, complete with a torture chair, but before she can use it on Leia, an officer appears to summon Reva. It’s Tala’s distraction! 

It’s during Reva’s scenes with Leia that the dialogue stumbles a little. There are only so many times a character can remind another that someone is dead (even if that character is reminding a child) or told that no one will be coming to save them before it begins to slice into the tension of the scene; Leia knows, Reva. Reva is falling victim to the curse of all Star Wars villains–they love to hear themselves talk.

It’s unclear at this point what will happen to Reva: will Vader or Obi-Wan kill her? Will she realize the error of her ways and return to the Light? With two episodes remaining, we need her to do more than repeat her points and scowl about Kenobi. Ingram is doing amazing work with the character, let’s give that character more to do. 

Tala is waiting to speak to Reva, giving her false information about the location of The Path, but Reva sniffs out the lies immediately, calling Tala a spy. Tala claims that yes, she is a spy, but for the Empire; Reva agrees that the Empire would certainly have moles within the resistance, but that it doesn’t make sense how an old man and a little girl escaped Tala’s watch. While they’re hashing this out, the lights extinguish in the interrogation chamber, and Obi-Wan handily takes out the two troopers on guard with his lightsaber, freeing Leia. A seeker droid spots the pair as they head to the exit and Reva stalks out after them. 

Obi-Wan gets back up on his saber skills as he and Leia avoid several troopers and other Imperials (there’s even a good old-fashioned lightsaber twirl) and they end up in an underwater hallway where one of the windows has been cracked during the firefight. Tala arrives in time to hustle Leia out of there while Obi-Wan uses the Force to keep the window together; he lets it go as the hall fills with troopers and catches up to Tala and Leia, leaving a sealed hallway of drowned Imperials behind them. 

The trio sneaks out of the fortress to Tala’s ship, Obi-Wan in a pilfered uniform cap and long coat, and Leia hidden under the coat. No one notices Obi-Wan’s four legs or Leia sneaking a peek until Reva and a collection of troopers arrive just before they can leave. Reva and company are about to fire upon our gang until two ships come blasting in to save them–flown by Wade and Sully. Tala, Obi-Wan, and Leia get aboard Sully’s ship as Wade distracts Reva, but Reva kills Wade as they flee. 

While this episode was full up on action and tension, it still hit repetitive beats in several scenes.

Darth Vader finally arrives at the Fortress and is about to Forcechoke Reva when she gasps that she let Obi-Wan and Leia escape–she put a tracker on their ship. Vader releases her, much to the Fifth Brother’s (Sung Kang) dismay. On board Roken’s ship, the four survivors sit in silence, Tala comforting Sully and Leia holding Obi-Wan’s hand. Next to Leia, Lola lights up unprompted. The tracker is in Lola. 

“Part 4” may seem to be a bit of a foregone conclusion: it was clear that Leia wasn’t going to end the series in Imperial custody, after all, but the introduction of more members of The Path and Reva’s tracker twist gave it some much-needed plot movement. Hopefully, O’Shea Jackson, Jr. and Maya Erskine aren’t one-episode cameos, both are actors who bring so much to their roles, and Obi-Wan Kenobi (both show and man) needs a few more friendly faces. It’s not a negative that the show’s arc isn’t obvious, but it could use a bit more of a focus all the same. Next week is the penultimate episode; here’s hoping it spends less time repeating itself and more time facing the Dark side. 

Bantha Droppings:

• Roken calls Obi-Wan “General,” which was probably painful but also inspiring for Obi-Wan’s antics this week. 
• Obi-Wan is called an old man at least twice in this episode; the poor guy is 48 years old. 
• Will they ever give the Fourth Sister (Rya Kihlstedt) anything to do? She’s mostly set dressing at this point. Understandably, they want to set up that there are multiple Inquisitors, but give them plot time or they’re pointless. 
• Anyone who wants to complain about the “Hiding Leia in a coat” scene can look me in the eyes and tell me Anakin and Ahsoka wouldn’t have tried the same thing. 
• Wade and Sully are aghast at the idea that anyone could (or would) sneak into the Fortress. It’s been done, y’all.