SPOILER Obi-Wan Kenobi Ep. 5 Discussion

Here are thoughts on the baptism in the Baptist church, and the symbolism in the story. I know there are some on the forum who are repulsed by religion. But, SW is steeped in religion and mythology. You don't have to be Christian to appreciate it as a living myth in people's lives, and perhaps what is going on here. Respectfully... to a sacred ritual

Listen to the singing, and notice the white clothing.

The Skywalker saga includes a solar myth similar to Christianity. Luke Skywalker is the spiritual sun, and Leia the moon, symbolically. It would not be wrong to see a a baptism before Luke rises.

 

I felt as if we weren't supposed to interpret the "flashbacks" as literal replays of past events or memories. But as feelings. That's why Obi and Anakin are weirdly deaged, sort of, not really. And it would explain how Reva was "killed" in her "memory" of order 66.

 

This episode was better than the previous two, but I still like the first two episodes more.

The good:
1) The flashbacks were nice. Finally we are seeing Hayden.
2) The choreography was solid. The training fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan felt like the PT. The duel between Vader and Reva was also very interesting.
3) The plot finally moved forward and the stakes were high.
4) The show really knows how to depict Vader. I like ever scene featuring him.

The bad:
1) As always the music is just weak. During the first flashback scene I thought the music finally starts to pick up, but as the episode went on, the score became generic again.
2) The visuals are not as good as they could be. The CGI is bad at times and the episode is way too dark. It kinda reminded me of SOLO.

The meh:
1) I couldn't care less about Tala's death.
2) The most obvious Reva reveal came too late. But at least she finally had some character growth.


7/10



Vader making is way through the tunnels was exactly like his walk through the tunnels of Hoth in TESB.

 

The best episode yet, felt really star wars at times, Kenobi felt like Kenobi, really enjoyed the flashback, the way they worked it into the plot was great to. Yeah everyone knew Reva was the kid at the start but I didn't care, enjoyed her scene with Vader.

I think where this season is falling down, is it's really struggling to hide its weak plot points, most scripts have them star wars being in no way an exception, but this series is really struggling to hide them which I think is where a lot of the criticism has come from. Also the TV budget was very noticeable again, I still came away thinking this would have worked 10x better as film

But fun episode, where the good easily outweighs the bad.

 

I really enjoyed that episode! The biggest win for me was the writers seem to have tied up the loose end of Vaders line in ANH when he said to ObiWan that when they last met he was the learner. That episode clearly showed Vader lost that round because he still hadn’t learned the lesson OW had tried to teach him as a Padawan.

I was genuinely surprised that Reva was actually hunting Vader!

There seems to be a lot to accomplish in the last episode! I can’t wait!

I’m assuming we’re done seeing Vader? Episode 6 seems like it’s going to be a Reva/Obi Wan confrontation on Tatooine. No way Vader can be made aware that there is anything of interest on that planet right?

 

Yeah, the Order 66 flashback made sense to be Reva. I don’t think that was meant to be a secret. The mystery was how/why she survived and ended up an inquisitor, how she knew Vader was Anakin, and seemingly harboring so much hatred for Kenobi herself.

Insert brief gripe that Favreau and Filoni have had some rough patches too, notably for Favreau, Book of Boba Fett. Mando wasn’t perfect on writing either though.

 

oh yeah… Vader snatching that transport out of the air and ripping it apart was awesome! That was the one scene in this show where my jaw dropped and I literally said “Oh damn!” Seeing more of the bad ass, ruthless, terrifying Vader in his prime that we got a sneak park of in Rogue One has been cool.

 

^^THIS^^

 

Insert brief response to above gripe: You likely would have had a different take on the writing if Favreau himself or Filoni had run the show instead of Rodriguez.

 

idk. At the end of the day, the directing was Rodriguez, but the writing was almost entirely Favreau’s.

 

A couple of things with my second viewing.

Good parallelism between the flashback and Jabiim OW plan. At least the sentence from ANH "When I left you I was but the learner, but now I am the master" has sense. Maybe is the best connection they made so far with ANH. "...you will still be a padawan...", says Obi-Wan. The question is, now they have done one thing right, OW and Vader will fight again? XD

Vader brokes Reva's lightsaber to fight both with the same. When Vader and the others abandon her Reva grabs her intact saber from the ground.

Vader is really great in this episode. The only and very big concern is abandon Reva and not finishing her. He could have cut her head off and Vader could have gained the nickname of "The Decapitator" XD

Qui Gon thing is not mentioned at all. Will be rushed in last episode?

Last episode should be +50 minutes long and make things right.

A second season babysitting Luke? Who knows...

 

The way I look at it, is the saber seems meant to come apart, almost? At least since both ends can still function. I know he ends with both blades, so just I just thought he out it back together.

I see at that point that ending her would be…too easy an end for her? Let her wallow in her failure, with nowhere to go. ‍♂️ That’s just me though.

 

Nice post, Madmartigan. My 'second viewing' over the course of two nights, was binge-watching it with my wife who was seeing them for the first time. While I love the 'weekly episodic' approach to these SW shows, IMHO Obi-wan Kenobi plays better when you binge-watch the episodes back-to-back. In contrast, The Mandalorian has much more of an episodic feel to them than either OWK or TBoBF had. This might explain why latter have garnered more hit-or-miss reactions.

 

The return of greatest mullet in all of history, AoTC Kenobi! Look at those flowing locks!

That one was was my favorite so far. But dammit man, when you impale someone on your blade through the stomach, finish them!
I could watch Vader destroy things with the Force all day long.

 

I’m sorry if I missed some dialogue that addressed this, but why exactly did the Empire not guard that gigantic door on top of the base? Did they not notice it? Am I really that dense? Certainly possible.

This is what George had to say about it in the ROTJ commentary.

“...as we get to the end of the movie, as he joins the force, he is able to retain his original identity. It's because of Obi-Wan and Yoda, who learned how to do that, how to join the force at will and then retain your identity...”

Not strictly canon. But I’m willing to accept it as being that simple. How did he know? He didn’t. His friends helped him. Tada!

Kinda makes you think Qui-Gon must have just been a great big old wuss. Unless maybe it was actually that blunt-force trauma to the head that did him in.

 

we've been promised the rematch of the century would feel a bit anti-climatic if Vader was done.

 

Were we? Or was that fan expectation?

 

It's a direct quote from Kathleen Kennedy at the 2020 Disney Investor's Day.

 

I don't think there is anything to be rushed. What I mean is there isn't much more to be said that we don't know already and what the prequels tells us. "In your solitude training I have for you. Learn to commune with your master you will" (or words to that effect!). They COULD make a whole episode devoted to Obi-Wan doing just that I'm sure, but we don't really need to see a lot of it.

I suspect it will be a brief moment as the epilogue to the series, when Qui-Quinn finally appears to Obi-Wan.

It'll just be a kind of 'reset' moment, putting Obi-Wan back where we understood him to be at the end of the prequels based on what Yoda said - in solitude learning from his master on how to become one with the Force. And that's where we will leave him.

...at least until they decided to make another Obi-Wan series anyway.