Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part IV

Hello there!

Welcome to my weekly review of Obi-Wan Kenobi, where I will be walking us through each episode and giving my thoughts on the show. My reviews will follow my usual format: an overview of the plot (so be aware, there will be spoilers!), my review of the show, then a few “Moments in canon” – references that link to other media and the galaxy as a whole. Today, we’ll be looking at “Part IV”.

Plot Summary

Tala and NED-B take Obi-Wan (who is drifting in and out of consciousness) to Jabiim, where he receives treatment in a bacta tank. Once somewhat healed, Tala informs Obi-Wan that Leia was captured. They go to Roken, one of the group helping transport and hide Force-sensitives, for help, but he is worried about Obi-Wan drawing attention to them. He eventually relents and chooses to help Obi-Wan plan a rescue, along with his fellow conspirators Wade and Sully. The group confirm to Obi-Wan that Leia has been taken to Fortress Inquisitorius on the moon Nur, and provide what limited information they have on the fortress, along with confirmation that Vader has not yet returned to his castle on Mustafar. Tala volunteers to assist Obi-Wan, as her Imperial officer clearance will help, as long as it still works.

“You’ve no idea what the Empire is capable of.”

Tala successfully lands her shuttle in the fortress and works her way to a monitor from which she can help Obi-Wan infiltrate the fortress from underwater. Guided by Tala, Obi-Wan makes it into the fortress and starts working his way through to the detention area, avoiding seeker droids and stormtrooper patrols. On the way, he finds himself in a secure chamber containing the bodies of Jedi, younglings and other Force-sensitives who have been captured and killed by the Inquisitorius.

Reva, meanwhile has been attempting to convince Leia to divulge information about the group who were helping her and Obi-Wan on Mapuso, with little luck, despite attempting to be kind and also threatening her, attempting a mind probe and telling her that Obi-Wan was killed as the group didn’t help him. eventually, Leia’s resistance proves enough and she orders 2 stormtroopers to take her to one of the torture machines.

Hearing Leia’s screams, Obi-Wan asks Tala to create a distraction, which pulls away Reva. Tala tries to convince Reva that she was an undercover agent who had infiltrated the Path, saying that they operate from Florrum in the Sertar sector using a salvage business as a front. However Reva clearly senses that she is lying.

“You’re alive. They told me you were dead.”

Obi-Wan successfully frees Leia, but their attempt to escape soon sees them spotted by a seeker droid, which sets off an alarm. Hearing the alarm, Reva sends 2 stormtroopers to take Tala to the detention centre, however she quickly escapes and goes looking for Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan and Leia are fighting their way through the underwater corridors, but one deflected blaster shot damages the window, which begins to crack. Obi-Wan holds back the water with the Force just long enough for Tala to arrive and get Leia to the end of the hallway, where she is able to close a door as Obi-Wan runs through before the hallway floods.

Obi-Wan picks up the hat and full-length jacket of a dead Imperial officer and puts them on as a disguise, hiding Leia under the jacket. They make their way through the fortress and the hangar bay with Tala, but as they near the ship, Reva arrives and calls them out, with all of the troopers in the hangar drawing their weapons at the trio. However a pair of T-47 airspeeders arrive and attack the hangar, giving a distraction for the trio to run. One of the airspeeders, piloted by Sully, lands for the trio to escape in, while Wade attacks Reva in the other. As they all attempt to fly way, Reva uses the Force to hurl some explosives at Wade’s speeder, which is destroyed. The survivors rendezvous with Roken on a larger ship.

Vader arrives at Fortress Inquisitorius and is about to kill Reva for her failure, but relents when she reveals that she has placed a homing device, so can now track Kenobi right back to those helping him.

As Obi-Wan and Leia get closer, and the others mourn the loss of Wade, none are aware of the tracker inside Lola.

Review

Well this was an odd episode. While I enjoyed it, I must admit that I also found myself largely underwhelmed.

So let’s start by getting the reasons for that underwhelmed feeling out of the way. First off, this was short. This was the shortest episode of the series so far, and it clearly felt it, and I think that this hurt it, especially as a few extra minutes getting to know Roken an company better would have made Wade’s death feel more impactful.

Secondly, is my issue that I have basically seen this before, as the final mission of Jedi: Fallen Order saw us infiltrate Fortress Inquisitorius via an underwater entrance, make our way through the hallways to our objective and even take advantage of water flooding a hallway as part of our escape. It all felt too familiar, but as that version also included defeating an Inquisitor and escaping Vader, it felt much more rewarding than this rushed and largely easy infiltration. It feels like Tala at least should have died during this along with Wade.

And my final real issue, which probably ties into the above one somewhat, is just how weak this makes the Inquisitors look. Cal’s successful infiltration and escape was 5 years ago. We see that 3 Inquisitors at least are in the fortress during Obi-Wan’s very similar infiltration, and yet Obi-Wan Kenobi is going to successfully make his way through the hallways, rescue Leia, fight multiple stormtroopers, officers and even a purge trooper all without any Inquisitor finding and engaging him? That’s not a great look for the Empire’s elite Jedi hunters, and really hurts their threat as a villain.

“You were warned what defeat would bring.”

But now onto the positives, and I’m sure that this episode would have played better for those who have not played Fallen Order. The environments all looked great, with Fortress Inquisitorius looking like an amazing new location, while the chamber with all the bodies was just the right blend of clean but macabre. The real highlight to me from the episode was Obi-Wan’s use of the dark to defeat the 2 stormtroopers holding Leia prisoner; I loved the way that he used the dark to his advantage by only keeping his saber lit when attacking, then turning it off to move to the next trooper, just like Ahsoka’s introduction in The Mandalorian.

Where do we go from here? Well with just 2 episodes left, we’re clearly setting up another battle with Vader courtesy of the tracking device, and we still need to get Leia back to Alderaan. So are we on the way there now? Right now, I just can’t see how this pans out without the Organas being in a position that would allow their survival for another 9 years. Oh and we need to figure out why Reva is seen as an outsider by the rest of the Inquisitors and discover her fate.

A few final thoughts on the episode:

• As great as it was to see purge troopers, even they seem dumbed down to basically being death troopers in different armour, as many of the purge troopers from Fallen Order would use melee weapons and were a legitimate threat in their own right.
• I hope we get to find out more about Roken and his past, considering he revealed that his wife was Force-sensitive and taken by the Inquisitors

Moments in Canon

• One of the dead Jedi whose body was found by Obi-Wan in Fortress Inquisitorius was the Jedi Master Tera Sinube, who featured in a handful of episodes in The Clone Wars, most notably “Lightsaber Lost”
• The T-47 airspeeders are the same model as used by the Rebel Alliance during the Battle of Hoth

What did you think of the episode?

Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you….