Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) in Lucasfilm’s OBI-WAN KENOBI, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
The series finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers where it matters most. For a show that’s largely focused on Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) reconnecting with the Force and overcoming his demons, “Part VI” largely succeeds in what it set out to do. The character beats are easily the most satisfying parts of the episode – particularly when it comes to Obi-Wan and Reva’s respective arcs. While the action sequences are sometimes a bit hard to follow and the episode loses a bit of its focus in the final third, it’s as satisfying a finale as you could realistically hope for. Especially if you’re an Obi-Wan Kenobi fan.
A Last Ditch Decoy
As the episode begins, Obi-Wan and the Path are desperately trying to escape Vader (Hayden Christensen/James Earl Jones) and the rest of the Empire. But with Vader’s ship rapidly gaining on them, time is running short. So, Obi-Wan proposes a last-ditch effort to get the group to safety. He’ll launch himself out of an escape pod, all but sacrificing himself to Vader’s vengeance in the hopes that the Empire chooses to follow him instead of the rest of the Path. And it works, as Vader directs the Empire to follow Kenobi to a nearby planet. A planet where Obi-Wan and Darth Vader have their long-awaited rematch. And on the whole, it’s the fight fans have been longing to see, featuring an Obi-Wan and a Darth Vader at the top of their games. A fight that perfectly bridges the prequels with the original trilogy.
Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader
Surprisingly, though, the fight itself is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the choreography is quite impressive, easily showcasing Vader’s raw strength and brutality alongside Obi-Wan’s more measured approach. The problem is that the camera work doesn’t necessarily do a great job of showcasing that choreography. Between the frantic cuts and shaky camerawork, it’s often difficult to see exactly what’s happening. On the one hand, it might easily be an intentional choice, meant to emphasize Obi-Wan and Vader’s volatile emotions. And in that sense, it works very well. But it still would’ve been nice to have been able to see more of the fight, to really luxuriate in the work McGregor, Christensen, and the rest of the crew put into it. However, the emotional weight behind their fight more than makes up for any qualms.
At the height of the fight, Obi-Wan apologies for everything that’s happened, for all the ways he let Anakin down. And, in his own way, Vader absolves Obi-Wan of guilt – sort of. He tells Obi-Wan that he’s not Obi-Wan’s failure, that Obi-Wan did not kill Anakin. Vader did. And in that moment, Obi-Wan both forgives himself and realizes there’s nothing left of his former apprentice to save. The battle is lost, despite Obi-Wan’s literal victory. And so, Obi-Wan chooses mercy. He could’ve put an end to everything, killing Vader once and for all. But that’s not who Obi-Wan is. It’s what’s always separated him from Anakin. And so he leaves, once again leaving Vader for dead. McGregor and Christensen both deliver stellar performances here. Christensen, especially, shines, with his face half-exposed in Vader’s destroyed mask, and his voice layered alongside James Earl Jones’s. It’s truly haunting in every way.
Reva On the Hunt
Meanwhile, Reva makes her way to Tatooine, in search of Luke. In her mind, if she can’t take revenge on Vader directly, she can take revenge on his son. But first, she’s gotta get through Owen (Joel Edgerton) and Beru (Bonnie Piesse). While they put up a respectable fight, they simply aren’t a match for Reva, who ends up chasing Luke into the wilderness, knocking him unconscious, and nearly killing him. But she hesitates. As she raises her lightsaber, she remembers the other Younglings Vader killed. She remembers their fear, her horror. And she stops. When push comes to shove, she doesn’t do to Luke what Vader did to her friends. And as Obi-Wan arrives to help Owen and Beru search for Luke, Reva returns Luke to his family, unharmed. A decision that, Obi-Wan notes, frees her from her past.
Much of the episode cuts back and forth between Obi-Wan and Vader’s rematch and Reva’s search for Luke. And as contradictory as this sounds, this proves both effective and jarring. On the one hand, it makes the parallels between Obi-Wan and Reva’s respective arcs even more apparent. But on the other hand, it robs both storylines of the tension and attention they deserve. Every time you start to feel the danger in Obi-Wan and Vader’s fight, or in Reva’s fight with Owen, Beru, and Luke, the show cuts away and you start the process all over again. It’s all very discombobulating. And, unfortunately, it’s Reva’s storyline that suffers the most here. I understand the idea behind intercutting the fights, and it does work at points. But it’s also just a little bit messy. Still, the emotional weight behind both storylines easily makes up for any qualms with the episode’s editing.
Obi-Wan and Reva’s Parallel Arcs
With that said, the episode’s exploration of Obi-Wan and Reva’s parallel journeys is easily its greatest strength. For most of the series, both Obi-Wan and Reva have been driven by their respective guilt and how they cope with it. Obi-Wan’s need for absolution, Reva’s need for revenge. And it’s here where both of these storylines reach their climax. Both characters ultimately choose to let go of that past, deciding that what they do in the future is far more important. And honestly, that’s the most interesting aspect of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Whether or not the show fully succeeds in exploring those ideas, however, remains questionable, especially when it comes to Reva. For much of the series, it continually felt like Reva was getting overshadowed by Vader and the other Inquisitors. And in a way, that remains the case here, despite how effective Ingram’s performance is in her final scenes.
Even as the episode ends, Reva’s all but forgotten after she returns Luke, with the show instead featuring cameos from the likes of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). As nice as those cameos are, I question their necessity. While Qui-Gon’s appearance helps bring Obi-Wan’s arc to a close, Palpatine’s conversation with Vader just continues to take time away from Reva, whose arc also deserved the same kind of focus in its final moments that Obi-Wan’s got. And so, as the series ends, it feels like there’s a lot more to explore with Reva. Which, I suppose, is a good thing if you’re looking for another spinoff show to produce sometime in the future. But it definitely undermines the success of this series a bit.
Final Thoughts
Overall, “Part VI” of Obi-Wan Kenobi does exactly what it needed to do. It brings the series to a mostly-satisfying conclusion, delivering some well-choreographed action sequences and a lot of immensely satisfying character moments. Despite some questionable camerawork during the two fights that make up the bulk of the episode, it’s an action-packed thrill ride from start to finish. Some of the episode’s biggest highlights are Obi-Wan and Reva’s final conversation after she returns Luke to his family and Obi-Wan and Leia’s talk towards the end of the episode. And fans hoping for one final showdown between Obi-Wan and Vader will walk away deeply satisfied as their confrontation here ticks off all the boxes. Despite any problems I had with it, this finale worked far more than it didn’t, especially when it comes to its character work.
However, I can’t shake the feeling that Obi-Wan Kenobi might’ve been better as a film that focused more on Obi-Wan and Reva’s parallel arcs, with Vader kept in the shadows until the climax. Because that’s clearly what the show wanted to focus on. These two characters whose lives were both fundamentally altered based on their relationships and encounters with Anakin/Darth Vader. Those moments are where the series shined brightest, especially in this finale. So, it’s just a shame the series so often lost that focus while trying to fill up a six-hour runtime. As it is, though, Obi-Wan Kenobi delivered what it set out to do – an exploration of how Obi-Wan goes from the man he is at the end of Revenge of the Sith to the man we meet at the beginning of A New Hope. And it rarely failed to be anything less than enjoyable.
All episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are available now on Disney+.
Episode 6 of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" brings the series to a mostly-satisfying conclusion, featuring plenty of nice character beats and the rematch of the century, It's not a perfect finale by any stretch. But, like the rest of the series, it works far more than it doesn't.
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GVN Rating 8
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