Not going to lie, this was better than the previous episode. I still just want to make it through the end. And for a show I had high hopes for, that's a statement of disappointment.
The flashback with Obi-Wan and Anakin was really good but should have been in the movie in the first place. It would have explained more back than as it did today. Seeing Vader stomp through the hallways and holding of the transport was another great sequenz. Overall it's still nowhere near what could have been. Because of the writing...
When the Stormtroopers land and take position in front of the door, that's about as un-military as you can get. Line up for an enemy to maw you down. Is this overconfidence or stupidity ? If Reva could have just slice open the door with her Lightsaber than why not do so in the first place ? And when the door does open, Stormtroopers are dropping like flies and I counted three (!!!) "rebels" being killed, including Tala. And Reva stands just behind in the background. The revelation of her story was anything but a surprise, but it's another reminder that this show has the wrong title. And how many other force sensitive people did she kill or helped being killed to get back at Vader ? To avenge what he has done as Anakin ? Killing what was in your words your family for revenge ? Yeah, that totally makes her one of the good guys instantly. (Attention sarcasm)
But here is one thing I really have a beef with and it hasn't even directly to do with the story or show itself:
Why is Qui-Gon dead ?
He got punched in the gut by Maul's saber once. So did the Grand Inquisitor, and so did Reva. Apperently twice !!! And both are alive.
Right now, even another fight between Vader and Kenobi, which would at this point nake no sense, can't save this show.
Okay, so the action is still pretty bad, and the Reva stuff is every bit as predictable as it seemed. BUT I'm glad we're FINALLY getting some of the stuff that we were promised! The flashbacks with Anakin, although not perfect, are what I wanted from this show. I just wish that they had started with these much sooner, rather than the second-to-last episode of the show.
Also, I know the Reva wasn't exactly on Vader's side, but her sending Obi-Wan inside with two stormtroopers when it would have made much more sense for her to just keep him outside exactly where he was with the rest of the troops and her... that was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.
IDK how this show manages to keep doing it, but every episode just seems to have dumber and dumber writing decisions and it's truly painful to watch. Vader is being written as a total moron. Why on earth would they just leave Reva alive like that? It makes absolutely no sense.
I've said it almost every episode, but it still rings true - I really want to love this show, but I just CAN'T. I'll give this one a 5.5 simply because it was a fun watch despite all the horrible issues.
[7.1/10] I’m torn on this episode. It has some truly compelling ideas and set pieces at play on the one hand, and some baffling story choices and clunky sequences on the other. I’m not sure how it all comes in the wash.
So let’s start with the good stuff. The reveal that Reva is not, in fact, just an ambitious Inquisitor trying to rise to the top for the sake of personal success, but rather trying to get close to Vader to pay him back for slaughtering her fellow younglings, is a superb one. Her history with Anakin not only explains (sort of) how she knows his secret, but deepens her motivation and gives her common ground with Anakin. It’s the sort of layer the character’s been missing to this point, and the reveal makes “Part V” her best episode.
My only complaint is why did they have to wait to reveal this until now? Modern television shows, genre shows in particular, are near-obsessed with major twists and reveals. It’s all well and good to surprise the audience, but as with Reva, when you have to play the characters’ motivations so close to the vest, it flattens them until we see those hidden depths and complications. They could easily have revealed this in “Part III” and had the intrigue of Reva playing her own game that would have made her close calls with both Kenobi and Vader more interesting.
The interactions between Kenobi and Vader themselves are more interesting here, though. I’ll admit, it’s neat to see the two characters in their Episode II guises. The fact that we’ve entered an era of Prequel nostalgia is a little odd for someone my age, and yet, I’d be lying if it didn’t spark something to see McGregor and Christensen stepping into those roles and that time again.
The way that their sparring match in the past matches their broader tactics in the present is a touch on the nose given the editing, but still counts as clever. Anakin’s over-aggressiveness and need to win, matched with Obi-Wan’s famed willingness to find “alternatives to fighting” and deft bits of trickery to win the day plays out in both their saber duel and their chess match on Jabiim. Vader’s brute force attacks, paralleled with Obi-Wan using a decoy ship and siccing Reva on Anakin to secure an escape helps show that, however much has changed since those days, Anakin and his former master are still, deep down, the same people they were all those years ago.
Plus, once more, Darth Vader is a terrifying badass. Him almost casually pulling a spaceship back into dock is some near-Force Unleashed stuff. At the same time, the way he just toys with Reva when she attacks him displays the full force of his power. There’s no wasted movement from him, no grand efforts necessary to defeat her. It’s a fighting style vaguely in line with his battles in the Original Trilogy, but in a calm, steady way that contrasts with Reva’s overmatched fury. It’s the best fight in the show so far, one that's compelling despite, and in some ways because, of the ways in which the outcome is never much in doubt.
But man, some of the story choices are weak. So Vader and The Grand Inquisitor knew Reva was planning to betray them all along? To what end? Why did they allow this to go forward. If you want to read between the lines, you could suggest maybe they thought/foresaw that she would lead them to Obi-Wan, but neither of them ever seems to hint at that possibility in prior episodes, making this yet another important detail toward character motivation that's either hidden or just spackled on here, without the creative team letting it inform the characters’ choices in the moment. At worst, it just flat out doesn’t make sense, with it seeming as though both Anakin and The Grand Inquisitor would make different choices along the way if they had this information.
I also haaaaate that they don’t just kill her on Jabiim. You can rationalize it that they don’t just want to end her life; they want to make her suffer for treachery. But come on. How many times in Star Wars have we seen characters conspicuously left for dead without being firmly offed only for them to conveniently come back later in the narrative. The trope is incredibly hacky, and I’m tired of supposedly brutal villains doing stupid crap like this that will conveniently backfire in some way rather than finishing the job. Anything Reva does after the duel will inevitably play as unearned because it rests on Vader and The Grand Inquisitor both being stupid and not eliminating a clear threat.
I also just don’t care about Tala. The episode does its best here, showing “important” clips from prior episodes in the “Previously On” and giving her an awkward and writerly monologue about why she does this before the big battle goes down. But she’s barely been a character up to this point. She’s more of a backstory delivery mechanism and walking plot-advancer than a three-dimensional player. Honestly, I got more emotion out of the loader droid trying to shield her than anything involving her death and sacrifice.
What’s more, Leia helping to save the day, safely away from the fighting with the other refugees, in a space where only a child can go, scans as awfully convenient. There’s still some of the spunkiness in the kid, which helps, and getting Kumail Nanjiani back is a treat, but you can tell the show wasn’t one hundred percent sure what to do with her and them during all this.
On a less significant level, it’s not clear why the Imperials would pause to “talk” with Obi-Wan, or how, even fronted by a Jedi, the proto-rebels could withstand the stormtroopers in this outmanned and outgunned assault The mechanics of the stand-off don’t make sense, which isn’t the biggest sins given the usual conceits of Star Wars, but took me out of the moment since they didn’t even make intuitive sense.
Therein lies the yin and yang of “Part V”. So many of the practicalities of this skirmish don’t add up. The major death is a dud. And the villains’ choices don’t make much sense. But Vader is once again the imposing monster he should be. The connection between he and Kenobi’s past and present is commendable. And the reveal of the common ground between Obi-Wan and Reva, replete with a piercing guilt trip about how Kenobi wasn’t able to protect her, are all strong beats. The frustrating things about back half of this show is how the promising ideas and story points are surrounded by elements that weaken them, as the clear potential at play leads to excitement mingled with disappointment.
It's not totally bad. I like the emotional aspects of this episode. It's a bit too much Hollywood for my taste but it's okay-ish. I like the depiction of the relations between Vader, the Sister and Obi-Wan. You understand their character. I like the fact that Vader had a well devised plan after all. Ultimately it failed because the rebels escaped but it was a good plan to toy with her nonetheless.
It's all good and fine until the fighting starts. Presumably they have thousands of troops aboard the imperial ship and they send this this sad bunch of guys? That's underwhelming indeed. They shoot, but don't aim. They fire from 60 feet away but they don't hit. It's like the writers want to feed the countless memes about stupid imperial soldiers. Initially they don't even use the sword to breach the door - although that seemed to be the easiest option. They only send 100 or so warriors. Is that all they got? Why not send 1000? Why don't they place canons atop the shelter in order to block the only exit? That's not how "surrounding" and "traps" work. And Disney can't stop being Disney: they feature that adorable kid instead of blood or mutilations. Is streaming turning into TV? I thought, that's why we had streaming: Produce edgy material and show the innocuous family stuff on TV.
Pros
+Anakin training scenes are fitting and fantastic
+Obi Wan urging the betrayal of the Inquisitor fit well with what she's already done and how the Jedi are actually supposed to fight and act. Vader being blinded by his rage/need to win was also a really nice touch, we are reminded why he lost to the master of the high ground. However it made no sense why she would let Obi Wan just walk back into the base.
+I liked Leia's role in this episode, it fit what they are building her into very well.
+Vader showing how strong he is against the Third sister and clowning on her just like Obi Wan clowned on him in the training and awakening her trauma was great. (Although tbh he should've choked her ass out like 3 episodes ago)
Cons
-Tala's confession about killing children that were force sensitive came at a really awkward moment with no lead up or reasoning. This should have been something saved for later, it ended up having a very dull impact. Then they threw her character away in a clumsy way too. I thought her character was one of the few interesting ones, huge waste to throw her away this early
- the thought of Anakin not knowing that the Third sister was faking death while he is literally the one cutting through the children in the Jedi temple is insane and that this leads up to her joining him without any mention of brainwashing or being forced to be a child/slave soldier. Like it would've been so easy to give her a realistic story but they just chose not to. IDK I guess it fits with how big of a fucking idiot she is but come on.
-Tone was inappropriate at times. Star Wars always mixes in the levity with the struggle but they are always during periods of relief, not in the middle of the fight. This one doesn't follow that during many serious sections.
-What is it with the new ones and their dumb ass "sad" droid deaths lmao? it wasn't sad in Solo and it's not sad now. They can literally be rebuilt whenever and even if it was fucking R2-D2 or C3P0 who the audience actually knows well it still wouldn't be sad.
I know this comes off as kind of negative but the negatives were more mid-level bad things and the positive bits were very positive. Definitely had the best moments in the series so far.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2022-06-15T07:59:02Z
“OBI-WAN: PART V”: A COMMENTARY
:heart:95% :thumbsup:21 :thumbsdown:1 = Masterpiece!
The penultimate episode of the series feels like a great mix of emotional development, proper Star Wars action and narrative beats that set up what is surely going to be an epic finale!
We finally get a good grasp of Hayden Christensen's return to the role that made him famous - and he seems to slip back into the padawan-era Anakin with relative ease, without walking down the annoying brat route he was maligned for in Attack of the Clones.
I'm happy to see Kumal Nanjiani back in the fold, as he brings some light comic relief into these ever-darkening times.
Moses Ingram is great yet again and taps into Reeva's trauma and past experiences in her performance. I'm happy this episode handles her experiences surviving Order 66 and witnessing Anakin's slaughter - and how she transfers those negative feelings onto Ben. I particularly like her conversations with Ben and how Ben brings out something of a manipulative side to try to win Reeva over.
I do wish Tala had made it out of the episode, as I feel she was just becoming a great character before she was killed.
This show continues to grow in intensity thanks to the Empire's ever-growing presence and the growing unease between Ben and Vader. The attack on the base that we see here feels a bit like the rebel base attacks seen in the original trilogy, such as the Hoth base attack, but his one has more finesse in it through the character interactions. The ensuing battle is truly intense and shows the overwhelming strength of the young Empire at this point. Vader's angry fit as he pulls the spaceship back down and rips it apart is epic! And the battle between him and Reeva is even more epic! WHAT IS THIS SHOW DOING TO ME, AAAAHHH!!
Only minor wrinkles around Hayden Christensen's eyes in the opening scene tell us that this look back (to somewhere around Attack of the Clones) has been shot now and not twenty years ago! It's an incredibly made scene, and we return to it a couple of times.
Overall,
this episode alone is probably the greatest Star Wars we've had since Disney bought the package!