Obi-Wan has rescued Leia from the Third Sister and must find a way to get her and all the people that helped him to safety in episode five of the Disney+ Original Series, “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The Third Sister placed a tracker in Leia’s robot which allows the Empire to locate Obi-Wan, Leia and everyone else; plus, the robot sabotages the base where they are forcing them to find a way out with the Empire trying to trap them inside. Eventually, Obi-Wan figures out a way to use the Third Sister against Darth Vader leading to an escape.

After the somewhat disappointing, at least by this series’ standards, episode four, this episode was an upgrade. Much like the rescue, it was filled with tropes from “Star Wars” past, but they worked a little bit better, at least for me. Yes, they reused the tracking device from “A New Hope.” Yes, they reused the similar shots to the base attack on Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back,” but I still enjoyed how they made it work. They may be “Star Wars” tropes, but I found them to be a nice homage.

While I really enjoyed this episode, it was far from perfect. It would’ve been nice to see them try to go straight to Alderaan and be tracked that way. Yes, it would’ve been very similar to “The Last Jedi,” but Obi-Wan wouldn’t have accidentally put more people in danger. Either that or get going right away once they picked everyone up. I think that would’ve improved the episode. Plus, the moment where the communication device with Baal Organa is left behind for the Third Sister to find to start hunting look was so telegraphed, I knew it was coming the second Obi-Wan handed everything over. And the scene where Obi-Wan and Anakin are training didn’t work because of how much Hayden Christensen has aged. It’s been 20 years, he’s not going to look like he did in 2002, but if you can deepfake Tarkin, Leia and Luke, you can deepfake Anakin.

I’m going to take a moment to praise Moses Ingram’s performance in this episode. She has been the subject of much criticism and some very unnecessary attacks since the show premiered. While I agree with some of the criticism of her performance; she has been very wooden at times; I thought she performed well here. Given we now know her motivation for becoming an Inquisitor, it helps me appreciate what she brought to the table. I think when I rewatch this series, I will find much improvement in her earlier performances because I know where the character is headed. It’s reminiscent of Hayden Christensen’s performance in “Attack of the Clones.” I hated it when I saw it, but I grew to appreciate it after I saw “Revenge of the Sith.” Granted, I always knew where he was headed, I needed to see how he got there. I believe it is very similar with her.

As we get ready for the final episode, Obi-Wan and Leia are on the run from Darth Vader and the Grand Inquisitor, and the Third Sister has found the communication device and is headed to Tattoine to find “the boy.” It’s a good path on what has been a very fun series so far.

Ranking: 4.5 stars

What did you think of episode five of “Obi-Wan Kenobi?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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