‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Episode 5: Recap And Ending, Explained – Does Reva Know About Luke Skywalker?

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Episode 4 of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” saw the titular Jedi (Ewan McGregor) making a desperate attempt to rescue Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) by sneakily making his way into Fortress Inquisitorius. With the help of Tala (Indira Varma), Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), and a rag-tag group of rebels, Kenobi not only managed to get Leia out of there, but also caused some severe damage to the Inquisitors’ headquarters. This infuriated Vader (Hayden Christensen and James Earl Jones) to the point that he almost choked Reva (Moses Ingram) to death. But when she assured him that she had hacked Leia’s droid, LOLA, to help them track Kenobi, she won back Vader’s trust. Episode 5 will show if that’s permanent or temporary.

Spoilers Ahead


Obi-Wan Kenobi Tries To Turn Reva To The Light Side

There has been a lot of talk about how “Obi-Wan Kenobi” has wasted Hayden Christensen because he’s either in the suit or in a Bacta tank or appears as a shrouded figure who is standing very far away. Well, Star Wars fans can now calm down since this episode opens in a time between “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith with Anakin (Christensen) as a Padawan. He and Kenobi partake in a sparring match, and we smash cut to Darth Vader in a ship (which is something that never gets old). Reva approaches Vader to tell him that Kenobi is in Jabiim. Impressed by Reva, Vader makes her Grand Inquisitor.

Kenobi, Roken, Tala, Leia, and Sully (Maya Erskine) land and immediately start making preparations to get everyone out of there because they know that the Empire is on their way. Haja Estree (Kumail Nanjiani) is also there because he is wanted now, too, after his altercation with Reva. Vader orders Reva to lock down the facility. Reva says that the Rebels can hold it out there for days. Vader says that he doesn’t want the Rebels. He wants Kenobi. Reva uses LOLA to shut down the overhead door through which the ship will pass. While everyone wonders if they’ve to surrender, Kenobi says that Vader is going to attack next because he doesn’t have the patience for a siege.

When Roken asks Kenobi how he knows what Vader is going to do, we briefly see an example of his attack strategy when he was still Anakin. In the flashback, Kenobi warns Anakin to be mindful of his aggression. He says that a Jedi’s job is to defend, not attack. Anakin, while sparring, says that mercy doesn’t defeat the enemy. That’s when we cut back to the present to see Vader initiating the attack. Kenobi tells everyone that if they meet the Empire head-on, they are going to lose. So, they need to hold them off until Roken can get the door open and they can escape. As soon as Reva and her troops land, they start firing at the door. Roken’s methods do not work. So (and just because she wants to), Leia offers to go into the small ducts and check the wiring.

Kenobi receives a message from Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) saying that if Vader has found him and Leia, it won’t take him much time to find out about Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely). So, if he doesn’t hear from Kenobi anytime soon, he is going to head to Tatooine and help Owen (Joel Edgerton) keep Luke safe. Kenobi and Tala have a brief chat, and she tells him about the heinous things the Empire made her do and how she wants to correct that by killing the Inquisitors. Tala says that Kenobi is correct about how it’s difficult to forget some things. She adds that they can fight to make things better, though. In order to buy some time, Kenobi asks Reva to have a chat with him. Kenobi uses the Force, and after sensing something, he brings up her past with Anakin Skywalker.

Kenobi asks Reva how she knows that Vader is really Anakin Skywalker because it is a very well-kept secret. That’s when Kenobi realizes that Reva was there on the night of Order 66. Reva tries to deflect this line of questioning by saying that it doesn’t matter. Kenobi says that Reva was a Youngling, and she saw Anakin kill children. He keeps repeating it until it gets to Reva, and she loses her composure. A flashback to a young Reva facing a demented Anakin confirms that Kenobi is telling the truth. Reva says that, back then, she thought Anakin was there to help them. She says she tried to help the Younglings, but she failed. So, she played dead and lied among the slaughtered children until Anakin left. Kenobi states that that means Reva isn’t serving Anakin; she is hunting him. Kenobi says he can help her. Reva refuses and cuts through the door with her lightsaber.


Darth Vader And Reva Duke It Out

If you are wondering why didn’t Reva start the assault with the lightsaber, if that’s the only thing that could’ve opened the door, and a little later, if you ask, why didn’t they just start with Vader crumbling every door in his vicinity to get to Kenobi, well, the real answer is: I don’t know. The lenient answer is hierarchy. The leader can’t put oneself first when they have minions (Storm Troopers). So they have to follow that chronology, I guess. Anyway, back to the episode. A brutal onslaught begins as Reva and the Stormtroopers start pushing the Rebels back. Some stormtroopers die. Some rebels get wounded. Leia keeps working on the doors. Tala gets hit, and so does her droid. Tala sacrifices herself by blowing herself up to buy the Rebels some more time, and that’s the thing that breaks Obi-Wan’s heart.

Vader orders the troops to stand down because he senses that Kenobi has given up and is going to surrender. In the sparring flashback, Anakin states that Kenobi has no way out and tells him to admit that he is done. In the present day, Kenobi says that he is going to surrender because he is all that Vader wants. Roken says that if he surrenders, then Tala’s sacrifice will be for nothing. Kenobi hands over his lightsaber, his blaster, and the communication device with Bail’s message on it to Haja. He tells Haja to look after Leia while he goes and confronts Reva and Vader. Roken asks how he is possibly going to do that without a weapon. Kenobi reveals that he’s going to try and use Reva against Vader. It’s unclear if Reva agrees to his plan of attacking Vader while he’s busy with him since she orders the Stormtroopers to hold him captive between the two blast doors.

In the flashback, Anakin knocks Kenobi’s lightsaber away and says that the duel is over because his weapon is gone. Kenobi says that Anakin’s need for victory blinds him. And we see Vader angrily walking through the blast doors and past the dead stormtroopers to get to Kenobi. Meanwhile, Kenobi kills the Stormtroopers and runs towards the ships. Leia debugs LOLA and gets the overhead doors open. The Rebels start boarding the ship and take off. That’s when Vader enters and uses the Force to stop them from flying away. In fact, he crashes it and tears it to pieces, only to find out that that ship is a decoy and he has been thwarted. If you are wondering why Vader doesn’t stop the other ship, then again, I’ll say that I don’t know. Maybe that’s what the plot needs. Maybe Vader’s an idiot.

In the past, Kenobi beats Anakin and tells him that he is a great warrior, but his urge to prove himself is his undoing. He professes that until Anakin overcomes that need, he’ll be a Padawan. The cut to Vader hyperventilating over his latest defeat shows how insulted he feels. Reva tries to use this moment to strike Vader down. And, of course, she gets her butt kicked. Credit where credit is due, she does try her best. However, did she really think she could kill Vader when he has so much plot armor on him? Really? Vader puts a hole through Reva’s stomach (as she remembers Anakin’s attack) and tells her that he always knew that Reva was the Youngling from the night of the attack. As a final burn, Vader tells that Kenobi merely used Reva to escape him, thereby possibly planting the seeds of hatred against him.


‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Episode 5: Ending Explained – Why Is Kenobi Worried About Luke Skywalker?

Reva’s newly appointed title is snatched by the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend). He confirms a long-running Star Wars theory that if a person’s hatred for someone powers their will to live, then they can survive the worst wounds ever. Darth Maul did it. Emperor Palpatine did it. Vader himself did it. And, based on that logic, that’s the reason why the Grand Inquisitor is alive despite being impaled by Reva on Daiyu. They leave Reva to her misery while we see the Rebels flying away from Jabiim.

Roken informs Kenobi that their hyper-drive is down. That means they can’t jump to lightspeed. Reva reaches for her lightsaber and notices the communication devices that Haja had dropped. Kenobi senses Reva hearing the words “learned of the children,” “Tatooine,” “Owen,” and “help the boy.” Fear sets in as Kenobi realizes that the truth about Luke is out. When Roken inquires, Kenobi says it’s nothing to worry about. The final shots of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” Episode 5 show Luke sleeping, unaware of what’s coming for him.

As we have watched “A New Hope,” well, we actually know what happens to Luke Skywalker and what Darth Vader does to Owen and Beru. But the question remains, does Reva really use this information to get back into Vader’s good books? Or does she go to Tatooine and help Kenobi protect Luke? Is that a retcon? Or just some smart use of a loophole in the story without changing anything too drastically? Well, there’s only one episode left in this miniseries, and we’ll probably get all the answers next week.


Se More: ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Ending, Explained – Does Kenobi Defeat Darth Vader? Is That Qui-Gon Jinn’s Force Ghost?


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Pramit Chatterjee
Pramit Chatterjee
Pramit loves to write about movies, television shows, short films, and basically anything that emerges from the world of entertainment. He occasionally talks to people, and judges them on the basis of their love for Edgar Wright, Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, and the best television series ever made, Dark.

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