The thing with movies (and maybe shows) is that opinions on them are not set in stone. Or else we wouldn’t have been sitting here, talking about a mini-series called “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the version of the character played by Ewan McGregor. As you all know, McGregor entered the Star Wars franchise with the hugely despised but equally successful Prequel Trilogy, which focused on the rise of the Empire and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen). Over the years, though, the Prequel Trilogy has gone through a re-evaluation of sorts, and people (and even fans) have come to appreciate it. So, like “Rogue One” and “Solo,” we have another prequel in our hands that builds the rivalry between Obi-Wan and Vader (for simplicity’s sake, everything after the fall of the Empire is a sequel, everything before that is a prequel).
Major Spoilers Ahead
Episode 1: Recap & Ending
“Obi-Wan Kenobi” Episode 1 opens with the issuing of Order 66 by Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and Clone Troopers storming a Jedi training school. Lightsabers are swung, blaster rifles are fired, Jedi are killed, and those who can make a run for it do so. The narrative then shifts to ten years later and on Tatooine. A team of Inquisitors, made of Grand Inquisitor (Ruper Friend), Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram), and Fifth Brother (Sung Kang), enter the town in search of Jedi who are in hiding. They enter a shop and threaten its owner long enough to force Nari (Benny Safdie) to use the Force and expose himself. When he tries to run, Reva almost kills him but is stopped from doing so by the Grand Inquisitor. Then he proceeds to reprimand Reva for her obsession with capturing Kenobi while killing everyone else and forces her to rid herself of this fixation.
Speaking of Kenobi, he’s currently an employee of a fish-monger of sorts (that animal looks like a fish and those cuts of meat look like tuna; hence, fish-monger it is). He appears non-confrontational as he doesn’t really oppose the harassment of a fellow worker. He just takes his credits, steals a piece of the fish, gives it to his camel-like creature, and then goes back to his cave and eats his food. He’s visited by a Jawa who brings him what looks like a toy Lambda Class T-4A Shuttle. The Jawa tries to sell Kenobi’s processor board back to him but fails. Then the Jawa tries to sell a Jedi belt, and Kenobi refuses to take it while saying that the Jedi are all but gone. Later on, while sleeping, Kenobi dreams of the fight between him and Anakin (Christensen) on Mustafar. It disturbs him enough to call out to Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson) for help.
The following day, Kenobi ventures out into the desert to look at how Luke (Grant Feely) is doing with Uncle Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) and Aunt Beru Whitesun Lars (Bonnie Piesse). He leaves the toy ship on the porch at night and heads back to his cave. That’s when he encounters Nari, who wants him to resume his Jedi duties and fight the Empire. Kenobi says that the Jedi are dead, and if Nari wants to survive this onslaught on them, he should bury his lightsaber and go into hiding.
After that altercation, we go to Alderaan, where Prince Leia Organa is seemingly being prepared for a meeting with Breha Organa’s (Simone Kessell) sister’s family. When Breha holds her hand to escort her to the docks, she finds out that Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) has put someone in her place and has run off into the woods. After extracting her from the tree she has climbed, Breha finally takes Leia to the docks, where Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) is waiting for them, while a bounty hunter sneakily looks at the two from the woods.
Back in Tatooine, Owen returns (he throws it on the ground) the toy ship Kenobi had left for Luke and orders him to stay away from his family. Kenobi says that he can’t do that because he is responsible for Luke and needs to train him when he starts showing signs of force sensitivity. Owen reminds Kenobi about Anakin and cites that as the main reason why he doesn’t want Kenobi anywhere near Luke. As their conversation concludes, Reva and the Fifth Brother enter the town to interrogate the people about the Jedi. Kenobi hides. She zeroes in on Owen and tells everyone that if they don’t tell her where the Jedi are (she essentially means Kenobi), she is going to kill Owen’s family. Kenobi keeps looking but doesn’t interject. Seeing things go too far, the Fifth Brother steps in and tells Reva to stand down and warns her about her ways. Kenobi thanks Owen for not revealing his whereabouts, and Owen says that he didn’t do it for Kenobi.
On Alderaan, the Organas enjoy a party while Leia’s cousin mocks her for being adopted. Leia calmly responds, exposing her cousin’s shortcomings and insecurities like it’s a walk in the park. Breha takes Leia aside to request that she apologize to her cousin. Leia obviously refuses. Bail calms Leia down by talking to her about her inherited legacy, her connection to the planet, and how, on the day she becomes a Senator, she’ll be able to spite her cousin without saying a word. But for now, she must apologize to him. And, well, she doesn’t exactly do that and runs off into the woods again. There she’s chased down (it’s arguably one of the worst chase sequences because the adult actors have to either slow themselves down or act stupidly to make the child actor “look cool”) and captured by Vect Nokru (Flea). Kenobi immediately gets a call from Bail and Breha about Leia’s kidnapping. Kenobi tells them to find someone else to get Leia back because he has to stay on Tatooine for Luke.
Later on, Obi-Wan Kenobi finds out that Nari has been murdered and hung on the ramparts of one of the buildings in the town by the Inquisitors. When he returns to his cave, he sees that Bail has physically come to meet him and urges him to go and get Leia back from a place called Daiyu. We briefly see Leia putting up a verbal fight with the bounty hunters. And then we return to Kenobi digging up the two lightsabers (one’s his and the other one is/was Anakin’s and the one he gives to Luke in “Star Wars: A New Hope”) and boarding a ship to rescue Leia. Simultaneously, it is revealed that the bounty hunters are working for Reva, who is using Leia as bait to draw out Kenobi so that she can kill or capture him.
Episode 2: Recap
Obi-Wan Kenobi lands in Daiyu, searching for the ship with Leia in it. Someone on the street informs him that all signals going in or out are blocked. So, Kenobi won’t be able to locate its position digitally. He has to do the same physically. As Kenobi calls out for Qui-Gon, a veteran Clone Trooper (played by Temuera Morrison, of course) is seen begging for alms. Kenobi appears traumatized. But he recomposes himself, gives some credits to the Trooper, and walks away. He then starts asking around for Leia’s whereabouts, and a kid approaches him and tells him that he can take him to a Jedi who is helping people on Daiyu. And that is Haja Estree (Kumail Nanjiani), a street-level con man who fakes his Jedi powers and scams poor people. Kenobi sees right through him and threatens him until he blurts out the location where Leia has potentially been kept.
Kenobi follows an alien into a drug-making lab and distracts his way into the place’s innermost corridors. There he encounters some goons, one of which is a Maul, and they get into a fight. Kenobi manages to overpower them and gets into a chamber where he thinks Leia has been held hostage. But it turns out to be an ambush as Vect Nokru attacks Kenobi, captures him, and tells him about Reva’s plans. Kenobi explodes the bottle of spice he had acquired earlier to cause a distraction and runs away. He eventually finds Leia and the two of them take to the streets, hiding from Reva and her goons. The Grand Inquisitor grills Reva about kidnapping Leia to get to Kenobi. Reva reveals the connection between Leia and Kenobi. However, the Grand Inquisitor listens to none of that and orders Reva to stand down as he plans to be the one to bring in Kenobi.
To counter the Grand Inquisitor’s plans for Kenobi, Reva sends out a planet-wide search-and-nab order for all the bounty hunters (who will only report to Reva) so that everyone’s looking for Kenobi and not just the Grand Inquisitor. Kenobi continues to navigate Leia through the streets of Daiyu, unaware of the order that has been passed against him by Reva. Haja Estree receives news about the order, though, and he goes out to apparently help Kenobi. Kenobi encounters a bounty hunter and neutralizes him. The Grand Inquisitor learns about the order that Reva has passed. Reva perches on a high building, looking for any kind of activity that’ll notify her about Kenobi’s movement. Leia finds out about the bounty on Kenobi and tries to run away from him, forcing Kenobi to go after her.
‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Episode 2: Ending Explained – Inquisitor Reva Spills The Details On Anakin Skywalker’s Whereabouts
In an attempt to get away from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Leia gets to the roofs of Daiyu. This exposes Kenobi’s position even further, leading to a shoot-out between Kenobi and other bounty hunters. Reva notices this from a distance and starts to aggressively make her way to Kenobi and Leia. Haja Estree also arrives at the scene and notices Leia and Kenobi being attacked by bounty hunters. Leia tries to jump over a very large gap between two buildings, but she doesn’t make it. As she falls, Kenobi catches her by using the Force, thereby instilling some trust in Leia. Because until that point, Leia wasn’t sure if Kenobi was a Jedi and whether he was telling the truth about being Bail’s friend.
Leia and Kenobi proceed to a ship leaving Daiyu, but it is heavily guarded by Inquisitors and Storm Troopers. Haja Estree makes an explosive entry by killing a bounty hunter that was about to shoot at Kenobi and Leia. He directs the two to go to a cargo ship that’s waiting to take them to people who believe in the Jedi. Kenobi wonders if that’s a trap, too, because Haja Estree isn’t exactly very trustworthy. Haja says that Kenobi has no other choice and urges them to go while he buys them some time. We briefly see the Grand Inquisitor interrogate Vect Nokru to learn about where Reva is. And we cut to Reva still hurtling through the rooftops and streets of Daiyu to get to Kenobi.
Haja encounters Reva and tries to pass himself off as a Jedi. He fails, and Reva manages to use her Dark Side skills to learn about where Kenobi and Leia are. Reva corners Kenobi and Leia in the cargo ship hangar. Kenobi sends Leia over to the cargo ship while he hides from Reva. As he contemplates re-using his lightsaber, Reva drops an information bomb on him. She says that Anakin Skywalker is alive, that he’s Darth Vader, and he is looking for Kenobi. The Grand Inquisitor arrives to foil Reva’s plan, but Reva skewers him with her lightsaber. Kenobi makes a run for it and escapes with Leia. Reva screams at the sky, vowing to destroy Kenobi. Kenobi, visibly distraught, mutters the name, “Anakin.” And the show smash cuts to Anakin (as Darth Vader) waking up in his Bacta tank.
See More: ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Episode 3: Recap And Ending, Explained – Does Leia Get Abducted Again?
