Obi-Wan Kenobi Part III delivers exactly what the majority of fans wanted since the series was announced: the return of Hayden Christensen (and James Earl Jones) as Darth Vader! The end of episode 2 made it clear that Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) was headed for a direct collision course with Vader after the Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) revealed to Kenobi that Anakin Skywalker was still alive. Well, “Part III” does a pretty masterful job of pacing things out until the inevitable confrontation arrives – and then, delivering something epic when it finally does.
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(WARNING Obi-Wan Kenobi SPOILERS Follow!)
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OBI-WAN PART III REVIEW
It’s no secret that Obi-Wan Episode 2 was something of a letdown for a lot of fans. The unexpected detour into the Obi-Wan and Leia team-up wasn’t exactly what the series promised, but Part III actually does a lot of good work redeeming that story thread.
Obi-Wan and Leia’s father-daughter dynamic gets a lot better as the two land on a mining planet and try to make their way back to Alderaan. Scenes like Obi-Wan being haunted by visions of Anakin, or Obi-Wan’s conversation with Leia about her mother and father actually brought real, resounding emotion that at least somewhat justifies the choice to pair these two characters in this way. It’s a credit to showrunner Deborah Chow that this first half of the episode (and the showdown at the Imperial checkpoint) was just as thrilling as what came in the second half…
If Obi-Wan Part III made fans worry early on that it would drag out the Inquisitors and Vader’s search for Obi-Wan, that worry quickly vanishes in the second half of the ep. Vader and the Inquisitors arrive on the mining planet just as Obi-Wan and Leia are about to get off-world with the help of double-agent Tala (Indira Varma). What happens next is pure nightmare fuel like we’ve rarely seen in Star Wars.
Vader’s outright torture and slaughter of innocent civilians to draw Obi-Wan out was a strict reminder of how scary the villain is. What is even more impactful, however, is the performance of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, having to now face the result of his falling out with Anakin. It really does hit different when Obi-Wan asks Anakin “What have you become?” only to get Vader’s reply that “I am what you made me.”
Some fans are debating the lack of battle skill that Obi-Wan shows off against Vader in their duel – but again, that makes all the sense in the world. This Obi-Wan has been nesting and waiting and doing everything he can to avoid the Jedi life; do simply be able to jump back in and fight Darth Vader at full strength (see: Revenge of the Sith) would’ve been out of step with the reality of the character. Seeing Vader’s sadistic revenge against Obi-Wan (Force-dragging him through fire) was equally as powerful for fans of the Prequel Trilogy.
Obviously, this mid-point duel between Obi-Wan and Vader is just the warm-up. The next time the two meet, Obi-Wan will likely be ready to throw down full-Force (pun).
Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming episodes on Disney+.
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Image Credit: Lucasfilm
