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Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi S01E05 Review: The Great Escape Plan

When we last left our heroes in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ben (Ewan McGregor) thought he managed to evade the Empire with Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) to some form of a sanctuary in Jabiim. As per the normal narrative in the "Star Wars" franchise, tracking devices always come in handy and protagonists almost never check for them. This time it came courtesy of Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) at the end of "Part IV". Okay, with that in mind consider this your minor spoilers warning for the limited series' penultimate episode.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) in Lucasfilm's OBI-WAN KENOBI, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved

Star Wars Technical Gripe: Hot on the duo's trail is Reva and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), with the latter officially promoting the Third Sister to the rank of Grand Inquisitor before launching their inevitable strike. In-between scenes of our heroes and the Empire, we're also treated to flashbacks between Obi-Wan and Anakin before the events of Revenge of the Sith (2005) as the two spar. This is a minor gripe, but the VFX or makeup team should have made the effort to actually de-age the 41-year-old Christensen at least 10 years. We get a far less intense display than what we saw in their Mustafar fight obviously and "Part III" since this does take place before Anakin became Vader.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi S01E05 Review: The Great Escape Plan
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) in Lucasfilm's OBI-WAN KENOBI, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

It's nice for Christensen to actually have lines to share with McGregor during these invaluable moments as best friends, moments we rarely saw in the prequels. As the episode plays out, you get a sense of the inevitable destiny Ben will have to face in the season/series finale to where the dialogue between the two in A New Hope (1977) will make sense. We get a couple of major moments that will play into "Part VI". One is definitely a face-palming scene considering the irony of how the developments eventually play out. Director Deborah Chow keeps the intensity and action consistent and writers Joby Harold and Andrew Stanton pen a competent "last-stand" style story. At the very least, everything should be addressed to some extent by the end of the final episode since the storyline hasn't offered too much that can't be tied up with another episode (depending on how open-ended they want to leave it with rumblings that McGregor is interested in another go at Obi-Wan). Here's hoping they can pull it off.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi S01E05 Review: The Great Escape Plan
Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) in Lucasfilm's OBI-WAN KENOBI, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi "Part V"

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi S01E05 Review: The Great Escape Plan
Review by Tom Chang

8/10
Aside from a slight plot & technical gripe, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi "Part V" does an impressive job as a "last stand"-type storyline with enough build-up, tension, and loss to drive the story forward. It also provided a nice build-up to what will hopefully to another round two between Ben and Darth Vader in the finale. Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Moses Ingram, Vivien Lyra Blair, and Kumail Nanjiani combine their efforts for a chapter that hits.
Credits

Director
Deborah Chow

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Tom ChangAbout Tom Chang

I'm a follower of pop culture from gaming, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, film, and TV for over 30 years. I grew up reading magazines like Starlog, Mad, and Fangoria. As a writer for over 10 years, Star Wars was the first sci-fi franchise I fell in love with. I'm a nerd-of-all-trades.
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