Parkour!
Episode 2 of Obi-Wan Kenobi starts with Obi-Wan arriving at the busy port of Daiyu. He tries to get some help tracking the ship Leia is being kept on. A kid called Jayco overhears him, promising that there’s a Jedi who can help out This Jedi happens to be a guy called Haja Estree. He works in the shadows, offering up credits in exchange for help ferrying people out of the city. He certainly drives a hard bargain, and it doesn’t take long for Obi-Wan to meet him and see through this facade. He’s not a Jedi after all, he just really loves credits. Obi-Wan walks right into this trap, held up at gunpoint by Leia’s captors. They recognize him immediately, but he manages to slip away and find the right cell holding Leia. However, Reva is inbound. Outside, in the middle of this busy port, the pair decide to get changed. When the Grand Inquisitor arrives and confronts Reva, he reminds her that she came from the gutters and is the least of them all. Reva ignores that and sends out a warning to all bounty hunters on the planet, informing them that Kenobi is there. Given he’s in full view of everyone with Leia, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t been spotted yet. Even Haja joins the hunt too. Just like in the first episode, Leia runs off forcing Obi-Wan to try and chase her through the market. Unfortunately, this draws the attention of the bounty hunters after them. Obi-Wan chases Leia across the rooftops, as Reva acrobatically swings into the fight, testing her parkour skills for some reason. Before she arrives though, Obi-Wan kills one of the bounty hunters but another is firing on him from afar. But lets ignore that bit of continuity for now, as the guy thankfully stops firing long enough for Obi-Wan to use the force and save Leia from crashing to the ground. That sure was nice of them not to attack! The next scene, Obi-Wan makes it down to the alleyway, where Haja shows up and shoots that other bounty hunter from behind when he creeps up. Haja gives Obi-Wan some coordinates to another ship he can use to get to safety, promising to buy him as much time as possible. That turns out to be not very much time at all, and he actually does more harm than good. Reva finds out where Obi-Wan is but the Grand Inquisitor shows first. After his hurtful words to her earlier in the season, Reva decides to kill him. “Who’s in the gutter now?” She says. Well, presumably you Reva. If you’ve just killed your superior I’d imagine the senate and those in power won’t take kindly to it and she’ll be punished right? We’ll see in episode 3 I guess. Although Obi-Wan manages to get away, Reva drops the bombshell just before that Anakin is still alive. Obi-Wan is shocked.
The Episode Review
Obi-Wan Kenobi returns with an episode that’s somehow worse than the first. We know that Obi-Wan is a well-known Jedi across the galaxy. He’s been to numerous different planets as both an Ambassador and as Anakin’s teacher. He’s been to so many different planets, including that one in Attack of the Clones full of people. He’s a wanted man and needs to lay low so he… heads to a really busy spaceport and begins asking questions about Leia smack bang in the middle of everyone? Then we come to the situation with Leia and again we get another half-hearted chase sequence. There’s even an aerial shot showing Leia right next to Obi-Wan running in a straight line then to his right, somewhere Obi-Wan could easily have reached out and stopped her. That’s before mentioning some of the editing here which is pretty poor. The whole rooftop scene is bad, including the nonsensical parkour. If you watch it back, Obi-Wan took out one bounty hunter but there’s another in the distance firing on him. But yet, he’s conveniently forgotten about in the next scene so Obi-Wan can use his force to save Leia. Normally I’d write this off but then that same hunter shows up in the alleyway just after! And then we come to Reva. This is the perfect example of an antagonist sporting a nice idea but horrible execution. Right now there are no ramifications for her actions in challenging the established chain of command. But we’ve seen in the past that this doesn’t go kindly from the Empire so we’ll have to wait and see if Reva is punished for this. Probably not though. But despite all those problems, this is Star Wars. Fans will undoubtedly flock to this and love it, but unfortunately the force isn’t strong with this one. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a real disappointment.
