Best Episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi

Part VI. Obviously, the finale is the best episode. Okay, that's not always obvious. Sometimes the finale is kind of underwhelming. In fact, a lot of times it happens to be. But in Kenobi, I can safely say that I was blown away! I don't even have the words for it.

In terms of Star Wars TV show season finales, it is up there alongside Victory and Death and Twilight of the Apprentice. It's the epic culmination of what happened right in the square middle between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The entire episode consists of merely two separate duels. One of them sees Reva trying to avenge her dead friends by killing the one thing Anakin has left (his son), while the other sees Obi-Wan meeting up with Darth Vader to settle it once and for all.

This lightsaber duel is lit. There's so much emotion in the air when you've seen their confrontation on Mustafar. You truly feel Vader's wrath and Kenobi's will to protect those he loves. In fact, it's probably my fourth favorite lightsaber duel in the entire franchise. It's an excellent mix of great choreography and intense emotion. One thing I noticed was how much inspiration this duel took from Ahsoka vs. Vader on Rebels, which is, by the way, my third favorite duel in the franchise. From Vader's "Then, you will die" to Obi-Wan slicing up his helmet, being emotional, and then Vader almost becoming Anakin but then retreating to the dark side. I loved every bit of it.

Oh yeah, and Reva gets her redemption by not killing Luke, and Obi-Wan meets up with a force ghost of Qui-Gon. That was cool and all, but we all know deep down what was the best moment of the entire series. "Hello there."

In 4th place, we have Part I, the first episode of the series. I've got to say, it's a pretty good way to start off this series.

The opening scene, with the Inquisitors landing on Tatooine to hunt Jedi, was perfectly handled. Prior to watching this, I had little to no hope for these characters. The Grand Inquisitor looked nothing like his Rebels counterpart or the Pau'ans in Revenge of the Sith. The Fifth Brother didn't ooze any danger at all, and where the hell was the Seventh Sister? But I was pleasantly surprised with this first scene. Rupert Friend was surprisingly great as the Grand Inquisitor. He didn't have quite the same personality as in Rebels, as he was a little less sassy, but I'm willing to let that slide.

The rest of the episode is great too. You can truly feel Kenobi's depression during the aftermath of the Clone Wars, and it was perfectly portrayed by Ewan McGregor. And then there's the Leia storyline, which ultimately ties into the rescue mission I'm not so fond of. But hey, it would've been fine if it was just one or two episodes, so it didn't destroy the episode completely. To be fair, what other way would Kenobi come out of hiding?

Well, except for that godawful chase scene. Speaking of which, fun fact, this is the first time we ever see Alderaan in live-action Star Wars media, and it's just as beautiful as everyone says it is. It feels a bit like Earth, but it still has its own touch in the architecture and landscape. I really enjoy that they used a physical setting and not just CGI for the forest.

Overall, there's not much else to say about this episode other than that it's a great introduction to this series.

Part V was probably the episode in the series when it transitioned from simply okay to great, which is admittedly too late for a 6-episode series, but hey, better late than never. There are a few reasons why.

The Leia Rescue storyline has finally toned down, allowing the focus to shift to other more interesting aspects of the show, and they sure did. Up until this point, Reva was a bland character. Nothing about her really stood out, other than the fact that she was impulsive and slightly ambitious. In this episode, we finally get to see her motivations and why she's been so obsessed with catching Kenobi. Spoilers: it's so they could kill Darth Vader together after he slaughtered all her friends during Order 66. Knowing this, her aggressiveness makes much more sense, as she wants to finish off Anakin as quickly as possible.

But not only does Reva become a much better character, somehow, the Grand Inquisitor returned. We all knew he survived because of his appearance in Rebels, but we were still skeptical about whether they actually decided to kill him in Episode II, so this reappearance is all the more welcome.

Not to mention, throughout this entire episode, there are flashback scenes of Obi-Wan and Anakin dueling in a training session, which flow organically with the episode. When something happens in the duel, something similar happens in real time, like when Anakin pulled the ship back out of arrogance.

Part V was great, but not as great as...

Part IV is a bit of the opposite of Part II. Story-wise, it's not the best. Just a repeat of Episode II, with Obi-Wan rescuing Leia, but now with the help of an imperial spy. It's meh, nothing unusual. And unlike Episode II, nothing really important happens either. In fact, lots of people don't seem to care for it.

No, no. The reason Part IV managed to be much better than not only Part II, but even I and II, was the setting. No matter how deep or interesting Star Wars may be, at its core, it has always been about escapism, like I mentioned when discussing Part II. This episode utilizes that to the absolute best with its setting.

An underwater prison fortress with sub-surface windows and a tomb of carbonite-frozen people truly exemplified exploring the unknown, something completely different from anything on Earth. It was such a unique area to be immersed in that it ultimately became one of my favorite episodes of the bunch, in spite of the bland storyline.

The scene in the hallway with Kenobi trying to hold together the glass window was the perfect example of something futuristic. And that's pretty much it. What else? Oh yeah, Vader also stomps in, being the scariest he's ever been in any Star Wars media.

Hot take: The Grand Inquisitor should've made his reveal here and struck down Reva. It would've made for an epic comeback of the best character in the series, and it would show Vader's ruthlessness instead of slowly putting her back down because she had a tracker. All in all, a really solid episode.

Coming in at last place, we have Part II, which premiered alongside the first episode. In my opinion, there are many reasons why this was always my least enjoyed episode of the bunch. I wouldn't say it's bad... okay, it kind of is.

The problem with Part II is a combination of events that don't matter or ruin the show in the long run, and the very gloomy setting. At its core, Star Wars, for all its deep and intricate storylines, has always been about escapism and exploring new worlds completely different from ours. Unfortunately, this episode is largely set in a slum of con-men, which reminds me too much of the current world.

Story-wise, Part II doesn't really do it for me either. The biggest problem this series has for me is that the overall main story is just boring. Four out of six episodes are about saving Leia from the Inquisitors. While it's a decent way to kick off a series, it should not dominate a series about Kenobi dealing with depression in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. We already have a father-child series in The Mandalorian, which pulled this off much better.

They should've ended this episode by having Leia returned safely so we could start with the main story involving Reva. Instead, her story got introduced first in the semi-final episode. Speaking of which, this episode also has the worst scene in the entire series. Why kill off the only interesting character introduced, who also cannot die? Subverting expectations does not equal quality. It does pay off in the end, but it was uncool to get rid of the one character who had, in my opinion, the best performance.

But wait, there's one redeeming feature. There's a five-second-long scene where you get to see a Clone Trooper veteran. Wow! This alone puts this episode at #1. Jokes aside, that was a cool scene.

In 5th place, we have Part III, which is slightly better than Part II. However, it shares many of the same problems as the previous episode.

For starters, story-wise, it offers even less to the overall bigger picture than Part II. While that episode had the godawful Grand Inquisitor death scene, at least it served a bit of a purpose in developing Reva's character.

The highlight everyone talks about when discussing this episode is the Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader duel. Admittedly, it is pretty cool. It's almost built up like a horror movie in how the Sith Lord creeps up from nowhere. You can really feel Anakin's rage as he tortures the rusty Kenobi.

Unfortunately, I don't think this duel should've happened at all, since it kind of ruins the dialogue in A New Hope, and it results in probably the second worst thing in this entire series: the ending. Just as you think, finally this rescue mission is over, Reva comes out of nowhere and kidnaps Leia again. Like we didn't have enough of this story already.

That being said, I did like it a little more than Part II because, while the ending was more "come on," the episode itself was a bit more pleasant. There was a lot of great interaction between Kenobi and Leia, specifically the bus scene, and it was one of the few moments you really got a feel that Vader was ruthless.