Awesome / Obi-Wan Kenobi

A learner and a master face off, for the penultimate time.

---

Part I

• The Jedi who was tutoring the younglings, for putting up as good of a fight as she does against the ambush — getting a further distance with a bunch of frightened children than many others did alone, before finally being slain protecting her charges.
• A villainous example. The Grand Inquisitor, the Fifth Brother, and the Third Sister arrive at a small town in search of a Jedi in hiding. While the Grand Inquisitor gives a grand speech on the supposed weaknesses of the Jedi Code, the Third Sister simply flings a knife at the head of the tavern owner, which the hidden Jedi stops. Talk about Batman Gambit!
  • The young Jedi himself gets some credit for managing to escape from three Inquisitors even after being wounded and cornered.
• Third Sister holds her lightsaber to Owen Lars' throat and threatens to kill his family to force him, or anyone else in the town, to reveal any Jedi hiding nearby. Owen has no love for the Jedi, and just told Obi-Wan to stay way from his family for their safety, but he still claims he doesn't know where any Jedi are. Either he manages to control his emotions, or he simply isn't afraid, but the Third Sister doesn't sense his lie.
  • Owen in general in that one scene. Despite knowing the risks, even seeing Third Sister dismembering a woman for speaking out against the Inquisitors in front of the crowd with no hesitation, Owen gives absolutely nothing to the Inquisitors, even in the face of certain death at the hands of a clearly unhinged individual. Though he bitterly refuses Obi-Wan's thanks once the Inquisitors leave, it's certainly proven to the audience that Owen Lars is a good man.
    • Owen not only keeps his fear in check, he actually holds the Third Sister's gaze and does. Not. Flinch. Even with a lightsaber to his throat.
• After thanking her serving droid, a young Leia is questioned on the manner and has this exchange:
  Cousin: You don't need manners when you're talking to a lower life form.
  Leia: Then I guess I don't need manners when I'm talking to you.
  • Leia then proceeds to verbally bitchslap her cousin, calling out his fear of his father and lack of real autonomy.
• The lengths Bail goes to seek Obi-Wan's help when Leia is kidnapped, sternly pointing out that Leia's safety is just as important as her brother's when Obi-Wan insists he must stay to protect Luke, to actually putting himself at risk to meet in person to give Obi-Wan a much needed talk about the latter's self-doubts and cynicism after ten years of disillusionment. All to save his daughter.
  • Also, the fact that Bail was able to track Obi-Wan down less than a day after contacting him, knowing nothing except the planet he is living on.
• Despite the fact that all Jedi are being hunted, the symbolic He's Back! moment is when Obi-Wan starts wearing his lightsaber on his belt again. Better to be ready for a fight than wait for it to jump you first.

Part II

• How Obi-Wan escapes the bounty hunters: he throws down an orb of spice to get them so high they can't even think straight while he straps on a gas mask.
  Bounty Hunter Leader: You're not a Jedi any more. You're just a man, and you're bleeding all over my floor.
  Obi-Wan: Well, everybody bleeds.
• In general, Obi-Wan shows that, even out of practice, reluctant to use the Force, and stressed to hell and back, he’s no slouch in a fight. He handily wins every fight he gets into through cleverness or sheer brute force, on one occasion knocking a grown man into the air and out of consciousness in a single strike.
• Leia continues showing her exceptional (perhaps Force-aided?) perceptiveness, making several uncomfortably close observations about Obi-Wan.
  Leia: You think the less you say, the less you give away. But it's really the opposite.
• Obi-Wan calling upon the Force, for what's implied to be the first time in years, to save Leia from falling to her death, all while fending off bounty hunters shooting at him. Leia, who'd been previously dismissive that Obi-Wan was even a real Jedi, is suitably impressed.
• Despite initially showing to be a shady figure and conman using the Jedi's reputation for his scheme, Haja quickly proves to be a fairly heroic figure as he takes out one of the bounty hunters and gives the duo a means to escape. While his efforts to stall Third Sister fail miserably - at best he distracts her for 50 seconds, at worst he gives her a good idea where to find Obi-Wan - much props for trying.
• While it allows Obi-Wan to escape the Inquisitors' clutches, Reva managing to catch the same Grand Inquisitor who gave Kanan and Ezra so much trouble throughout Rebels' first season off-guard is certainly no mean feat.
• The very end of the episode has Obi-Wan sense his former apprentice, something that manages to terrify the former Jedi master. Meanwhile, we're shown Vader awakening in his bacta tank...with his orange eyes filling with rage as he senses a familiar presence...

Part III

• While it's both heartbreaking and terrifying, seeing Obi-Wan ignite his lightsaber after so long is a sight to behold. Even better since it's against his former apprentice, Darth Vader himself. While Ben almost gets immolated for his troubles, he still has it, even after all the time he's spent on Tatooine, seeing as he holds his own pretty well against Vader despite the inner turmoil he's dealing with upon seeing his old apprentice.
• Obi-Wan proves himself yet again to be more than a little uncivilized, taking down a whole garrison of Stormtroopers and a probe droid with just his pistol and quick aim.
• That fact that Quinlan Vos is alive and still keeping up the good fight, just like in Legends.
• NED-B gets a moment, as he not only bluffs the stormtroopers into leaving the storage area, but we see he was prepared to break some buckets with a massive hammer hidden behind his back.
• Darth Vader has spikes on the back of his artificial legs, presumably to kill people with if someone tries to strike from below... only Anakin would think of such a precaution.
• While it’s both tragic and horrifying because of the state he’s in, seeing Vader’s iconic armor being assembled around him while echoes of the past ring in his and Kenobi’s ears is nothing short of a spectacle. For those who have been fans since the original trilogy, the iconic sound of the seals initiating serves as an unmistakeable punctuation mark that we are now in the era of the fully-fledged Darth Vader.
• The way the show uses cinematography, music, and Hayden Christensen’s nonverbal performance to sell how absolutely livid Vader is on Mapuzo. Even before he speaks a word, you can tell how much rage and hate is bubbling just under that mask. And as we all know, rage and hate are key to the Dark Side, meaning Vader is probably at the most dangerous he's ever been.
• That fence at the checkpoint is awesomely dangerous, as evidenced by a Stormtrooper being sliced clean in half when he falls from above onto it.

Part IV

• Tala is a walking moment of awesome throughout the entire episode, as she bluffs her way into Fortress Inquisitorius, pulling rank on one officer at a security checkpoint and then taking out another officer stealthily when her cover is blown. When she's found out by Reva, she bluffs again, making a case for being a double agent so convincingly it almost makes you wonder. Then she reveals her true loyalties as she takes down two stormtroopers and grabs a blaster rifle. Tala is a certified badass.
  • Also, her throwing back Third Sister's condemnation of her actions by revealing she was always an enemy of the Empire as it currently stands.
  Third Sister: TRAITOR! A child and an old man, was it worth it? Betraying everything you were?
  Tala: This was never who I was.
• For those who thought Obi-Wan has been lacking the past few episodes or being sidelined in his own show, Obi-Wan shows this episode that, even out of practice, he's still a force to be reckoned with. Throughout the entire assault to save Leia from the Fortress Inquisitorius, we see him actively using both his lightsaber and making use of the Force again, taking out Stormtroopers with great efficiency, and falling back on his legendary defensive skills to deflect blaster bolts back at his enemies left and right. While we've seen him in action prior, this episode shows exactly why the Empire are so hell-bent on hunting the Jedi and Kenobi in particular, and cements the true return of the Jedi Master and former General of the Republic.
  • His rescuing Leia from the torture chamber is a particular highlight. The power cuts out and plunges the room into near-darkness. As the Stormtroopers look around in confusion, there's a flash of blue from Obi-Wan's lightsaber as he cuts down the first Trooper. Before the second one can work out what's happened, Obi-Wan has circled around behind him and does the same thing again. The entire sequence reminds you why the Jedi were so respected and, in some circles, feared.
  • It gets even better if you listen closely. In Part III, Obi-Wan's lightsaber had the same dark hissing sound that accompanied Vader's. This time, however, Obi-Wan's weapon gets the original, classic snap-hiss that traditionally accompanied the Jedi's. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age indeed...
  • The kicker? He manages all this while not in any top physical form, still recovering from his encounter with Darth Vader. He's mentioned to be barely standing when planning to save Leia, yet this does not deter him in any way.
  • The segment where Obi-Wan and Leia get caught between two patrol groups in a long corridor deserves special mention. Obi-Wan orders Leia to tuck herself against the wall while he fends off blaster bolts from both directions, and even deflects some of them back at their shooters. One stray bolt impacts a window. This wouldn't be an issue, except the whole corridor is deep under water, and that window crack quickly threatens to become a major problem. Obi-Wan is oblivious until Leia points out that the corridor is about to be flooded, so what does he do? He uses the Force to hold that window — which by now is barely more than a collection of loose shards — together and in place until they can reach safety. Obi-Wan holds off the weight of an entire ocean for over a minute and is still awake and able to fight at the end of it. And just to put the cherry on top, as soon as the troopers at the far end breach the door he had rigged closed, he unleashes the flood on them before hightailing it out of there.
• Leia refuses to give up the location of the Path's base. Reva tries to break her by claiming Obi-Wan is dead, tries to use the Force to read her mind, and eventually has her strapped into a torture device, but Leia still refuses to give her anything. Fortunately, Tala's timely distraction prevents Leia and the audience from finding out how she'd have held up had Reva actually gone through with her threats.
  • Noteworthy is that this untrained 10-year-old was able to completely resist a Force mind probe and even respond with appropriate Leia-snark.
    • Her last name may be Organa officially, but this is Leia Skywalker we're talking about. Of course she was able to.
• Reva managing to deflect gunship fire and, when Vader attempts to kill her, reveals she was Crazy-Prepared enough to plant a tracker: by turning Leia's droid into one.
• While initially making it clear they're not soldiers and offer mostly intel, the members of the Path saving the heroes with airspeeders (which they claim are only used to transport sewage, of all things) is nothing short of amazing.

Part V

• The return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin. What's more, minimal digital de-aging was done on him, since he still looks remarkably similar to how he did twenty years ago.
• The episode's use of the flashback illustrates the contrast between both Anakin/Darth Vader and Obi-Wan, as each utilizes their knowledge of the other to formulate their respective strategies: Vader counting on Obi-Wan's compassion to slow him down, while Obi-Wan relies on Vader's impatience and need for revenge.
• Tala and NED-B die in the attack, but they each go out like champions, with NED-B not only taking down a number of stormtroopers with a battledroid blaster carbine, but also slamming one stormtrooper into the ceiling and punching another down the corridor. Tala, after having been gut-shot by a blaster, reveals a thermal detonator and takes out a large contingent of the invading Imperial forces, all while a dying NED-B shields her from incoming fire with his body.
• After Reva opens the door with her lightsaber, Obi-Wan throws her through the air into the midst of her troops. Force wielders ordinarily don't try things like that, because an opponent of equal strength can neutralize it, so it all comes down to dueling, throwing objects, and maybe lightning if you're Dark. Obi-Wan getting lifted by Vader was unusual for precisely that reason. Obi-Wan throwing Reva like a ragdoll shows that He's Back!, baby! A mere Inquisitor is nothing compared to a full-fledged Jedi Master.
• Vader effortlessly grabbing the escape transport out of the air with the Force and ripping off the doors. A major Oh, Crap! moment if there ever was one. Even scarier, he does it with his left hand. Vader is right-handed. Even with a handicap, he's still terrifying.
  • Yet more terrifying, Vader is channelling the force through an artificial limb, and still accomplishes this with seeming ease.
  • It's especially satisfying after Legends properties like The Force Unleashed arguably nerfed or overshadowed Vader's abilities. This reminds viewers exactly how powerful the Dark Lord of the Sith is.
  • If you listen close (or have subtitles turned on) Vader's mechanical breathing becomes strained as he does this. He's channeling enough power to strain and possibly damage his life-support suit. Still does it.
• The fact that Obi-Wan's greatest victory is when he puts aside his lightsaber and simply offers himself to Reva. After she gloats, Obi-Wan calmly informs her that she is not bringing him to Vader, he is bringing Vader to her, effectively forcing her hand in her quest to kill Darth Vader. When Reva points out that Vader will likely anticipate this, Obi-Wan informs her that the only thing Vader will see is Obi-Wan himself. Obi-Wan Kenobi proves himself a strategist worthy of Grand Admiral Thrawn by taking Darth Vader's hatred and weaponizing it.
• Everything about Darth Vader's duel with Reva, from recognizing her as a youngling that survived Order 66 and that he was aware of her ambition to try to kill him all along, to holding his own with her using nothing but the Force, then disassembling her weapon into two lightsabers and effortlessly defeating her in a one-on-one duel, and casually revealing that the Grand Inquisitor was still alive after giving her the same injury that she gave him.
  • Darth Vader briefly, for the first time onscreen, dual-wielding lightsabers. He doesn't really fight like that, but boy is it an awesomely terrifying sight to behold.
  • Special mention to his casual disarming of Reva, whereupon he snaps her saber into two... before tossing one half to her feet without a care in the world. It's such a blatant challenge of "Go ahead. Pick it up and see where it takes you." that leads perfectly into the subsequent ass-kicking.
    • Vader never once draws his lightsaber, instead either moving out of the way of Reva's slashes or blocking her blade with the Force itself, and then just simply using the Force to slow her spinning blades to a dead. Stop. All the while his body language betrays nothing, as if he's simply exercising and not dodging the attacks of a trained Imperial Inquisitor.
    • More on that: you know how, in martial arts movies, the credentials of the 'Master' are showcased by the main character attacking them and then getting dominated? And the master never attacks, just barely moves to dodge or block, absolutely nonchalant and dismissive the whole way through? Yeah, that's what this feels like — aside from the nonchalant part, as Vader is driven by the need to win and to prove himself, so in this case, there's a cat-and-mouse edge to it.
    • Again, note that Vader never draws his lightsaber, he uses half of Reva's double-bladed Inquisitor lightsaber. Many sources state that a Jedi or Sith has a special bond with the lightsaber they've built themselves, that they fight much more effectively with that weapon than any other. Vader using Reva's lightsaber to hand her a beatdown is just part of the demonstration that she never, ever stood any chance against him whatsoever.
    • And this whole thing was all according to plan. Letting Reva nab as much rope as she wanted, until she had more than enough to hang herself in grand style. Darth Vader has long been considered to be utterly incapable of subtlety, but he knew all along what Reva's endgame was and was just waiting for the right time to completely demolish it most brutally. Apparently just because he thought it would be interesting.
• Obi-Wan demonstrates the cunning and charisma that earned him the sobriquet of 'the Negotiator' back in the Clone Wars by easily turning Reva to his own uses. Vader even picks up on this; he may hate his former master intensely, but when dueling with Reva, he admits that Obi-Wan was "wise" in turning her into rebelling — a sign that he knows damn well how Obi-Wan operated successfully during their time together.
  • The above moments for Vader turn into a moment for Obi-Wan. He tricks Vader into disabling the wrong ship in a rage and then into wasting time battling Reva, knowing full well that Anakin's need to prove himself superior to her will buy the time they need to escape. Vader is powerful, but Obi-Wan is smart.
• For a bunch of scared refugees and civilians in over their heads, and one old Jedi, the members of the Path manage to put up a decent fight against Reva and her breaching forces. They manage to make a fighting retreat back to the ship with an astoundingly lopsided casualty ratio in their favor — by the time Vader gets there, the hallways are littered with dozens of dead stormtroopers and hardly any members of the Path.
  • During the assault, Obi-Wan demonstrates exactly why the Jedi were made front-line Generals during the Clone Wars: even though he's past his prime, he manages to almost single-handedly hold back dozens of stormtroopers despite being completely exposed, to the point where he acts as a human shield to the gun-toting refugees behind him. He may end up having to fall back, but damn if he doesn't make the Empire earn every inch of ground.
  • It's also worth noting that during the initial assault, Reva goes in wielding her saber, with momentum and force of numbers. Obi-Wan doesn't even bother drawing his saber, he just blasts her backwards with a single Force Push, scattering her troopers. While it's impressive that she stayed on her feet, because of that opening move, Reva ends up mired in a crowd of her own men. She doesn't kill a single refugee with her lightsaber, and is forced to order her men into the breach where they meet determined opposition.
  • Joining Roken, Tala, NED-B, and Obi-Wan in holding the front of the tunnel is Corran's mother, Nyche, seen three episodes ago on Daiyu as a mere refugee. She even lives through the battle because Obi-Wan rescues her.
  • In the meantime, Leia demonstrates that she inherited both her mother's cool under pressure and her father's Gadgeteer Genius talents, the latter usually being more evident in her brother. She unhesitatingly volunteers to go up into the vents to fix the sabotage on the hangar doors, figuring out the problem with Lola (who'd been whacked with a restraining bolt by Reva), and fixing the sabotage without losing her cool for one moment. All while the base is under heavy assault from Reva, the Empire, and, oh yes, Darth Vader himself. Little Miss Badass indeed — not that you'd expect anything less.
• The fact that Reva's duel with Vader shows that her lightsaber is also a split-saber, able to split into two and reassemble, means she has every possible function of a lightsaber except the extend option, being a spinsaber, lightsaber, doublesaber, and splitsaber in one.

Part VI

• The penultimate duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. A Sith Lord and a Jedi Master of the Jedi Order, both at the height of their powers. An unstoppable force meets an unmovable object.
  • Let's put it this way: Obi-Wan finally manages to do what no one else could before him: defeat Darth Vader. Twice. Obi-Wan is still the master, and Vader is still the student.
    • While Luke managed to overpower and disarm Vader in Return of the Jedi, he did it through pure rage and by tapping into the Dark Side of the Force. Obi-Wan keeps calm and eventually defeats Darth Vader through pure skill of the Force to shake off his rust and be much quicker than normal.
  • Speaking of skill, Obi-Wan finally wields his lightsaber like we always knew he could, using The Force to regain his superior agility to throw Vader off. Even Vader's attempts to block him with the Force don't stop him for long. As Vader remarks with approval, he's regained his former strength.
    • Speaking of which, while Ahsoka managed to defeat Vader mentally and took the right side of his helmet, Obi-Wan defeated Vader physically and took the left side of his helmet.(Only Luke took off the entire helmet and defeated Vader both physically and mentally.)
  • Vader only ever uses two hands to wield his lightsaber when he either wants to end a fight quickly or begins to take it seriously. Not long into their duel, even before Kenobi’s Heroic Second Wind, he’s seen hastily assuming a two-handed stance and even backing away a bit. Obviously, he wasn’t expecting this level of fight in his old master, and it makes him pretty nervous.
  • Where Vader tries to use the terrain and bury Obi-Wan under rubble, Kenobi pays him back by telekinetically lifting every single rock in the vicinity, and pummeling Vader with them.
  • Speaking of which, the Buried Alive scene is a brilliant moment in itself. Obi-Wan is visibly straining to keep the boulders from crushing him, especially with earlier words from Anakin and Vader exacerbating his guilt. Then his thoughts turn to Leia and Luke, and the Jedi Master blasts the rubble away and practically bounds out of his hole for round two. A long way from someone who could barely catch a falling child only a week or so earlier.
  • You know why Force-users don't throw each other around during fights? They can't. The other's strength will prevent it, unless there's a significant difference in ability. This is used to show how weak Obi-Wan was in Part III, and how he's regained his strength in Part VI, as he throws Lord Vader around like a ragdoll.
  • There's a brief moment where Vader is walking away after having seemingly won the fight, but then a lightsaber is heard igniting, and he barely turns around to parry a slash from Obi-Wan. This parallels the scene in the previous episode where Reva tries to strike Vader In the Back; there, he easily stops her swing with the Force without even turning towards her at first, but against Obi-Wan, Vader fully turns around and blocks with his lightsaber, and he actually steps back from the impact. It highlights rather nicely the difference between Reva and an Obi-Wan Kenobi who's regained his strength.
  • And to finish him off, Obi-Wan goes for Vader's one logical weakness: his breathing apparatus. He targets the control panel on his chest, hitting it repeatedly with his lightsaber hilt until it breaks, and ends the fight by cleaving his helmet in half.
  • This is all even more impressive given how Vader had been portrayed in the new canon: an unstoppable juggernaut that very few can even hope to stand up to. Obi-Wan is one of the few (besides Anakin's student Ahsoka Tano and his son Luke Skywalker) to ever not only take him head-on and stand his ground but beat him. And, again, he beat him twice, and didn't just beat him, but crippled him both times.
  • Something else to keep in mind: Obi-Wan is known as a master (or, according to Mace Windu, "Not a master. The master") of Soresu, aka Form III the most defense-oriented style of combat. He defeated Anakin on Mustafar by playing defense until Anakin made that crucial mistake that Obi-Wan countered. For the second half of this duel with Vader, however, Obi-Wan is explicitly on the attack, and he is damn good at it (it should be noted that Obi-Wan was previously terrible at offensive as seen with his fights with Sith Lords like Maul, Savage Opress, and Dooku). It shows just how much he has to win to protect Leia, Luke, and the fleeing refugees.
• Owen and Beru get word that Reva is coming for Luke. Owen wants to run and hide, but Beru refuses to abandon their home, and reveals she has a pair of blaster rifles hidden away for an occasion like this. When Reva reaches the homestead, Owen and Beru are ready and waiting, putting up an impressive resistance against the former Inquisitor and buying enough time for Luke to escape out into the desert.
  • Think about that for a second — Owen and Beru, just two regular farmers from a backwater planet, manage to hold their own against an Inquisitor like Reva, going full-on Mama Bear and Papa Wolf on her ass. If that isn't a testament to their love and devotion to Luke, we don't know what is.
  • Also, keep in mind that Owen had a fairly close encounter with Reva not too long ago and is understandably scared out of his wits of her (she did hack off an innocent woman's hand in his presence, after all). So, to see him defend both his home and Luke so adamantly from her is quite impressive.
  • Credit especially to Beru as well. When Owen first tells her about the approaching danger, grumbling in the process that Ben isn't here, Beru shoots back "Whose fault is that?" without even breaking her stride towards the blasters they've stashed away. Not to mention, she's the one who decides they stand and fight rather than run away in the (slim) hope they can survive somehow in the desert.
  • The Lars don't just hold their own, but even manage to get very good hits in. Owen happens to nail Reva on the side Vader had just stabbed her and realizes it's a weak point, so he manages to strike her there again before his staff is bisected and he's knocked down to the lower floor, but not without warning Beru. Then, when Reva opens the next door, Beru manages to slug her in the face, before she herself is flipped to the ground. Most moisture farmers are hardened from having to deal with Tusken Raiders, but none can claim to have done some damage on a Dark Side Force user and survived like the Lars can!
  • This scene has created a retroactive moment of awesomeness for Owen and Beru: in A New Hope, Luke find's their burnt bodies in the aftermath of the attack on the farm. Given the fight they put up against a Dark Side Force user, they almost certainly didn't lay down and die for a bunch of stormtroopers. One particularly amusing theory is that the bodies were burned to make sure the pair were actually dead.
  • Credit also to the drinks vendor, who managed to evade Reva's questions and get away to warn Owen. Of course, Owen knows someone will eventually give them up, so he and Luke rush back to the farm to prepare.
  • Owen and Beru keep their blasters hidden, despite the constant threat of attack by Tusken Raiders. Why? Either the Empire or the Hutts refuse to let mere farmers have weapons. But they keep the blasters anyway. Whoever they're standing up to, the Empire or the cartel, the Lars family has gonads of solid beskar.
• Reva eventually corners Luke in a cave. The boy is injured and unconscious, giving her a clean shot at killing him. She draws her lightsaber, but then sees her younger self in Luke's place, and can't bring herself to kill him. Instead, she carries Luke back to his family and lets him go. Her hatred of Darth Vader almost led her to become just like him, but she resisted it, and Obi-Wan assures her she can continue choosing to be better.
• Who do we finally see at the tail end of the episode? The spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn. And despite Liam Neeson pushing seventy years old during filming, Qui-Gon looks almost exactly the same as he did during The Phantom Menace.
• While this series can be credited with making Vader scary once more in live-action after Rogue One, and reminding us all that you do not fuck with this man because he can and will end your existence, it merely takes a short cameo from Palpatine to remind that behind the imposing figure of Vader is something much, much worse — Vader has lines he won't cross, unless you're Obi-Wan, but the Emperor has no such restraint.
  • This needs elaborating on: Palpatine manages to cow a furious Vader into submission with just three lines. And he did it without even raising his voice!

---