Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers surprise villain twist in penultimate episode
Though you might have seen this one coming, especially if you’re a fan of Star Wars animation.
Moses Ingram’s Jedi-hunting Reva has served as the primary antagonist of new Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi (notwithstanding Darth Vader himself), cutting a swathe through the galaxy as she hunts down former Jedi Master Kenobi.
Until now, her motivations have been murky – does she really just want to be the Grand Inquisitor herself? – but in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s penultimate episode, her true motivations were revealed.
Warning: spoilers from the latest episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi follow.
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In Chapter Five, while Obi-Wan stalls for time to help some refugees escape, Ewan McGregor’s Jedi comes to a realisation. Many fans had been confused as to how Reva knew Anakin Skywalker was Vader, and it clearly puzzled Obi-Wan as well. Vader would keep that a secret, and she was too young to have known him before… unless she’d met him at the end.
Because, as many fans had predicted, flashbacks revealed that Reva was one of the younglings at the Jedi Temple from Obi-Wan Kenobi’s first episode. When Anakin cut down her friends, Reva played dead, later joining the Inquisitors with a plan for revenge.
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All this time, Reva was hunting Kenobi to get close enough to Vader to strike – and considering she blamed Kenobi for letting Anakin go off the rails, she wasn’t too bothered about Obi-Wan serving as collateral damage.
Wisely, Obi-Wan ends up using this conflict to his advantage, getting Vader alone with Reva while he’s so focused on his former Master he wouldn’t notice her treachery. At least, that was the theory.
In practice, Vader easily held off Reva’s attacks, revealing that he’d known about her origins all along. In fact, he’d only allowed her to reach the level of Grand Inquisitor to help with his hunt for Obi-Wan, with the original Grand Inquisitor she’d "murdered" in episode two alive, recovered and waiting in the wings to take over again.
Tough day for Reva – left mortally wounded in the refugee base, she only has one more card to play. On the ground she finds information about Darth Vader’s other child, Luke, and exactly where he is. Maybe she’ll get one more chance to strike after all..
Overall, this latest episode filled in a lot of gaps for fans, and rewrote at a stroke some issues audience members had with the series as a whole. Reva knowing Vader’s true identity? An intentional clue, not a slip-up. Her shallow motivations? All a cover for something much deeper. Even the surprise early death of the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) – who’s still alive at a later date in the animated Star Wars Rebels series – was part of the plan.
Now, with one episode left to go things are looking good for Obi-Wan Kenobi to end on a high. If they can avoid having another emotional clash in a dark quarry, we’ll be happy.
Obi-Wan Kenobi releases new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney Plus – sign up to Disney+ for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year.
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