I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: these episodes are getting better and better.

Obi-Wan Episode 5 opens with a long-awaited flashback to Anakin’s (Hayden Christensen) padawan years and a lightsaber sparring duel he had with Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor). The scene then cuts to Vader, suggesting that it’s his memory on which we’re ruminating. Reva (Moses Ingram) approaches him with information about the planet Jabiim, where the Jedi-smugglers are hiding, and Vader (Hayden Christensen; James Earl Jones) awards her with the title of Grand Inquisitor.

Our band of heroes returns safely to Jabiim, their hideout packed with people seeking refuge – but they won’t find it yet. Reva’s tracker hacked the droid Lola, who cuts the facility’s power. In the skies above, Vader’s Star Destroyer looms, ready to descend. As he recalls the same duel we saw at the beginning of the episode, Obi-Wan knows Vader will attack rather than lay siege. The flashback shows us Anakin’s impatience and his impulse to strike quickly and aggressively. As before, the scene cuts to Vader, suggesting he and Obi-Wan are ruminating over the same memory.

Obi-Wan lays out a plan to hold down the fort until the refugees can get away. Everyone sets about their tasks as the Imperial guards touch down outside and start to blast open the door. To assess the power situation, the little Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) crawls up into the vents.

Obi-Wan goes up to the door to discuss the situation with Reva. We learn that she was a youngling Anakin tried but failed to kill on the night of Order 66 and she’s been positioning herself in ways to best take him down. However, she isn’t a benevolent spy like Tala (Indira Varma), who regrets her complicity with the Inquisitors’ violence. We’ve seen Reva resort to unnecessary violence like cutting off the woman’s hand on Tatooine; we know she’s not a good person trying to take the Empire down, but a vengeful person seeking singular payback no matter what she has to do to maneuver herself into Vader’s good graces.

Reva rejects Obi-Wan’s offer to help, since she claims he doesn’t really want to kill Vader. A firefight breaks out, the stormtroopers pushing the band of refugees back into the compound. Tala and the loader droid are both shot, and Tala sacrifices herself, setting off a bomb while everyone else retreats. Obi-Wan realizes things are bleak, so he decides to confront Vader through surrender.

Reva and Obi-Wan face off again. “You’re not bringing him to me,” he says. “I’m bringing him to you.” The suggestion is that he wants to help her fight Vader. He asks Reva if she’ll let Vader kill children again, as he did to Reva’s friends. She isn’t convinced Vader won’t see this coming – but Obi-Wan is. Reva lets him escape from the guards, Vader arriving and following him into the compound just as Leia brings the power back on. The refugees board the transport ship, but Haja (Kumail Nanjiani) drops the holo device Obi-Wan had entrusted him with.

Vader struts out onto the hangar as the ship is leaving. He uses the Force to pull it from the air and strip open the side of it (!), but it turns out the refugees are housed in a different ship bringing up the rear. The group escapes, Vader is left staring at the sky as Reva approaches.

She tries to bring her saber down upon him, but it sticks in the air as Vader blocks it. “He was wise to use you against me,” Vader says, before using the Force to block every swing Reva makes. He eventually grabs her double-bladed lightsaber, splitting it into two, then tossing her a replacement so their duel can continue. Briefly. Upon stabbing Reva, Vader reveals that he recognizes her as a youngling.

Then the original Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) shows up, very much alive. He plucks the Grand Inquisitor badge from Reva and he and Vader leave. Reva won’t die easily, though. She ends up finding the communicator Haja dropped in the scuffle to board the transport and plays a message from Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) revealing the existence of the children – in particular Luke on Tatooine. Obi-Wan, on the transport, senses something is wrong.

Obi- Wan Episode 5 ends with a shot of Luke (Grant Feely) asleep in his bed, thus setting up a return to Tatooine in the finale.

Overall, this is an exciting, captivating episode. It’s not without its problems, including the confusing delivery of Reva’s motivations and the strange depiction of the fake-out with Vader crushing the wrong transport. More overall clarity could have helped push this episode into stronger territory; regardless, it’s still the best Obi-Wan Kenobi episode yet. As they’re getting better each week, it’s easy to predict that the finale is on track to be a true gem of Star Wars television.

Rating: 8.5/10