Episode 6 of the Disney + series has given us a final confrontation for the history of the franchise. But is it the best duel of all we’ve seen so far?
And in his sixth and last episode, ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ worked the miracle and delighted us with what all Star Wars acolytes had been waiting for so long: “a duel at the height of the prequels”, as Hayden Christensen insisted in the multiple interviews he offered during the promotion of the Disney + series. It was glimpsed on the horizon from the first bars of the plot, even the inevitable rumor mill prior to the pilot already spoke of an epic confrontation that, withdraw my fandom card if I’m wrong, will be deeply etched in the galactic retina. It was a matter of time and the final confrontation of the first season of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ has not disappointed.
Plot elements for ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Episode 6 are revealed below. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading… SPOILER ALERT!
I will do my duty…
after that first bumpy duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader that we saw in the third episode of the series, a somewhat decaffeinated combat, but not by far soporific or tedious as some followers ventured, Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen they showed us in the flashbacks of episode 5 that they still retained the same agility and energy with which they endowed their characters in the Star Wars prequels. And the formula for success for a final showdown between Anakin Skywalker’s former master and his dark side alter ego was simple: transferring the combat style of ‘The Phantom Menace’, ‘Attack of the Clones’ and ‘Revenge of the Sith’ to a cinematographic icon like Darth Vader, something that we could already see in the fantastic and overwhelming final scene of ‘Rogue One’ (Gareth Edwards, 2016).
In fact, it is in the previous conversation to the final duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader that we see in episode 6, when we are aware that the series is going to be true to that style:
– Have you come to destroy me, Obi Wan?
– I will do my duty…
– Then you will die.
“I will do my duty” or “I will do what I must”, in its original version. You remember? It’s a clear reference to ‘Revenge of the sith’ that takes us back to the fratricidal confrontation between Obi-Wan and Anakin on Mustafar, when the first reproduces exactly these words upon realizing that he has lost his padawan and that he has embraced the designs of the dark side. The Disney + series, therefore, anticipates with these lines of dialogue what will be a clash as epic as the one in 2005.
If in the original trilogy some duels shone in the narrative section due to what they supposed in the plot and limped in a notable way in the handling of the lightsaber due to the rudimentary and cumbersome nature of their choreography (never forget to the great Alec Guinness in ‘A New Hope’), during the prequels other combats stood out in this last section but neglected the dramatic weight of their characters. However, the confrontation that monopolizes attention in the sixth episode of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ combines a spectacular training and choreographic level of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen with sufficient narrative force and importance so that the duel is impregnated with emotion, tension and drama. Not to mention the rush of nostalgia that comes from seeing the two actors back in action 17 years later… It’s Ewan McGregor’s Ben Kenobiwith that appearance of a pessimistic hermit drowned in guilt and the past, facing the Darth Vader of a Hayden Christensen clad in one of the most famous and illustrious armors of popular culture of the last century.
And it is by moonlight, in the middle of a hostile, abrupt and rocky landscape, in a succession of very careful shots and with a lot of their own identity (special mention here to Chung-hoon’s spectacular photography and Deborah’s effective direction Chow), when the fight takes place between acrobatics, thrusts and thrusts that they not only compensate Obi-Wan for his loss of skill and dexterity, but in it we can recognize many of the movements with which Ewan McGregor sealed the style of his character in the prequels. Yes, old Ben is back. And beyond the imposing and fearsome appearance of him, unperturbed after so many years, when had we seen Darth Vader move like this, devoid of those rough and crude turns of character, physically projecting unleashed rage, unbridled hatred and violence without excuse that symbolized Anakin’s fall into hell?
the use of force, who has gone more unnoticed in other duels in the saga, shines like never before and stars in one of the high points of the confrontation when Obi-Wan definitively reunites with the Jedi knight he was long ago and reduces his former apprentice by levitating rocks. to a stoned vulnerable Sith.
And there will be those who say (or have said in previous episodes with clear and anticipated daring) that, in the high points of the series, they miss the use of some mythical leitmotif of the saga such as the imperial march or other unforgettable compositions by John Williams such as The force theme, Duel of the Fates either battle of heroes. Didn’t we want the new to sound different? The composer of the Star Wars OST not only demonstrates in this episode that at 90 years old he is still in top form, but, Far from reiterating himself and entering into an anodyne musical loop, he has given us one of his best works for the franchise. The final showdown between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader actually features one of the best musical settings of the entire series, a heroic and epic composition that recovers the choirs and turns many passages of the duel into a sensorial gift for the ears.
I am not your failure, Obi-Wan.
But it is not until the end of the fray, after a fierce and relentless attack by Obi-Wan, that Darth Vader is stripped of half of his helmet and, therefore, of that mask that hid the starkest and most tragic truth of his character, when the confrontation leads to a kind of “post-traumatic shock”. An image, that of Obi-Wan Kenobi looking in astonishment into the eyes of his former Padawan, of what he believes is still Anakin Skywalker, who resembles (and very much) to a scene from the animated series ‘Rebels’ in which Ahsoka Tano experiences the same as the character played by Ewan McGregor: the urgent need to recover a friend to appease the feeling of guilt and unease that finds himself face to face with a face furrowed by burns and scars, devilish and dehumanized. Everything happens while we hear again the voice of Hayden Christensen mixed with that of James Earl Jones (Darth Vader’s original voice actor from the first feature film), making his way through that broken breathing system, that anguished thread of breath that we heard at the end of ‘Return of the Jedi’ in 1983.
– Anakin…
– Anakin’s dead. Only me left.
– I am sorry. Forgive me, Anakin. For all.
– I am not your failure, Obi-Wan. You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. I did it. Just like I’ll kill you.
– So, my friend is dead. Goodbye Dart.
Is there in this dialogue, the last exchange of words between the two characters that ends the fight, something unexpected and short-lived redemption in Darth Vader? A glimpse of Anakin? An attempt to relieve his “master” of guilt and responsibility, as he addresses Obi-Wan at one point in the fight? When we talked about the dramatic load before, we were referring to this: the weight of the nuance, of the grays inherent in a relationship like the one built in the prequels. In fact, it is not by chance that in a later scene, during one of the two most special cameos in the last chapter, Emperor Palpatine blurts out his apprentice: “Perhaps your feelings towards your master have weakened you. If you cannot overcome the past…”
Definitely, Has this been the best duel in Star Wars history? For everything it means, from its visual billing to its tragic backstory and canon implications, It has all the wicks to be. Or, at least, become considered one of the best fights since George Lucas released the first film in the saga in 1977. The legacy of Star Wars has some generational romanticism, partial vision and perspective, influenced by the referents Galactics that each follower has grown up with in their childhood. But we are talking, at least about a TOP 3. We can discuss at length whether the Disney + series has been reduced to a nostalgic candy converted into vindication of the then reviled prequels to the pride of its defenders; whether Baby Leia shamelessly copies the main action engine of ‘The Mandalorian’; of whether the expectations set have been met more or less… Among them, was THE DUEL between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, 17 years after the events that occurred in ‘Revenge of the sith’. And let me swallow a hole of sarlacc if this does not reconcile you a little with the series, even though some of its episodes disturbed your level of midi-chlorians. Because if it’s not the best duel in Star Wars history, it’s close. And a lot.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
