Obi-Wan Kenobi recap: What happened in episodes 1 and 2?

The wait is over! Obi-Wan Kenobi has premiered on Disney Plus, marking the return of a fan-favorite Star Wars character, starring Ewan McGregor. The series launched with a two-episode premiere last night, May 26, jumping the gun on the announced air time by a few hours. The remaining four episodes will roll out weekly on Wednesdays going forward. For the duration, we’ll be offering Obi-Wan Kenobi recaps every week on the day of release, so check back here every Wednesday starting next week.

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For now, you can read on for our recap of Obi-Wan Kenobi episodes one and two. Please note that all of our recaps will contain spoilers as we break down major events throughout the series.

If you haven’t watched it yet, you can check out Obi-Wan Kenobi by hitting the link below.

What is Obi-Wan Kenobi about?

Obi-Wan Kenobi fills in gaps between the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequel trilogy. The six-episode limited series is set 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, putting it almost exactly in between that film and 1977’s original Star Wars.

A bit of context: Revenge of the Sith ended with Kenobi delivering an infant Luke Skywalker to his aunt and uncle on Tattooine, where Luke will grow up until he meets “Ben” Kenobi in the 1977 film. As far as we know, Kenobi has kept a distant eye on his ward this whole time, but the new series promises to reveal what that looked like in practice.

Ewan McGregor stars as Obi-Wan Kenobi, reprising the role from the prequel trilogy. Joining him from the prequels are Hayden Christensen as Kenobi’s former pupil Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, along with Bonnie Piesse and Joel Edgerton reprising their roles as Luke Skywalker’s Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, respectively, and Benjamin Bratt as Bail Organa.

New Obi-Wan Kenobi cast members include Moses Ingram, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, Flea, and Benny Safdie.

So, let’s dig into what happened this week on Obi-Wan Kenobi. If you haven’t watched it yet, please keep in mind that some spoilers will follow.

Obi-Wan Kenobi recap: What happened in episode 1?

The Obi-Wan Kenobi premiere sets the stage quite well, introducing new enemies for the aging Jedi as he tries to lay low on Tatooine, keeping a watchful eye on young Luke Skywalker.

Below are a few key takeaways and observations from Obi-Wan Kenobi episode one:

• The episode opens in a tragically timely manner, with a flashback to the storming of the Jedi Academy following Order 66 to kill all Jedi, 10 years before’s the show’s events. The murder of children in Revenge of the Sith was one of the Star Wars franchise’s darkest moments. It sets the tone for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series well, though with some accidental parallels to current events that make it feel even more shocking.
• We see that the Empire has been hunting Jedi for these 10 years. One Inquisitor (Jedi hunter) named Reva has been doggedly searching for Kenobi to curry favor with Darth Vader.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi has been living a quiet life on Tatooine, similar to that glimpsed in 1977’s Star Wars, with parallels to Rey in The Force Awakens and Luke in The Last Jedi. He works at a meat processing facility, earning a meagre wage and staying out of other people’s business, even when he witnesses injustice. Unlike Luke in The Last Jedi, Obi-Wan seems defeated rather than having grown critical of the Jedi.
• We see Luke and Leia as children. Both are reminiscent of their parents, with Luke playing at flying a speeder, and Leia using decoys to take her place at official ceremonies.
• When Leia is kidnapped, her adoptive father Bail Organa comes to Obi-Wan for help, though the retired Jedi is reluctant to get involved. “I’m not who I used to be, he says.”
• Episode one ends with Obi-Wan retrieving his lightsaber and leaving Tatooine for the first time in a decade to find Leia. He is pushed to action when a young and inexperienced Jedi is killed in town by the Inquisitors.
• The premiere episode teases the return of Kenobi’s mentor Qui-Gon Jinn, with “Ben” trying to speak to the late Jedi Master’s Force ghost. Liam Neeson recently stated he’d like to return to the role of Qui-Gon, but only in a Star Wars movie. It’s entirely possible the actor said that to throw fans off. We wouldn’t be surprised to see him making an appearance before this is all over.

Obi-Wan Kenobi recap: What happened in episode 2?

Obi-Wan Kenobi episode two continues directly from episode one. Below are a few key moments and observations:

• Obi-Wan arrives on the planet Daiyu looking for Leia. The planet is a bustling urban area, but it is clearly a safe haven for criminals. Obi-Wan makes contact with a conman, played by Kumail Nanjiani, pretending to be a Jedi to scam people.
• The Jedi infiltrates a drug facility based on the conman’s intel and finds Leia there. As he fights his way through guards, we see that Obi-Wan has lost some of his fighting skills through the years. Still, he gets Leia out, with Reva and the other Inquisitors on his tail.
• As with the young Anakin, Obi-Wan is a mixture of irritated and affectionate to Leia as he tries to get her off-planet. The precocious young princess is full of questions and doesn’t quite believe him. She catches on to the fact that she was kidnapped specifically to lure Obi-Wan out of hiding.
• Reva plunges her lightsaber into the Grand Inquisitor when he tries to interfere with her hunting Obi-Wan. She seemingly kills her boss to take his place and continue the search for Vader’s old friend.
• Obi-Wan and Leia are almost caught, but with help from the conman, they make their way off of Daiyu. Before they do, Reva reveals to Obi-Wan that his former Padawan and friend is still alive. She tells him that Anakin has become Darth Vader.
• The episode ends with Vader in a bacta tank, still healing from his wounds acquired in his final duel with Obi-Wan. The series will likely build towards another fight between the two old friends.

That’s our breakdown of what happened this week in the Obi-Wan Kenobi premiere. We’ll be back next week with an Obi-Wan Kenobi recap of episode three, streaming on Wednesday, June 1.

What did you think of Obi-Wan Kenobi episodes one and two? Any predictions for what’s to come later in the season? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter!