Obi-Wan Kenobi (Part 4)

Welcome back, everyone. At last, after a week’s delay, we have reached Episode 2 of the Obi-Wan Kenobi rewrite.  I’ll provide a brief recap of the last episode, but please feel free to check out Part 3 for the full rewrite treatment and Parts 0 through 2 for the groundwork for this series.

EPISODE 1 RECAP

We were introduced to a rather grim Obi-Wan, a warrior so focused on preparing to train Luke that he tears apart Sand People raiding parties and ignores injustices around him.  He tries to connect to Luke, despite the disapproval of Owen, but his lessons are those of a soldier, not a Jedi.  All the while, he struggles to complete the training that Yoda set for him a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Leia, Princess of Alderaan, is abducted by the extremists of the Hidden Path.  Bail Organa sends a bounty hunter to save her, only for the attempt to fail.  With no other options, he begs Obi-Wan for aid.  Obi-Wan rejects him outright.

EPISODE 2 – WALKER OF THE HIDDEN PATH

Opening Scene

We open on a ship traveling through hyperspace.  (Let’s say that it’s an old Arquitens-class light cruiser – a smaller version of Gideon’s command ship from The Mandalorian – poorly repainted to cover up the old Grand Army of the Republic iconography.)  We then cut to the interior.  Leia and seven other girls, aged 6 to 12, are confined to a relatively cramped cabin.  Most of the girls seem to be trying to sleep in their bunks, but one of the younger ones is watching a datapad.  A video about the evils of the Empire is playing on it.

Leia, who is laying in the top bunk across the room, wakes up and reprimands the girl for watching propaganda.  The girl complains that they aren’t given anything else to look at.  Leia pushes back, insisting that it’s wrong to talk that way about the Empire regardless.  Other girls wake up as they start to argue.  Ultimately, the discussion ends when the oldest girl snaps at Leia, telling her, “A pretty princess has no idea what the Empire is really like.  You don’t even know the basic stuff they’re trying to tell us in training.  Just shut up and listen to everyone else for once.  Maybe you’ll learn something.”

Before Leia can retort, the door to the cabin opens.  A rough-looking woman with some sort of prod snaps at the “soldiers” to go to bed, and that if they have so much energy, she’ll just have to push them harder tomorrow.  Cut to title cards.

(The idea we want to get across in this scene is that Leia and these girls have been shuffled around the galaxy for a while, and that the Hidden Path has already begun the process of indoctrinating and training them as soldiers.)

Internal Struggle

Obi-Wan is practicing lightsaber combat with a staff in the dead of night.  As he whirls through his forms, his mind drifts back to his conversation with Bail.  Flashes of his battle with Anakin on Mustafar begin to intrude.  We cut back and forth, seeing Obi-Wan strike in the present and Anakin block in the flashback.  Without warning, a vision of Anakin is there with Obi-Wan, lightsaber in hand and eyes glowing yellow with Dark Side corruption.  Obi-Wan’s staff has likewise been replaced by a lightsaber.

ANAKIN: You said I was your brother, Obi-Wan.  How could you betray me?  How could you refuse to save my daughter?

OBI-WAN: I told you, Anakin.  My duty is to the Republic.  I will do what I must to restore it.

ANAKIN: And I did what I had to do to save Padmé.  How is that any different?

OBI-WAN: Your attachment blinded you, Anakin.  It turned you into a monster!

ANAKIN: Are you sure your attachment hasn’t blinded you, Master?

OBI-WAN [lowering his lightsaber]: I severed my attachments, Anakin.  You know what I’ve given up for the Order, to help bring peace to the galaxy.  I gave up the woman I loved.  I gave up you.  There is nothing I won’t sacrifice to destroy yours and Palpatine’s Empire.

ANAKIN: You’re forgotten something.  [His saber glows red.]  And until you cut that lose, you will never be free of me.

Anakin leaps at Obi-Wan, flipping over him.  Obi-Wan slashes.  We again catch a flash of Mustafar, of Anakin sliding down the slope with his limbs severed, and then Obi-Wan is alone, breathing heavily, clutching a staff instead of his lightsaber.  He drops the staff and slowly staggers back into his hut.

A Routine Stop

Obi-Wan lands his skyhopper in Mos Espa to make a delivery, only to see an unwelcome surprise through the front window: stormtroopers (specifically, sandtroopers) manning a checkpoint at the exit to the landing area.  A few of them have already looked towards his skyhopper.  It is too late to take off again without arousing suspicions.  He takes a moment to scope out the exits to the landing field, makes sure his blaster is plainly visible, and walks off the skyhopper with his parcel.

The stormtroopers at the checkpoint stop and question him, demanding to see the contents of package and questioning him regarding the reason for his visit.  Obi-Wan maintains a straight face, acting irritated and inconvenienced but not hostile.  Then one of the stormtroopers presents a database, asking if he has seen the man shown on the screen.

The old man on the screen is the fake officer who abducted Leia.  Obi-Wan has a brief flashback as he stares at the picture: a memory of himself and Anakin in the Jedi Temple, passing by the old man, greeting him as, “Master C’baoth.”  After a long pause, Obi-Wan feigns ignorance.  He asks why the Empire wants the man; when the stormtroopers relay that he is a Jedi, Obi-Wan asks if there’s any bounty for catching him.

Then, a wrinkle. the stormtroopers flag his package as something illegal.  (The exact nature of it isn’t important.  We’ll just say that it’s spice.)  Blaster rifles are trained on Obi-Wan.  He tries to bluff his way out, arguing that he’s just the courier and that he can tell them who hired him, but his blaster is stripped from him, and his hands are bound behind his back with binders.  He is frog-marched away from the checkpoint by two stormtroopers. One trooper steers him by his right arm, pointing a rifle towards Obi-Wan’s torso.  The other serves as an escort.

Obi-Wan bides his time, waiting until the stormtroopers move him off the crowded main street and into a quieter back street.  Then he strikes.  He stumbles against his captor, using the motion as a distraction to yank the binder key away from his captor with the Force.  He then pops his binders.  Using martial arts, he wrestles the blaster rifle away from his captor, narrowly avoiding getting shot by the escort in the process, before shooting both troopers in the head.  He then vanishes into an alleyway, taking the binder key, his blaster pistol, and one of the stormtroopers’ thermal detonators with him.

It takes him a few minutes to find a GNK droid (the droids that are just boxes – fusion generators, to be precise – with legs) wandering through the streets.  He wires the detonator into it.  By the time the droid explodes, he is already at the landing field.  The Imperials are too distracted by the detonation to notice him boarding the skyhopper and fleeing the scene.

Someone else does notice his escape: a cloaked figure wearing goggles.

Return to Anchorhead

Obi-Wan encounters Owen in the streets of Anchorhead.  Stormtroopers are still on patrol, so Owen beckons Obi-Wan into an alleyway.

OWEN: I heard there was a dust-up with Imperials in Mos Espa the other day.  Was that you?

OBI-WAN: They weren’t after me, Owen.

OWEN: That’s not what I asked you.  Was it you?

OBI-WAN [stone-faced]: Relax, Owen.  I made clean get-away, and I swapped out my speeder’s transponder.  There is nothing that would lead –

OWEN: You’re bringing trouble to our door, Kenobi!  It doesn’t matter if they were after you or not!

OBI-WAN: There is nothing that would lead them to the boy!

OWEN: Yes, there is!  You!  [Takes a deep breath.]  You’re going to stay away from my family, you hear?  [He marches down the alley.]

OBI-WAN [following]: You need to see the big picture, Owen!  The galaxy –

OWEN: I don’t see any galaxy here!  Just you, Kenobi, and the danger you pose to Luke!

OBI-WAN: Whether you like it or not, I must train him!

[Owen spins and tries to take a swing at Obi-Wan, which he easily blocks before pinning Owen to the wall.]

OWEN [a bit winded from the impact]: Go ahead.  Break my arm.  Just know that, if you ever step on my land again, or come near us, I’ll call the Imperials myself.  They can deal with you.

OBI-WAN [slowly releases Owen]: You wouldn’t endanger the boy.

OWEN [straightens up]: Why?  Would you tell the Empire about him?  Is your crusade important enough to sacrifice him?

Obi-Wan steps back, looking troubled.  Owen glowers at him and departs without another word.  Obi-Wan leaves the alleyway by the opposite direction.

The Visitor

Obi-Wan returns to his hut in evening.  As he parks his skyhopper in a cave below his hut, he finds parked speeder bike and footprints in the sand, leading from the bike to his hut.  He draws his blaster.  A light in on in his hut. He advances upon the door.

As he reaches the threshold, surprise flickers across his face.  He opens the door to find C’baoth in his kitchen.  The older Jedi stares back with a look of mild surprise on his own face.

C’BAOTH: Kenobi … you’re alive.  Good … I brought some food. We should talk.

What follows is a discussion between Obi-Wan and C’baoth over dinner.  They share the stories of how they each survived Order 66: Kenobi on Utapau, and C’baoth by using mind tricks to force his clones to kill one another instead.  The discussion then turns to how they have survived over the past decade and how C’baoth found him.  C’baoth explains that he has been guided to Tatooine by a vision, seeing that he would find the warrior who would destroy Vader here.  “I must admit, I was expecting to find A’Sharad Hett,” he remarks.  “After all, he was from here, just like Skywalker.”  Finally, the discussion shifts to Vader.  C’baoth asks if Obi-Wan knows who Vader is.  When Obi-Wan confirms it, C’baoth explains that the same vision revealed this to him as well.

Here, C’baoth broaches the reason for his visit.  He wasn’t just looking for the warrior from his vision.  He wanted a Jed to help him train a new generation.  As the following dialogue progresses, we cut back and forth between the hut and Leia, watching her undergo a daily regime of propaganda and military training aboard the Arquitens, learning to handle blasters and military communications equipment.

C’BAOTH: I’m rebuilding the Order, Kenobi.  I have been prowling the galaxy, finding Force-sensitive children, both those the Inquisitors want and those too weak to be an obvious threat.

OBI-WAN: What?  Now?  But if you establish a new temple, the Empire will surely –

C’BAOTH: No, no temple.  No robes, no lightsabers … none of those monastic trappings.  We can bring that back once the Empire has fallen.  For now, we are at war.  We must walk a different path … a hidden path.  One where the Empire will not fully understand the threat we pose until the hour comes to strike.

[Obi-Wan’s expression shifts as C’baoth drops a reference to the Hidden Path.  He tries to cover by pressing for more information.]

OBI-WAN: You speak of war, C’baoth … but you were a diplomat.  You never set foot on a battlefield.

C’BAOTH: No – but you did.  So did a few of the other Jedi whom I’ve rallied.  With your leadership, Kenobi, we could forge our young soldiers into something truly formidable.  With you leading the charge, we could destroy Vader and the Emperor, and restore the galaxy to what it was meant to be.

OBI-WAN [hesitating]: You refer to the children you’ve collected as ‘soldiers’, not padawans.  What are you teaching them of the Force?

C’BAOTH: For now?  Nothing.  We don’t have the conditions to mold them as we have in the past, nor can we risk another Vader.  We must test them.  Only those capable of surviving the crucible will be elevated into the mysteries of the Force.  The rest will simply learn to harness their intuition and reflexes.  It is necessary.  You, of all people, must understand that.

[Obi-Wan nods.]

C’BAOTH: Tell me then, Kenobi: will you help me?

OBI-WAN [after a long pause]: I’m sorry, C’baoth.  That’s not the path I’m called to.

C’BAOTH: I’m sorry to hear that, Kenobi … but I shall not force you.  I will continue my search.  My vision has not misled me.  I will continue my search for the one who will destroy Vader.

With this, C’baoth rises from the table and gathers his dishes.  While his back is turned, Kenobi is visibly weighing his options.  C’baoth dons his cloak and goggles (thereby confirming that he was the one who watched Obi-Wan’s escape) and starts towards the door.

OBI-WAN: Wait … You’re right about one thing, C’baoth.  For a decade, I’ve been hiding, training, without a plan as to how I will destroy Vader.  I … I’m not sure I agree with your plan, but you have offered a path forward.  I can’t ignore that … I’ll go with you.  I can at least ensure that your operation is organized properly.

C’BAOTH [smiling]: Very good, Kenobi.  Very good … I have a ship hidden outside Mos Eisley.  We can leave tomorrow. [He places a chip on the table in front of Kenobi.]  Coordinates are here.  We depart at sunset.  Leave your lightsaber.  It will draw too much attention.

Departure, Part 1

We cut to the next morning.  Owen is repairing a moisture vaporator when Obi-Wan’s skyhopper lands beside him.  He grabs his slugthrower from his speeder bike as Obi-Wan emerges, carrying a box.

Obi-Wan talks Owen down from shooting him by explaining the situation: that the Jedi the Empire came to Tatooine to find was searching for Luke.  He will leave Tatooine to redirect this Jedi’s attention.  In the interim, he needs Owen to guard his and Anakin’s lightsabers until he returns.

Owen does not seem pleased to hold onto the lightsabers, but he’s mollified by Obi-Wan admitting that he was right.  He accepts the box, warning Obi-Wan not to return at all if it means bringing danger back to Luke.

Departure, Part 2

Obi-Wan arrives at C’baoth’s ship via speeder bike.  He makes an offhand remark about how he still has plenty of credits left over after swapping the skyhopper in.  Together, he and C’baoth board the ship and blast off.  An Imperial patrol craft tries to intercept them in orbit, but they jump to hyperspace before it can close to weapon’s range.

The episode closes on a final scene with Obi-Wan, meditating within a cramped cabin.  Again, the vision of Anakin appears before him.  At first, Anakin seems pleased that Obi-Wan is ready to rescue Leia.  However, Obi-Wan explains that he will only save her if the opportunity presents itself.  His primary objective is to neutralize C’baoth as a threat to Luke, by any means necessary, and he will not forsake that objective to save her.  The Republic must come before all.

ANAKIN: Then I will continue to stand in your way.

The vision vanishes, leaving Kenobi to soar towards the unknown with C’baoth.

CONCLUSION

It took us a little longer to get off Tatooine, but finally, the adventure has begun in earnest.

Hopefully, these first two episodes have properly established Obi-Wan’s flawed perspective and set up C’baoth as a future foil to him.  I also hope that the encounter with the stormtroopers does not diminish their effectiveness.  The goal was to confirm for the audience that, while blaster pistols may not work on them, blaster rifles still will, and that getting those rifles in important in an engagement.

Thanks for joining me.  Join me next week for Episode 3, “Inquisitor’s Shadow”.  I’ll see you all next Monday.