I thought there were two ships, with the first a decoy.
I was confused, especially since I don’t recall them ever establishing there were two ships, or even room for two ships, in that hangar. It reminded me of the “He was on the other ship” scene from Rise of Skywalker.
He’s only a 4th level magic user at this point, and this is in pre-Third Edition where he has to go back to his pod and study skills after every use. He levels up later by killing a bunch of random Gamorreans and a Rancor and then collecting a bunch of ‘spice’ that he sold for a bunch of coaxium that amplified his experience point gain.
Stranger
Reva never completed her training in proper Jedi technique. Also, she and her fellow inquisitors specialized in fear and intimidation - hence the double-sabers and whirling stuff. That’s done to intimidate someone. So she’s specialized in that sort of thing which is just not going to work on Vader who learned lightsaber use from some of the best back when the Jedi were still a going thing, who is even more a master of fear and intimidation, is hella strong in the Force, and who probably has NOT taught the Inquisitors all his tricks.
Nope, if you’re going to try for an actual literal stab at Vader you have to be as stealthy as possible - empty your mind, control your emotions, and only turn on the lightsaber just before the handle touches his back. Sort of the complete opposite of what Reva does.
I think a big mistake of a lot of the Dark Side folks is that they think just rage and pain will do the job but it won’t. There has to be a lot of control and channeling or the Dark Side will use you instead of vice versa. Part of what made Vader so damned scary and effective was that he controlled his emotions. When he doesn’t he screws up, gets into trouble, or fails to reach his objective.
That seems a common theme.
Yes, but you could always slice some more pieces off him.
Or blaster fire, although I assume his armor is at least somewhat blast-resistant. Vader is not the sort of person you play fair with because he certainly won’t play fair and he out-classes nearly all other Force-users at this point in the story.
Decoy ship.
I don’t think Obi-Wan was up to casting that kind of Force-illusion, especially not against another Jedi.
They didn’t establish it. It was a bit of a deus ex machina bait-and-switch. Which isn’t really good writing.
Indeed. I don’t think that there was a Chekhov’s Ship shown in the first half of the episode. 
At least his hands are. Roughly four shots from Han Solo’s blaster in The Empire Strikes Back hit Vader’s gloved hands harmlessly.
Well, his hands are mechanical, not flesh, so that probably helps too.
The Sith view ambition as a virtue, and loyalty as a weakness. The final test for a Sith apprentice is to kill their master, demonstrating that the stronger has replaced the weaker. Vader absolutely expects Reva to try to kill him. She’d be a failure if she didn’t. So long as she’s so completely outclassed by Vader that she’s no actual danger, he’ll keep her around as a useful tool, and continue to train her until she’s powerful enough to present a real threat, at which point she’d either replace him, or he’d have to kill her to stay alive. Either way, the Dark Side ends up with the strongest possible servant.
Of course, when they fail, you still want to maybe chop off a hand, or torture them a little bit, just so they wait a bit before they try again, otherwise it ends up like Kato and Inspector Clouseau.
Also, try not screaming with rage before you hit him.
It’s the challenge anyway. The character’s future is a fixed point and making an interesting story that includes that but still has tension and growth isn’t easy. And in this case there is no real chance to tell more interesting about how they got there. (Like say in Better Call Saul).
To me those characters are best handled as the storm that is the background for other characters who are not fixed point futures to be impacted by. Talla was good that way, but she’s killed off. Reva is too trope and boring. Keeping the focus mostly on the fixed points: Vader; Obi Wan; Leia; Luke … is less interesting for exactly your reason given.
In the first half of the series I was really hoping they were going to go on a path where half way though it seems like everything is irrevocably screwed with no idea how things could possibly return to the status quo, followed by Obi-Wan clawing his way out of the mess and restoring an familiar order, but now painted in a new light.
“Will Obi-Wan survive?” is a boring question when you know Sir Alec Guinness is going to have played him in ten years fifty years ago. “How does Obi-Wan possibly secure the future of Leia and Luke?” is a much more interesting question because while we know he does, we don’t know how he’s gonna do it. And then you add to that other folks who help Obi-Wan, whose futures are not so set in stone.
My only question before the season finale: Will we see Force ghost Qui Gon? I say, yes.
Obi-wan: So, Master, how do I ascend to become a Force Ghost like you?
Qui Gon: Okay, here’s the key point: Next time you’re in a fight with Darth Vader, throw the fight.
QW: You mean I should force push him a lot?
QG: No, no. I mean, let him kill you.
OW: Wait, what?
QG: Just completely give up. Turn your back on him once or twice. Hell, maybe stop even pointing your light saber at him? Just throw the fight.
OW: Is there somebody else up there I could talk to?
If Ghost Qui Gon says “What I told you is true…from a certain point of view” I’m going to throw something at my TV.
If the Star Wars franchise is about anything at this point, it is about the perpetual reuse of the same tropes and catchphrases in pursuit of nostalgia regardless of whether it makes any sense or not. And pretty much anything any Jedi has ever said is factually suspect, including this business about ‘midichlorians’ which would seem to enable anyone to be a proficient ‘Force user’ regardless of training or innate talent. At this point, I’m pretty sure that ‘midichlorians’ are just Star Wars jargon for methamphetamine and than Jabba the Hutt has Walter White stashed in a secret chamber below the kitchen in his palace.
Stranger
Ok thats the funniest image ever…
“Reva?? I’m very tired Reva. I’m not playing. I just want to get in my bacta tank…Reva??”
“AIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee”
Vader: “Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…:”
By the way…i like how in the flashback, they didn’t even bother trying to de-age Hayden (Least i think they didn’t)
No sarcasm.
Edit: I guess they did a little.
It was spoken about. They said that everyone would have to go one one ship, since they didn’t have time to get two ships ready.
Better Call Saul does not have legions of fanboys obsessing over every frame and howling about their “childhood being ruined” because it didn’t conform to what they had made up as a backstory in their heads. There is quite a lot in BCS that is difficult to fully reconcile with what was seen in BB, but everyone accepts it as long as it doesn’t expressly contradict what happens in BB.
Nothing happening here is contradicted by ANH or the later movies.
He is Chekov’s Force Ghost at this point. It would be strange for him not to appear after he has been set up as someone who Obi-Wan is desperate to communicate with.