THESE FLASHBACKS ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOU REALIZE ON FIRST WATCH. They’re not just flashbacks, if they’re flashbacks at all, they’re more a mirror of the current conflict between Obi-Wan and Anakin, possibly even an on-going conversation, softened through having it through the Force, more than that they’re a memory at all.
Hayden Christensen not being de-aged in the footage makes a thousand percent more sense if you view this entire sequence through it not being a flashback, but an active conversation between the two of them. They’re connected in the Force throughout the show, they share dreams while in the bacta tank, they sense each other, the entire story has been about how fixated they both are on each other, which draws their psychic connection to each other even closer.
The cut-aways and cut-tos of the directing are split between the two of them, this isn’t just Vader’s or Obi-Wan’s scenes, it’s both of theirs. And it’s following along as the situation develops between them, and it’s set here because it’s how Obi-Wan remembers them and because it’s how Vader remembers them, as well as he’s taunting Obi-Wan with this, he’s deliberately needling the wound of the loss of Anakin.
Is this the face you want to see, Master? Is this the face that haunts your dreams? Is this the face that you still wish you could have seen if I’d never turned to the dark side?
And then there’s the conversation they’re having:
“Ah, there you are.”
“Was beginning to think you weren’t coming… Master.”
“Good. Then, maybe I stand more of a chance this time. Are you ready?”
“Are you?”
“Then, let’s begin.”
The pause before Anakin says “Master” would be an odd choice for pre-Attack of the Clones Anakin, he’d be used to saying it without hesitation. But if you’re a Sith Lord trying to rub salt in a wound, you’ll pause and draw further attention to it, make a formerly beloved term one of hurt instead. If you’re a Sith Lord who still feels like a Padawan and you know your Master sees you that way, you go along with the appearance to make yourself and him hurt all the more, dig into the pain inside you, making you stronger in the dark side, and try to do the same to him.
“Then, maybe I stand more of a chance this time.” Obi-Wan stood no chance on Mapuzo and they both knew it. Yet they both know that their conflict isn’t over and Obi-Wan hopes to stand more of a chance this time. Are you ready, Vader? Are you, Obi-Wan?
It would help to watch the scenes within the episode, as showing just the flashbacks leaves out the context that’s immediately surrounding the scenes (but I can only have a clip that’s so long!), but if you watch the whole thing you see that their initial attacks coincide with Vader’s attacks on Jabiim, “You grow too aggressive, Anakin. Be mindful. A Jedi’s goal is to defend life, not take it.” as Obi-Wan is gearing up to defend the people on Jabiim. Obi-Wan even later says that Vader knows he’ll do anything to protect these people.
“Mercy doesn’t defeat an enemy, Master. Which is why you’re gonna lose.“ as Vader launches the Stormtroopers at Obi-Wan and the others.
Later, “There’s no way out, Master. Admit you are beaten.“ as flashback Anakin has Obi-Wan backed into the corner, just as Obi-Wan on Jabiim has been backed into the innermost bunker on Jabiim.
Obi-Wan spins out around Anakin in the flashback, while on Jabiim Obi-Wan is speaking with Reva while on his knees, still radiating the most BDE you’ve ever seen, that he has seemingly given himself up to the Stormtroopers, but he’s actually figuring a way out around this, he’s not yet been beaten and still has more moves yet. “All he’ll see is me,” Obi-Wan tells Reva.
In the next flashback, Obi-Wan has his saber spun out beneath him, sending him to his knees, “There. Your weapon’s gone. It’s over.” Anakin and Vader are both so very sure they’ve won. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan tells him, even now, “Your need for victory, Anakin, it blinds you.”
On Jabiim, Vader has murder sashayed his way into the innermost bunker, grabbing the ship that’s taking off, forcing it back to the ground. He rips it apart like it’s made of cardboard, so hyperfocused on Obi-Wan that he doesn’t sense they’re not in this ship, but that ship, allowing them to escape. Vader needed to win so badly that he wasn’t thinking straight and fell for the misdirection Obi-Wan laid on him.
In the flashback, Obi-Wan spins away from Anakin, disarming him and giving him the praise and advice of: “You’re a great warrior, Anakin, but your need to prove yourself is your undoing. Until you overcome it, a Padawan you will still be.”
This is exactly what I could imagine Obi-Wan saying to Vader through the Force as they escape Jabiim, still yet one more chance to leave the door open for Anakin’s return to the light, but not over-investing himself in it any longer, because he cannot make Anakin’s choices for him, he can only give insight and offer hope, for both Anakin and the people he’s protecting on that ship, but they each have to be the ones to take it.
Further, this works so well with George Lucas’ commentary on Obi-Wan’s words about Darth Vader, where it’s not that he and Yoda are trying to get Luke to kill Anakin, that’s not what they’re after, but that you have to be willing to accept that he may not take the hand you offer to him, he may try to kill you instead.
“The mission isn’t for Luke to go out and kill his father and get rid of him. The issue is, if he confronts his father again, he may, in defending himself, have to kill him, because his father will try to kill him. This is the state of affairs that Yoda should refer to.“ –George Lucas, The Making of Return of the Jedi
Obi-Wan has come to understand that about Vader. You can offer him hope, offer him the choice, as he does on the Death Star, he holds his saber still and lets Vader kill him, leaves that ball in his court. He understood the choice he was making, because he has offered that choice to Vader before, but it’s Obi-Wan’s time, he will not cling to life when the situation does not allow for it, and one last time, for his beloved former Padawan, who is still a Padawan on that Death Star, he gives him a warning, “Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can imagine.”, he gives insight and a warning and a better path if Vader wishes to take it.
All of that fits so well with the idea that those flashbacks are a conversation between Obi-Wan and Vader in the current day, where their sparring mirrors not just the happenings around them, but Obi-Wan’s desire to give Anakin one more chance, to understand what Obi-Wan is trying to teach him, to offer him advice for a better path, to show that Obi-Wan still has affection and love for him. Yes, he’s leaving him to Reva’s sneak attack, has deliberately drawn Vader into a trap, but has also given him the keys to break out of his own personal prison, if he wishes it.
He gives Anakin his saber back in the sparring session, just as he’s trying to give Vader back his life on Jabiim, your lightsaber is your life after all. He says it with warmth, pats Anakin’s shoulder and smiles at him, because their conversation is softened through the Force, it’s set in a dreamy mental world where they are somewhat insulated against all the horror of the real world, because Obi-Wan has returned to balance, has returned to the light.
Those scenes on Coruscant are so bright, they’re so clear, the day is downright sunny, compared to the darker and harsher reality of Jabiim. They’re a kinder place where Obi-Wan hopes that maybe Vader can let go of even just enough rage to maybe see what Obi-Wan is trying to show him, trying to reach him with. He likely knows that it’s not going to happen, Vader is too far into the dark to accept it, but this is still the conversation Obi-Wan has with him, trying to reach him one more time.
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