Kenobi Episode 5 Hurts Bail Organa's Rebellion Plan

Warning: Contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5.

One major problem with Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5 is that Bail Organa’s actions blatantly hurt his efforts with the Rebellion. Considering everything Bail has had to deal with in the show up to this point, from the destruction of the Galactic Republic to the kidnapping of his daughter, he can’t exactly be blamed for acting in the way he did. However, that doesn’t change the fact that his actions undermine the Rebellion - and will need a lot of explanations to make right.

While not a major character in Star Wars, Bail Organa had a pivotal role as one of the founding members of the Rebellion. Bail was working against the Empire from the moment it came into being at the end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and he was even responsible for both Leia getting involved with the Rebellion and Ahsoka becoming the Rebel informant Fulcrum in Star Wars Rebels. Even with the few appearances he’s had in the series, Bail is established as someone putting his all into taking down the Empire.

With that in mind, it makes it even worse to see Bail blatantly undermine the Rebellion in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5. With the mission to rescue Leia taking a long time, Bail leaves a message with Obi-Wan expressing his concerns, even though they agreed not to communicate with each other. Not only does the message confirm that Bail is working with Obi-Wan, but he also talks about not wanting “the children” to be discovered and going to Tatooine to help Owen with “the boy,” which both reveals Luke’s existence and implies that there’s something special about Leia, all of which does nothing but work against and potentially expose the Rebellion.

Even though Leia was kidnapped specifically because of Bail and Obi-Wan’s old friendship, there wasn’t proof that the two of them were still in contact, but thanks to Bail’s message, there’s now hard evidence of Bail working with a wanted criminal that the Empire could use against him. Not only that, but while the message doesn’t explicitly reveal that Luke and Leia are Darth Vader’s children, given the context of everything that was happening at the time, it would be easy for anyone listening to assume that they’re at least Force-sensitive, which would definitely put them in danger. All of that only works against the Rebellion as it gives the Empire reason to kill Bail and take away one of their leaders.

Since Bail would have no way of knowing if Vivian Lyra Blair's Leia was still alive at that point, it makes sense that he would be worried to the point of irrationality, but it doesn’t change the fact that his message is bad for the Rebellion. Not only does it explicitly confirm that he’s working with Obi-Wan and give the Empire reason to kill him, but, based on the ending to episode 5, Reva is going to use it to go back to Tatooine and find Luke. Due to the original Star Wars trilogy, it’s clear that Disney+'s Obi-Wan Kenobi will end in a way that makes it so that the Empire never gets Bail’s message and learns about Luke, Leia, or Bail’s involvement with Obi-Wan, but it was still a bad move on his part, either way.

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