Top 10 Disney+ Star Wars Episodes
Images Courtesy of Disney+
With the long awaited Obi-wan Kenobi series in the rearview mirror, It's time to review every single piece of content we've received on Disney+ in a galaxy far far away. Today, I'll be ranking in my opinion the ten best episodes of Star Wars canon on Disney+.
Before I'm flamed in the comments, No I am not including Visions. I have not watched every episode and I don't think it would be fair to the studios who's episode I haven't managed to watch yet. Also, just to clarify, Clone Wars and Rebels will not be making appearances because those shows did not originate on Disney+.
Honorable Mentions:
The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 7 "In the Name of Honor"
The Bad Batch: Episode 7 "Battle Scars"
The Bad Batch: Episode 8 "Reunion"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 3 "The Sin"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 9 "The Marshal"
10. "The Child"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 2
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The Mandalorian is at this point unanimously the best Disney+ Original Star Wars content on the platform, so there should be no surprise that The Mandalorian is going to make more than a handful of appearances on this list. Chapter 2 of The Mandalorian is in my opinion the second most rewatchable episode of the entire series. The Mudhorn fight at the end is one of the most iconic moments in Season 1.
9. "The Jedi"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 13
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Season 2 of The Mandalorian was, in my eyes, a highlight reel of cameos for potential Star Wars spin-off shows. That however doesn't discount the fact that Season 2 had some hidden gems. Chapter 13 may have primarily been Disney's attempt to plug a future Ahsoka show and a live-action Thawn, however that doesn't take away the good from the episode.
Rosario Dawson plays the roll perfectly and the on-screen chemistry between our main characters in Ahsoka is great. That on top of the Grogu origin story and Episode 3 flashbacks cap off an all time great episode.
8. "Part V"
Obi-wan Kenobi: Episode 5
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This could be an unpopular opinion, but I believe the Obi-wan Kenobi series as a whole delivered. Were there cringe, poorly written moments? Yes, absolutely. This however doesn't take away from some of the great moments the show had. I'm not just ranking this episode because the prequel fanboy in me cheered when we finally got flashbacks. I'm raking this one because this is the episode where the series as a whole sold me.
All of my story complaints were answered here in this episode; Reva's intentions are explained, Reva's backstory is finally confirmed, The Grand Inquisitor's death (or lack thereof), and why it seemed as though Reva was a Mary Sue. The entire episode is capped off with Darth Vader's second most badass moment in live action.
7. "The Mandalorian"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 1
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The series premiere is simply the most iconic episode of the entire show. It delivers some of the most memorable imagery of not only the series but of all of Star Wars. From the first moment we see Din Djarin as The Mandalorian to his first meeting with Grogu, The entire episode is beautiful.
This episode is my personal favorite and most rewatchable episode in my opinion, although I have to put the overall opinion of the community in mind when writing this list.
6. "The Return of the Mandalorian"
The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 5
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The overall opinion of The Book of Boba Fett, or The Mandalorian: Season 2.5 as some fans call it, is a mixed bag to say the least. It did however deliver some unanimously great episodes. Chapter 5 is the first episode of the series to really deliver how live action Star Wars should, and it unfortunately does so without its lead actor Temuera Morrison.
Regardless of how you feel about the show as a whole, Chapter 5 of the Book of Boba Fett is an amazing piece of Star Wars Disney+ content, even if you believe it shouldn't have been in the Boba Fett show.
5. "The Believer"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 15
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Bill Burr delivers his second greatest performance in television (his greatest is Season 5, Episode 5 of Breaking Bad if you were curious) for Chapter 15 of The Mandalorian as Migs Mayfeld. His first Star Wars appearance in Season 1 is great, however he was front and center in this episode which also featured Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, and Cara Dune. I'm still waiting for more Operation: Cinder in live action.
In my opinion Season 2 of The Mandalorian was brought down a peg simply because it had way too many cameos for its own good, and Disney used their flagship Disney+ show to hoist up potential spin-off shows. All of that doesn't take away from some of the amazing episodes Season 2 had, This episode being one of them.
4. "Redemption"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 8
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This may be the point in the list where I lose some people, but I'm the self proclaimed biggest fan of Season 1 of The Mandalorian so I believe that I can place this episode at only 4. Don't get me wrong, the finale of Season 1 was great. I loved the little Red vs Blue style scene at the beginning with the scout troopers.
Moff Gideon vs Din, IG-11's sacrifice, more Din childhood flashbacks, and Moff Gideon pulling out the Darksaber are all amazing moments but this episode just doesn't deliver quite enough for me to put it in the top 3.
3. "Part VI"
Obi-wan Kenobi: Episode 6
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Now I get it, some people are going to want me crucified for placing this above some of the other episodes on the list. Did this episode do a lot wrong? Yes, without a doubt. Did this episode deliver an emotional finale to a rocky series? Yes. I could have recency bias, but this episode was very good. Even though I feel like this series should have been a movie (and this was ruined by how Solo was recieved) I do feel like this episode single handedly saved the show. They played a little too close with canon for even my liking but I still feel like it doesn't ruin The Prequels or The Sequels.
Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen both delivered an emotional final dual between Darth Vader and Obi-wan Kenobi (before their final final dual in A New Hope of course). No, the fight wasn't as flashy as their duel in Revenge of the Sith, but it wasn't supposed to. This duel was supposed to be the moment we transition from Ewan's Obi-wan in Revenge of the Sith the hopeful old man we get from Alec Guinness in A New Hope. Everything in that regard was handled perfectly down to the fact that Obi-wan called Vader "Darth" in A New Hope.
The Reva finale was good, sure it doesn't make much sense that Kenobi was able to jump to lightspeed to make it to Tatooine in time (after not being able to jump due to a broken hyperdrive before the fight) but it was handled as well as it could have been.
2. "From the Desert Comes a Stranger"
The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 6
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This episode rattled me to my core, and I mean that in the best possible way. There was a ton of fan speculation as to what and who would make an appearance in The Book of Boba Fett. There were the believable ones, like Mando, but I didn't expect we would see Cobb Vanth, Grogu, Ahsoka, Cad Bane, Din Djarin, R2-D2, and Luke "fucking" Skywalker all in the same episode.
This episode had me saying "dank farrik" (or at least the earthling equivalent) for the entire 47 minute runtime. Now you can argue whether this should have been in a show titled "The Book of Boba Fett" or not, it doesn't change the fact that it was one of the, if not the, best Star Wars content we've received from Disney since they acquired Lucasfilm. They even improved the questionable deepfake from The Mandalorian: Season 2 finale.
1. "The Rescue"
The Mandalorian: Chapter 16
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We cheered, we laughed, we wept. I like to bash Season 2 of The Mandalorian (I've been called a Mando Season 1 Supremacist before) but Lucasfilm did everything exactly right in the finale. The moment we all saw that single X-Wing pulling in to the hangar we all knew exactly who it was. Luke Skywalker showing up at the end there surprised me, I didn't really think Disney would go "there" and pull out legacy characters, especially not Luke, but I'm so glad that they did.
We'll forgive the less than stellar deepfake we get at the end and how it's a little inside the uncanny valley because they improve on it in The Book of Boba Fett.
Season 2 of Mando may have been a lot of attempts at setting up spin-offs, but goddamn was the finale beautiful. Din Djarin earning the Darksaber from his duel with Moff and his "goodbye" to Grogu are amazing moments that are somewhat overshadowed by Luke showing up that I would be damned if I didn't mention. This episode is the episode that will be talked about years to come.
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