Generally speaking, I quite enjoy Star Wars. Who doesn't? The original trilogy are timeless classics that I watch and enjoy every year, and the prequels have a clever story, some incredible actors and a musical score unrivalled by anything else, providing you can look past the many, many flaws that weigh them down.
My opinion on the franchise has become increasingly negative since Disney took over Lucasfilm - the sequel trilogy was a soulless reboot of the originals, complete with atrocious writing and the humiliation and deaths the original characters, replacing them with lesser imitations. In short, George Lucas' creative vision had been sacrificed for Disney to make a few more dollars. The Mandalorian was clearly better, but only comparatively, and after two seasons it was clear that there was no story to speak of, setting up a thousand other shows that only serve to make money, not provide meaningful new creations. The only project I felt was a satisfying addition to Star Wars was Rogue One, bringing a new spin on the story, a serious tone and an explosive finale that kills most of the characters as they steal the Death Star plans that Leia's ship was carrying in A New Hope.
So, I went into Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 1 with pretty low expectations. Were they justified, or an I just getting cynical? Be wary of spoilers below.
The beginning of the show is a sequence in the Jedi Temple during Order 66, in which a Jedi teacher defends a group of younglings from encroaching clone troopers, before being killed, and the children fleeing. So far, it has no relevance and the production value seemed mixed, but it is nice to see some reverence to the events in Revenge of the Sith.
The episode then follows the arrival of a group of inquisitors on Tatooine, former Jedi twisted to hunt or kill the last stragglers who managed to survive. Having seen some of these guys in Rebels, their costumes and makeup looked very poor. They hunt a Jedi, but then he reveals himself, and is able to escape three of them, being caught and dying offscreen toward the end of the episode somewhat undermining their power and authority. What makes this worse is the Inquisitor called Reva, who is quick to anger and violence to both the civilians and the Jedi - this is made to show her ruthlessness, but often undermines the intimidation of the group, coming across like petty squabbling rather than a unified goal of eliminating Jedi. Apparently, she has a bone to pick with Kenobi, trying to force him out of hiding as much as doing her job.
Kenobi's first appearance is him working by cutting meat at some giant carcass in the desert, seeing those around him suffering, and doing nothing, subverting what we would think he would do by showing us someone who is humbled, sombre and sad. Unfortunately, this reminded me of Luke Skywalker's treatment in The Last Jedi. Thankfully it isn't quite as bad - after all, in the original film, Kenobi lived as a hermit, and there isn't any way to kill him off, but this direction for the character isn't something I wanted. In my mind, Kenobi would spend his time training, contacting the spirit of his old master Qui-Gon as set up at the end of Revenge of the Sith, and maturing into the classic character that would go on to help Luke, not spending 10 years feeling sorry for himself and turning a blind eye to suffering. He should be more sombre and reflective than his previous appearances, yes, but this is too far for my liking.
Then, of all the places, the story heads to Alderaan and a young Princess Leia. The actress does well, the establishing shots are finally worthy of Star Wars, and we see elements of her argumentative side, but I have to ask whether tying her story to that of Kenobi on Tatooine was really necessary, but I'll get more into that later.
Kenobi argues with Owen on training Luke when the time is ready, before Reva and another inquisitor arrives, one offering rewards for the Jedi seen before, the other threatening, cutting off a woman's hand and threatening Owen's family, before she is reeled back by the other one. Again, it isn't intimidating. Someone being angry and threatening people straight away carries no weight, not like the villains of A New Hope, with both Grand Moff Tarkin being cold and calculating when ordering deaths of entire planets, or Darth Vader's power and rage hidden beneath his black suit and authoritative voice, speaking and acting with violence only when he needed to. These inquisitors seem petty and impulsive by comparison, removing the stakes that the show is trying to set up.
Back to Leia, she responds to her rude cousin at a diplomatic meeting with the type of rebuttal no ten year old would conceive of, before sharing a nice moment with Bail Organa, a welcome addition to the cast all things considered. Next, however, she returns to the forest where a gang of mercenaries have lay in wait in kidnap her, leading to a laughable chase in which the mercenaries run like clowns after a girl half their size, eventually catching her.
It turns out the whole situation was orchestrated by Reva to lure Kenobi out of hiding, somehow tying together the pasts of Kenobi and Bail Organa - it's a bit of a leap, considering it requires knowledge that she wouldn't easily come by, that Kenobi still has communications devices with Organa, that Organa wouldn't just send somebody else to rescue Leia and that Kenobi wouldn't still refuse after Organa coming to him in person. It hinges on too many conveniences for my taste.
The Jedi that Kenobi turned down prior is later seen dead in the square of the town, before Kenobi takes a transport off of Tatooine and begins his journey to rescue Leia. My thoughts are conflicted on this. Kenobi's role was to protect Luke, and Bail Organa's role was to take Leia and raise her as his daughter. The isolation of these characters and groups was fateful and tragic, but now it feels like that impactful distancing between Kenobi and the rest of the prequel-era characters has been thrown out of the window for the sake of this series.
Having watched this episode, my thoughts on the show haven't changed all that much. While it is welcome to see Ewan McGregor reprise his role, that alone cannot sustain a show with inconsistent production value, bad writing and a questionable story. And, while there is potential for improvements in the coming episodes, I cannot currently recommend watching Kenobi, and would advise you to instead return to the original and prequel films for the Star Wars story as it was intend by George Lucas. Obi-Wan Kenobi gets a 5 out of 10 from me.
5 OUT OF 10
Comments