By: “The Watchman”
“A strong start…”
I didn’t have high expectations as I sat down to watch the two-part premier of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+. Thoughts of Boba Fett and his Vespa Power Rangers gang of spinning gunmen filled my head as I saw the announcement for the new show scrolling at the top of my Disney+ home page. While I was very pleased to see Ewan McGregor back in his iconic role as the wise Jedi Knight and mentor of the boy, Anakin Skywalker, who would become Darth Vader, I feared that the hand of Kathleen Kennedy and other destructive influences at LucasFilm would ruin the character as I remembered him, as they had done with the rest of the canon Star Wars universe, “The Mandalorian” alone seeming to represent Star Wars correctly among all live action adaptations.
I am surprised to say, however, that I enjoyed both “Part I” and “Part II” of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show and am looking forward to next week’s episode. “Part I” introduces Obi-Wan as a broken man trying to forget the life he lost, hoping to live out the rest of his days as a quiet, anonymous kind of everyman, content to make just enough credits to scrape by with while keeping a low profile. He is scarred by his failure to keep Anakin from the Dark Side, and haunted by the actions this failure became entwined with… the destruction of both the Jedi Order by the Sith and the transformation of the Old Republic into the sinister, Emperor Palpatine controlled, Galactic Empire. His only real link to his old life is the boy Luke Skywalker, who he watches over from a distance, the one connection he still has to the good times he had with his student, Anakin, before the events of “Revenge of the Sith”.
In the meantime, however, the Galactic Empire is hunting down the last remnants of the Jedi Order wherever they can find them, led by so-called “Inquisitors” trained in the Dark Side of the Force. Luke’s young sister, Leia, is kept safe on planet Alderaan, raised by foster parents in an environment secure enough not to need Obi-Wan’s direct oversight to ensure her safety, and the trail leading to Obi-Wan himself has gone so cold that even the Inquisitors now cannot find him. He has succeeded in burying who he used to be and becoming a mere memory, an echo of his former self now known simply by the name of “Ben”.
This is an excellent backdrop for a deep and interesting character study into one of the more nuanced personas in all of Star Wars. The show takes the time to build up the story of Obi-Wan and Anakin first with a recap of clips from the Prequel Trilogy, and then with ample time spent with Obi-Wan himself in the normalcy of his current humdrum routine on Tatooine. It mixes old and new characters well, taking efforts to show who each of its various characters are, not only as a whole, but also where their current goals and ambitions lie, so you can understand their dynamics with one another on more than just a surface level. (Compare this to the “Book of Boba Fett” where multiple characters join up with Boba Fett on a whim and then instantly have 100% loyalty to him without ever wavering in their motivations even one iota.)
When Obi-Wan is forced out of his comfort zone going into Part II, he doesn’t immediately start kicking butt and taking names. He is out of touch with his Jedi lifestyle, and it shows. He can still fight decently and is ok with a blaster, but he uses craftiness, distraction, and guile to get through most obstacles, rather than relying on the Force, which he seems unsure how well he can even still tap into. By the end of Part II, he has not even activated his lightsaber yet. This slow pacing of Obi-Wan remembering how to be more than just “Old Ben” again feels much more authentic and natural than say, Rey “Skywalker” suddenly being able to fight halfway on par with Kylo Ren at the start of the Sequel Trilogy despite having no Jedi training, and will undoubtedly make it feel much more rewarding down the line when Obi-Wan truly awakens again into being who he is. It also suits his character well, showing that effort is being taken here to match the Obi-Wan Kenobi of this series to the Obi-Wan from the canonical movies, a kind of charming diplomat of a Jedi who is very skilled in combat, but likes to smooth talk his way out of situations first whenever he can. It is nice to see a classic character represented well in a new outing instead of being re-written completely like we usually see from LucasFilm these days.
The one thing about the show that bothers me thus far, though, is Leia. Leia is a surprisingly major character in the series, and while I like her most of the time, she’s written a little over-the-top and it stretches the believability of the scenes she’s in. Basically, she’s not only a total tomboy but also somehow a know-it-all genius, and while she’s written kind of charmingly, it still kicks hard on your suspension of disbelief when a ten-year-old suddenly dissects the psychological motivations of someone around her without warning and then tears them apart by explaining to them all of their deep-seated insecurities and misplaced personal values. That is not something a ten-year-old, no matter how observant and smart, should be able to do, and it doesn’t match very well with the Leia I remember from the Original Trilogy, who now seems so much stupider by comparison to her literal genius of a ten-year-old self. Leia was always smart and sassy, but I don’t remember her ever being a psychological genius who could instantly profile the people around her and use their core emotional weaknesses against them. She is not Lelouch vi Britannia from the anime “Code Geass”. She is also not Sherlock Holmes. This version of Leia, however, kind of is these people sometimes.
The increase of Leia in Part II lowered my overall enjoyment of that episode compared to Part I which focused mostly on Obi-Wan and the Inquisitors. I enjoyed both episodes, however, and am somewhat looking forward to next week’s outing, a stark contrast to “The Book of Boba Fett” which I almost (or actually) dreaded watching each week. Overall, I think I would give Part I of Kenobi an 8/10 (a 7.75 without rounding up) and Part II a 7/10 (more like a 7.25 rounded down). My final thoughts on these episodes are summarized in quotation marks below:
“A strong start to a series with a lot of potential, Kenobi encourages us to look ourselves in the mirror and face the demons of our past, while realistically portraying the harsh struggle that such a journey is to embark on. While not perfect, this feels like Star Wars, and the characters generally feel believable and real, especially Obi-Wan Kenobi himself thanks to Ewan McGregor’s excellent performance. I look forward to wherever the show’s story goes from here in that galaxy far, far away…”
Great!