Obi-Wan Kenobi - Premiere - Review

For years, many Star Wars fans pulled apart everything about the sequels, stating that they were inferior products, compared to that of the originals. I myself have always enjoyed them and I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic between Obi-Wan and Anakin in the second and third films. Some 17 years since we last saw Obi-Wan on the screen, can the force guide this new series or has the time of the Jedi really come to an end?

There may be some slight spoilers ahead, read at your own risk

The story of Obi-Wan Kenobi is an interesting one, when we first meet him way back in The Phantom Menace, he is a young and idealistic, though somewhat more realistic Jedi padawan. Over the course of the movie and the following ones, we get to see him evolve, become the Jedi that we always thought he was going to be, but then Order 66 happens and we learn that even he can’t save the day. While the end of Revenge of the Sith has a slight note of hope, with Obi-Wan delivering Luke to his Aunt and Uncle, where the show picks up is a decade later and that hope has been blasted into a million pieces. Obi-Wan, or Ben as he is now called, is a broken man, with this mission really being the only thing that is keeping him going, he sees injustice but can’t find the passion to fight it. Within the first few shots of him in the show, that is proven and it shows just how broken of a man he has become.

While Obi-Wan is doing what he can to complete his mission, the show snapped across to Leia on Alderaan, a place that we had only seen from space mere moments before it was blown up. At first, I was worried that they were going to use Leia as a means to track down Obi-Wan, because they suspected her parentage, but they thankfully went another way, for the connection between Obi-Wan and Leia at least. While part of me wants to say that seeing a 10-year-old Leia was nice, there was just something about her trying to be the Leia that we know, that didn’t seem right to me. Of course, of the course of the time with the little actress, her performance did grow on me, but it still felt like they were forcing – pun not intended, her into the Leia mould, rather than allow her to be a different type of Leia.

Events happen and Obi-Wan is pulled away from his mission, going in this was always going to be the major moment for me, what would cause Obi-Wan to leave Tattooine. The reason is something I won’t explain here, but it is a decent one and as I said before, it ties back to the Organa family, which did make some sense. What didn’t make sense was just how fast Obi-Wan was able to complete his mission, given he said repeatedly that he was not the Jedi he once was. Seeing Obi-Wan being lead down the desired path by Reva Sevander, the Third Sister was interesting, because at the height of the Jedi, it would not have been a path that was taken by anyone in the order. This again highlights just how lost the man truly is, no longer is he thinking many steps ahead, just taking what is given in order to complete the mission.

Speaking of the Inquisitors, it was great to see them make their live action debut in the show, but there was no real sense of malice from them. Each time they appeared on screen, the fear that they were meant to provide, seemed to come from those around them cowering, leaving them to just walk down the street. In Star Wars Rebels, when we first met the Inquisitors, they were a real threat, not because of the actions that they were willing to take, but because they felt like they could be dangerous. While Reva has a sense of insanity about her, it still doesn’t make her feel dangerous, just deranged and that can be a problem of course, but even her actions at the end of the second episode don’t feel evil, just self-serving. Moses Ingram does a great job of bringing her to life, but there is something missing about the character, I just don’t feel any real threat from her, even if Obi-Wan does. Sung Kang on the other hand, as the Fifth Brother, he has the menacing down pat, from the snarls on his fact and his quiet, yet furious expressions. Sadly, Rupert Friend can be placed down within the not that threatening group as well, the Grand Inquisitor has the look, but that is about it.

There was a lot of talk about Hayden Christensen once again suiting up as Darth Vader in the show, pairing up again with Ewan McGregor, but all we got from these two episodes was some evil floating in a tank. Don’t misunderstand me, I really do appreciate that they left the character out as much as they did, but something a little more at the end would have been welcome. It is strange, I am this far into the review and have yet to mention Ewan McGregor’s performance in the show, as I said up top, within moments of us meeting him in the series, we can see how broken he is, but beyond that, seeing him slip in a few classic Obi-Wan actions was great. There is the crossing of the arms while looking around, the twirling of the beard and the ever popular, dressing like a Jedi in a busted robe, complete with lightsabre hanging from the belt. Apart from the age difference between Obi-Wan at the end of Episode III and the character now, it still feels like Obi-Wan.

On the presentation side of things, the show seems to have been able to take a much bigger advantage of the Stagecraft system than the shows made in California were. There were a few sets that were clearly set within the screens, but even when you know that most of them are going to be filmed within the space, here there were just more shots that removed that identification of the space. From more interesting set design to a lot more practical creature and sets, everything just feels more open, even when the sets are narrow in design by choice. There is a more lived in sense as well, with outfits of the people, both main and background, feeling like they were created years ago and are only now just showing up on screen. The ship design is mostly familiar, but there are some touches that are new and interesting, of course seeing C-3PO in one shot was nice, but for droids, Lola was the star, look out for her action figure coming to a store near you.

On the sound front, there was a wonderful new theme from John Williams and of course, they made a lot of use from the Obi-Wan theme that was written some 45 years ago. Natalie Holt however managed to make the music across both episodes feel more Star Wars than those from The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett. Those shows had great scores, but there was something here that just sounded more authentic to Star Wars than we had gotten in the TV space previously.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had a lot of potential to fall flat out of the gate, but they haven’t the show hasn’t hit a home run, but it has at least put some runs on the board. Seeing Obi-Wan as a broken man, someone who wants to do better, but is so unsure of himself that even the attempt to try scares him. The Inquisitors look like they are dangerous, but mostly just feel like someone puffing themselves up, to appear like more of a threat. There are some questions about plot that have been raised, but I won’t go into them here, needless to say that Obi-Wan has a solid foundation in which to build upon and in the words of Anakin Skywalker, this is where the fun begins.

The Score

8.5

The Pros

+Obi-Wan is a broken man and his life is now about his current mission and nothing more

+Getting Obi-Wan off the planet was always going to be tricky and their reason as to why makes sense

The Cons

-The threat that the Inquisitors pose seems to be more akin to us meant to be scared, because of who they are, rather than the actions they have undertaken

-Some of the lines have opened up a few plot concerns, which may be an issue down the line