Obi Wan Kenobi (2022) Review

“Hello there”

https://youtu.be/3Yh_6_zItPU?is=Z-q_e_mi_L50dhbX

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED SERIES (AND FILMS). READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Everyone knew that once Walt Disney purchased Lucasfilm, there would be loads of stories in the world of Star Wars that many fans would think they'd never see in their lifetime. While the sequel trilogy had its moment, the franchise had its strength through the live action shows. Although The Mandalorian was respected for feeling the most fresh, it was great to see them take a step back when telling a story of the fan favorite character, Obi Wan Kenobi.

PLOT

The series takes place roughly ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith where most of the Jedi were slain as a result of Order 66 and Darth Sidious transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire.

The pilot ‘Part 1’ shows the titular Jedi remaining on Tattooine watching over Luke Skywalker from afar, being raised by his aunt Beru & uncle Owen Lars. The latter is against Ben with the idea of teaching him the ways of the Force when he gets older because they believe his father Anakin has died following their duel in Mustafar. Danger is continuous in Tattooine as the Inquisitors are looking for remaining Jedi that are still in hiding. While looking for one called Nari, Third Sister Reva Sevander has grown to be obsessed with looking for Kenobi that she orchestrates Leia Organa to be abducted from Alderaan, due to his known connection with Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) but unaware of her being Anakin’s daughter. Around the time Ben regretfully rejects Nari before he is found dead does he accept Bail’s plea to rescue Leia.


‘Part II’ shows Kenobi track down the kidnappers to planet Daiyu and thanks to a con Jedi named Haja Estree, he directs him to where Leia is held. He fights off the kidnappers long enough to escape, causing Grand Inquisitor to put the city on lockdown while Reva puts a new bounty on the Jedi. Leia would struggle trusting Ben as she realizes all the mercenaries are after the bounty on him that she tries jumping off a roof without him that he has to use the force to save her. As that moment regains her trust in him, Haja directs them to an unguarded cargo port for them to escape, but it doesn’t Reva and Grand Inquisitor from finding them. The latter tries to arrest them, but the Third Sister chooses to stab him with her lightsaber out of resentment, and to tell Kenobi that Anakin is still alive, under the new identity of DARTH VADER.

 
‘Part III’ proceeds to Vader messaging Reva from Mustafar, promising to promote her as the new Grand Inquisitor should she find Kenobi. The protagonist and Leia reach the mining planet of Mapuzo where they intend to have a rendezvous with one contact provided by Haja. Ultimately, they meet an imperial officer named Tala, who is part of an underground network that hides those outlawed by the empire, the Path. She gets them to a subterranean passageway, but they don’t cross once Vader shows up with Reva, as well as Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) and Fourth Sister (Rya Kihlstedt), who harm bystanders to lure Kenobi out. He eventually reveals himself and tries facing his former apprentice, but is unable to beat him again as the Sith pushes him into a fire. When Tala provides a distraction to save him, Reva is able to capture Leia.

 
‘Part IV’ transitions to Kenobi reaching a Path facility in Jabiim after escaping from Vader’s wrath. He and Tala would have to rescue Leia from Fortress Inquisitorius where Reva is holding her captive. They do find her but after Ben finds a trophy vault of Jedi corpses does Tala blow her cover and they quickly escape with the help of Path commander Roken including some guerilla troops. Vader almost kills Reva for incompetence, but she buys herself more time by revealing she planted a tracker on Leia’s companion droid Lola.

 
‘Part V’ transitions to Vader remembering his Padawan days before the Clone Wars, before focusing on the present that is tracking the Path network back to Jabiim. Once he promotes Reva, she leads a siege to the Path facility and deactivates escape doors. Kenobi does stall by speaking to her by confronting how she knew Anakin is Vader. She admits she was a Jedi youngling that survived the massacre Anakin was responsible for the night he became Palpatine’s apprentice, admitting she became an inquisitor hoping to extract revenge for what he’s done since. The Jedi offers to turn himself over so she can have that but when the facility gets breached, Tala sacrifices herself to save Ben. Once Lola removes the tracker from Lola, she’s able to open the doors just when Vader arrives and all of the Path barely escapes his wrath. He would quickly overpower Reva with the original Grand Inquisitor by his side to reaffirm his status and leave her for dead after stabbing her with his lightsaber. As both parties are gone however, she finds Bail’s old message for Kenobi that reveals Luke’s location on Tattooine, deducing the boy to be Anakin’s son. Kenobi senses through the force something is wrong, but doesn’t tell Roken what it is. 


The finale ‘Part VI’ follows Reva returning to Tattooine to go after Luke while Vader follows the Path network. Kenobi chooses to lure him away by confronting him at a nearby unnamed rocky moon near Jabiim. He is able to use the full power of the Force to best him in combat, but he’d walk away heartbroken that Anakin has completely embraced his Sith identity. By the time he returns to Tatooine, Reva has already taken Luke from Owen & Beru, intending to kill him. However, she chooses to spare him when realizing she’s acting the same as the one that traumatized her. When she returns the boy home, Kenobi congratulates her for liberating herself from the dark side. When Vader recovers at Mustafar, he tells the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) of his decision to abandon the ongoing search for his old mentor, which his master questions. Obi Wan would check in on Leia who was able to return to Alderaan, who now attends to find new resolve in her princess duties, tells her that he’ll still help her whenever she needs it. Returning to Tattooine again does Owen allow Ben to officially meet Luke for the first time after agreeing he needs to grow up before ever needing to worry about training the ways of the Force. Finding inner peace, the series ends with Kenobi contacting the spirit of his master Qui Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) that he had been trying to reach for so long.

THOUGHTS

I wasn’t sure what I wanted from a series centered on Kenobi considering I didn’t know what to expect other than that I wanted to see it because it’s a given the Jedi had his own adventures on Tattooine before A New Hope. I expected Dave Filoni to be involved as show-runner due to how essential he was in The Clone Wars, but I understand The Mandalorian kept him busy. Nevertheless, Joby Harold and Deborah Chow in their positions as writer, director and executive producer(s) respectively. What I liked most of this series to be different from preceding live action Star Wars shows is that it feels authentic to its era being the prequel trilogy. All the costumes and production design are so well made that it feels like we never left that period. That continuous feeling also is benefitted thanks to the consistent cinematography by Chung-Joon Chung. With every shootout, chase to eventual duel, I am on the edge of my seat just like I was in my childhood. Considering how Star Wars has taught us so much over the years, you do wonder what are we supposed to learn this time. The way the six episodes play out, I come to accept this is as a journey about letting go of grief in order to achieve true strength. For Obi Wan, it was both mental and physical because the grief he had not protecting Anakin from the dark side fuels him to want to be on top of Luke far more. I don’t think this show would’ve worked without Ewan McGregor who brought great depth in the prequels and continues here. He does have a point that Luke should be more ready for the worst, but making that his only focus would be bound to backfire. That is what he gets reminded within his banter against Owen. To continue discussing authenticity apart from Temeura Morrison cameoing as a homeless clone trooper, it was pretty sweet Joel Edgerton returned for the role of Luke’s uncle, as does Bonnie Piesse who also returns as Luke’s aunt respectively. They both have the same approach that Luke should be safe no matter what. Owen is more about staying away from what’ll have to be faced, but Beru does also approach it’s still important to prepare for the worst, hence preparing for Reva rather than run from her. As Kenobi’s strength was weakened from his grief over Anakin, it felt like fate to say protecting both of his children would be what brought him back to the fold. He already regretted rejecting Nari, who as far as we know was an ideal Jedi that was all about optimism as portrayed by Benny Safdie, and that mistake led to Ben’s decision to do right by Leia as he wants to for Luke. It definitely would’ve been interesting to get a full approach in seeing how adventurous young Luke was through Grant Feely, it was a fair trade to focus on his sister instead. It was definitely hard to imagine anyone else playing the iconic princess turned senator after Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016. Having said that, breakout Vivien Lyra Blair is spectacular in matching the sass yet compassion the character has been remembered for. Ben wasn’t lying that he saw the good of her parents in her because that’s all she chose to be without knowing who they were until adulthood. The unconditional love he had for her was enough for him to regain his focus and not only was that what helped her trust him, but it inspired others to stay on the right side. Indira Varma was great in embracing big empathy that led to her sacrificing herself for the greater good and O’Shea Jackson Jr. was also memorable in making Roken a stern guy that still offers his own compassion to the table that he’d infiltrate those that killed his wife long ago, it was a whole other surprise seeing Kumail Nanjiani. He’s still funny in making Haja a sarcastic con artist but at the end of the day, he’s part of the Path because he’s still got a heart of gold if he’s guiding people to their safety. Is it unconventional the way he does it? Absolutely, but at least he ain’t hurting everyone the way Siths would. Speaking of which, it felt like a big privilege for not only James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader for the last time before his 2024 passing, but also Hayden Christensen returning to the franchise in another physical performance of Anakin. Just seeing him the Padawan flashback before revealing him as the infamously scarred Vader was breathtaking because they’re images you didn’t think you’d see again. The way Kenobi is obsessed with righting his wrong, Vader is obsessed in getting vengeance for the scars he gave him. He is dedicated to the Empire at this point because he feels there is nothing left for him to live for, doubting his kid(s)still live. And seeing how he chooses said path of evil is why Kenobi chooses to not finish him when he had the chance. He accepts his downfall was never his fault. And because of this mercy, Vader keeps his cover by letting go of the manhunt to shift the focus of the Death Star at that point. Ironically, the moments of epiphany continue for someone else who needed comfort as well. Moses Ingram was very interesting as Reva because she’s full trauma and all ambition given what she’s been through. In the live action context, she and Grogu are the only youngling Order 66 survivors. She feels most alone after all the carnage she saw at that age and used that fuel her revenge, making her almost most ruthless compared to how Rupert Friend as Grand Inquisitor. Once she came close to killing Luke, she realized she wasn’t acting any different the way she viewed Vader. Wherever she is now, let’s hope she remained on the right side going forward. Because Kenobi was enough of inspiration for her to not stoop that low, that was enough for him to reconnect with Qui Gon. Whatever knowledge he got from him after, I’m sure that’s what inspired his actions in A New Hope. This series meet my expectations, but there are still a few things that didn’t make much sense upon rewatching. Like for instance it was on Nari to blow his cover, but the Grand Inquisitor should’ve let Reva kill him since he wasn’t gonna tell him where Kenobi was anyway. And if the Organas don’t like it when Leia goes off in the woods, they could either put a tracker on her or have some kind of blockade to keep from going back. Would it be too much on their end? Yes, but at least they know where she is. Hell, it’s even a double standard that Obi-Wan wants to train Luke so bad, but still disowns Nari to keep his cover. I know he has priorities, but it never feels consistent when seeing him at this point of his life. And you know what, it’s just on Bail when it comes to saying her kidnapping would draw too much attention, but that’s bound to happen when you’re an influential adopting Vader’s daughter unbeknownst to the Empire. If you ask me, Leia should’ve been taken in with a lower class family like Owen & Beru to avoid this. Hell, it was so weird for Kenobi to show off his lightsaber just to imply he’s going forward with a rescue mission. Nari just died at that point, so that is like asking to get caught. Moving on, Haga shouldn’t even show off his face if he wants to keep his ruse afloat. I mean that’s exactly what costs him when he meets Kenobi. I know it’s common Star Wars knowledge that stormtroopers are so incompetent that they can’t aim for shit, but how did they not recognize Leia’s name when Ben says it on accident? Leia’s part of a popular family and even though her abduction wasn’t publicly addressed by the Organas, they should’ve been more up to date on who’s relevant to the Empire. It’s even miraculous how another imperial officer doesn’t overhear Tala giving Kenobi instructions where to find Leia. That’s just dumber than how Kenobi uses an undercoat for Leia to hide. And in the background at one point, I lost it when a guerilla troop swung a pipe when getting shot at by stormtroopers. It’s a bigger miracle he didn’t seem to get shot like Tala did. I just couldn’t stop laughing because that’s worse than the stormtrooper incompetence we’ve seen. And I do get Reva waiting until night gives her an advantage to catch Owen & Beru off guard, but if she’s that desperate to get revenge by going after Luke, she should’ve just went after them midday without giving them any prep time. And did anyone destroy Reva’s lightsaber? I mean you’re just allowing Jawas to sell it to the wrong person that would have much to gain should said person find her. Also, why is Kenobi comfortable enough to come to Alderaan when he’s still supposed to be hiding from the Empire after getting Leia back home? If he still wants to say goodbye, he could’ve still kept a distance by leaving Leia a hologram message. Ignore these flaws however, then you’ll still enjoy the series Obi-Wan Kenobi for hitting its marks of being not essential filler, but a general nostalgic sci fi blast. If you got Disney+ and are still a Star Wars fan, this show is meant for you.