Obi Wan Kenobi (Full Series Review)

The world of Star Wars has continued to grow Disney's acquisition of the property and the mind-boggling success of The Force Awakens that came with it. Despite having some hit or misses along the way, the franchise took a break from the movies and decided to solely focus on making live-action serial content on Disney Plus which started with The Mandalorian which is a hit on its own right. Now, after years of development at Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni and co. have finally brought back Ewan McGregor's iteration of Obi-Wan Kenobi back onscreen in the form of the character's own 6 episode miniseries event. 

The episodes occur 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, where Obi-Wan is hiding in Tattooine, secretly keeping an eye on 10-year-old Luke Skywalker while keeping a low profile using an alias that should give some people the right idea as to who he actually is. But alas, nobody figures this out ever, not even Luke himself in A New Hope. The Empire is going strong as Darth Vader terrorizes the galaxy with his group of inquisitors. One of them, Reva attempts to locate Obi-Wan to bring to her master, to gain his favor but that's not all to her plan. 

The 6 episodes not only serve themselves as a follow-up to the prequel era films but provide some answers and interactions fans have been wanting for a while now, one of them including a rematch between Obi-Wan and Vader. The miniseries is also the first Star Wars property to fully embrace the prequel era which is a bold move considering a lot of fans still criticize it to this day. However, this series was made for those who grew to appreciate the era for it provided some nuance to Anakin Skywalker turning into the sith lord we all fear him to be and the struggle he constantly goes through until his death in Episode VI. 

The first 2 episodes that premiered on May 27th truly showed off the tone fans were going to get in this short amount of episodes. All of them were directed by Deborah Chow who had directed a number of Mandalorian episodes. She brought a lot of her signature camera work into this which also included her decision to film scenes at night. There are one or two pretty iconic-like scenes in the episodes that were hard to see unless you switched off the lights. To add to that, a lot of these scenes involved Darth Vader, which was annoying. 

Speaking of Darth Vader, it was very unlikely that they were going to bring back Hayden Christensen to don the mask, but I was proved wrong. Christensen indeed came back better than ever, performing off McGregor and it was indeed satisfying. He happened to also have some flashback scenes that proved also more interesting and surprising, which definitely should please fans who finally got around to appreciating his iteration of the iconic villain. There is a scene in the last episode that should shock and satisfy anyone who has been caving for a scary Darth Vader interaction that will knock your socks off. 

But we have strayed too far, haven't we? The show is titled Obi-Wan Kenobi for a reason. McGregor almost seems like he had been waiting to come back to this role whenever he was stroking his chin, holding his legendary stance, or even saying his memorable line. According to interviews, that was far from the truth. Hearing his struggle to get into the accent and moniker again was surprising considering how much at ease he seemed when he reprised the role. He is indeed a professional. 

The real highlight of the show is Moses Ingram's Reva also known as The Third Sister. Despite her being another victim of racist Star Wars fans, this character was mostly why I caught up with this show. I had never seen Ingram before this but her role is fascinating and proves herself a worthy memorable addition to the already packed number of characters featured in this franchise. She might be yet another force bearer, but her character happens to be also another force bearer that blurs the lines between the light side and the dark if you pay attention to her journey. Considering her similarities with well-known characters like Rey, Ashoka Tano, or even Luke Skywalker, her struggle doesn't really involve her balance of the force, but rather between the two sides, she found herself in. 

One problem I found incredibly obvious with the episodes was that they brought nothing new to the universe. It favors themes from both Mandalorian and distasteful parts of the sequel era which is where you will see this show suffer. However, when you see it favoring what Star Wars really is, anyone who is watching will be ecstatic when it comes to things like utilizing the force and revisiting Tatooine yet again. (But I think it's time we abandon stories in Tatooine, don't you think?)

But we do get some revelations and never before seen interactions that will get fans to wonder if it does ruin continuity. This element of the show is where you see the show struggle a bit more but succeed when it is necessary. This brings us back to the Disney Plus issue with the number of episodes and their respective runtimes. Like the Marvel Studios shows, a lot of the time feels rushed but there are also times when it feels too slow. With VFX, you can even tell that they aren't using the same amount of budget the Marvel shows covet at or rather in any level of the Star Wars films. 

I can't say for sure because Star Wars fans have a reputation for being unpredictable with their reactions, but Obi-Wan Kenobi is definitely not a place to find quality Star Wars storytelling. It has its moments, I am not going to lie, but older fans are not here for it. The show is Lucasfilm's way of saying that they are gravitating toward new audiences and what they want as opposed to older ones who get grouchy anytime Star Wars takes a step forward for the better, even if the grouches are the ones that made the franchise a household name.