Reviewing Obi-Wan Kenobi (***1/2)
Sure, it’s a bit stupid at times – but Obi Wan and Darth Vader are back, and that’s more than good enough for me.
Let’s address the stupid parts so we can just get on and enjoy this show. Yes, Obi Wan escapes way too many times to be believable. Darth Vader has Kenobi in his clutches like at least three times, and each time Kenobi miraculously gets away. The most grievous example is when a wall of fire separates the two characters, but Darth Vader just stands there and lets Obi get away when it had just been shown two seconds ago that he could use the Force to blow the fire away. It’s also not as if the fire was more than fifty feet in either direction. You’re telling me there was literally no way to get around it? Come on, people. There’s a number of moments in this show that strain credulity – and for the people who are turned off by that, I get it.
But look, Ewan McGregor is back. Hayden Christensen is back. Freaking Ian McDiarmid is back. This show is a love letter to prequel fans, and there’s a sizable number of them online. Best of all, prequel fans tend to be the kind of people who see all the stupidity of the prequels and love them anyway. In that sense, this series is the perfect homage to the prequels.
Now, up till now it’s sounded like I only ironically enjoyed the show – and that’s not true. There’s so much to genuinely love about it. Ewan and Hayden both absolutely crush it in bringing their iconic roles back to the screen for the first time in almost twenty years. There’s enough face time for Hayden to make his return meaningful (as opposed to just putting someone else in the Vader suit), particularly in a flashback duel sequence. Owen and Beru play minor but impactful roles, especially when they have to fight to save Luke’s life. Reva, the secondary antagonist, had a great story arc. There was apparently a lot of hate coming her way from various people online. Personally, I think Moses Ingram did a great job playing her – but more than that, I thought her character was a relevant one to the story. It wasn’t as though she added nothing to the plot.
But by far, the biggest scene-stealer wasn’t any of the names we’d anticipated. It was Vivien Lyra Blair playing the young Princess Leia, who absolutely knocked it out of the park with her interpretation of the character. She was the spitting image of the late Carrie Fisher, both in appearance, in writing, and in her performance. Every word that escaped her lips – every glance and expression – screamed Leia. This was a gutsy move for Disney – if they had gotten this wrong, many fans would never have forgiven them. But they found the perfect young Leia, and the show profited so much from it. She was great.
What surprised me about this show (in a good way) was how much face-to-face time Vader and Obi Wan had. We all knew that ‘the rematch of the century’ was going to happen, but the fact that the two icons were crossing blades as soon as episode three was mind-blowing. Not only that, but Vader’s sheer brutality towards his former master was incredible to watch. Vader is just as much an iconic villain today as he ever was, and he didn’t drop the ball for one second in this show. Their final fight had all the emotion and high-stakes drama I was hoping for, particularly in the brief dialogue towards the end:
Kenobi: I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Anakin. For all of it.
Vader: I am not your failure, Obi-Wan. You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. I did.
What I love about this moment is the many things we see about Vader’s heart in that one line. Back in episode three of this show, Vader says to Kenobi, “I am what you made me” – essentially blaming all the darkness of his existence on his former master. For a Kenobi already wracked with guilt, this was the last thing he probably wanted to hear. But now in this moment later on, Vader seemingly goes back on his previous statement. But I don’t think it’s because of poor writing – I think it’s great writing. Vader is unable to accept the Anakin within himself. Any shred of Anakin would force him to face the wickedness of his deeds, and that’s something he’s too far gone to do right now. So as Kenobi pleads for Anakin to resurface via his apology, Vader retaliates by distancing himself from Anakin with “I am not your failure”. By saying that, he denies the connection that Kenobi and Anakin once had, and he despairingly asserts that he is the one in control – even though we know he isn’t. More than that, it’s an acknowledgement and justification for Kenobi’s eventual half-truth he tells to Luke in A New Hope when he says that Vader “betrayed and murdered” Anakin. And to top it all off, though Vader meant this line as a way to protect himself from the past that Kenobi was trying to uncover, he inadvertently brought Obi Wan peace. Kenobi’s struggled with feeling despair and guilt for his role in Revenge of the Sith, but this line tells Kenobi that it wasn’t his fault Anakin turned to the dark side – and that’s exactly what Kenobi needs to hear in order to move on. I loved this line.
Now, to be clear, I didn’t love what happened after – Kenobi basically just shrugs and walks off, leaving Darth Vader behind in the likely sixteenth example of characters letting other characters just get away in this show. Kenobi had every reason to kill Vader then and there – especially since Kenobi himself just accepted that Anakin was truly gone and all that remained was pure evil. Why not chop his head off and save the galaxy? I think they could have handled that part better – but it doesn’t change the fact that I had the time of my life watching these two mythic figures grace my screen once more. There’ve been rumblings that a season two is on its way, but even if this is all I get, this was more than enough.