Let me start out by saying that I mostly enjoyed "Obi Wan Kenobi." I wasn't a fan of the "Star Wars" prequels, but I always liked Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it was good to see him back in the beard and robes. I wasn't expecting much from the show, but it's a perfectly decent little adventure serial, following the template of so many other "legasequels" of the past few years. Its biggest weakness is that its ambitions are often too big for its budget and scope. "Kenobi" is a television series acting as a sequel to a film trilogy, and can't hope to match up to the same level of spectacle.
Roughly ten years after "Revenge of the Sith," Obi-Wan is living in hiding on Tatooine while the Empire grows more powerful. He spends his days keeping an eye on Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely), being raised by his uncle, Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton). He narrowly avoids discovery by the Empire's squad of Jedi hunters, including the ambitious Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram). However, Obi-Wan has to come out of hiding when Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) shows up to ask his help - Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) has been kidnapped. Kumail Nanjiani, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Indira Varma, Benny Safdie, Rupert Friend, and Sung Kang show up in supporting roles, but the most press has been around Hayden Christensen returning to play Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. I was far more delighted that we also got James Earl Jones back to voice Vader.
From what I've read, the original premise for the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" film that was in the works a few years ago would have been "Lone Wolf and Cub" on Tatooine with Kenobi and a child Luke Skywalker. However, after the success of "The Mandalorian," this idea was deemed much too similar to what they were doing on that show. So, instead Kenobi travels off-world and has adventures with a pint-sized Leia instead, while being chased around by the evil agents of the Empire. Everything builds up to a big rematch between Kenobi and Vader. I don't have any complaints with any of these concepts, the actors, or even some of the siller plot twists. However, the execution of the show consistently fails to impress. Everything feels rushed. Everything feels haphazardly put together. The writing is especially uneven, with so much focus on tiny Leia in some installments that it feels like "Kenobi" might have been combined at some point with the half-developed remnants of a Princess Leia series aimed at small children.
And it's a shame, because there is a lot in the show that I do enjoy. New characters played by Kumail Nanjiani and Indira Varma are great. It's always satisfying to see Darth Vader being supremely evil. McGregor is clearly enjoying himself, playing an older, worn down version of Kenobi who is very rusty with the Force. However, there are far too many characters in the mix to give everyone their due. Inquisitor Reva is one of the major ones, a terribly promising figure who feels like the writers needed a little more time and effort to nail her down as a character. It's very frustrating, because the cast is so stuffed with good actors, and many of the creatives involved have done much better work before. It's not as bad as the "Boba Fett" series, but "Obi-Wan Kenobi" could have been something special. I don't think that keeping it a film would have necessarily helped, since "Kenobi" has a lot of the same issues as the troubled "Solo" - particularly that it's trying to cram far, far too much into one adventure.
I found myself comparing "Kenobi" to the Disney+ Marvel shows as much as the other "Star Wars" shows. All of them seem to have the same sort of pattern of references and callbacks, guest stars and cameos, showdowns and confrontations, and everything wrapping up just a little too quickly in the end. "Kenobi" is drawing its references from both the original and prequel "Star Wars" trilogies, and often gets into trouble with the clashing continuities - exactly how many people know who Kenobi is on sight? And yet, I can't imagine longtime fans won't find it gratifying to hear Kenobi tell Leia about her parents, or to see him square off against Darth Vader one more time. Go in with lowered expectations, and "Obi-Wan Kenobi" is perfectly okay.
Getting caught up in the hype, however, is the path to the Dark Side.
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