Obi-Wan Kenobi (SPOILERS!)

I thought episode 1 was pretty good, a nice solid opener with decent foundations to build on, like the first half hour of a new Star Wars movie.

Episode 2 was less good for me, I don’t think putting so much weight on the shoulders of a child actor was a great idea and it all feels like timewastey sidequest stuff in a way that’s becoming very familiar for Disney+ shows. Plus the tone felt a bit off (it all got pretty Matrix-esque towards the end there) and only the plot thread about Anakin/Vader really pulled it back to becoming something interesting again.

The jury’s still out for me, we’ll see where it goes, but I have a feeling this will do better when it addresses the fallout from the prequels than when it introduces its own elements. None of the new characters really grabbed me.

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lorcan_nagle

Also, I didn’t know Flea was in this! He seems to be turning into Bobby Davro before our very eyes.

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Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle

Really enjoyed the first two episodes. Kid Leia is a lot of fun, and I’m amazed and relieved they didn’t CG some childhood photo of Carrie Fisher onto her head. The Inquisitors are just the right level of cartoon villain, McGregor’s great… It’s clawed back a bit of time in my brain for Star Wars.

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Dave, Ben

Anonymous wrote:

I’m actually surprised you’ve seen it with your, and I quote “less-than-zero interest” in Star Wars series. I’m glad you enjoyed it though, I’m enjoying the first ep as I type!

That first scene, in the jedi temple was a helluva start.

Decided to give Obi-Wan and Andor a shot. And if they don’t grab me, I’m done again. Rogue Squadron was on the list too, but… well…

But the Mandalorian/Boba Fett side of the universe can get fuuuuuuucked.

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Uncle Retrospective

That was an excellent start and a very effective cliffhanger, built around an obvious but overlooked idea.

It’s also a great example of the importance of not listening to the goddamn rumours.  The amount of crap flowing around this series ahead of release was legion.

Seeing Alderaan was fantastic – with McQuarrie’s designs being used, at least I think they were.

It seems that there was either more than one Grand Inquisitor or he survives Reva’s attack.  One mis-step was Reva getting away with the sheer amount of stuff she did.  On her own she’s not yet there as a villain.

Still, it all looks and sounds good.  They have McGregor and Smits back.  Kid Leia works.  And we get to see Breha, whose had some development in the YA books.

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lorcan_nagle, Dave

Yeah, that Anders guy was mistaken. It was a mistake he had done more than once, according to your message logs.

Apparently, it was Wheel of Time in which Lorcan had a less than zero interest.

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lorcan_nagle, Todd

Already there are fan theories:

Two Reva Theories (Kenobi) from FanTheories

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Todd

Tobias Radesäter wrote:

nothing in the Blade Runner city felt real

I agree with this, I thought the crowd scenes were particularly weak. Definitely felt like Cybepunk 2077 or something, just randomly generated people walking in miscellaneous directions.

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Todd, Dave, Tobias Radesäter

JRCarter wrote:

Toxic SW “fans” strike again.

Just like John Boyega and Kelly Tran before her, Moses Ingram is getting racist messages.

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JRCarter, lorcan_nagle

The new episode was really good, I thought. Delivering fully on the promise of the show.

I’m liking the way the story is developing (and showing us some details of what life is like under the Empire) and I thought the way Vader was used worked well.

Looking forward to more.

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lorcan_nagle

Ben wrote:

Huh? Thought this was supposed to be weekly on Fridays?

No, Friday premiere then weekly on Wednesdays. A bit confusing!

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Ben

I wish they’d stop being lazy with the writing… I get that they want to get away from the uber kung-fuey sabre fights, and that’s a smart choice, because those more grounded fights somehow look more badass, but there’s no fuckin way a little fire is gonna stop Vader from capturing the man he’s been trying to find for a decade… specially since he just started a fire just before. The way he just stands there as a moron watching Obiwan escape is dumb… like a bunch of grown men not being able to ever catch a slow running midget girl… just put more effort into it.

Also, am I the only one thinking Reeva is trying to get close to Vader so she can kill him? I’m thinking that’s the “plot twist” coming… she’s probably one of those children from the jedi temple massacre thing…

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Todd

I really did not like this episode.  The balance was all off.  A whole lot of sick stuff that felt like overkill.

They also should have shown the probes being hyperspace-capable.

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Uncle Retrospective

People have been asking me if they should watch this and I say yes, but do not expect any Jedi heroics because they are all flawed and weak now.

Another really good episode I thought. It’s striking a nice balance between using a lot of familiar Star Wars characters, settings and tropes while still telling its own story and exploring some of its own ideas.

I think the direction really lifts it too. Scenes like Obi-Wan taking out the two guards in the interrogation room in the dark, or the corridor flood scene, really work well visually.

I also like that Reva got a bit more depth and development here, hinting at layers that we’ve only been able to guess at so far.

Looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up in the final two episodes.

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lorcan_nagle

njerry wrote:

So…no talking Egyptian hippos yet?

Barely even a talking Trandoshan so far.

Jon wrote:

I didn’t pay attention to who’s been directing the show and I’m too lazy to google it right now, but they were the wrong choice for this…

Deborah Chow. And I disagree, I think the direction has been really good, and a cut above most Disney+ stuff.

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lorcan_nagle

Dave wrote:

Another really good episode I thought. It’s striking a nice balance between using a lot of familiar Star Wars characters, settings and tropes while still telling its own story and exploring some of its own ideas.

I think the direction really lifts it too. Scenes like Obi-Wan taking out the two guards in the interrogation room in the dark, or the corridor flood scene, really work well visually.

Yeah, I was saying it elsewhere, but the show is confident about being a Star Wars story in a way that a lot of the other Disney projects aren’t. It has a lot of the exact same set dressing and nods as Rogue One – like focusing on a Mouse Droid or having the same alert klaxon as the Death Star did – but Rogue One was so full of nods that it looped around from feeling authentic to corny and back over and over. Or with Luke showing up in Mandalorian his appearance drew agency and dramatic action away from the actual show’s cast, while Obi-Wan’s return to full-Jedi action is earned and comes as the result of character growth and development.

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Rocket, Todd, Dave

Ben wrote:

Oh, and if you’re going to rip off Jedi: Fallen Order, make sure the budget includes purge troopers

Thinking a bit more about it, events repeating does illustrate neatly the nature of the Empire.

This series is set five years after Jedi: Fallen Order.  Fortress Inquisitorius hasn’t changed anything since Kestis’ earlier assault.  Why not? Well, if you propose a change, you become responsible for it and, if it fails….

Plus Nur is in the Mustafar system.  Vader’s system.

Don’t worry, everyone: It’s not Elan Sleazebaggano

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Todd, Dave

Yeah, I really enjoyed seeing Anakin in the flashbacks. It lent some sort of legitimacy to Oobi-Doobs memories of his padawan (and Vaders memories of his former master). Not that the story needs it for us fans, I mean we all know, but it becomes more real somehow.

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lorcan_nagle, Dave

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Yeah, that was another solid episode this week. So long as next week doesn’t shit the bed this will be one of the best additions to Star Wars since Disney took over.

Well, we’ve presumably got Liam to look forward to next week.

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lorcan_nagle

Ben wrote:

The flashback duel was OK.  But the deaging effects were weird.

Were there deaging effects? I didn’t notice any. Christensen looked his age to me – noticeably older than in the prequels, but the performance carried it.

I’m no expert but it looked more like a bit of makeup to smooth out some of the lines on his face, which might account for the slightly weird look.

Ah… I was right… though to be fair they kinda telegraphed that “plot twist”, so yeah…

Uhm, fight coreographies were really good this episode, probably not by the same people than the previous ones… The direction still leaves a lot to be desired though.

Anakin looked baaaad… why not just de-age him digitally? Shouldn’t be as hard as Luke… still though, good to see the actor back, poor guy I always feel bad for him.

Oh and yeah they need to establish how powerful Vader is because here he’s stopping an entire ship and ripping it to pieces, and last episode he couldn’t put a fire out… it’s dumb… But hey, bad-ass Vader is always a win I guess.

Anyways, some good fight sequences, the rest was meh… why they didn’t make a movie out of this I’ll never understand

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Chris D

Pretty sure an Obi Wan movie with the OG cast would’ve sold much, much, MUCH better than that Solo one (not that it did so bad either, IIRC)… Maybe with a movie they could’ve had better writers… hahahaha nah, j/k… they would’ve had better CGI at least

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe it’s just not possible to use the force that way as if the force wouldn’t permit it. The force runs through all living things, right? Connects them etc. Force users that exert extreme pressure on things that are “dead”, like the ship, can tear them to shreds if they’re powerful enough. But tearing a living thing apart? Force won’t have it. Illegal move. Can’t be done.

Although due to a pesky legal loophole, choking people to death is fine.

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Ben

I still think most of the action sequences look really bad. To me it looks like early rehersals, where the actors are just going through the motions and have not yet practised enough to make it look convincing. The scene where the stormtroopers are advancing through the opened hangar door was particularly bad. The stormtroopers were walking slowly and firing their guns and the refugees were firing back, no one looked like they were aiming, and no one took cover. It was like an amateur reenactment of a battle.

The problem I have with these fill in stories is that you pretty much know where most of the players are going to end up. You know Obi-Wan and Darth Vader and Leia are going to survive. Really the only person whose story you are curious about is Reva.

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Todd

Tobias Radesäter wrote:

I still think most of the action sequences look really bad. To me it looks like early rehersals, where the actors are just going through the motions and have not yet practised enough to make it look convincing. The scene where the stormtroopers are advancing through the opened hangar door was particularly bad. The stormtroopers were walking slowly and firing their guns and the refugees were firing back, no one looked like they were aiming, and no one took cover. It was like an amateur reenactment of a battle.

I’ve said this before about the Disney+ Marvel and Star Wars shows (recently about Moon Knight): The ease with which that new technology allows them to do whatever when it comes to special effects takes its toll when it comes to care in directing, especially proper action sequences. It’s all very shoddy. Obi-Wan is somewhat better at this than Mando and Boba, but it still feels cheap, even though it looks great on the surface.

I do agree with David that the direction is better than most of these shows though.

Overall, it’s pretty solid – there are some annoying things (like Leia being impossible for adults to catch in spite of being very slow indeed and some moments just working out too easily), but overall the story works well, and Ewan McGregor carries the show nicely. Some great Vader/Obi moments, too. It’s the best of the Star Wars shows to date without a doubt.

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garjones, Todd, lorcan_nagle, Dave

It’s more strange to me that this time it stood out, normally it really doesn’t.

Still, one ep to go.

Was catching up with a friend earlier and he was not happy about the series, dubbing it Obi Can’t Do Kenobi.

Yeah, I thought it was good but frustratingly short of being great. It veered a bit too far into recreating moments from the movies – like the fight between Vader and Obi-Wan was similar in terms of tone and action and theme to Luke’s duel with Vader in Return of the Jedi – I liked that it ends quite differently, and the effect of Anakin/Vader’s voice switching and berating Obi-Wan was a real high-point of the show. I liked Reva’s arc, but it needed a bit more fleshing out at points, like her revelation should have come an episode or two earlier to better build up her anger and frustration and give more of a glimmer of realisation that it’s the wrong track.

And that was easily Liam Neeson’s second-best cameo in a TV show this year.

I know they’ve been teasing more Obi-Wan stories if this one does well, but really this would be better done in one.

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Rocket, Dave

Damn, that was excellent.

The duel was well done. When ObiWan was doing the boulder assault on Vader I was picturing a rising combo meter.  50-hit combo!

Their final conversation worked well too.

I can’t say I thought that much of Reva across the series, but here there was a good sense of her doing stuff without knowing why. And then her sins catch up with her and it all collapses. It would be interesting to see what happens next with her.  Not least as SW has rarely done living redemptions.

Meanwhile, in Castle Bastard, on Planet Craphole, a master negotiator extracts a hefty price for a few words.  (Wait, that’s McDarmuid charging Disney, well, I hope he did.)  That also worked.

Alderaan – easily one of the things the series did best and so it proves here.

And then there’s perfect pair of scenes on Tatooine to finish off.

It wasn’t entirely flawless, the Tatooine night scenes were a bit too murky but that was its only flaw.  The rest was hit after hit.

It’s also the kind of conclusion that reverberates backwards to improve the eps that preceded it.  Eps 1-2 I liked, eps 3-5 I was more critical of, but even those had bits I liked.  Knowing that they lead to this can only boost them.

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lorcan_nagle

That to me was the point – she didn’t know what she was doing or why.  She was trying to be Sith, going with someone having to pay, but was already broken.

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lorcan_nagle

I thought about thanking the previous post but i did not want to get it confused. I don’t agree with any of it but I like Jon continuing to stick to his guns and maintaining his platform. Jon, Power to you and keep being you.

So long as they don’t do with Snyder what they did with Johnson – so give him Episode X – it’ll be fine.

Rocket wrote:

I thought about thanking the previous post but i did not want to get it confused. I don’t agree with any of it but I like Jon continuing to stick to his guns and maintaining his platform. Jon, Power to you and keep being you.

Platform? It’s an opinion man… I know there’s a lot of SW fans, and that’s cool… but if you think any of these shows are good TV… well, can’t help you there.

Todd wrote:

Keep Snyder away from Star Wars. It’s been damaged enough already.

Lol… man, you guys are obsessed with the Zaddy…

But I agree… Snyder should stay the fuck away from Disney… last thing I’d want is a shitty watered down Snyder movie, no thanks, I’ll pass

Obi-Wan Season 2 Needs To Explore His Sexuality

So, there’s these two scenes in a 410-page, perfectly fine YA book.  Guess what happens next….

For me the idea ObiWan cares about people but isn’t particularly interested in shagging works.  It also places a further divide between him and his bag of overflowing hormones Padawan.

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Rocket, Todd

Jon wrote:

I’m kind of astounded at how shit these SW tv shows are… you spend all that money to get the license and that’s what you do with it? Fuck, I’m not even a fan and it makes me mad… =/

I thought Obi-Wan was okay overall, but just okay – and I kinda feel the same as Jon there. It’s a mystery to me why these shows all feel a little shoddy, not made with enough care and attention to detail. Fett was the worst, Kenobi the best, but they all should be way better.

Hopefully Andor will break the curse; that one looks really good.

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Uncle Retrospective, Todd

I don’t know about that… the Not-Boba-Fett show, I mean the Mandalorian, still felt a need to rely on the pre-existing SW things with the inclusion of baby yoda, and then later all that fan-service shit in S2, but to be fair, sure, the Mandalorian is probably the best of the bunch and IMO it’s better when not focusing on the fan-service shit.

I wish all Mando epsiodes were like the one in the Boba Fatt show (ironically), where he’s on other planets and he’s doing mando shit, instead of baby sitting a fuckin puppet… but unfortunately it seems they couldn’t go one episode without their toy ad…

Anyhoo… I’m not gonna watch the Andor one unless I hear it’s a proper good TV show, not just a good “SW show” ’cause that doesn’t mean much at this point. Also, not gonna lie, I kinda don’t care… which goes back to the point of them relying on the Skywalker saga and nostalgia… it’s kind of a catch 22 situation I suppose.

What I was clumsily tring to say is that the Mandalorian had a good idea behind it by making a show that looked very SW-like, what with Mando looking like Boba Fett (and just looking cool as fuck, which helps), and that should’ve been enough… hell I was fine with a one season of baby sitting baby yoda as long as that whole thing ended there, but it didn’t and they went further and further into fan service. But yeah, it’s a hard act to balance, because on the other hand the new Andor show just doesn’t appeal to me, ’cause I don’t really see any cool SW-type shit in it.

Kenobi really was their best shot for a TV show: Secondary, but quite important, SW jedi character with ties to Vader… but they blew it too.