Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Season 1: Part 5

[The Crawling Chaos]

Onto this week's episode:

Not the worst the show has had to offer. I think I still enjoy the direction and the acting - and the nostalgia most of all. But the writing... The writing is horrendous!

A few observations:

- Why is the Empire even tracking Kenobi and Leia? Their whole plan hinges on the fact that Kenobi will come out of hiding to rescue Leia in person and bring her back to Alderaan. Hello, people! They are going to ALDERAAN. What's more, Alderaan is well known to be a peaceful planet without weapons, and therefore less risk. Just set up an ambush there or nearby instead of wasting your time and resources.
- Obi-Wan surrenders to Reva and offers to be her diversion so she can kill Vader. Then he leaves the planet as Vader arrives, leaving Reva alone and without a diversion. What?
- Reva captures then releases Obi-Wan in front of a squad of stormtroopers and no one bats an eyelid?
- Reva has always wanted to kill Vader to avenge herself and her murdered friends. What exactly is she waiting for? Why not find a way to do just that when Vader is at his most helpless (in his underwear, immerged in a bacta tank and plugged on a breathing device)? What's her big masterplan here? Just wait til he dies of old age so she can spit at his corpse?
- I did not understand one bit what Vader and the Grand Inquisitor were trying to prove or achieve my manipulating Reva. It sounds like Vader has always known who she was and what drove her. Seems they could have dispensed with her a long time ago. She spent the greater part of the series trying to convince them that she was worth anything, which they repeatedly questioned. So why did they even indulge her? Also seems somewhat risky to let a traitor stab yourself with her lightsaber, which the Grand Inquisitor did, just to prove a point. Then again, in recent years Star Wars characters have all become Kenny McCormick. Looks like being stabbed through the chest with a lightsaber has just become an inconvenient flesh wound nowadays.
- Reva's motivation: Vader killed all the Jedi, so I will kill him... To that end I will serve Vader and spend years becoming the Empire's most ruthless and vicious Jedi killer... What?
- Devil's in the details: Episode III's Anakin had a scar across the eye. That scar is not present in any of the flashbacks to Order 66.
- Enough with the neon lightsaber blades! It's great every once in a while and in dark scenes most of all, but now the characters always have a blue wash over their faces when they fight.
- "Hello. Anakin Skywalker, 45, padawan."
- Just like The Mandalorian and the Book of Boba Fett, the series has saved what could have been the interesting bits (Reva's past and motivation, Obi-Wan reconnecting with his powers) for the final episode. Everything before that was an endless filler, one wild goose chase after another. Now they've only got one episode to wrap up and it's not enough. Reva's redemption or downfall will feel like too little, too less, too late. The writers are more interested in vapid, superficial entertainment than they are in developing characters. Did they really think Reva's past would be a big revelation to anyone? A climactic twist? People know who she is since the first episode opened on a group of padawans walking through the Jedi temple as it came under attack. Her 'revelation' should have happened in episode 2, with the subsequent episodes used to develop her further.

It may sound like I'm being overly negative, but that's because I only react to things that upset or disappoint me. That doesn't mean there isn't some good to this series. It's not the worst content I've seen, not by a large margin. But to me writing good Star Wars content is... easy. The expanded universe authors did it for years. There was a new book or comic coming out every single week and not all of it was great. But it was nearly always enjoyable: The characterization of legacy characters was respected, the plots even when they were uninspiring made sense. I could munch through hundreds, thousands of pages of the new arc without spotting a single continuity mistake.

I strongly disagree that the Star Wars fandom is harsh or hard to please, it's anything but. Like I said earlier, SW fans will always show up, out of sheer optimism. They want to love every minute of every new show, no matter how many times they have been disappointed before. And it's easy to give Star Wars fans what they want: Just pick any old myth, replace the characters with Jedi, Imperials and scoundrels, sprinkle it with a touch of mysticism, add lightsabers and hyperspace and you've got a hit. We are the easiest community to please. A somewhat coherent story and consistency with the established canon is not too much to ask.

 

[Dave]

Not the worst the show has had to offer. I think I still enjoy the direction and the acting - and the nostalgia most of all. But the writing... The writing is horrendous!

I thought that was a better episode (though I agree with your long list of faults) and that they are keeping things back for the final episode. However, there were a few odd things one had to believe again:

Reva has always wanted to kill Vader to avenge herself and her murdered friends.

That was a strange plan of hers. If it was simply to walk up behind Vader and stab him then she had ample chances to do it earlier, especially while he was in the tank. My best guess is that she really, really wanted to get that Grand Inquisitor badge first. I expect that she was in the Girl Guides before she was a youngling.

However, the false bluff plan was even stranger, surely?

Also seems somewhat risky to let a traitor stab yourself with her lightsaber, which the Grand Inquisitor did, just to prove a point.

He was obviously lying. He knew nothing about either plan, but didn't want to appear foolish, so he pretended that he was fully and completely aware of everything all the time. A kind of triple bluff bluff. Maybe?? I've confused myself now.

The only other thing is why the computer infrastructure designers put equipment into spaces that can only be accessed by 10-year-old children? Maybe they would usually have a droid that goes "OBB! to do that kind of thing. Still, I'm not going to criticise another culture's ideas and practises, especially one in a galaxy far, far away, as we used to send children up chimneys to sweep them too.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Agreed on all counts, BT Jones. More and more it feels like Disney has taken the cynical approach to releasing content:

It is completely cynical. I don't think there's any genuine love for Star Wars in this, despite what the creators will say. If anything they're farming "you" (the consumer - not you personally) whose slavish dedication to a franchise "you" were indoctrinated to as a child with consumerist toy culture of the 80's.

Everything about Star Wars these days is cynical - the appeals to nostalgia, the removal of Lucas and his subsequent semi-reinstatement, the hypocrisy, the mawkishness, the sentimentalism couched as progressivism, Leia's portrayal as a saccharine pseudo-toddler, the church / apple store style 'hypesteria' of Star Wars celebrations.

When I'm aware of myself getting sucked in, I have to pull away. It's an instablock on Youtube for anything Star Wars now.

Not that I have anything against Star Wars in the abstract, but the corporate entity that is Star Wars is like "Coca ConanTM ". The lowest common denominator, sugary aftertaste designed by committee to hit all four taste vectors. It just doesn't compare to the Real Thing.

Regrettably, unlike STDiscovery, my childhood conditioning still made me tune in, to my shame.

Onto this week's episode:

Not the worst the show has had to offer. I think I still enjoy the direction and the acting - and the nostalgia most of all. But the writing... The writing is horrendous!

Agreed. It wasn't good but it didn't make me want to rip my eyes out.

I don't nesc think dialogue has to be great if you've got good actors and a compelling plot / vision. SW has never had great dialogue, but what Lucas lacked in writing chops he made up for with high level ideas and the overall conception of characters, iconography and plot. Sadly, this has neither. It rehashes, and it fundamentally misunderstands the defining axioms of Lucas' universe.

A few observations:

- Why is the Empire even tracking Kenobi and Leia? Their whole plan hinges on the fact that Kenobi will come out of hiding to rescue Leia in person and bring her back to Alderaan. Hello, people! They are going to ALDERAAN. What's more, Alderaan is well known to be a peaceful planet without weapons, and therefore less risk. Just set up an ambush there or nearby instead of wasting your time and resources.

It's stupid. The writers underestimate their audience, or didn't exercise enough care when plotting, or were just in a rush to fill a series that had been ordered to broadcast on a certain date before pen had hit paper.

Even the idea of abducting Leia to lure OWK out of hiding hinges on Reva knowing that Leia is Vader's daughter and the connection between OWK and Leia. That makes her realisation about the existence of Luke even more preposterous.

- Obi-Wan surrenders to Reva and offers to be her diversion so she can kill Vader. Then he leaves the planet as Vader arrives, leaving Reva alone and without a diversion. What?
- Reva captures then releases Obi-Wan in front of a squad of stormtroopers and no one bats an eyelid?

I didn't understand that bit at all. I felt something was cut out. That was up there with the toddler chase and cartoon villains running into trees.

- Reva has always wanted to kill Vader to avenge herself and her murdered friends. What exactly is she waiting for? Why not find a way to do just that when Vader is at his most helpless (in his underwear, immerged in a bacta tank and plugged on a breathing device)? What's her big masterplan here? Just wait til he dies of old age so she can spit at his corpse?

It was obvious all along she was one of the younglings, but I'd assumed Vader had captured a few to turn to the dark side so he could eventually usurp Palps. That's what Sith do, right?

The idea that she had volunteered to join the Inquisitors to get revenge and Vader had sensed it, pretended he hadn't but then put her in a position of power was daft. These are just writers shoehorning in twists.

- I did not understand one bit what Vader and the Grand Inquisitor were trying to prove or achieve my manipulating Reva. It sounds like Vader has always known who she was and what drove her. Seems they could have dispensed with her a long time ago. She spent the greater part of the series trying to convince them that she was worth anything, which they repeatedly questioned. So why did they even indulge her? Also seems somewhat risky to let a traitor stab yourself with her lightsaber, which the Grand Inquisitor did, just to prove a point. Then again, in recent years Star Wars characters have all become Kenny McCormick. Looks like being stabbed through the chest with a lightsaber has just become an inconvenient flesh wound nowadays.
- Reva's motivation: Vader killed all the Jedi, so I will kill him... To that end I will serve Vader and spend years becoming the Empire's most ruthless and vicious Jedi killer... What?

Reva is a terribly conceived character with no depth - it's no wonder she's portrayed as an angry toddler. I'm beginning to think the meme of Disney trying to passive aggressively make all the villains angry, pathetic fan boy surrogates has an element of truth. Vader, Tarking and Palps were great villains not because they lost their temper and shouted a lot but because they were ruthless, calm, efficient and scary. Spoilt brat's aren't scary or intimidating.

Vader's ridiculous Noooo in ROTS was bathetic because the sudden outburst of emotion made him less of a villain. It ruined him as a character.

But, I reckon this Disney's mandate - to make sure there's no real peril in their properties. To not make the audience feel unsafe. It's kids entertainment after all - which is precisely not what monstrous Vader should be.

The prequels were a mistake.

If the series had been orientated around Reva, it could have been interesting - following her flight from Order 66, showing her trying to survive on her own with untrained force powers, her standing on the edge of the dark side, being recruited to the inquisitors and so on - but it seems that the writing stuff conceived of her backstory / twist as a throwaway point, not an essential part of her character. Poor Moses Ingram - she had nothing to work with.

- Enough with the neon lightsaber blades! It's great every once in a while and in dark scenes most of all, but now the characters always have a blue wash over their faces when they fight.

Agreed - it washes out fight scenes and turns it into a visual mess.

I strongly disagree that the Star Wars fandom is harsh or hard to please, it's anything but. Like I said earlier, SW fans will always show up, out of sheer optimism. They want to love every minute of every new show, no matter how many times they have been disappointed before. And it's easy to give Star Wars fans what they want: Just pick any old myth, replace the characters with Jedi, Imperials and scoundrels, sprinkle it with a touch of mysticism, add lightsabers and hyperspace and you've got a hit. We are the easiest community to please. A somewhat coherent story and consistency with the established canon is not too much to ask.

I think part of the problem is that Disney has created a church of Star Wars fans. If you've ever seen Star Wars celebration videos they're like some kind of weird fundamentalist meeting. You can't in one breath hype something to the level of a religion, then get surprised and upset at the pushback when you try to undermine the orthodoxy.

RLM had it right when they said SW is essentially limited in terms of the stories it can tell. As soon as you scoop out family, the heroes journey and the ring cycle you're just left with the aesthetics and generic sci-fi / space opera. Whatever they do will more often than not compare unfavourably.

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

This is a great post, @Mon0Zer0. I wholeheartedly agree with your perception and analysis of what Star Wars has become.

If the series had been orientated around Reva, it could have been interesting - following her flight from Order 66, showing her trying to survive on her own with untrained force powers, her standing on the edge of the dark side, being recruited to the inquisitors and so on - but it seems that the writing stuff conceived of her backstory / twist as a throwaway point, not an essential part of her character. Poor Moses Ingram - she had nothing to work with.

Oh, don't worry, she'll get her own show/book/animated series soon enough. There are already rumors out there that she's next in line.

It's not so much Disney's cynicism that I find fault with - they're more like surfers riding a good wave they chanced upon. It's the fact that they don't even try to wrap it up in an attractive package with competent writers. Surely there's a way to both milk a cow dry and get some decent cheese out of it? I'd gladly watch a Reva show with Moses Ingram if it was handled competently. But I have very little hope.

It seems it's all about overwhelming (or rather dulling the senses of) their audience with a constant barrage of content before they get a chance to wake up and realize they're being fed absolute garbage.

Is it really sustainable though? As a part-time teacher I've noticed younger generations, even those who were born just before the prequel trilogy came out, have always ignored or moved away from Star Wars... Hm, now I wonder whether that also comes into play in Disney's strategy. Maybe they're just trying to make as much money out of Star Wars as quickly as possible before all the fans are too dead or too old to care anymore.

 

[REBerg]

Maybe what Obi-Wan Kenobi needs is a good Mandalorian booster shot.
Mando's return did wonders for the flagging Book of Boba Fett. Disney should consider concentrating its efforts on The Mandalorian.
Of the three, The Mandalorian had the most heart and was the show I most looked forward to watching.

 

[BT Jones]

Seems I'm a good week behind everyone else watching the show. I will have to catch up!

I'm not saying they're wrong. It works and I'm part of the problem. After the disappointment of The Book of Boba Fett, I didn't cancel my subscription. I knew Kenobi was not far around the corner and Disney + had other things to offer to keep my mind busy. In the interim I rewatched both seasons of The Mandalorian to remind myself of why I like that show, and I still do. I always thought Kenobi would be the last thing I watched because I had zero interest in Andor, but now I find myself wondering if after Kenobi's disappointment and Andor's somewhat promising or intriguing trailer, I shouldn't give that one a chance if only just to avoid leaving Disney + on a sour note. And after Andor there'll be another. And another.

I couldn't agree more, @The Crawling Chaos. You are literally describing my exact mindset. The only difference is, with the big family we have and multiple subscriptions, we don't pay not Disney, we are just a guest account on my mother-in-laws, so between us all, we only pay 1 or 2 subs a month. I suspect this is a loophole the companies will soon close!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Hi guys. Lots of good posts today. I don’t want to come across as ignorant (by not replying) but I don’t really wish to comment on what’s said. Not for any dramatic reasons but that my experience of SW is entirely different.

I’m wishing the week away till next Wednesday. I need to pick up a stack of brown paper bags before then, though.

 

[Parson]

I felt this was a notch above the last episode. I found myself getting into it now and again. There was one thing that really rang my bell negatively however:

Spoiler

I couldn't believe that Reva got run through with a light saber by Vader and still lived and functioned. I was surprised when she was run through by Vader. I thought "Wow! They are really killing off a star." and then "She's alive? You've got to be kidding me.

 

[BT Jones]

I felt this was a notch above the last episode. I found myself getting into it now and again. There was one thing that really rang my bell negatively however:

Spoiler

I couldn't believe that Reva got run through with a light saber by Vader and still lived and functioned. I was surprised when she was run through by Vader. I thought "Wow! They are really killing off a star." and then "She's alive? You've got to be kidding me.

I've finally caught up with everyone else.
I'm with you, @Parson, that this was certainly better the all the other episodes, bar the opener. But I totally with @Mon0Zer0 and @The Crawling Chaos's points about the major plot holes and poor, poor character writing and motivations. A massive, unnecessary shame for all involved, and a the tarnishing of a beloved character with a needless, lackluster series (in much the same way Picard season 2 has been).

I do, however, feel there are plenty more stories to tell within the SW universe, provided the correct talent is employed, and that the central themes and feel of the franchise are respected. You can go stand-alone, minor western like Mandalorian; mercenary / crime like Boba Fett & Solo; rebellion / political like Rogue One, Andor, and Ep 1; dark and personal like Ep 3 & 5; or colourful space opera like 2, 4, 6 & 7 (I'll exclude episodes 8 & 9 from the list of what 'works'.

I think there are definitely stories that can be told on the origins of the Jedi religion, and a whole stretch of chronology preceding the events of 1-3, and the Old Republic arc. Also, stories from an Imperial perspective (the element of the Star Wars Battlefront 2 game featuring Iden Versio and her growing disillusionment with the Empire was perhaps underexplored (although for a computer game, it was probably as narrative-heavy as you could get), but is ripe for further exploration.

But, please, please, please, take the time to write the story, flesh our the characters and their motivations, and honor the look, sound, and music of the SW universe. Those are the things that are sacrosanct. Everything else is ripe for the plunder.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Spoilers, kinda in the latest Auralnauts vid:

 

[Dave]

I'll just put this from the AVClub here:

Speaking with Radio Times, director Deborah Chow stressed that the Disney+ show was conceived “as a limited series” and “its own standalone” story. But she conceded: “I mean, there are of course more stories that you could tell. There’s obviously another 10 years before we get to A New Hope and with a character like Obi-Wan Kenobi, I think even just watching him ride across the sand sometimes is interesting. So, who knows? It’s hard to say right now, but it was not the intention.”

"with a character like Obi-Wan Kenobi, I think even just watching him ride across the sand sometimes is interesting."

This is exactly the reason why we will never agree here. Some will find watching Obi-Wan sitting in a cave for 10 years interesting, but I would rather watch paint dry. And that's it! But I can tell you that if you accept that, that is all you are ever going to receive because there is no requirement for them to do anything else.

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

And yet I can't help thinking the show would have been a lot better had it just been about Obi-Wan sitting in a cave.

I'll watch the finale this evening. Here's hoping it is so good it redeems the whole thing. Here's me not holding my breath.