Obi-Wan

This review series is going to be an interesting experience for me; as I am coming at it from almost an opposite angle of any Marvel review I’ve ever done. I am a Star Wars casual, I enjoy the properties but I do not know details, and I remember only major plot points. I’ve never really done a review not knowing everything I can beforehand before, so let's see what that does to my enjoyment (or lack thereof) of this show.

Episode 1;

Action before exposition is always good, opening with something happening is always going to be better than someone talking or telling the audience what the plot is. Seeing something formatted the way I want to format my TV show and loving it gives me faith as a screenwriter. Inquisitors are hunting Obi-Wan, 10 years later Obi still has nightmares about his master's death and Ani and Padme. I LOVE that he's watching over Luke from a distance, it's adorable and really speaks to the bond that Obi had with both of his parents. “My name is Ben” LEIA NAMED HER CHILD AFTER OBI WAN!!!!! Baby Leia is the best thing in the world, I adore her. She is savage, definitely has Padme’s sass. Really not sure what people's problems are with this little actress, convinced they’ve never spent time around children because she’s brilliant. Also anyone complaining about Leia outrunning these snots have never chased a child around….

Y'all can’t convince me you just don’t know how tiny humans work. “She’s just as important as he is” FUCK YEAH SHE IS. The way that they establish Owen and Obi’s relationship is beautiful and consistent with the established cannon which we all appreciate. Obi has to come out of hiding to retrieve and protect Leia.

EP 2

Obi is perfect, busting this fake jedi, Kumail Nanjiani is so good at playing someone who is full of shit but he's also charismatic enough that he's still likable. Leia’s apprehension toward going with Obi Wan was super on brand and I still adore her. Her mistrust of Obi (right after getting almost kidnapped and then actually kidnapped) actually makes a lot of sense. Obi not knowing that Ani was alive is an excellent moment for character development that I quite like. I think that the message of me loving this show is that the deeper into it you are the less enjoyable the experience. My husband, who knows far more about Star Wars and its extended properties than I do, is not super impressed with the show thus far whereas I am enjoying it thoroughly. I think it comes down to expectations, I had no expectations going into this show because I genuinely have no idea what happens between the prequels and the originals so whatever happens in this show sounds great to me.

Ep 3

Now I’ve heard the internet go crazy with complaints since this show started but it really did blow up after episodes 3 and 4 were realized, time to see if those complaints were valid or just butthurt fanboy cries….

Reva is a compelling villain, not sure what the general public's problem is?She has direct contact with Darth Vader, and is super power hungry.Baby Leia asks Obi about her parents, and Obi opens up to her a little bit.This episode is great for building the bond between Leia and Obi-Wan as well as revealing to the audience their loneliness. Help finally comes after Obi Wan takes down a few stormtroopers and Leia is attached to her comfort droid.

“She’ll be a good fighter one day” love the way that they’ve set up Leia and her growth.

The use of Darth Vader in this show is really great, we get to see both sides of his and Obi-Wan’s bond and how each has developed from it. Vader and Kenobi face off #1 (#2 if we’re getting pedantic) results in Vader really just fucking with Kenobi, getting in his head, a force projection, Obi is widely out of shape and Vader has been building up strength and power for the last 10 years. Obi seeing Vader through flames as he drags him across fire is nice and poetic.

The show and its pacing is mediocre, sure, but definitely not as bad as internet fanboy tears say it is. It's a slow burn and it's taking its time but there is a very clear internal struggle for every character in every episode, it's a character driven story at its core and that will always be better in gratuitous lightsaber battles.