Lucasfilm's OBI-WAN KENOBI Series Was a Missed Opportunity to Tell a Great STAR WARS Story
When I watched the first two episodes of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series at Star Wars Celebration with thousands of Star Wars fans it was a cool experience, and I actually enjoyed those episodes, watching them in that atmosphere. Even after rewatching them, I thought the first two episodes were a good start, and while they had their issues, I overlooked them in hopes that things would smooth out over the course of the series.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. For me, the series just got worse as it went along. I didn’t care for the story that was told, and some of the creative decisions didn’t make any sense. In fact, there was a lack of common sense throughout the series, and it was silly to me watching supposedly smart and bright characters making stupid decisions. The series was plagued with weak scripts.
For me, the most important thing in a film and a TV series is the story, and this one was really rough and mediocre. Anthony Bourdain is quoted as saying, “The greatest sin is mediocrity,” and that’s what Obi-Wan Kenobi is. I know that there are a lot of fans out there that love this show, but I’ve seen much better stories told in the Star Wars franchise, and this series could and should have been so much better!
After every episode of this series, I would watch a couple of episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, especially from the final season, and it would remind me of what great Star Wars storytelling looked like. Obi-Wan Kenobi didn’t come close to reaching that bar. But Dave Filoni and his creative team proved that it can be done.
Sure, the show had some really cool moments that were fun to see! But with every one cool moment, there were a number of other things that made me roll my eyes in disappointment. It bummed me out because I was insanely excited about this series! Leading up to its release, I even defended it against the people that didn’t think it would be a good show! I wanted this show to be awesome because I believed that there was a freakin’ great story to tell! Unfortunately, the creative team behind the series didn’t tell that great story.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was a missed opportunity. I mean, they brought Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen back to reprise their roles of Obi-Wan and Darth Vader! Seeing these two characters face off with each other again after all these years was something I was insanely excited about! But in the end, it was lackluster and forgettable. Just a couple of guys throwing rocks at each other. I don’t know, a lightsaber fight scene with these two characters shouldn’t be boring!
As for the villain Reva, a.k.a. The Third Sister. She was a promising villain at the start, and I liked Moses Ingram in the role. But, I just didn’t care for her character’s story arc. It wasn’t really that interesting, and it wasn’t really that clear what was going on with her and her motivations. Then there’s the fact that she survived being run through with a lightsaber… twice! Once as a kid and once as an adult, which is just ridiculous to me. The Grand Inquisitor was also stabbed with a lightsaber and survived. It’s like lightsabers are meaningless now.
The Grand Inquisitor states in the series that revenge does wonders for the will to live, indicating this is how he and Reva survived their multiple lightsaber stabbings. But… come on. All this does is lessen the impact of how lethal a weapon the lightsaber is supposed to be.
As for the end of the series, and the very last scene, which I won’t spoil, it felt like it was just thrown in there to pander to the fans.
The series was just a rough watch for me because I know it could have been better. There are a lot of things that I could pick apart. This is just my opinion. If you liked the series, that’s great! I’m not going to argue with you or try and make you not like it! A lot of people enjoyed it! I don’t get it, because it seems like they were watching a different show than I was, but here are some things that people are saying that liked it. Just to show you a different side of the coin. Apparently, a lot of these people haven’t watched The Mandalorian.
What did you all think about the Obi-Wan Kenobi series?