Weekend Watch - Obi-Wan Kenobi
The show is certainly worth watching thanks to its faithful exploration of the character, quality performances from McGregor and Vivien Lyra Blair, and some phenomenal lightsaber battles.
Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give a recommendation and review of it. This week, we’re taking a look at the now completed Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries from Disney+. It started streaming at the end of May and just released its final episode on Wednesday. It features cameos and performances from many of the Star Wars prequel actors alongside some characters who haven’t yet been featured in live action or whose version has not yet been featured in live action and a couple of brand-new characters as well. Let’s dive in.
Letter Grade: B+, imperfect but highly enjoyable (Last episode is an A)
Should you Watch This Show? If you are a Star Wars lover, particularly of the prequel era, this show will make you happy. There are things for non-fans as well, but a lot of what makes it great is the connection to pre-existing content.
Why?
Obi-Wan Kenobi does a few things extremely well and a few others much more poorly. For starters, Ewan McGregor gets to live in the character of Obi-Wan more than he ever did in the prequel films, creating a deeper on-screen Obi-Wan than we’ve gotten outside of maybe some episodes of the animated Clone Wars show and the final scenes of Revenge of the Sith. In addition, the show uses cameos from the prequel actors well, using them to provide motivation and explanation, not just as fan service (aside from maybe one at the very end of the show). Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Vader is also arguably better than the Rogue One Vader because he gets more screen time, more development, and even more opportunity to be the incredibly powerful and menacing figure that we all saw in that hallway scene – his moments are highly rewarding in this show. The show’s introduction of new characters/actors goes both ways with some very well executed and some less so. The child actress cast as young Leia is a revelation, holding her own with every adult on-screen and serving as a consistent reminder across every episode how much cooler Leia is than Luke. The new character of Reva, played by Moses Ingram of The Queen’s Gambit fame, is somewhat less consistently good – due in no part, as far as I could tell, to Ingram’s acting. Her character arc is highly predictable, and much of her dialogue feels more Phantom Menace than Empire Strikes Back, but at the same time, her character does a lot to make the action of the show happen, and she has some moments to shine, particularly at the end of the show’s second and fifth episodes. The young Luke actor is probably the weakest of the bunch, but he is kept off-screen for most of the show’s episodes and has very little to do when he is there, so it’s not a huge issue. Story-wise, the show’s first two episodes and last episode and a half are incredibly good, giving great action sequences, solid character development, and interesting locales to visit along the way. The middle two episodes drag somewhat in getting to the actual end of the show but do offer a good Vader moment and a solid enough break-out plot to keep you engaged for the show’s climax and conclusion. I’m going to close this out by highlighting what makes this show as good as it is – its devotion to character-driven story and lightsaber fight content. Both Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader get strong character development individually and relationally throughout the show’s episodes, and their dynamic game of cat-and-mouse is a big part of what makes the show so enjoyable even through moments of weak dialogue and occasional pieces of what feels like filler. And the lightsaber fights between the two help showcase the development of the two characters and their relationship. From their first encounter to their final epic showdown, we see both how both characters have changed from the end of the prequels and how the show is setting them up for their fateful meeting on the Death Star in A New Hope. All told, the show is certainly worth watching thanks to its faithful exploration of the character, quality performances from McGregor and Vivien Lyra Blair, and some phenomenal lightsaber battles. Check it out on Disney+ when you are next in the mood for some Star Wars content.