Obi-Wan Kenobi Season 1

★★★ out of ★★★★★ (Overall Score)

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Season 1 (2022)

6 Episodes screened for review

Rated TV-14

Episodes 4-6 will be posted as a second part of the review.

Who knew that it would take 45 years to create a story that takes place 9 years before the original Star Wars? The Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which has already been receiving hype over the past few years, feels initially quite disappointing, with several plot contradictions, weak villains and some unengaging storytelling, but just as the series was about to get more mundane, Episodes 5 and 6 are the total inverse and save the series from being a subpar one.

Episode 1 starts off very slowly by narrating the events that happened during and after Revenge of the Sith, showing a first-person perspective of young Jedi Padawans during the horrific Order 66. It cuts to ten years in the future, where new characters, Reva/Third Sister (Moses Ingram), Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) and Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) arrive on the planet Tatooine to hunt for Jedi. There is an intense scene where they hold residents hostage in a raging desire to slaughter more Jedi, but it is undermined by Reva, who's a poorly-written villain. Her desperate eagerness to hunt for Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) is childish and difficult to believe.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan, under the alias Ben, lives as a meat worker some place away and quietly watches over Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely). By now, he's already a beaten and broken person, living in an eerily lonely cave in the outskirts of town. Luke's uncle, Owen (Joel Edgerton), forbids Obi-Wan in meeting him. Obi-Wan also stumbles across a Jedi named Nari, who requests his assistance, but Obi-Wan refuses. Nari is hanged shortly after. We are also introduced to Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair), her adoptive parents Breha Organa (Simone Kessell) and Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) and her planet Alderaan, where we see some daily affairs and funny dialogue in conversations with her cousin. Leia is quite well-written here, coming off as an intelligent yet shy character, who wants some time to herself.

This doesn't go well, as she gets chased in a remote area by several strangers (I know about this notorious chase scene. I don't need to say more.) Bail asks Obi-Wan to help, to which after a heated conversation, he reluctantly agrees. The first episode has got some impressive world-building, but it's probably too slow paced. However, Ewan sets the right tone for his character, flawlessly portraying him, day by day a step closer to the mannerisms of Alec Guinness' performance.

Episode 2 finds Obi-Wan heading to Daiyu, as he searches around for Leia, who might be kidnapped here. He meets a fake Jedi, Haja (Kumail Nanjiani), who reveals Leia's whereabouts. Obi-Wan follows these whereabouts, disarms the kidnappers and saves Leia. When the Grand Inquisitor knows about this, he puts Daiyu on lockdown, but Reva decides to place a bounty on Kenobi instead. When Leia learns about this, she's convinced she can't trust Obi-Wan, so she runs away from him, only to be proven by using the Force to prevent Leia from hitting the ground when she falls later.

A tiresome chase here and there leads to Reva informing Obi-Wan about Anakin (Hayden Christensen) being alive and becoming Darth Vader, and killing the Grand Inquisitor. Kenobi and Leia escape using a cargo transport. This episode is quite forgettable, with many boring scenes and repetitive action sequences. Even though it built a little on Obi-Wan and Leia, there is still little to no depth in the villains or other characters, especially Reva, who only keeps searching for Obi-Wan continuously without any explanation. The show also kills off the Grand Inquisitor too quickly, wasting a potentially dangerous villain.

Episode 3 is a slight improvement over the second one, as in the sense that we're introduced to a new character with some development, and a confrontation between Obi-Wan and Vader. They land on Mapuzo but find no one there. A kind driver offers them a ride, where they eventually meet up with stormtroopers in a murky situation, until a kind Imperial Officer named Tala (Indira Varma) saves them. Tala brings Kenobi and Leia to The Path, that leads them to an escape.  Unfortunately, Reva, the army, and Darth Vader has arrived on the planet, with Vader mercilessly killing people with the Force. His confrontation with Kenobi for the first time in ten years is chilling. Simultaneously, the show amplifies Vader's menace and instills fear, while also showing a worn-out Kenobi, who's still truly saddened about the loss of his great friend to the Sith Lord. The ending establishes some unexpected tension where Reva kidnaps Leia.

Still, there are a handful of plot inconsistencies where I'm afraid if I discuss them, it'd go too long. The first half of Obi-Wan Kenobi has been interesting in some way, yet sometimes a little disappointing. With the entire season done, consider it lucky chance that the second half of Kenobi is mostly more satisfying and sensational.