That's how we're gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.
This line (which has its roots in an interview with Irvin Kershner during the Empire era) may not be found - directly - in Kenobi, but it perfectly sums up both the series and the whole point of Star Wars, which was born through the counterculture against the "empire" of the USA, with the Rebels being "the little guys" as Lucas himself says, "the Viet Cong".
According to its creator, Star Wars isn't about spaceships and sci-fi (no matter if we're nerds and know every bit of obscure lore), it's just the vehicle for the story he wants to tell. Coming from anthropology, Lucas created an inherently political creation, around human relationships and especially around the family, biological and non-biological.
That's where the series steps in, as a direct interlude between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, i.e. the interconnected arcs of Obi-Wan and Anakin/Darth Vader. But for this bridge to make sense, it needs to satisfactorily carry the enormous weight of two of the biggest characters in pop culture history and deliver something we've never seen before across the rift between them. To separate itself from fan service, a series like this (well Ewan and Hayden are back and they're both great) needs to provide a satisfying answer to the question "now this, is it necessary?". And it does, oh boy, it does, with quite a few imbalances until the finale, but in a triumphant and deeply emotional way (along with The Last Jedi, it's by far the two best live-action Star Wars things we've seen in its time Disney).
I am what you made me.
Obi-Wan as we see him at the beginning of the series, is the personification of guilt and PTSD and this sentence of Vader's, comes as a nightmarish heartbreak to summarize the failure of Kenobi which brought an era of brutality for all. Cut off from the Force, emaciated by the defeat of the Jedi and the collapse of the fragile democracy, he is a far cry from the reserved, wise Jedi we see in A New Hope, but also from the lively, sassy Obi-Wan before Revenge of the Sith .
Vader also has a different dimension. He is the boogeyman, an otherworldly monster, both for us as an audience, for the creatures of the galaxy, and for Obi-Wan. "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." Vader's existence is a torture, built on pain. The more this pain grows inside him, both physical and mental, the more out of control and a wild beast he becomes. And this cruelty that we saw on camera should not be taken lightly. The bottom line isn't an R-rated Vader slaughtering people upside down, but the existential impasse he's in, the brutality that's his only purpose in life anymore, something that comes with the leitmotif he's given in the series, a raw, animalistic two-note pattern, far from the grandeur of the Imperial March, but which in his meetings with Obi-Wan is followed by a more mournful string passage, giving sound to a very inner pain of Vader, towards his old Master.
Then my friend is truly dead. Goodbye, “Darth”.
But it turns out that Vader is his own creation, in a deterministic plot twist. Selfishness, darkness, cruelty and aggression lurk early on in his character, as the flashback we see in the 5th episode reminds us, in case we had forgotten moments like "I slaughtered them like animals" and all the rest he does in prequels and animated series. Vader, is Anakin and there was nothing Obi-Wan could do to change that. He believed that he was his Master, that he bore all the responsibility for his downfall, when in reality he was just a - close - observer of a prescribed course, like the hatching of an egg. And just like that, he leaves and focuses on saving the future and those he loves, reconciled to the idea that Anakin is completely lost (which he later points out to Luke "He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil", until Luke comes with his youthful optimism and believes in Anakin).
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.
The appearance of Leia was the biggest surprise - I think - for all of us. Most of us expected a series more grounded in Tatooine, a reflection on how a Jedi lives in exile after being persecuted, charged with looking after one of the galaxy's greatest hopes, Luke, and how that particular Jedi comes face to face with his demons. , as a failed teacher of the "chosen". It's not that the show didn't give us that, it gave us more, but Leia's entrance gave a more adventure-focused plot to the point where we had aclassic “in and out – 20 minute adventure” episode. On the other hand, how much more depth he gave to why Obi-Wan was Leia's only hope "in our most desperate hour" as he says in the most famous message in the history of cinema. Why would she choose this Jedi, when her father has connections with the likes of Ahsoka (ok, obviously it wasn't like that in '77, but you get my point), why would she get excited shouting “Ben Kenobi, where is he? ". It was also a very nice opportunity to see the beloved Jimmy Smits, who dropped a line that hurts in every possible dimension, continuing the references to A New Hope: "One day, this planet will look to you Leia".
Droids, inquisitors, rebels and aliens from a thousand worlds
The galaxy may be smaller in the Disney+ shows, the cinematic element is somewhat lacking, but there are pieces of the world that shine through in Kenobi, even in a galaxy of skulls, desolate and desperate in the years of tyranny. From the householder in one, to the core of the resistance in the other (btw, as my good friend Dimitris Papadimitriou pointed out, Path is an analogy of the Underground Railroad, making it one of my favorite sociopolitical references in Star Wars), presences expressed somewhat tedious, but enjoyable.
The Inquisitors were cartoonishly great (Grand Inquisitor 🤝Darth Vader: being sassy extra bitches) and Reva is a character we needed. Maybe a little predictable in her story (not that the clues we were given from the first scene of the series about where this is going to be subtle) but Moses Ingram sold it fantastically, especially in the last two episodes and personally it touched me as a juxtaposition to Vader's original malice.
And when you say it can't, they can't give us more iconic droids, here comes Lola and especially NED-B, who ok, anyone who didn't love it and wasn't moved by the sacrifice of the good, silent, guardian giant, has no heart .
P.S.: AUNT BERU X GKANIA REAL MVP TOU FINALE
Binge watching has changed how we receive a series
The way of watching a series has fundamentally changed how the audience reacts to it. There is a terrible impatience to have all the pieces of the plot resolved at once, patience is lost, there is a rush to cram down a project that does not satisfy all our wants from the first episode. The series and pop culture in general are consumerist in nature, but this excessive rush of binge watching does not appeal to me. I want to watch the episode, discuss it with friends and acquaintances, have this magical anticipation for the next week.
And yes, there are issues with Kenobi, yes, the editing, the length of the episodes, the sloppy production in some episodes hits hard, especially when it comes to one of the biggest comebacks in the history of the medium. But we said, anyone who chooses to whine maliciously, sorry, but they're miserable. So simple.
Btw, very nice to choose to have each episode of the series correspond thematically to episodes I-VI, even if it gave us in the fourth a heist plot carbon of the already told story of 1977.
I wish we could see more Ewan as Obi-Wan, and more Hayden as Anakin/Vader, these people are a gift for Star Wars and for the fans and for the art and for this wonderful escapism
Thats my second post about Obi-Wan show and after watching it 3 times
