TV Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Written by Grady Fiorio Original Publishing Date: July 13th, 2022 Rating 2/5

I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Director Deborah Chow Runtime 4 Hr 30 Min Format Digital (Streaming) Release Date 2022

To say that Star Wars has had a troubled couple of years would be quite an understatement. No matter how you feel about the franchise, almost all of its output post the original trilogy has been inconsistent. The special editions and prequels were met with disdain, video games, and extended universe were hit and miss, and Disney wiped the cannon clean and tried to replace it, with each subsequent piece of content proving to be more controversial than the last. Now before I get too lost in the sauce it's important to state that this isn't another piece of Star Wars nerd-rage telling you why you need to hate every new thing to come from Star Wars. There are plenty of exhausting youtube video essays and clickbait articles out there to fuel that hate train. That's not what I nor this review are about. I've been pretty disappointed with the way Disney has handled this franchise, but I'm not here to tell you what you can and can't enjoy. It just so happens that most of Disney's Star Wars output is just not for me.

The sequel trilogy proved to be a real turning point for me when it came to the way I consumed media. 15-year-old me was unbelievably hyped for the new Star Wars trilogy. This would be my generation's Star Wars, that I'd get to experience opening day, in the theater! The Force Awakens came and I loved it. I saw it multiple times with friends and family, and I couldn't be happier. When Rogue One came around the following year, I was ready to get back in the saddle and go in for more Star Wars magic. But then things changed. Opening night I went and saw Rogue One with a friend, and truth be told, I didn't like it all that much. Sure the Vader scene at the end was cool, and I liked that the ending took some risks, but everything else fell flat for me. I think if I were to rewatch it as an adult I'd like it better, but I've felt little desire to watch it again after seeing it the one time in the theater. I started to worry that maybe this new generation of Star Wars wasn't what I'd hoped. But it's just one movie. Just a bump in the road. I mean we have plenty more on the way, now's not the time to get discouraged.

Another year goes by and I'm back in the theater watching The Last Jedi. I remember the exact moment when the credits rolled, and my friend and I looked each other dead in the eye with the same baffled look. “What the fuck was that?” Did we really just watch that? Was that even real? Did Disney really put out a new Star Wars movie so incomprehensibly bad that I had to question whether or not I was stuck in some antidepressant-induced fever dream? Okay maybe now is the time to get discouraged. It made me realize that Star Wars was stuck in some serious shit. The kind that you can't just retcon your way out of. But that didn't stop them from trying! Solo followed the next year, and while it wasn't great, it was a fine sci-fi movie that got the job done. But Solo was just a drop in the water. Disney now found itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. How do they follow up on The Last Jedi? The movie was hugely divisive, and really put the canon of Star Wars on its head, for better or for worse depending on who you ask. And what was Disney's answer? Fire Episode 9's original director, dramatic script rewrites, and like I mentioned previously; Retcon! Retcon! Retcon! The Rise of Skywalker was a film that tried so hard to please everyone that it pleased no one. By that point, I knew what I was getting into, but of course like the Stockholm syndrome Star Wars fan that I am, I still went into that theater on opening night. "The dead speak!" Oh, good fuck. There was clearly no plan and no cohesion. Just throwing together a trilogy in the world's biggest franchise, holding it together with Elmer's glue and rubber bands. By the end of the film, I wasn't mad, I was just disappointed.

The Rise of Skywalker taught me a pretty good lesson in being an adult. A shitty lesson but an important one nonetheless. Don't get wrapped up in the excitement. Detach yourself from the hype. When something new comes around, enjoy it for what it is, and if it sucks, take a breath and move on. But in the wake of all the madness, there was, dare I say, a new hope (okay I'm sorry that was pretty bad). Behold, The Mandalorian. Jon Favreau did what seemed like the impossible. He made Star Wars fun again. We could finally take a new character and a new story, divorced from the Skywalkers (for the most part), and embrace the western and samurai roots that built the original trilogy. Maybe the future of Star Wars wasn't on the big screen but rather in our homes. Hell, a lot of Star Wars was inspired by the old serials of the '40s and '50s. Maybe this was just the circle of life. Two seasons come around, both are pretty successful, and a whole new host of Star Wars shows get greenlit. One of these being a holy grail for Star Wars fans, Obi-Wan Kenobi. While a lot of us were less than happy with the prequels, the one thing almost everyone could agree on was that Ewan Mcgregor did a pretty kick-ass job at bringing a younger version of the character to life. With the Clone Wars series really fleshing out his and many other characters, many fans wanted to see what ole' Ben was up to in the 20 years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, and Kenobi could be that missing piece of the puzzle. Originally announced as a movie but then turned into a TV show, this miniseries would give us a look at Obi-Wan as he battled his guilt for indirectly starting the genocide of his own people and losing his best friend in the process. The potential was endless and it seemed like Disney had a home run on their hands. However, this would not be the case. Kenobi ended up being a soulless shell of what it could have been. Once again leaving me with the feeling, "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed."

I think Kenobi's biggest misstep was the same issue that befell the sequels. Lack of vision. Kenobi doesn't know what it wants to be or who it's for. Is it a kid's show, or for older fans? Is it The Three Stooges, or a character study? Is it one continuous narrative or adventure of the week? I just wish Disney would decide on what they want Star Wars to be. If they are only interested in making a kid's series, that's fine, but just tell me. I'm tired of being baited into movies and shows that just aren't for my target demographic. This type of storytelling can't commit, stepping one foot in and one foot out. It causes the writing to suffer dearly. Kenobi should have been a character-focused piece following Obi-Wan's struggle with his failure as a mentor. Instead, we get an adventure of the week show that treads a lot of the same ground as The Mandalorian, but in a much less interesting way. Honestly, it would have worked much better as a film. Instead, it's painfully stretched out over six episodes, stuffed with filler and storylines that are uninteresting and lack compelling characters. I know a lot of fans had issues with how this series tempers with Star Wars canon, but I honestly think Star Wars canon is pretty far gone by this point. As long as it doesn't retcon anything massive, it doesn't bother me too much. What does bother me is sloppy storytelling and bad characters.

I found very little of Kenobi to be compelling in terms of its narrative and characters. A noticeable stand-out is Reva. It's important to state now that any racist or sexist remarks and threats are completely unacceptable. Anyone who thinks a show about space wizards is worth harassing over just needs to grow up. Moses Ingrahm absolutely doesn't deserve any hate let alone threats for acting on a tv show. This small but vocal sect of Star Wars fanatics has made the lives of everyone much harder. So just know that my critique is not based on the same pettiness as a bunch of fanboys on Reddit. The writing in Kenobi does not help to serve any of the characters or performance but it seemed like Reva got the worst of it. While Darth Vader is the looming threat of the show, Reva is the consistent villain of each episode. While initially, she seems like a formidable threat to lead the series, each concurrent episode fails to flesh her character out in meaningful ways. Once we finally learn her actual motivations, any sense of logic gets completely thrown out the window. Her plan is clumsy and just plain stupid. No amount of "blinded by rage" could make up for the number of holes and character assassination that come with it. I was honestly baffled by her decisions. So much so that at first I thought I misunderstood what she was saying. After rewinding and realizing that I in fact heard correctly, I just found myself laughing at sloppy writing. While Reva gets the worst of it, most characters are just as uninteresting, with the same half-baked motivations that lack any sense of logic or reasoning.

It's a shame that the actors on this show are the ones that will take the backlash for what is ultimately the fault of producers, directors, and writers. I don't think anyone on this show was necessarily a bad actor. I think they just got handed bad material to work with. It's like the ending of Game of Thrones. We saw seven other seasons of great acting but then they brought the entire thing crumbling down with a season of bad writing. The actors did a good job but you can only do so much with bad material. While the dialogue is never truly awful it can often feel out of place or misjudged. *Mild Spoiler* During what is supposed to be an emotional scene that is intended to bridge the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, we get hit with a "Hello there." meme. It's cringy, unfunny, and out of place.

While the dialogue and tone suffer from stilted writing, what really gets the brunt of it all is the overarching story. Such a large issue with telling a story like this is that we all know where it ends. We know that Obi-Wan, Leia, Luke, and Vader aren't in any real danger because they have to be around for the next movie. When you tell prequel stories like this you need to focus on expanding characters because all the actual risk is zapped out of the narrative.

The lack of vision not only befalls the writing and tone but almost every aspect of production. Besides the writing, I think this is most prevalent in cinematography. It lacks almost any purpose or thoughtfulness. There is no emphasis on meaningful composition or using the camera as a means to enhance the storytelling. As a filmmaker, you need to use all tools at your disposal to service the story. One of your most important tools is obviously the camera, but sans a few shots, the camera work here is just uninspired. Most shots are just relegated to shaky handheld. Some of what would have been the best fight scenes are ruined by a camera that lacks focus, switching aimlessly from subject to subject. Besides lacking interesting visual composition, it lacks basic clarity. So many shots are obscured by backdrops, sets, props, or just the back of somebody's head. It feels like there was no discussion beforehand of what would be shot on set and the DP was flying blind each take. One particular shootout near the end of the series is excruciatingly bad.

If you completely ignore the writing (which you shouldn't), this should be immaculate on a technical level. Disney has more money than God and has more than enough resources to make this at least look good. And no, at this point Covid is not an excuse. Every other production company out there has gotten their workflow together by now, with many studios producing plenty of high-quality content. Kenobi feels like another case of too many cooks in the kitchen. Whittled down by a mountain of test screenings and risk-averse executives. And maybe that is the problem. There's so much money on the line that if a single cent feels like it's been misspent, then somebody is going to find themselves $300 million in debt. But this risk-averse strategy won't last for much longer. Audiences are smarter than we give them credit for, and they will get bored.

One of the biggest selling points for this series was the return of Darth Vader and the rematch between him and Obi-Wan. As a fan the idea of a rematch excites me, however as a storyteller, I do think this is quite the tightrope walk. Personally, I felt that the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan at the end of Revenge of the Sith was the perfect cap on their story for it to be reopened in A New Hope. I think it makes their reunion that much more powerful knowing how they left each other, only being allowed to sit with these tragedies on their shoulders brewing for 20 years. It's not an idea I'm opposed to but I do feel like it needs to be treated really carefully. Sadly like many other aspects of the show, this element ultimately falls flat. What should have been the emotional core driving these characters instead feels like a hollow version of what it should have been. The general ideas are there but again characters just make uncharacteristic and dumb decisions. Darth Vader is just plain stupid in this series. He doesn't finish off his kills (with his experience he should probably know better), misses easy opportunities at victories, and gets played by characters under him making slightly less stupid decisions. It doesn't feel like the badass, tactician, space shogun, we know Vader as. Vader just doesn't feel like Vader at all in this series.

Besides writing, his movement, choreography, and presence don't match everything else that has built up this character. Vader is supposed to be a walking tank. He's slow but strikes with strength. He's tall, brooding, and has a terrifying presence. In Kenobi, he looks like a guy waddling around in a costume he bought at party city. He moves way too quickly and his fighting style is entirely different from the rest of his appearances across the series. Here he just feels like another guy but in a slightly fancier suit. It's as if a bunch of writers just said "Wouldn't it be cool if..." and just ran with ideas no matter if they made any sense to the character or story. *Mild Spoiler* Vader and Obi-Wan fight twice in the show. Both fights are marred by bad choreography, uncharacteristic decisions, and poor camera work that makes it hard to even see what the hell is going on. I think these duels could have been dramatically improved if they took a more Korasawa-style approach and had slower more purposeful fights locked off on wide shots. The Ashoka episode of The Mandalorian really knocked it out of the park, and this series should have followed suit.

These duels between Vader and Obi-Wan lead to a much bigger issue than just a lack of visual flair. Inconsistent storytelling. As previously mentioned, because Kenobi is a prequel story, all our main characters need to stay alive to be in the next movie. The remedy for this is to focus on character. This is why the duel at the end of Revenge of the Sith works so well. It's not a duel to the death, but a clash of character. Their friendship and brotherhood are on the line, not their lives. But once again Kenobi forgoes this character focus. The show wants me to be scared for the life of Kenobi and Vader, even though I know that they have to meet again in ten years. *Mild Spoiler* At the end of the final duel Kenobi beats Vader. Vader's mask is partially destroyed and the cyborg is at his knees. When Kenobi could right his wrong and end Vader's years-long genocide what does he do? He walks away. The whole idea behind the series was that Kenobi felt guilty for letting Anakin live, where he would go on to wage a literal genocide. The answer to his problem is literally sitting there right in front of him and he just fucks off back to the desert, just because. The series gives no justification, he just walks away because that's what has to happen for the canon. I'm not saying they should rewrite canon, but they need these events to make sense for this character, and over the course of six episodes the writing consistently fails to do that.

But enough about Vader, what about Hayden Christensen? Another big selling point was the return of the Prodigal Son. This is one element of the show that while I actually really did appreciate, it was never properly used to its fullest potential. He only makes a few brief appearances and is really more of a cameo than a supporting character. I think what could have really improved this series and helped justify its length would be *Mild Spoiler* a heavier use of flashbacks. One episode does feature a flashback, but it only makes up about three minutes of an episode. It's a fun but simple sparring duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, but once again feels underutilized for what could have been much more. Hayden does come back in some Vader makeup for a few brief appearances but still isn't properly utilized for the full effect. It becomes fanservice instead of storytelling. His presence is like a carrot on a string that is dangled in front of the audience to keep us hoping that they'll do something interesting with him.

Star Wars it’s like your best friend who keeps making bad decisions. You’ve known them forever and you really love them, but they just won’t stop doing stupid shit. It’s bad for them and it’s bad for you. You finally get to that point where you think it would make life a whole lot better if I just dropped them and let ‘em go. Kenobi looks and feels like a fan film. There’s an inconsistent mix of cheap and high production, shoddy camera work, sloppy writing, and performances that go all over the place. Revenge of the Sith served as a much better end to the story of Anakin and Kenobi. This series just painfully drags it through the fire. It’s never completely awful but it doesn’t expand the characters or lore in a meaningful way. Maybe Obi-Wan would have just been better left off waiting for Luke in a Tatooine cave. I hope one day I can watch Star Wars again without thinking "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed."