SPOILER Obi-Wan Kenobi Ep. 1-2 Discussion

Yeah this exactly how I felt the joy of seeing Ewan back as Obi was the overriding feeling, especially after the order 66 open with all those Jedi.

But yeah I was not really enjoying watching Him baby sit an annoying child in the second episode, but I guess a lot of people enjoy that kind of dynamic as it’s such a commonly (id say overly) used dynamic in film/tv, so I’m probably in the minority.
But yeah the quibbles are nothing compared to the joy of seeing Ewan back in Star Wars.

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Yeah I thought this was a loverly touch and really well edited and like you say skippable if your didn’t want to watch it.
But it lead really well into the incredible opening scene in the Jedi temple. So yeah the recap worked really well for me.

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I don’t hate on the child, but I didn’t enjoy the character I found her annoying, out of all the things in the world I wanted to see Obi Wan do, baby sit an annoying child was not one of them.
Having said that I would rather watch Obi Wan baby sit an annoying child than not see obi wan at all … so swings and round abouts
But 100% it’s fine to not like the character, or even the performance but it’s not ok to personally attack the actress/actor whether they are kids or adults.

 

managed to watch the 2 episodes! Great start!
My thoughts:

-Great resume at the beginning. Perfect edited. Love the little scene in Jedi Temple. Loved the real Clone troopers. Don't know what PT did but I never believed in any clone. All looked so fake. The difference is abismal.
-I love the mood and tone of the first episode, from the depressing Tatooine and Kenobi's feelings to the joyful Alderaan, brilliantly accompanied by the fantastic music in the 2 storylines. The soundtrack is so cinematic. Perfect.
-Love the approachment of Obi-Wan and his routine and how it feels from past events (remembered Rey's in TFA).
-Great acting (with little exceptions), dialogs and visuals.
-Despite of little moments I think Deborah did an incredible job. Really like it and her vision.
-That clone in the streets of Dayiu was so sad.
-Liked the Inquisitors. They are not that bad.
- Edgerton and McGregor, so great.
-Like the idea of first trials with Qui Gon are not working. I guess in the end we will have a sentence or two. Also represents Obi Wan abandoned what he was before.

-Sorry but I have to say it. The worst part of 2 episodes are the kids (despite the great one in Dayiu's streets who knows the "Jedi"). First younglins are so bad reacting to the death of the Jedi who saved them. They seem they're looking a dead rat (I know is a minor detail but I always look this kind of things).

-Sorry again but in my opinion, Leia is absolutely a very poor casting. While watching her I was thinking no way this girl has 10 years old. Then I checked and yes, she is almost 10, but she really doesn't act like a 10 yo person. The dialogs she must say sets the character and are great but the young actress doesn't make believable at all. In my opinion, the show is so great but Leia eclipses all the magic around her. The actress was born in 4th June 2012. Curious cause my daughter was born in 6th June 2012! (2 days after!) and in any way are the same, as her school mates. The way she talks Leia, runs, express and move is from a 6 year old. That for me was so distracting. Another minor detail but sometimes I see it to clear.
For exemple, Millie Bobby Brown was 12 in first Stranger Things (and she seemed like a 10 girl perfectly). That was acting. I know is difficult to find good young actors but I think they didn't find the proper one here. Hope it will grow on me in future viewings.
-The 2 Leia chases (forest and city) for me are very poor executed.
-Don't like how Obi Wan knows Anakin is alive. Very unexpected and cold.


I think we can say that was not 4-LOM right?

But yes, despite those details, am really loving the show people! XD Nothing to do with BOBF. This one seems they have really thought all of it before filming.
I really can't wait to see more!

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Sorry, I have to agree partially. Absolutely agree the writers captured Leia's charatcer. That was really good, yes. But as I said in my general thoughts, the young actress was not very believable and convincent. Also have to agree is a difficult task to do at this age but I think a really good one with the acting gift can be found.

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Absolutely. I also didn't liked very much her acting but hating a child is another level. I whish all the best and a great career to her. And yes, in a couiple of scenes is good, for exemple the one with her cousin.

 

So far, I think it's okay. The first episode was better than the second, and as others have pointed out the parts with young Leia are the weakest parts of the show so far. I wouldn't say it's a miscast as much as poor writing/execution, because every scene she shares with Bail Organa is excellent.

The problem with the show is (I hate to say it, but it's true) the female characters, again, just like with most Disney's Star Wars. I don't understand why it's so difficult for them to write good female characters, or why they feel the need to change certain aspects of legacy characters to fit their narrative. Leia is, for the most part, handled okay but it's very obvious that the writers didn't want to show her doing typical princessy stuff. Which is totally fine, because it's likely that she would be similar to her mother Padmé in this regard. Padmé didn't like being queen of Naboo, she was much more into being a senator. So, the natural way for Leia to act in this show would be to say "I don't want to be a princess, I want to be a senator!". Instead, now she doesn't want to be either of them! Apparently she is much more interested in space ships and robots, she likes climbing trees, exploring the woods and it's heavily implied that she dreams of getting off the planet. Sigh. Yeah, you see what I mean? They literally gave her Luke's interests and aspirations because the writers are so afraid of making a young girl be interested in what could be interpreted as "girly" stuff. Sigh.

Reva is the other example, but I guess it's too early to tell exactly how the writers will handle her. As of now though, the show heavily implies that Reva will turn to the good side in the end and be killed by the Empire for her treachery. So why is this a problem, you may ask? You may say "Hey, it's more interesting with a villain who isn't 100% evil and struggles", but the problem is that so far I don't see Reva struggling with staying true to the dark side. In fact, she is shown as being MORE evil and MORE aggressive than the other Inquisitors, yet we as an audience are supposed to "feel sympathy for her" simply because she is disliked and put in place by the other Inquisitors for not obeying orders. Sorry, but this is a failure in character writing if you're trying to turn an evil character into a good character. Instead of showing Reva being a bloodthirsty killer, she should've been the one questioning the actions of the other Inquisitors. For example, the Fifth Brother should've been the one who cut off that woman's arm, and then Reva could've told him "That's enough!" and then the Grand Inquisitor could've turned to Reva and say "What's the problem, Third Sister? These people must learn to listen". This way, you're showing her as struggling with the dark side and at the same time feeling sympathy for her for being put in place by the other Inquisitors. But I suppose the writers just want to show her being an evil badass for the sake of evil badassery. Sigh.

My greatest concern for this show right now is that Obi-Wan will fail his quest, and that Reva will be the one who saves Leia from the Empire in the end. I'm also concerned that the writers probably consider Leia to be a complete character already, I don't think she will be any different personality-wise or aspiration-wise by the end of the show.

I also think it's a mistake to not focus more on the dynamic between Obi-Wan and Owen. If all we ever get from their feud was what we saw in the first episode, I'm going to be extremely disappointed. I mean, Joel Edgerton is a GREAT actor. Why cast him in this series together with Ewan and not UTILIZE both of their superb acting skills?!

 

Wonderful post, I applaud you sir.

 

Agree. i liked it too.
But now that I think of it, this implies a reinterpretation of Leia's message in R2 in ANH right? Cause that message never involved that they knew each other in person.

 

Well, she's asking for an Obi-Wan Kenobi. She doesn't know Ben = Obi-Wan.

 

Right then, only watched each episode once, but my initial reactions.

For context, I was hyped for this, big style... though I didn't have any of my head canon to risk, I was open to whatever we got.

The stuff I didn't like...

The Lil' Leia chase. It was stupid, at one point one of Needle's henchman was right behind her, and then just ran off in a different direction and fell over. There's no way they wouldn't have caught within about 6 seconds of her first running. If they wanted to introduce tension, they should have had the palace guards turn up much sooner.

Some of the set design/execution/background goings on. Mando and BoBF suffered this too... extra's milling about in the background look like extra's milling about in the background. I can't explain why, but it makes it look like small saturday afternoon TV. Also, some of the sets, the location for where Lil' Leia was being held I thought was awful, it looked like low budget TV Sci-Fi from the 90's.

The music. This was perhaps my biggest disappointment. A lot of Williams's Star Wars scores can literally reduce me to tears in a moment or two. I got nothing from this. That makes me sad.

Rupert Friend, seems like a pantomime villain, I don't remember thinking that of the GI in Rebels.

The other Jedi on Tattooine... felt like Toro Calican... had zero presence, I did not care if he lived or died.

... and that's it really, I didn't get the Grand Inquisitor getting stabbed, that triggered worries of over-ruling other canon, but I guess it will be explained.

The things I liked...

I have to say, my hear sank when I realised they were doing Lil' Leia. Not because I didn't like it, but because I realised I'd end up seeing a bunch of hate filled man-babies online screaming about Disney being too 'woke'... and for sure, I have, though pleasingly, it's not been as prevalent as I'd feared. I thought the character was really well written, and (aside from the fact she runs like an Ewok in leather sack) the actress did really well with her portrayal.

I think Ewan did a great job. I'm liking the Third Sister... the scene with uncle Owen was great. Tattooine felt more like a desert planet than it has in TM or tBoBF.

Bail and Breah were great.

Loved Temura Morrison appearing as a clone vet... felt real tense for a moment, would the clone recognise him, and try and execute order 66?!

On the subject of order 66, good to see more of that, I had wondered if we'd see Grogu in the background!

I'm liking how many alien species we're seeing too.

Overall very good. I don't know if it's lived up to the hype I'd built for it, but I'm very much looking forward to see how the story develops.

 

The fact that you feel the need to call people with different opinions "man-babies" says a lot. More than often, these people has a point but unfortunately some lack the skills to explain their opinions in an objective and respectful way.

The mishandling of both female and male characters is a thing recent Star Wars projects, and that's usually the reason why some people get upset. It's nothing to do with characters being a certain gender, but rather how they are being written.

 

Loved the first two eps and can’t wait for more.
I actually liked Reva a lot. I love how intense, ambitious and truly unlikeable she is. Like the methods or not, she did force that Jedi to reveal himself, and she would’ve had Kenobi if not for the GI’s untimely interruption. And her toying with Obi-Wan and revealing that little secret was great.
That said, any potential turn to “good” quite poor. I can see it going in a similar way to Hux - I don’t care who wins, as long as <person> loses. Just done better.

 

I think you're being too generous. I agree with you that some characters are mis-handled, but I'm calling a spade a spade - some of the reaction on the socials (I'm not saying here) has been pathetic. I've got no time for being more polite towards people that turn their anger of Star Wars not being exactly the same thing they saw in 1977, on any character that isn't a facsimile of their demographic.

 

I don’t why I thought he was referring to Padme. Thanks for the insight.

 

I don't think you're wrong, I think it's purposely ambiguous. When I was watching the scene I was certain it was referring to Padme, but then as I thought about it more I thought to myself, "Satine makes a lot of sense too."

 

Yes it does, more so, I was remembering the scene from ROTS when Obi-Wan was talking to Padme, on the couch, about Anakin and his whereabouts…

 

There are so many moments where I asked myself 'Why ??'

Spoiler

Why does Obi Wan ask Leia : How old are you ?
Why does Bail know where Obi Wan is ?
Why does Reva know about Anakin ?
Why the Grand Inquisitor has that fate after Rebels ?
Not talking about the chases ...
What was the point of showing Anakin at the end ?

Spoiler

Reva is one of the younlings at the beginning. I can bet on it. That's Jedi Fallen Order revisited

 

It was a very confident move to start with that imo. Yes it's playing with fire to have kid-centric action sequences, but Vivien is clearly a great actress for her age and it works. You can tell this kid is actually passionate about the work and is trying to mimic Carrie Fisher. I wish she was here to see it.