SPOILER Obi-Wan Kenobi Ep. 6 Discussion

My favorite things about the finale:

4) Reva being redeemed in a sense and staying alive. Hopefully she will live to make amends, as Tala did (you know, briefly). It will be interesting to see if the rumored second season is actually about her. If so, it doesn't particularly excite me, but I don't hate it either. I don't feel I know her well enough to be really invested.

3) "I killed Anakin Skywalker"--I liked this for Vader's view of himself, but also because of the weight it gives Obi-Wan when he tells Luke that Vader betrayed and murdered his father. As a child I always held it against Obi-Wan that he lied to Luke about his father and that his "certain point of view" excuse was lame lame lame. So...maybe it wasn't quite as bad as I thought.

2) Beru. You go, girl. Owen was also awesome. This gave me such affection for Luke's foster parents and their bravery. They couldn't do much against a Force user, but they did their best.

1) Ewan McGregor. Nailed every single scene he had. (I would have watched a whole series of him looking at wamp rats going by in the desert, ngl.)

TBH I could have done without the Vader half-helmet thing--too much like Rebels. I grant that it gives Obi-Wan a chance to speak to the Anakin he once knew and provides the opening for the amazing performance Ewan gives right there, showcasing the compassion and mercy of a true Jedi. (But still. I gave a bit of a groan.)

I also could have done without thinking the whole time Reva was after Luke: "Run away, Luke! Run away before you see a lightsaber and it breaks continuity!"

I don't know how I feel about Leia's message to Obi-Wan in ANH now. I'll have to let that one settle in. I do know I love that I loved Leia and Obi-Wan's growing relationship in the show, so that might reconcile me.

In any case, it sure has been fun to wake up each Wednesday and see new Star Wars....basically any time these last three years. Some of it I have loved, and some of it hasn't been my cup of tea, but I'd rather have the choice than no Star Wars at all.

 

This was a very satisfying conclusion.

The good:
- finally good music
- everything featuring Vader and Obi-Wan
- more Owen and Beru
- the CGI was a step-up compared to the previous episodes
- nice guest appearence of Sidious and Qui-Gon

The bad:
- this episode (and the show in general) is way too dark. Sometimes I don't see anything.
- the shaky cam is annoying to watch

The meh:
- some dialogues were way too on the nose
- no Inquistors
- Beru being a badass (that was very forced IMO)

8/10

If I add up all my rating of every single episode, then the show gets a score of 7.3. The best SW show so far.
---------------

I didn't know Obi-Wan and Luke have never met before. That's a nice idea. I also loved Obi-Wan costume at the end, it's a nice callback to this action figure:

IMO there was a huge set up for season 2:
- Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon teaming up and going on a spiritual adventure
- Obi-Wan training Reva
- The Inquisitors are still after Reva

Season 2 has the potential to be very character driven.

 

If you look carefully at the beginning of the fight scene, when Vader exits the shuttle and walks toward Kenobi, you can see the crescent moon in the sky. It's the waxing crescent that symbolizes a young Leia-- the mythological moon goddess. The light just beginning to return to the world.

 

Actually she was ~10 years. I think that when I had a week or two with an old friend of my Dad, I would still talk to him like I would to a friend of my Dad at first 10 years later.

 

True, but in a time of desperation, she may want to harken back to the first time he helped her as well. "You served my father in the Clone Wars, you brought me home when I was kidnapped by an Inquisitor, I need your help again."
This is a problem created by the prequels though. Leia has now met an Inquisitor, a Jedi, and two Jedi in hiding all before meeting Luke. She clearly has some knowledge of the Force, but seemingly passes none of it on. This is more of a minor annoyance, but it's the problem with using known characters in a prequel IMO, because it creates retroactive questions that even more stories have to answer.

Onto the episode itself. I liked it! The Vader/Kenobi fight was good, although I personally would have preferred a fight where Kenobi tricks Vader as he escapes but it looks like he's dead, since that would line up with Rebels a little better. (Vader has a line in Rebels where he mentions Kenobi to the Emperor, and the Emperor responds "if he's alive." It doesn't make sense for that to be the case here, since Vader knows Kenobi is alive and escaped. Again, the prequel problem.) But outside of that - and the Obi-Wan throwing tons of rocks at Vader - that fight was pretty stinkin' satisfying. I liked seeing a more active Vader, and the ending exchange was perfect.

The Tatooine stuff with Reva was more interesting to me in all honesty, though, since I was curious as to how it was going to turn out for her. Was Luke going to show some signs of Force Sensitivity like Leia did with her insight? Where Owen and Beru going to win, showing that they can take care of Luke on their own for now? Was Bail going to show up and kid butt and take names? Ultimately, none of that happened, and I'm pretty happy about that. Reva did the right thing, and now she's free to redeem herself. This to me is the best outcome for the character, and one that I didn't think would happen. (As evidenced by many of my posts about black women and women of color being associated with Dark Side always dying.)
Most Star Wars redemptions happen right before death (Vader, Kylo Ren, Second Sister, Dark Disciple Spoilers) or even after death (Grand Inquisitor of all people). Here, we have one who lives as well. A character who can live and atone, even if she can't be redeemed. Reva has changed the game and restored some of my faith in Star Wars. I hope to see more of her in the coming future. (Then again, after how poorly Finn was treated in the ST, how Tula Markona dropped off the face of the earth, and how everyone and their mother forgot about Zare Leonis and his family - which includes a sister who was nearly indoctrinated to become an Inquisitor - I'm not entirely sold on Lucasfilm doing a good job. We'll see how Cere fares in Jedi: Survivor first.)

The ending was a little drawn-out IMO, but not in a bad way. It wrapped up everything that it needed to, but it just felt...long. But that's a minor quibble. I'd rather they have wrapped this up with a longer denouement as they did than leave things hanging.

Overall, this was a good show. It wasn't a great one, as it both dragged and was too short in the middle, but it was a good one. (Obi-Wan and Leia's emotional bond happened a little too quickly by the end for me, we weren't given enough time with side-characters, and the other Inquisitors needed more to do. They could have been replaced by lamps for the most part and it wouldn't have made a difference.) The highs of this show are phenomenal, but the lows (usually related to CGI) are laughable as well.

This show had an extra hill to climb for me, as I have had the seeds and ideas of a Kenobi trilogy in my head for years, as I said in the first episode reactions. I did try to keep my expectations and comparisons in check, and rate the show on what it did vs what I would have wanted, but it did sneak out every now and then, I'm not afraid to say. (Usually when what I dreamed about and what the canon story did overlapped.) I still prefer my story, of course, but that's because the story there is tailor-made for me. This show wasn't, and that's perfectly fine. I liked a good deal anyways.

In conclusion, this is the show many people have spent nearly two decades clamoring for. While it didn't fully live up to the hype for me, as it never could have, I enjoyed most of my time with it. I'm not sure how often I'll go back and think of it as anything groundbreaking, innovative, or even important, but it's a solid entry nonetheless, and one I'm glad I watched.

At this time, my overall ranking of the D+ shows:
The Mandalorian
Obi-Wan Kenobi (by a hair)
The Bad Batch
The Book of Boba Fett*

Not rated - The Clone Wars Season 7. It would rank second, but I leave it out since it's a continuation of something that previously existed. It had a great beginning and a phenomenal ending, but the middle was bogged down by an arc that was too long, and the season itself was far too short. Hopefully Tales of the Jedi can make up for some of that.

 

So the finale is a Star Wars masterpiece that justifies the entire project. My only gripe was the dark section of the episode, but that's clearly because they changed an element at the end. I know they'll be tempted to do more stories with Obi-Wan, but I hope they leave it here. It's perfect.

 

I will wait all day to watch the episode with a friend today. I would have watched it 6 hours ago though. What was I thinking? XD

Have avoided the net and this thread all day so all good

cya later with my thoughts

 

So . . . . why did Reva want to kill Luke? I have some fuzzy internal logic I can assign this motivation, but I sure would have liked the story to bother articulating it.

Otherwise, I liked this finale a lot and this series as a whole. There's some weird verisimilitude issues throughout, but nothing that can't be overlooked

 

I need a moment. That ending...

 

It was forced because of its execution. Owen wanted to run, but no Beru wants to fight and pulls out the guns.

Why not make Beru badass in her own way? It would have been much cooler and more fitting for her character to stay with Luke. A mother wants to stay with her kid and protect it after all. She escapes with Luke, while Owen defends the farm. After he fails, Reva gets to Beru and Luke => Beru protects her "son".

Don't make Beru lose her characters traits, just to make her "more badass".

 

Owen always struck me as a person, who would defend his home, rather then run away.

Beru on the other hand was always the one who cared more about the family and Luke being save. Like in a new hope she wanted Luke to leave and go his own way. Owen always prioritized the moisture farm. I can't see her staying behind a risking their lives for that farm, but I can totally see that this would have been something Owen would have done.

So it's kind of weird that they decided to flip the roles the final episode. It's out of character. The point is not Owen being a man and Beru being a women, it's out of character no matter what.

 

He actually told Reva in the very first episode he would kill her as soon as she threatens his family.

 

See, this makes it even more out of character.

 

Just rewatched their scene together. No, he doesn't

 

I've seen a few people complain about them meeting and it makes zero sense to me. Luke has to have some familiarity with Obi-Wan before the events of ANH or else lines like "Obi-Wan Kenobi? I wonder if he means old Ben Kenobi?" and "Well, I don't know anyone named Obi-Wan, but old Ben lives out beyond the dune sea. He's kind of a strange old hermit." don't make any sense.

I'm sure these people would've complained either way though.

 

ugh, I knew people would get weird about the Beru/Owen stuff, as if these are deeply developed characters.

That, or would complain that they managed to hold Reva off (spoiler- it didn't last long anyway).

Come on, people. This was an excellent hour of Star Wars TV... possibly the best we've gotten.

Also... while I'm dunking on the haters, anyone who complained that Kathleen Kennedy overpromised on the Kenobi v Vader scenes can eat crow. Y'all are just so eager to complain about anything that woman does.


Finally, agreed with @Flyboy. I've always seen Ben and Luke's relationship as like that of you and your dad's estranged friend you might see once every few years. You don't know them well, but they'd come to mind if you heard their last name.

 

Always struck me like he was the weird old widower on the block that the kids in the neighborhood told stories to each other about. Like in Home Alone. Maybe he’d met him before. Maybe not. It works either way for ANH. Works better for this series for them to have that moment. “Hello there”, low fruit, but tasteful.

 

Yeah, I could see that vibe as well.

I chuckled. I'm sure that a more prolonged discussion could've been good too, but I think focusing on only one twin was probably a good idea, or things would start getting tedious and repetitive.

But yeah... even though it was kind of humorous, it was also very tasteful. Seemed like a natural way to introduce himself, even if it's also the Big Kenobi Meme Phrase.