Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+) Episodes 1 & 2 written by Josh Davis : Pop Culture Leftovers

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+) Episodes 1 & 2 written by Josh Davis

June 5, 2022 11:09 am |

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

While “The Mandalorian” started off as a seemingly small and self-contained story, “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the latest Star Wars television offering from Disney+, immediately kicks off with a scale and backdrop of galactic importance.

The opening recap does two things that bode well for the six-episode miniseries. First, it captures the essence of Star Wars in its purest form: as a sweeping, swashbuckling, space opera that balances the fun and drama of classic cinematic storytelling on the sharp point of laser sword. Second, it makes the prequels look better than they have any right to.

As the first episode opens (the May 27 premiere covered two episodes), we’re dropped back on Coruscant during the Great Jedi Purge. It’s the moment from “Revenge of the Sith” when Darth Sidious growls “execute Order 66” and a clone army – and a newly crowned Sith Lord known as Darth Vader – take siege to the jedi temple to kill every jedi and padawan. The purge was arguably the most gruesome moment in Star Wars that didn’t involve a volcano planet, and it helped established the darker tone of final episode of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

In “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” revisiting the temple siege both sets the tone and clues in the audience that the stakes are high. When we land back on Tatooine 10 years later, a small group of Inquisitors – jedi hunters – are tracking down one of the few surviving jedi. They are led by The Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and flanked by the angry and impulsive Third Sister, Reva (Moses Ingram).

The Grand Inquisitor is a classic deliberate and monologuing villain, while Reva would rather literally cut to the chase with a knife. The Inquisitors are hunting a surviving padawan named Nari (Benny Safdie), but Reva is obsessed with capturing Kenobi to help boost her standing with the Inquisitors, who ultimately answer to Vader himself.

It’s more than a dozen minutes into the first episode before we finally see Kenobi (a scruffier looking Ewan McGregor). Kenobi is living as a hermit and secretly watching over a 10-year-old Luke Skywalker, the son of his former apprentice who he believes to be dead.

The former Jedi master appears to have cut off his connection to the force, and he refuses the call when Nari comes asking for help. In the next scene, Nari is found dead and strung up on public display by the Inquisitors.

Next, the action shifts to the lush (and still in one piece!) planet of Alderaan, where 10-year-old Leia Organa (“Vivien Lyra Blair”) dreams of adventure and watches starships take off from a tall tree with her cute droid companion, LOLA. It mirrors her daydreaming twin brother on Tatooine, although he lives in a desert hovel, and she is a privileged princess on a planet that’s teaming with greenery and life.

This is a decidedly lighter tone. It’s somewhat jarring, but Blair is certainly charming in the role. When a gang of mercenaries led by Vect Nokru (played inexplicably by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea) pursues Leia, watching the stubby-legged youngster evade her attackers is probably more comedic and goofier than it should be.

The kidnapping serves as the second call to action, and the one that convinces Kenobi to leave his post of watching over Luke and take up the hero’s journey once again. It’s ironic that Leia’s droid, R2D2, was the macguffin in “A New Hope” and Leia herself is the object that moves the plot forward in “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

In the second episode, Kenobi pursues Leia’s kidnappers on the newly introduced planet of Daiyu. He meets an imposter posing as a Jedi named Haja Estree (Kumail Nanjiani, great in a comic relief role) and eventually rescues Leia, only to come face to face with Reva, who orchestrated the kidnapping to lure out Kenobi.

Without the burden of so much setup, the second episode moves much faster. Daiyu is a seedy, neon locale reportedly modeled after Hong Kong, and it certainly has the look of that other big Star Wars show, “The Mandalorian.”

In the episode’s closing sequence, Kenobi comes face to face with Reva and learns that Anakin is still alive as Vader. Kenobi narrowly escapes, and we, as the audience, glimpse the gruesome sight of Vader (once again played by Hayden Christensen) floating in a bacta tank, strung up on wires, his eyes blazing and his iconic breathing continuing as the episode fades to black. If Leia is the macguffin, the eventual showdown with Vader must be the final payoff to the series.

McGregor once again proves that Star Wars is always better when he’s on screen. He was arguably the best part of the prequel trilogy, playing Kenobi with a bright, mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Here, he’s a grieving, broken man struggling with the PTSD of a war veteran with the added weight of failing The Chosen One and letting Anakin slip to the dark side. It’s a new dimension for the character that should help build a bridge to Alec Guinness’s iconic portrayal in the original Star Wars films.

The first two episode also get a boost from side characters played by Nanjiani and Flea, as well as Jimmy Smits’ brief but welcome return as Leia’s adoptive father, Bail Organa.

Joel Edgerton brings a gravely gravity to his return as Luke’s uncle, Owen Lars, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see much of young Luke (Grant Feely) in the series, other than an initial glimpse of him pretending his desert hut is a podracer.

Ingram so far is a fantastic villain, a live wire that’s fueled by a quest for vengeance we don’t yet know the root of. The other Inquisitors haven’t proven as menacing – or interesting.

Also, “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the series, is just plain gorgeous. The opening sequence evoked the best parts of the prequel trilogy’s grandeur, while Tatooine and the underbelly of Daiyu mirrors the grittier, more earthy parts of the original trilogy.

Showrunner Deborah Chow proved she has a knack for Star Wars storytelling when she directed two episodes of “The Mandalorian,” and she continues that streak with the first two episodes of this new series. The announced writing team so far includes Joby Harold (“Army of the Dead”), Hossein Amini (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) and Stuart Beattie (“30 Days of Night”).

It’s not a stretch to say “Obi-Wan Kenobi” could become the best Star Wars television series to date. Part of that will depend on the inevitable showdown between Kenobi and Vader, and how that recontextualizes the original Star Wars trilogy. To succeed, it must help move a classic story forward, which is no small task.

Chow, in “The Mandalorian,” showed she knows how to build tension that pays off with strong and satisfying action sequences. She also resisted the urge to overburden the plot with too many nostalgia dumps. If that means fewer easter eggs and better storytelling, the rest of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” is in good hands.

However, several hints were dropped in the opening recap that could pay off throughout the remaining four episodes. It’s all but guaranteed that Kenobi will speak to a force ghost Qui-Gon Jinn. But, based on other clues, we could also learn the fate of Mace Windu and see a young Boba Fett in action. And what about a Darth Maul tease? Or one more appearance of the great Frank Oz as Yoda?

Like the force itself, balance will ultimately be key to how the remaining episodes of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” fare. Based on Chow and McGregor’s contributions so far, the sky is the limit.

PCL RATING: Tupperware

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH

Review by Josh Davis