Lame Final Episode Obi-Wan Kenobi: Sorry, power is about lifting rocks!

What happened happened: The connection of the first season of Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi to the original trilogy as seamlessly as possible makes the entire series seem a little obsolete. This episode also had a few good moments, especially towards the end, and although it wasn’t really justified – we actually know how this ends here – there was also tension. But you must not think again about what is happening here – otherwise the migraine will set in again.

Once again, I feel the absence of a franchise boss like Kevin Feige keeping everything on the Star Wars side of the rather spooky Disney empire together and on track, at least a little bit. Someone who manages to infuse at least some meaning into the individual contributions, which goes beyond the mere gratification of the moment of a fateful encounter. Because no matter what you might think of individual films and series in the MCU, the superhero universe somehow manages to be more than the sum of its parts.

Star Wars doesn’t do that. It thinks the overall purpose is to include as many locations and characters as possible that you’ve seen before. But it is not that easy. This episode starts off with lots and lots of questions that make you shake your head with some amusement: didn’t Obi-Wan sound like he was going to face Darth Vader with Reva at the end of the last episode (would have been the more effective way! )? Instead he fled. Halfway through, after the hyperdrive dies of course, it suddenly occurs to him that the fugitives are better off without him. It’s eleven minutes, a quarter of the episode, before he breaks up with them and seeks the confrontation with Vader that he could have had in episode five.

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For a Star Destroyer to look completely helpless to stop both of those rickety rust buckets fleeing in front of it I found insanely stupid. “Increase firepower” is ordered by Vader in a tactical stroke of genius, as if the troops were just trying to tickle the Rokens ship before. The menace of the giant pursuer faded with every minute the characters calmly discussed how to proceed, until nothing was left of it. You could have either tried to explain that with a half-sentence, given the path a better ship or else … could have done something to make it more satisfying and meaningful. Instead, after the stupid rescue operation from the water base, I ask myself again how this toothless empire even defends its supremacy?

And why the hell does everyone in this universe basically assume that a plan will work no matter what. How now the diversionary action or that one even survives leaving the rebel ship with a practical, second ship (with intact hyperspace drive)? There are crazy optimists on the road in the worlds of Star Wars. The ensuing confrontation between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, meanwhile, was filmed better and McGregor once again proves that, despite complainers like me, he puts his heart and soul into this role. More so than Vader, who marches away from an enemy believed dead for the umpteenth time.

In addition, it was not without a certain irony that many rocks had to fly through the air in a funny way, some of them involuntarily. In the end, Luke, you old git, the Force is about lifting rocks after all (an unfortunate and depressing mistake Star Wars makes for the second time since The Last Jedi ended). In front of the TV, as Vader raised a protective hand in the hail of Obi-Wan’s debris, I whispered a bratty “Ouch, not so great” and other cartoonish expressions of pain into my beard. It was actually slapstick.

Parallel to the duel, we get to see Reva again and again, who, badly injured, now wants to take her revenge on a Luke Vader doesn’t even know about (that would certainly have hit him hard). Whatever the outcome, it was clear as soon as the fired Inquisitor set foot on Tattooine: with her recognizing herself in Luke and showing mercy. It was still played pretty well. Just not surprising or even logical. But I’ve vented enough of my anger at her turning to genocide and random cruelty for her revenge in recent articles. I’m curious how long Disney will take to announce their own Reva series…

In the end, those responsible also have to put up with the question of why Leia in the original only seems to know Obi-Wan as her father’s acquaintance – and unlike Luke, she doesn’t need any consolation in Episode IV. But OK, idle, after all she put the ending of Alderaan through amazingly well, emotionally a real brick, the good. I’m actually just thankful that George Lucas is no longer in control. He would edit away such logical gaps without regard to losses and thereby further alienate the original material.

Bottom line, Obi-Wan Kenobi certainly wasn’t as bad as The Book by Boba Fett. It was more firmly in place cinematically, picked up significantly towards the end, and the central plot at least had a beginning, middle, and end. But it was also a huge wasted opportunity, criminally simple-minded in its plot and at times even ruthless as far as the previous canon is concerned. And that’s basically the most important asset of film and cinema universes like this and the MCU. You just have to be more careful with that.

I still take a few good moments and characters with me from this series. Characters like Ned-B and Tala who would have liked to see more of. I liked the rudiments of Reva and Joel Edgerton was good as Uncle Owen, the casting of young Luke was spot on and McGregor’s acting anyway. Those are things I liked. And I also liked the last words Vader and Obi-Wan exchanged – all things that separate this show from being a complete waste of time. It’s not much, admittedly, but it’s all we’ve got.