Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first season of Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi has concluded its highly anticipated six-part epic, and it, unfortunately, buckled under the weight of such expectations. It’s a worthwhile watch, with Ewan McGregor giving a great performance alongside Hayden Christensen, but a few of the other characters — such as the Inquisitors — don’t fare as well. The plot makes some cheap and bizarre choices and there are several areas where the writers had a particular story beat in mind, but weren’t sure how to get the characters into the correct places without it feeling contrived.
Most of the performances are fantastic. Ewan McGregor has spoken about coming back to this role for years, saying that he has a lot left to give as the character, and he wasn’t lying. McGregor gives a portrayal of a broken man, one who has given up all hope and turned his back on the galaxy, quite unrecognisable from the Obi-Wan of the prequels. As the show progresses, however, he becomes the Jedi that audiences know and love, with clear and consistent growth throughout the season. Obi-Wan has the best arc across the show, showing director Deborah Chow, Ewan McGregor and writer Joby Harold’s understanding of the character.
To briefly summarise the plot, the audience finds an Obi-Wan wallowing in his despair, watching over a young Luke. However, when Leia is kidnapped, Obi-Wan reluctantly goes to rescue her. When the Empire’s Inquisitors and Vader hunt him down Obi-Wan has to face his past.
Hayden Christensen doesn’t get as much time to shine as McGregor, which is to the show’s detriment. The marketing played up his return, though he has a limited amount of time where the audience knows it’s him. James Earl Jones reprises his voice role, sounding exactly like he did in Star Wars: A New Hope, which shows the strength of the technology that the sound department uses. The character of Vader is brilliant, with the stuntmen and Christensen utilising all their skills to make the character terrifying. Vader is at his height in the Dark Side, again shown in a perfect display of force and lightsaber mastery in Episode Five. However, there are a couple of times where the plot has Vader conveniently tone his anger down, which would suggest Harold as a writer doesn’t quite understand Vader as a character. His duel with Obi-Wan in Episode Six, however, proves to be a fast-paced, frenetic, move evocative of the prequels, better than in Episode Three where the show was holding back.
When Christensen does appear, he gives a much better performance than in the prequels, proving that, when the writing doesn’t shackle him to awful dialogue, he is a great actor. Christensen does shine in an emotional scene in Episode Six, despite only having half his face on display, his voice and eye work carry the emotional beats excellently. The scene echoes a similar one in Star Wars: Rebels, but is much better thanks to the actors involved and the fact that this would be harder to pull off in live-action.
The Inquisitors make their live-action debut, but this proves to be a mixed bag. There is great attention to detail with their titling system (numbered brothers and sisters), making it feel consistent with their appearance in Rebels. The theme Natalie Holt creates for the Inquisitors is the standout theme, taking inspiration from the Imperial March but maintaining the percussive throughout so that it is full of rage. There is a disappointing lack of motifs from either the prequel or original trilogy, however, especially as the trailers tease audiences with this.
Moses Ingram portrays the Third Sister, also known as Reva, who is an Inquisitor who disrespects all hierarchy. This initially comes off as over the top and desperate, especially when the other Inquisitors are often calm, collected, and sure of themselves. A narrative reveal in Episode Five does make this more bearable and she learns that her driving motivation, revenge, will constantly get a person nowhere. Despite this, her arc would have been more compelling had the show killed her instead of redeeming her.
Rupert Friend and Sung Kang bring the Grand Inquisitor and Fifth Brother to life from animation. Friend does adequately – the calm menace in his voice shows a patient character, and when he shouts it’s only because he’s frustrated, mostly with Reva. Sung Kang, however, departs from the voice in Rebels for a gravelly voice that is quite grating to hear.
Both Inquisitors look awful, especially compared to their counterparts in animation. The Fifth Brother loses his physique and muscles for a small whiney persona, and the Grand Inquisitor’s head is bizarrely made to look like an egg. Their appearances are too human, and this speaks to the budget of the show. These problems aren’t kept just to the character designs, but also some of the sets. Mapuzo, the planet the third episode spends its time on, looks very Earth-like, an unfortunate departure from the crime-ridden Daiyu, or the natural look of Alderaan.
Daiyu is by far the standout set, with its vibrant markets, verticality, and varied use of lights and colours, making it visually compelling, far more than any other location used by the show. The introduction of the planet through its polluted clouds makes for an impressive opening. Alderaan’s has a similarly impressive look, with the clean, utopian whites untouched by the Empire. The hallways of Fortress Inquisitorius match Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order perfectly, with great consistency. The other sets and locations are fairly basic in their design, again showing a constrained budget.
While Obi-Wan Kenobi falls short of fan expectations, it manages to do its titular character justice, even if the plot and budget fall short in places. The series is an overall success, however, if it remained a film it would have received the proper budget and a tiger script. The more cinematic moments would have landed better on the big screen, and audiences would have received a far better experience.
Words by Kieran Burt
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