Never would I have thought that Obi-Wan Kenobi would have its own TV series. After all it seems his story was quite finished, literally.
However, under the Disney realm, everything is possible. And this possibility has been turned into a reality – and we were like moths to the fire, or Jedi to good deeds, according to the Imperial Inquisitors.
The premise of Obi-Wan Kenobi set between the Revenge of the Sith and the New Hope.
The Jedis are being hunted after the infamous Order 66 that nearly cleared out the whole Jedi Order. The remaining survivors were scattered, and tried to live out their lives, leaving their glorious past behind.
But with the Emperor at helm, he will tolerate no opposite force, so instead of being the light, the Jedis themselves were trying to sniff out their last flickering candles just to stay alive.
While some managed, Obi-Wan Kenobi, being one of the most established Jedis, and Darth Vader’s mentor in the past, was the one Darth Vader wanted most. He doesn’t care how many Inquisitors he had to sacrifice, only Obi-Wan Kenobi matters.
Obi-Wan (played by the now so mature Ewan McGregor) is at his lowest. He disconnected himself from the force so that he could stay alive to watch over Luke Skywalker, as he promised his mother. For him life has no other meaning, and there was nothing else worth fighting for, until an old friend’s distressed call came.
Sometimes I see the relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader as too much a parallel between Luke Skywalker’s and Kylo Ren. Both mentors saw themselves as failures, both mentors retreated to their empty shells to live out their years, and both padawans seek to defeat their mentors to prove themselves. The Jedi Order might be the light, but it always fell short of providing a proper path. Maybe they need to do an education degree before they could be qualified to take up a padawan. Knowing the knowledge is one thing, knowing how to teach and guide is another thing. That said, I never felt Qui-Gon properly taught Obi-Wan before his untimely demise. So, I cannot really expect Obi-Wan to know how to become a mentor himself.
For me the tone of the series is always overly heavy. I know, I know, it is the dark age for the Jedi Order, but knowing it is quite different from watching it unfolding in front of your eyes. In that respect, I think the series had achieved incredible results. Also, knowing these ‘gap years’ for a supposedly done character somehow became a surprisingly refreshing and enlightening experience. The fact that Ewan McGregor incorporated a lot of mannerism that the late great Alex Guinness had, have become easter eggs that delivered one surprise after another.
Obi-Wan is ridden with guilt and guilt is written all over his face. Coming out of the woods and risking his life for another person is the last thing he wanted. But then the filling in of the pages for the Star Wars history book was refreshing and engaging. How did Kylo Ren get his name? Why did Leia think Obi-Wan’s name is Ben? This part of the history book is now completed.
To be honest with you, I didn’t care much about all those Inquisitors stories. Probably I haven’t been a Star Wars fan as much as I was, so I haven’t followed much of the lore anymore. I watched the whole Skywalker saga, watched Rogue One, couldn’t finish Han Solo, didn’t see much of all the other Disney+ series and animation. So, I am very short in terms of knowledge, and I am just watching Obi-Wan for nostalgic reasons. Because of this I can’t really comment on those Inquisitors who always seemed to be just being angry and scheming against each other. And it will be unfair for me to comment of any of those actors playing them.
One thing I do know though, is that, it did shed new light for me on the Star Wars lore between the annoyingly corny Revenge of the Sith and the New Hope that first got me into the magic of film making.
Obi-Wan Kenobi’s story might be dark, but it did cast a new light for me for the franchise.
