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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Season One - Thoughts Have I

This might be the least appetizing show so far in this extended run of Star Wars shows. It's the life and times of a has-been character, where we already know his fate and the fate of all the important characters of the show. When will the extended universe get back to telling unique stories? In the meantime, maybe you'll enjoy another running list of random thoughts I had while watching the show.

The first in a series of posts on 'My Thoughts on Obi-Wan Kenobi' and other Star Wars series. A new thread after each season!

Part 1

  • They do a great job of reminding me how absolutely awful the prequel trilogy was; how Anakin was an obvious monster and how Padmé's blindness to it was completely forced.
  • "Okay, so let's open with an massive Jedi vs Storm Troopers battle. We've not done that in a while!"
  • I'm so fucking sick of this planet. There are supposedly so many worlds out there, why do we keep coming back to this sand covered hellhole dump.
  • We are four characters into this show and I'm already spending more eyeballs time on Twitter and coding tutorials than this episode.
  • Oh, snap! Little girl puts a bully in his place and gets chided for it. Isn't life great?
  • This entire episode could have been a Star Wars scrolling text intro.

Part II

  • In "Obi-Wan The Musical", the Stormtroopers get to sing "move bitch, get out the way".
  • This is probably the best surprise casting in a Star Wars show, yet.
  • Did you notice how many "7" glyphs there are in the various signs and posters? Or maybe I noticed two and now it's confirmation bias.
  • The hubris of evil bosses trying to put their overly ambitious underlings in their places by simple verbal berating, only to be stabbed in their back/stomach is a ridiculous trope. Does Star Wars do much of anything that is original, anymore?

Part III

  • Why would an automated cargo ship have a pressurized atmosphere?
  • Stormtroopers are so expendable that it's not even suspenseful when they come up against the protagonist.
  • Just knowing that Obi-Wan and Darth Vader still have to fight in A New Hope takes a lot of suspense out of this chase scene. Neither of these characters can be physically damaged, because it would break canon.
  • Classic "hit the steam pipe" escape.
  • I'm still not sure what we're supposed to be getting out of this series. Obi-Wan is an untrusting, whining, curmudgeon. Didn't we kinda know that during A New Hope? And Anakin/Darth Vader is consumed with his quest for revenge - also not new.

Part IV

  • It's a key base, located in Vader's own solar system - but some low/mid-level officer from some other random system thinks she can just waltz right it? How terrible are the Empire's security protocols that this ship doesn't need any kind of preclearance to even arrive in the system?
  • Oh, so you can land your ship, make up some bullshit about "classified" and keep on walking?
  • Why get into the water without bringing flippers? At least make your swim a little easier.
  • She just left her communicator with the sound on at her station?!
  • SO SUSPENSEFUL!! There are Stormtroopers coming! #notsuspenseful
  • "I just found the secure sector." Good thing this key I have lets me right in.
  • Obi-Wan is starting to get his mojo back, eh?
  • No water made it through that door? And the Stormtroopers died instantly? How do these obvious errors make it through production?
  • Again - a key base, and no air defenses or orbiting patrols?
  • Throwing a battery/heavy object at the ship might have been the best use of a force power this whole series.
  • I'm curious how this intersteller tracker works - does it broadcast to a galactic network of spy transceivers? How secret is this network? How comprehensive is the coverage?
  • Why does reprogramming a robot mean its visual indicator turns red?

Part V

  • This is probably the first enjoyable episode of the series. There's some real character development.
  • She gets a win for "into the breach" command, I'll give her that.
  • The unfortunate consequence of introducing secondary characters into shows/movies earlier in a timeline is that the audience knows the main characters aren't going to die which means the secondary characters are completely disposable. There's no suspense in their survival.
  • "You're going to die." No, no he's not. And she won't kill Vader.
  • How come there aren't ships hovering over those exit doors? It's not like it's a small hatch that's hard to see.
  • Why scream right as you're about to swing when you could have just turned on the lightsaber while it's pointed right at his back? And again, this isn't a "who is going to win?" dramatic fight. It's just a question of whether Vader decides to keep Third Sister alive; which he won't.

Part VI

  • This fucking planet again?
  • How does she recover from a fatal stabbing to the gut, disavowed by the Empire, on a planet without resources for her - and get to that desert hellhole seemingly instantly?
  • Why couldn't Vader just follow Kenobi in his own ship and leave the destroyer to keep chasing the refugees?
  • Another fight where we know who can and can't die. The only question is how the writers are going to get out of this.
  • And yet another battle sequence where the audience already knows that Luke, the uncle, and the aunt can't die.
  • If Obi-Wan truly meant to win the fight and kill Vader, why didn't he keep pressing his advantage? Oh right - because Vader isn't allowed to die for another 15 (or so) years.
  • If Obi-Wan acknowledges that Anakin is dead, isn't it his duty as a Jedi to defeat the Sith apprentice?
  • So it's okay to slaughter an unknown number of Jedi sympathizers in a quest to get close to Vader to revenge kill him, and then all is forgiven because you didn't murder his young son in cold blood.