For 45 years, many Star Wars fans have had a simple understanding of Obi-Wan. An assumption is that the former Jedi Master was a fan of Tatooine. You can throw that idea out of the window now. The first two episodes of the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi show are here and with it, any ideas you had about Ben Kenobi on Tatooine are gone. The story reveals that they are gone thanks to a very big surprise. Let's dig into it. The premiere episode begins in an unfortunate way. The gruesomeness of Order 66 from the perspective of Jedi younglings in the Star Wars world hits a little differently after the murders of almost two dozen children in a Texas Elementary school. Jedi Master Minas Velti is teaching her young students in the Jedi Temple when a group of Clones come in and try to kill them all. Velti protects the kids. We know what will happen next. Every other Jedi dies. It is a powerful, shocking moment that is seen through May 2022. We are out of the show. The moment the Jedi lost is when Order 66 is important. The second scene of Obi-Wan Kenobi makes it clear what this world is about. The Grand Inquisitor, The Fifth Brother, and Third Sister arrived on Tatooine looking for a Jedi. We think it's Kenobi, but we learn they're after someone less famous. The show doesn't even name him. The Inquisitors were able to track down the Jedi, Nari. The threat the Inquisitorius leaves on a galaxy after Order 66 is a great table Setter for this world. We get a clear idea of the relationship between the Third Sister and Kenobi before we see him in his own show. Reva is one of the Inquisitors. She is much more hot-headed. More ambitious. More ruthless. Everything she does goes against their evil ways. She is bad with a capital and really wants to capture Kenobi. She thinks this planet and the other Jedi are below them. Next-Level Sound can be experienced. Theater-like sound surrounds you with spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.
When we first see him, he is living a simple life. A lonely life. He cuts meat, barters with a Jawa in a delightful manner, and has nightmares about his past. His focus seems to be to stay anonymous, even if it means not fighting back or protecting people as he normally did, even as the impulse is still with him, as the Grand Inquisitor mocks in the first episode. He is always ready to keep an eye on the Jedi, who is watching from afar.
He is so detached from the Force and his old ways that when a Jedi comes to Obi-Wan for help, he lies about his identity. Uncut Jedis know who Obi-Wan is and seems confused. Obi-Wan can't lie about who he is, but refuse to help his fellow Jedi with the Inquisitors. The choice shows how removed Obi-Wan has become in order to stay safe for 10 years. Obi-Wan can't lie about who he is, but refuse to help his fellow Jedi with the Inquisitors. The choice shows how removed Obi-Wan has become in order to stay safe for 10 years.
There is more than one Skywalker during that 10 years. When the show cuts from the deserts of Tatooine to a pristine white cityscape, a lightbulb will go off over many Star Wars fans. This is the city of Alderaan. Princess Leia Organa is there. We get to meet her and she might be better than the best Star Wars character of all time.
Blair is best known for her role in the movie Bird Box. The girl is a star. She is already doing what she does best when we first meet her. She is running in the woods, climbing trees, and playing games with her amazing little robot, named Lola. Breha Organa wants her to dress up and play Princess, but she doesn't want her to live a life of adventure. The audience instantly fell in love with her. We know she will one day be the Leia we know, but she still feels like she is in this formative place.
I want to recap how good Leia is on the show but there is more to be said. Back on Tatooine, we realize that Obi-Wan andluke are not very close. Obi-Wan left a toy outside for him after he got a toy from the Jawa. Uncle Owen wants Obi-Wan to leave the boy out of everything. He wants to keep his life simple and away from Obi-Wan. It is a point of view he holds decades later.
What happens next is even more frightening because of that knowledge. The Fifth Brother and Reva are still around and they are screaming about Uncut Jedis. Reva senses that Owen knows something. Which, wow. He knows a lot. If he doesn't tell her, she will kill him and his family. She cut the hand off another woman in the crowd for talking to the inquisitors. The Fifth Brother wants her to back off. Owen could have easily turned his head right and looked at the Jedi Master who was hiding 20 feet away, but he didn't. He saved Obi-Wan. Owen said he didn't do it for Obi-Wan, but for the man he now has to put up with.
Anthony Daniels played C3PO in the movie, and he played the little punk in the movie. Star Wars fans love seeing this beloved character at this point in her life. New information fills in gaps that didn't need to be filled, but we eat it up anyway. When she is on-screen, it is emotional, which is why shortly after she is reprimanded by her cousin Breha, her father bails her out.
The show needed an excuse to get Obi-Wan off of Tatooine, to change everything we thought we knew about him, and having that other Skywalker child in danger certainly fits that bill. When Bail Organa asks Obi-Wan for help, he declines. It is shocking. He's going to hang her out to dry? This is the moment where we see how detached Obi-Wan has become in order to keep himself safe.
If Obi-Wan didn't go on the adventure to rescue Leia, there wouldn't be much show. The Jedi goes into the desert, digs up two lightsabers and goes to find the Princess. Reva wanted it to be her plan to lure the Jedi out. It is about to work.
If we only got Obi-Wan, that would be more than enough. Lucasfilm gave us the next episode. Obi-Wan is hot on the trail of the bounty hunters who kidnapped Leia, and it starts right where the last one ends. The huge visual contrast was the first thing that stood out to me. The first episode was bright and light, but here on Daiyu it is dark and wet. It is like going from Dune to Blade Runner. It is a cool way to make the show seem bigger with back-to-back episodes that look and feel different.
As Obi-Wan talks to some of the locals on Daiyu, you can't help but think of Attack of the Clones, where he looks for Zam Wesell. He knows a lot of shady characters and drugs. It takes him seven seconds to find a person with answers. The person is helping people in need. Haja is a scam artist, faking his Jedi powers to trick his customers. Obi-Wan is off in the shadows and sees this and uses it against him to find out where Leia is. The place Haja tells Obi-Wan to go is correct. It had to be in a 6 episode series. It's there that Reva's trap works. Obi-Wan was caught by the abductors and was able to find Leia in the room down the hall.
I was pulled out of the show but then, Leia Organa saved the day. She is skeptical of Obi-Wan and 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 The whole sequence of the two bantering across the city is a delight, but Leia can't trust this man, and Obi-Wan can't bring himself to invest enough to get her to trust his connection. As she falls for the first time in the show, he did the thing he didn't want to do: use the Force. More people are after them now that the Force slows down, saving her, and that he is a helpful, friendly Jedi.
This episode was basically nonstop action, as Obi-Wan chased and fought off bounty hunters, all with the threat of Reva looming over it. Reva uses the chaos of the city to her advantage and eventually tracks Obi-Wan down after Haja saves the Jedi, as the latter threat is just looming. Reva is interrupted by the Grand Inquisitor who wants to take credit for capturing Kenobi on his own. Reva stabbed him through the gut. The Grand Inquisitor died in Rebels. These things are happening in Star Wars.
Reva explains to the hiding Kenobi that she wants to bring him to Vader. She senses something in him and realized that he wasn't dead. With an incredible, almost wordless performance from McGregor, he sold the pain and anguish with a flicker of his eyes, and the shock on Obi-Wan's face says it all. As he and Leia make their way off the planet, a stunned Kenobi stares in fear.
Obi-Wan's eyes match his eyes. Darth Vader. He wore his batca tank. He knows that Obi-Wan is out there.
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan had everything a Star Wars fan could want. Big reveals and surprises, exciting action, lots of humor, questions answered, and even more asked. The star of both episodes isn't Ewan McGregor, he is here. The young woman is dressed as 10-year-old Princess Leia. Lucasfilm was able to keep her reveal under wraps so it was that much better.
She won't play a lot of a role moving ahead, but that we got to meet her at this age was lovely. An almost obvious, but still perfect, way to ruin Obi-Wan's life in a way that makes sense. We can't wait to see what's next.
Let's end this recap with a little more information about the movie. On the other hand, bringing in Princess freaking lee seems like it would be more difficult than The Mandalorian. It's all about the Skywalkers again. The story is about these kids. He and the Organas will protect them. It makes sense for the show to feature her, even if it is obvious. It is obvious, but very satisfying.
This seems to be a pretty formative adventure. Did she not remember any of this? She mentions Obi-Wan's connection to her father when she asks him for help in A New Hope. In Return of the Jedi, she says that she doesn't remember her mother, even though she has a great relationship with her. Maybe it all tracks, but it was on my mind.
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