Obi-Wan Kenobi’s early episodes lean on the best of classic Star Wars

Disney seems intent on exploring every single corner of the Star Wars universe with its streaming series. Mixed success has been seen so far. The best new Star Wars character in years is the Mandalorian, but it turns out I don't need to know much more about the character. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a movie that aims to fill in the gap between the original two trilogies. It works for the first two episodes because Obi-Wan is playing the hits.

The first two episodes of Obi-Wan are contained in this review.

The most important parts of the prequel trilogy are summarized in a few minutes in Obi-Wan, which is set a decade after the events of Revenge of the Sith. You don't have to worry about those things. The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is all that matters. The show shifts to the tragedy at the Jedi Temple so that you remember why Obi-Wan is hiding. This scene might be hard to watch for some people.

Ben, as he now likes to be known, is the person we first met in A New Hope. He goes home to sleep in a cave after working a shift at the meat factory. Whenever he has time, he looks for any signs of Force abilities so that he can start training. Poor Ben seems to be disliked by everyone. A Jawa tells him how much he needs to bathe, while Owen is hostile. Ben keeps to himself and has good reason. Three Jedi-hunting Inquisitors land on Tatooine in search of Jedi to hunt. One of them, a young Inquisitor known as the Third Sister, seems to be focused on finding Obi-Wan.

Image: Lucasfilm

The show isn't just set on Tatooine. The other side of the story is about the twin sisters, who are now being raised as princesses. She doesn't care about the royal life and spends most of her time playing with a cute robot in the woods. Her tendency for running off gets her in trouble when she is kidnapped by a gang of outlaws, which is played by Flea, the bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is part of the Third Sister's plan to lure Obi-Wan out of hiding by appealing to his innate need to help people. It goes that his parents convince him to come out of Jedi retirement. He is their only hope.

The show is able to understand what makes Star Wars cool. The best part of the movies is the part where a man fighting against his base urges him to survive. One of the show's highlights so far has been watching him wrestle with the hard-wired instinct to be a hero, and he looks better than I would after a decade of desert living. The Inquisitors are menacing, with the Third Sister in particular gripped with a clear and unyielding desire for power that makes her seem capable of anything.

My favorite part is how the universe feels like classic Star Wars. The worlds are not painted over with a glossy sheen. Despite being populated by space wizards and muppets, they feel realistic. The small details are what make this happen. The cave stew Obi-Wan makes for himself as pure sustenance or the pan-handling Stormtrooper on the neon-lit planet Daiyu, where most of the second episode takes place, are things. In the second episode, there is a scene where characters race through a street market, and it is a great chance to see the weird food and strange creatures that live in this universe.

Image: Lucasfilm

This is not new. The emphasis on beloved characters is what makes Star Wars work. Some of the more recent adventures, like the Book of Boba Fett, have felt less directed and have missing elements. There are still some elements that don't make sense, like a young Jedi who has survived a decade in hiding despite being very bad at hiding and the mystery of why the original trilogy didn't involve Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan is a refreshingly old-school Star Wars story.

It will be a challenge to keep that up over six episodes. In the age of streaming, stories stretched thin in an attempt to satisfy a seemingly endless appetite for content. It would have been better if Disney had made a trimmed-down movie instead of a series. There is plenty of time for that to change after 90 minutes of Obi-Wan.

The first two episodes of Obi-Wan are on Disney Plus. On Fridays, new episodes will be released.