Obi-Wan Kenobi Premiere Review: Full of promise with some stumbles along the way

Obi-Wan Kenobi kicked off its two-episode premiere with a fantastic, tortured lead performance by Ewan McGregor and the surprising use of a Skywalker twin. Like the prequel themselves, there are some questionable supporting performances and implausible action sequences. Obi-Wan Kenobi, in spite of those issues, is already better than The Book of Boba Fett.

Deborah Chow takes over the show running role from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. She does a great job of giving scenes room to breathe. An early scene between McGregor’s Obi-Wan and Joel Edgerton‘s Uncle Owen has a dramatic bite that was simply lacking in the prequels. Chow does struggle with some of the action scenes. A parkour scene in Part II features unnecessary flips and lacks momentum.

Part I is one of the best pieces of Star Wars content. Part II has some issues with the villains. Through the first two episodes, the Inquisitors serve as the villains. Rupert Friend makes for an intriguing villain as the Grand Inquisitor with the exception of a scene in Part II. Sung Kang also fits as the Fifth Brother. Reva is the 3rd Inquisitor and is positioned as the main villain in the series.

McGregor’s performance is full of nuance. Moses Ingram comes across as too one-note in comparison to Obi-Wan. There are some great facial reactions at times, but the character is too shallow at this point in the show. Anger is a great motivation. Unfortunately, Reva’s anger comes across as a petulant teenager acting out. Not too dissimilar from Hayden Christensen‘s portrayal of Anakin in Clone Wars.

Luckily, McGregor mostly makes up for it with his performance. Leia’s inclusion is terrific. Jimmy Smits also has a quietly powerful scene as Bail Organa.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood the latest Star Wars series. There may be some minor spoilers. Obi-Wan Kenobi is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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Part I: Setting the Stage for Obi-Wan Kenobi

Part I does a fantastic job of capturing Obi-Wan’s despair. Similar to Luke in The Last Jedi, Obi-Wan has cut himself off from the force. He’s severed all ties from the Jedi order, cautions an over-eager Jedi to abandon his lightsaber and watches over Luke on Tatooine. Uncle Owen wants nothing to do with Obi-Wan.

Meanwhile, The Inquisitors are searching for Jedi. Reva’s search is more of a personal one. She’s determined to find Obi-Wan. Reva’s openly hostile to the Grand Inquisitor and the Fifth Brother.

Part I doesn’t stay on Tatooine. As a pleasant surprise, we get a nice look at Alderaan, Leia’s home planet that was destroyed in A New Hope. Vivien Lyra Blair is outstanding as a young Leia. Full of wit and wisdom beyond her years, she shares her twin’s wide-eyed yearning for adventure. She also possesses a wild, rebellious streak which shows Leia was always meant to lead, not rule.

Leia’s kidnapped hunters work for Reva. Bail seeks out Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan refuses to help at first until Bail shows up in person.

The first episode is simply fantastic. There are a couple of visuals early on that don’t look great. However, Alderaan looks gorgeous and the performances by McGregor, Blair, Smits and Edgerton are sensational.

Part II: A Royal Chase

Luke’s search for Leia takes Obi-Wan to Daiyu. A crime-ridden world that is reminiscent of the underworld of Coruscant.

He uncovers Haja Estree’s (Kumail Nanjiani) scheme. He poses as a Jedi to help a mom and her son off-world for credits. Haja is a crook, but he does have a conscience. The Inquisitors are legitimately searching for force-sensitive children and he does get them to safety. Nanjiani’s performance took me out of the episode at first, but once he was opposite McGregor I really enjoyed their dynamic.

Obi-Wan is eventually able to rescue Leia. She doesn’t trust Obi-Wan at first. The dynamic between Obi-Wan and Leia is terrific when Leia isn’t trying to run away from him on a planet she doesn’t know. Obi-Wan even notices striking similarities between Leia and her mother Padme.

Meanwhile, The Inquisitors are also on Daiyu. The Grand Inquisitor admonishes Reva for kidnapping a senator’s daughter. She’s ordered to stand down. Instead of obeying the order, Reva decides to showcase her parkour skills across rooftops as she chases Obi-Wan and Leia. The parkour mixed with force powers should be cool, but just feels hokey and lacks purpose.

During a skirmish in a warehouse, Reva tries to mess with Obi-Wan’s head by revealing Anakin is alive. McGregor’s facial reactions here and at the end of the episode are terrific. You can see him contemplate the enormity of this information.

• Can Anakin still be saved? If so, should he be?
• Should he try and stop him? Is he willing to kill Anakin, if needed?
• What does this mean for the galaxy?

The Grand Inquisitor makes a big mistake. In attempting to ground Reva, he allows Obi-Wan and Leia to escape. Reva responds by stabbing the Grand Inquisitor. Seemingly leaving him for dead.

Searching

In the first two episodes, one of the throughlines is the concept of searching. Characters like Reva, Bail and eventually even Obi-Wan are literally searching for people. There’s also a spiritual search of sorts taking place with several characters.

Obi-Wan has lost his will to fight. It takes another Skywalker to ignite some semblance of a flame. He doesn’t even connect with the force until Leia falls from a building and Obi-Wan has to catch her using the force.

Leia, at 10-years-old, is searching for purpose. She’s told constantly she’s royalty. Yet she never feels comfortable in that role. The best element about young Leia is her ability to feel uncomfortable in her skin, but she’s not a doormat at any point. When a cousin tries to talk down to her, she takes the cousin apart with ease.

Reva is hell-bent on making Obi-Wan pay. Unfortunately, we never see anything beyond the surface from Reva. She’s full of petulant, powerful anger and nothing else. Ingram’s an intriguing up-and-coming actress. Hopefully, the series will give her more layers to play.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Premiere Final Thoughts

These first two episodes are a strong start for the latest Star Wars series. The focus on Obi-Wan and Leia is outstanding. Action sequences aren’t great.

Here’s hoping Chow and the writing team can find some more interesting villain motivation. With the final image of Anakin as Vader, that issue could be coming to a head soon.

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