I wasn’t as super-hyped about the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show as other Star Wars fans seemed to be. I was just never a big Obi-Wan fan in general. But I still love Star Wars and I’m going to watch whatever shows they put out. More power to them. Now that Obi-Wan has come and gone, I felt it was all just generally fine. Nothing particularly special, as far as I’m concerned.

TV Show Rating: 7/10 – Good

In the end, I feel like Obi-Wan Kenobi was just a simple, straight forward adventure that this hermit Jedi gets to go on. It doesn’t really alter anything we know about the character or the era of the Star Wars timeline. I actually think it adds some unneeded complications that will need smoothing over in all our minds. But I was never bored, and there were definitely some cool moments. It’s definitely not a bad show. I just don’t think it was anything special.

Join me after the jump for my review and all my thoughts on the first(?) season of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

6. It was a good Star Wars adventure

Ultimately, I don’t think the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show lived up to all the hype and excitement. As much as I enjoyed seeing Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen come back as Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, I don’t think the show was anything special. Just a bunch of Star Wars action slathered in fan service. This show didn’t break new storytelling ground or go in any new or exciting directions for Star Wars. It didn’t reveal any new depths to Obi-Wan’s character or flesh out any underdeveloped story. It just took this character and put him through a pretty good Star Wars adventure, without accomplishing much of any lasting impact to the series as a whole.

I liked the characters, the actors and the Jedi stuff, because I’m easy to please. The action was good, the lightsaber duels were cool and young Leia was especially fun. But nothing had any real emotional impact for me. Nothing really pushed boundaries or went above and beyond. It’s just Obi-Wan on a general adventure, which is fine. But it doesn’t rise above fine.

5. Most of the characters were great

Even though the overall story didn’t really do anything for me, I felt like almost all of the characters and actors were great. Ewan McGregor easily steps back into the role of Obi-Wan after all this time. He’s great as a reluctant, weathered hero who slowly regains his confidence and skill. Vivien Lyra Blaire was phenomenal as the young Leia, a character that none of us expected to show up. We all thought the show would be about Obi-Wan and Luke, but nope! Leia shows up and kicks butt from the very beginning, easily carrying her role despite being such a young child. And then Darth Vader continues his absolute ass-kicking in all these recent shows and movies. Pretty much every time we’ve seen Vader in the new era, he has been amazing and terrifying, and this show really put in the work to make him as awesome and fearsome as ever.

But not every main character really shined…

4. Reva needed way more development

I hate that this needs to be said, but I’d be a fool not to address it: anyone hating on Reva or actor Moses Ingram because they’re Black is a horrible human being. They have no place in civilized society or the Star Wars fandom. So to hell with all those people. But in the end, it’s a disappointing reality that Reva just wasn’t handled as well as she could have been, in my opinion. Even though it was pretty obvious that she was one of the kids from the Order 66 opening scene, we didn’t get any real character development or exploration until episode 5. Reva was forced to go four entire episodes being someone with no background or depth or development, just some inexplicable character motivation. Why was she so obsessed with going after Obi-Wan? Why was she so reckless? Why did any of the other Inquisitors put up with her crap?

I think Reva should have been a co-lead for this show. They shouldn’t have “hid” the reveal that she was a youngling. They should have embraced that from the start and used that to explain why she was going after Obi-Wan, and then the big reveal could be that she was actually playing a long con in order to get close to Vader. So much more could have been done with Reva to really boost and develop her character instead of leaving her as such an unknown quantity. We haven’t seen much of the Inquisitors so far. Where do they come from exactly? What’s the process? Are they ever conflicted? And did Reva really need to survive in the end? Why not give her a better story and then a tragic ending?

3. Maya Erskine was in it!

This one is just neat for me. I’m a big fan of actor Maya Erskine. She was great in Pen15, and she was great in the rom com Plus One. She’s just an actor I really enjoyed, and I think it’s neat that she randomly gets to show up as a Star Wars character. It’s not a big role and the character — Sully Stark — doesn’t do much of anything. I just enjoy seeing this actor I like show up in a minor Star Wars role!

2. I didn’t need to see Obi-Wan fight Vader

It became pretty obvious about halfway through that we were building to a rematch between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader. And the final episode delivered, with an epic battle as the two fought with lightsabers and the Force. We got Obi-Wan fully coming into his powers, and we got Darth Vader with his mask broken, hissing about how evil he is. These scenes are, objectively, pretty awesome. But I didn’t need them to happen. There was no reason to insert an extra duel between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It was done just to appeal to the fans. And while I’m sure many fans loved it, I didn’t need it to enjoy the show or be happy. I would have much preferred to have Reva get a better story, and then the final episode features a major battle between Obi-Wan and Reva.

1. Now I’m sad about A New Hope

Man, how said is it now that Leia never got to interact with Obi-Wan in Star Wars: A New Hope? She reached out to him for help in her hour of need, he came when she called, but the two of them never got to meet. And the movie is far more focused on Luke’s sadness at losing Obi-Wan than Leia’s. After everything Obi-Wan and Leia went through in this show, their lack of any follow up is pretty sad now. But such is the danger of trying to pull off this fan-service-heavy new material. This is the reality of Star Wars now.

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