There’s a lot of story to tell between the years of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, and one such story that many fans wanted to see was that of Kenobi. This broken Jedi – ripped apart by the events of Order 66, coming to terms with his failure over Anakin. We sort of got that with John Jackson Miller’s novel, but being set immediately after the events of Order 66, it rings a little hollow.
Order 66 was a devastating loss for all the Jedi. A turning point of the entire galaxy. And for Obi-Wan in particular, it’s a very personal affair. The guilt that he was responsible for Anakin’s downfall – that he allowed the darker side of Anakin to remain. That he is responsible for the darkness the galaxy now faces. And in this series, he’s been living with those feelings and emotions – alone – for ten years.
On Tatooine, we see Obi-Wan keeping his head down, keeping to himself. Blending in by being as ordinary as he can be. Even when another Jedi comes to him needing help, the only advice he gives is exactly what he’s been doing. Oh, he’s looking out for Luke, but if there’s one thing he is unable to do at present, it is to control his emotions. So when he is called on to finally help a friend, his first instinct is to avoiding helping.
Throughout the series, he battles those emotions – especially when he finally learns that Anakin survived and comes into conflict with Vader. His conflict is what is dulling his Force, making him weaker than he would ordinarily be. As he comes to terms with his own station, his own emotions, he starts becoming that Jedi that Bail Organa always knew.
The central conflict of the series is getting Leia home. A certain Inquisitor has used the knowledge of the connection between Bail and Obi-Wan to draw the latter out. With Leia having been kidnapped, the task falls to Obi-Wan to get her back home. The young star who plays Leia does a great job of portraying a soon-to-be-Senator who wants to see more of the galaxy.
Across this journey of six episodes, Leia gets to see some of this galaxy, learning the larger galaxy – and even her own backyard – is not as safe as she imagined. As she experiences the galaxy around her after being rescued with her child-like innocence, it reminds Obi-Wan of the good that came from Anakin – including how great of a person Padmé was. Obi-Wan even acknowledges that when saying how much Leia reminds him of her.
The Inquisitors prove their effectiveness here, with Reva – the Third Sister – being who we spend the most time with from that group. For this is as much her story as it is Kenobi’s. It might seem weird saying that, but just as Obi-Wan is dealing with his guilt over Anakin, Reva is also dealing with such negative emotions from Order 66. I won’t say more in detail, but it’s built up well enough and resolved beautifully in a mirror of Obi-Wan facing his own emotions.
There are flaws with the episodes, notably with some of the action scenes. Whether from the StageCraft technology limiting how much action can happen, or the direction of that action in general. Some of the supporting characters surrounding the exploration of The Path show a bit of weakness, but they’re not the focus so it can be overlooked.
One thing I will say is that combining exploration of Obi-Wan’s journey and the workings of The Path is great, but it should have remained as just that. The detour to the Fortress Inquisitorius could have easily been avoided and still detailed the major plot points of that episode. It did wonders in showing Leia as a strong individual (despite the panic near the end) but that could also have been focused upon with a more compact story.
Overall, it is a great series. The characters it takes the time to focus on are well done, the finale episode is a very strong one, as is the fifth episode for its mastery of combining a flashback and the current events. It’s not a series that high on stakes, since the major characters will all survive, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a character driven experience that does exactly what it needs to.
Images Taken From:
-Obi-Wan Kenobi S1.01 + S1.02
