Obi-Wan Kenobi Show Finale Had Great Moments, And A Few Too Predictable

The Obi-Wan Kenobi show’s Episode 6, the show’s finale (potentially), successfully followed up Episode 5 as it surpassed its preceding episode to become the best entry in the show. Everything that I was looking for in this series was at last shown in the epic series finale. Still, the plague of Disney’s cautiousness with their Star Wars stories has yet again reared its ugly head as the episode was not perfect.

First, the good. This episode was by far the best of the series, and I’m glad that the show was able to overcome its slow start to deliver on some of the promise and potential that was hyped around this show for years. The finale continued on the surprisingly great mentor/guardian relationship between Obi Wan-Kenobi and Princess Leia.

When they first introduced the idea that Obi-Wan was going to spend the entire show searching for and rescuing Leia, I was skeptical it could work. I thought that it was either going to break canon too much, or that the dynamic between Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan-Kenobi) and Vivien Lyra Blair (Princess Leia) was not going to work. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Obi-Wan Kenobi
(Obi-Wan Kenobi-Teaser Trailer)

I found Blair’s portrayal of the witty, fierce, and compassionate Leia to be really endearing, and McGregor’s more experienced, cynical yet still selfless Obi-Wan to really work well with one another. I wish they could have shown more of these two together, though maybe we will’ see it if the show gets another season.

Another great point of the series was Darth Vader (and Anakin Skywalker’s short cameos). He really stole the show for me. Apart from the original trilogy, there has been no greater depiction of the fallen Jedi-turned Sith Lord. His cruelty, rage, regret, and depression really shone through all of his interactions with the Inquisitors and Obi Wan-Kenobi.

Brining back Hayden Christiansen was a brilliant idea by the casting team and director as it closed the bridge, for me at least, between the prequel Anakin Skywalker and the original trilogy Darth Vader. That final scene between Vader and Obi-Wan was the best of the series, showing how much pain and sadness Obi-Wan felt for his role in Anakin’s fall into evil.

Contrarily to Obi-Wan’s sadness, that open mask shot of Anakin’s burned, deformed face was the first time I was generally scared/disgusted by Darth Vader. And, when Vader started smiling as he was describing how he killed Anakin Skywalker to Obi-Wan, showing his utter malice and psychoticness, that convinced me this was one of the Top-2 portrayals of the Sith Lord ever.

Hayden Christensen and all the other Vader stunt doubles were outstanding in this series, and its long past time we recognize Hayden Christensen as a great actor.

Again, I wish we saw more of the Sith Lord, especially more of the regret he had for the past. I know the show was on a limited budget and runtime, but if we could have seen a moment where Vader was thinking about Padme, or if he visited her grave, that would have made up for some of the show’s deficiencies.

Moreover, why were we not shown more of Uncle Owen. And, especially, Aunt Beru. THEY WERE GREAT! I loved their finale fight scene against Reva, and how they refused to cower from a trained Inquisitor when Luke’s life was threatened. This series was a godsend for their characters.

Joel Edgerton (Uncle Owen) gave one of the best acting performances of the series, and I really think we should have seen more of him. Also, why was there not more from Jimmy Smits (Bail Ogana)? He was great in every scene he was in.

Finally, the Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader fight scene was amazing. Hands down, the best Vader (in his suit)-involved lightsaber duel of the franchise to date. The use of the rocky terrain, each force user hailing down huge stones upon one another was a great addition to the awesome saber-skills between the Obi-Wan and Vader. Also, that was the scene where Vader got his facemask sliced open, so that just makes it that much better.

Alright, with the good points of the series laid out, what were some negative aspects about it? Well, I hate to say it, but I must. The lack of ambition in storytelling was really telling with this show. And, unfortunately, it was epitomized through Reva’s personal journey in the show.

With Reva, her story really didn’t make sense. I found it was too forced and too reliant on plot armor and contrivances. However, it’s not the fault of the character, or the actor. It is, as I mentioned, due to the lack of ambition in storytelling.

Firstly, Reva really should have been dead after Episode 5 when Vader stabbed her in the stomach (yes, I went back and checked), and then left her for dead on Jabiim.

(A brief aside: Disney’s Star Wars has WAY too many people coming back from lightsaber stabs, ex: Reva, Kylo Ren, the Grand Inquisitor, Finn, Kanan Jarrus, etc. It’s getting comical at this point.)

The fault as to why Reva’s story fell flat was not because of Mosses Ingrahm (Reva’s actress), or because of any other on-screen circumstance. The truth is that the reason Reva failed is the reason why so many of Disney’s Star Wars stories have fallen flat. It’s because it was too cautious and predictable.

Again, Disney choose the path of “redeemed Sith/Imperial Loyalist” for Reva, as they did with Trilla Suduri (Jedi: Fallen Order), Iden Versio (Star Wars: Battlefront 2), Finn, General Hux, the Grand Inquisitor (Rebels Spirit Version), Boba Fett, Crosshair (Bad Batch) and Kylo Ren.

If every single new villain is eventually going to be redeemed/turn against their evil origins, then the audiences will never actually fear for the Jedi and other main characters. The antagonist is just bound to either let them go or join them.

You can only see so many redemption arcs until it eventual becomes cheap and predictable. So many of Disney’s Star Wars shows/movies suffer because someone from the executive leadership (I’m guessing) is afraid of taking real risks in terms of storytelling.

Until they show a true, cruel, and competent villain, aside from their sensational six (Cad Bane, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, General Grevious, and Darth Sidious), then all Star Wars stories will continue to suffer.

With the return of Qui-Gon Jinn’s force ghost and a general demand for more Kenobi, I hope that means we will see one more season of the show. Despite the negatives I mentioned, the show was still really fun to watch. I’d give the series finale a 9.2/10, and the season as a whole a respectable, but with room to improve 8.1/10.

As I said, I hope we see a Season 2 with more Obi-Wan, Vader, Qui-Gon Jinn, Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, and perhaps see more from a young Luke Skywalker.

Images Source: Feature Image: (Disney) (Obi-Wan Kenobi | Teaser Trailer | Disney+ – YouTube)