Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) Episode 6 Review

“Your strength has returned. But the weakness still remains.”

Alright ladies and gentlemen, the series finale has come and gone. We can finally confirm that Ewan McGreggor’s tease for more episodes was just that, a tease. Or more brutally, a mistake, just like this series was.

That’s right, I am not convinced that this series was justified, for a multitude of reasons. This project began as a cinematic engagement to be witnessed on the big screen. After the diminishing returns of the sequel saga and the arrival of The Mandolorian on Disney+, Lucasfilm found their answer to their dilemma: Streaming.

Obi-Wan Kenobi feels like a diluted product, one that was stretched from a 2 hour format to a 6 hour format without being ready to do so. The reason it feels that way it’s because it was. The bare bones of the concept were developed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie, who surprisingly wrote Michael Mann’s Collateral (2004) and also developed the franchise highs of Pirates of the Caribbean, but also its lows. In other words he wrote the movie for which the series is based on, for that reason he receives a “story by” credit on the series. Exploring characters in a mini series gives you more time for their development, and it should have been a good thing, but ultimately it wasn’t.

I’m not alone in this thinking, a passionate fan by the name of Kai Patterson, has already taken matters into his own hands and taken the footage from the mini series in its entirety and turned it into the single 2-hour-and-30-minute engagement it was meant to be.

The Grand Inquisitor as played by Rupert Friend is utterly wasted, and the Reva storyline wasn’t compelling, though it tried to be. I liked it better when the writers had her dying, but Star Wars always clings to the redemption story trope.

Moreover, this series has been building towards a confrontation — the rematch of a century — but if you follow the narrative, there is no proper justification for Obi-Wan to have been able to defeat Darth Vader in the end. Namely because he was no longer in his prime, while Vader continued to hone his skills with the force. You could argue that Obi-Wan dug deep and found it within himself, but that excuse simply doesn’t cut it.

Where was the training montage? You could argue it is stereotypical, but we have yet to see it in a galaxy far far away, and now was the perfect time to see it happen.

Visually, I liked how the cinematography, used red to reflect on Vader while blue was reflected on Kenobi — it was clever and appreciated. The choreography needed work, however. But having Obi-Wan full on Airbender with the floating rocks (I see you Dave Filoni) was flat out terrible.

The only solution to this is to have Obi-Wan lose. (Borrowing from the Empire Strikes Back.) This leaves the door open for a rematch, but frankly you wouldn’t need one because that final showdown comes years later with A New Hope. If Revenge of the Sith had Anakin lose, and in his exile he’s been preparing for this day, it makes sense that he gain the upper hand. Let’s not forget his opponent is out of practice.

By losing, it creates an opportunity for enlightenment from the force, one that would allow Kenobi to gain the sight he lacks to see his former master once more. This also holds the creative team accountable for delivering a showdown as iconic as the one delivered by Lucas himself. Because no matter what you say about the prequels, he did give us Duel of the Fates and Battle of the Heroes. But more importantly, we have yet to match that ferocity or innovation, with the only exception being Vader’s Rage in Rogue One.

In fact, by allowing Vader to be triumphant, not only do you explain why he is arrogant and confident about defeating Kenobi in A New Hope years later. (Have you seen this?) You also explain why a potential season 2 of the series, doesn’t collide the characters ever again, and the series finale very clearly paves different paths for both characters moving forward.

It’s clear now that Lucasfilm grew over zealous with their IP after the success of The Mandolorian, and has now spread series creator Jon Favreau thin, lowering the quality of the storytelling across the galaxy.