Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Season 1: Part 3

[The Crawling Chaos]

I've come down with a bad case of adult-Star-Wars-fanitis. With every new release, I end up torn between a puerile sense of enjoyment of the experience and shaking my head at how bad the execution is from a storytelling perspective.

Ever since they announced the show I made my peace with the fact that this would not have an interesting story to tell but simply be an opportunity to enjoy McGregor's Obi-Wan for another 5+ hours. So that's how I take it. But man...

This is plot over character, again and again and again. The screenwriters are having a blast writing all the scenes they want (us) to see at the expense of any semblance of in-universe logic or coherence in characterization. Characters behave strangely and make stupid decisions throughout.

Spoiler: Episode 3 spoiler

I sincerely hope the next episode will provide a machiavellian explanation as to why Vader and his men stood by silently as that droid came to rescue Obi-Wan from their clutches, because it sure looks like Obi-Wan's plot armor is thicker than whatever Vader is wearing.

It's an average show, saved by McGregor's screen presence and the copious amount of fan service it's laden with.

This latest episode treated us to what is possibly the most awkward line in a Star Wars project since Anakin's "You're beautiful because I'm so in love with you" in Revenge of the Sith:

Spoiler: Chapter 3 exchange

Leia to Obi-Wan: Are you my real father?
Obi-Wan: I wish I could say I was.
Me watching:

 

[Dave]

Episode 3 certainly has some odd plotting and lines. Do I really need spoilers? There is nothing anyone doesn't already know except for the retconning, which I just can't accept anyway. This is by far, far away worse than Greedo shooting first in the Cantina:

"I sense something... a presence I haven't felt since..." since at least a few months ago...

"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan..." but somehow it no longer seems all that long ago anymore...

"We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master..." but really, I'm not much more of a master than the last time when we met again...

Spoiler: Spoiler: Chapter 3 exchange

Leia to Obi-Wan: Are you my real father?
Obi-Wan: I wish I could say I was.

Spoiler: My Reply

Yes, that is certainly odd. Are they saying Obi-Wan once had feelings for Padme?

Spoiler: And another thing

Then, when Talia came to rescue Obi-Wan and Leia at the checkpoint, she said they had the correct co-ordinates for the pick-up but she had gone there and they had already left. So, how was she coming in the opposite direction from the other side of the check-point?

Spoiler: Episode 3 Spoilers

I sincerely hope the next episode will provide a machiavellian explanation as to why Vader and his men stood by silently as that droid came to rescue Obi-Wan from their clutches, because it sure looks like Obi-Wan's plot armor is thicker than whatever Vader is wearing.

Spoiler: My Reply

At first, I thought Vader hesitated to enter into the flames because he now had a fear of flames due to his previous experience, but as you say, he is wearing armor. What else is the armour for if not to protect against blasters and such?

Then I thought, maybe Vader's respirator cannot cope with the heat and the smoke, and that's why he can't enter the flames.

But then I heard the report that "they" had lost them (meaning Vader and the Stromtroopers.) Obi-Wan was only lying a few feet away on the other side of the flames. How far do the flames extend in each direction? All the way around the planet? How can they have lost him? Can't one of the Stormtroopers walk around the end of the flames?

I don't consider myself a "hater" but this was complete rubbish. It isn't really the fault of the cast either. The young girl is excellent. It is the script that is the problem. I also agree with the earlier comment about the quality of the music score too.

Either this was rushed to completion, or the producers don't actually care.

 

[Dave]

There is a very funny review of Episode 3 here: Patrick Freyne: Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the same template as the Mandalorian, except without Baby Yoda

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

Spoiler: Dave's question

Yes, that is certainly odd. Are they saying Obi-Wan once had feelings for Padme?

Spoiler: Possible explanation

I think Obi-Wan meant Luke and Leia would have been better off with a runaway Jedi as a father than an evil Sith lord. *shrug*

Spoiler: Dave's remarks

At first, I thought Vader hesitated to enter into the flames because he now had a fear of flames due to his previous experience, but as you say, he is wearing armor. What else is the armour for if not to protect against blasters and such?

Then I thought, maybe Vader's respirator cannot cope with the heat and the smoke, and that's why he can't enter the flames.

Spoiler: My reply

I don't think Vader has pyrophobia. The episode's opening established that he lives in a castle surrounded by fire and lava, on the very planet that turned him into what he is. And he's the one who lit that fire in the first place... But even if that were the case, we saw him extinguish the flames thirty seconds earlier by using a simple Force push.

Spoiler: Dave's remarks

But then I heard the report that "they" had lost them (meaning Vader and the Stromtroopers.) Obi-Wan was only lying a few feet away on the other side of the flames. How far do the flames extend in each direction? All the way around the planet? How can they have lost him? Can't one of the Stormtroopers walk around the end of the flames?

Spoiler: My answer

And this is the second time in this episode that people act dumb when confronted to a seemingly impassable obstacle. Earlier after the mole-like creature's betrayal and Obi-Wan dispatched all the stormtroopers at the checkpoint, we see him struggle to turn off the laser grid, finally shooting blaster bolts at it to be able to walk through. Cut to a wide shot showing the laser grid was no longer than 5 metres in length and there was plenty of space on either side to walk around it.

For a second I sincerely thought this could be a reference to this scene from Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel.

There is a very funny review of Episode 3 here: [link]

So funny. "How's his inquisiting?" "It's grand."

 

[Parson]

I agree. Episode 3 was a head scratcher.

Besides some of things mentioned above, It seemed as if the ability to reach out and sense other people's presence is greatly reduced from the original trilogy. If I remember correctly Vader can sense someone on the surface of a planet from outer space. Now he seems limited to a few yards or so.

 

[Dave]

If I remember correctly Vader can sense someone on the surface of a planet from outer space. Now he seems limited to a few yards or so.

He's clearly not the Master yet and still the learner.

 

[Dave]

it seems to get mixed reviews.

I've not seen a review from anyone who liked it! Please post one so I can see how. Maybe I watched the wrong version?

If you want to see some of those characters you loved again, interacting together once more, their lightsabres drawn, along with some new Star Wars aliens, slapstick Stormtroopers, and some old droids, then this has it all. Unfortunately, the plot really does seem like it is a parody of -

Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel.

And some of the dialogue makes little sense at all. Nor can it have taken place without retconning the original film. And then there is -

the strange tone - it's written like a kids show and it seems to be aimed at entertaining kids, yet it features quite extraordinarily nasty violence

However, I have no problem with the casting or the acting, but -

The music is wrong and generic. The story is overly simple. The script is genuinely average.

And it didn't get better with the 3rd episode, but it went on a nosedive instead.

Usually, I like to nitpick things, but I do love them really. This is different, I really wanted to like it, but it is so terribly badly made. It's astonishing that anyone could think otherwise.

Maybe it does get better?

 

[REBerg]

I liked this chapter more than the first two. Maybe because Leia was more subdued.

It seemed as if the ability to reach out and sense other people's presence is greatly reduced from the original trilogy. If I remember correctly Vader can sense someone on the surface of a planet from outer space. Now he seems limited to a few yards or so.

Spoiler

Yes! I sensed an imbalance in Force-fueled sensor strength.
Obi-Wan zeroed in on Vader the moment he arrived, but Vader was unable to pinpoint Ob-Wan's position without upending everything in the street. On the other hand, Obi-Wan's other Jedi skills were nowhere in evidence as Vader tossed him around, stripped him of his lightsaber and dragged him through the flames.
Obi-Wan could have at least waved a hand and told Vader: "I'm not the Jedi you're looking for".

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

Spoiler: On Force detection

This didn't bother me in the slightest honestly.

I don't remember Vader being able to sense someone from outer space. In A New Hope he only sensed the presence of Obi-Wan while standing next to the Falcon, which Obi-Wan was aboard. So probably less than 30 feet away.

As far as the series is concerned I just wonder whether Obi-Wan's cutting himself off from the Force should make him harder or easier to detect: Do you have to delve into and open yourself up to the Force to become visible to another Force user, like turning on a beacon? Does shutting out the Force mean becoming invisible to other Force users? We don't really know how that works after all.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Phenomenal. 10/10. Watched all three episodes three times. Feels very Shakespearean to me.

I feel so sorry for those people who aren’t enjoying this. I’m in the SW universe again and I’m just in a dream.

 

[Rodders]

Really pleased to see that you're enjoying it, Phyrebrat.