An Ode to Obi-Wan

O n paper, bridging the gap between the Star Wars prequels and the original trilogy feels like an uninteresting endeavor. So it gives me great pleasure to report that the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+, which released its season finale on Wednesday, is anything but dull. Instead, the six-episode miniseries, in which Ewan McGregor reprises his role as the Jedi Master, is a carefully paced, lavishly constructed connector covering a previously unexplored period in the Star Wars universe.

The opening scene shows the atrocities following Emperor Palpatine’s Order 66, a genocidal plan to eradicate all Force-sensitive children and Jedi in the galaxy. Fast-forward ten years, and the Inquisitors, the Empire’s crack Jedi-hunting unit, are on the prowl in a local bar (not the one you are thinking of) searching for a Force-sensitive fugitive.

While Sung Kang’s Fifth Brother performs admirably in his limited screen time, Moses Ingram’s Reva (a.k.a. Third Sister) dominates the specialized unit. A hissing, rage-filled force of nature, Reva instantly becomes a threat to Obi-Wan. She is a far cry from the goofy-looking, scenery-chewing husk that is the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend). Reva’s character arc leaves much to be explored in a potential second season or origin-story spinoff.

It wouldn’t be an Obi-Wan series without Kenobi, of course. But the Jedi we see at first is not the powerful warrior who defeated Anakin Skywalker, his former padawan, then went into hiding at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Nor is he the wise old mentor Luke Skywalker encounters in A New Hope. What time has passed as we check up on him in Obi-Wan Kenobi has not been kind to him. In the decade since Revenge of the Sith, Ewan McGregor’s Jedi Master has been broken, chewed up, and spat out by the sands of Tatooine. He is working a mundane life, clocking in and out of a factory and watching lowly workers get ground down under the heel of their boss.

Obi-Wan is largely content to live out his days in middling fashion, overseeing a young Luke Skywalker and, crucially, not interfering. His years of exile and lingering guilt have left him weak. It is painful to see the Jedi fail, but he does so repeatedly in the series. He fails to intervene as a factory worker is only paid half of his wages and fails even further by not coming to the aid of a fugitive Jedi on the wrong side of the Inquisitors.

Only a threat to the ten-year-old princess Leia Organa — and the return of Anakin/Darth Vader — rouses Obi-Wan into action. Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits, reprising his role as Leia’s adopted father) heads to Tatooine in one last plea to save his daughter, Leia, from unknown kidnappers. The senator’s surprise appearance at Obi-Wan’s hideout delivers a cinematic staple of the “getting back on the saddle” moment. Even with the attendant clichés, it is hard not to get excited about the forthcoming adventure.

As McGregor’s brow furrows further, and the threat of Vader looms ever closer to him, the show proceeds with the right amount of restraint in addressing the conflict within Obi-Wan. These moments of torment paint a somber picture of a lost man wandering without purpose. It does not stay that way for long, but McGregor takes every opportunity to convey Obi-Wan’s internal pain in one of the great performances in the Star Wars universe.

Another great performance comes as a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. As a young Leia, Vivien Lyra Blair carries plenty of the late Carrie Fisher’s spirit and — accompanied by droid Lola — finds herself getting up to mischief, even delivering one of the show’s best moments with a withering putdown of her snooty ‘cousin’ from an arriving delegation. Her portrayal could have gone wrong in many ways but, fortunately, does not.

Obi-Wan Kenobi could have also run aground with poor pacing. But the show’s slower unfolding feels more appropriate for its detailed aesthetic vision, which benefits from close attention (some cringey, prequel-era visuals of Alderaan excepted). It also is a better fit for the skillful intermingling of two, at first, seemingly unrelated plotlines.

It helps, too, that director Deborah Chow ably aids each slow step in Obi-Wan’s reawakening. Nearly every shot in the series is either visually interesting or bolsters the story or dialogue. After trudging through the so-so Book of Boba Fett and Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings that blow a considerable small-screen budget on tired composition, I especially enjoyed Chow’s weaving her magic into every scene. You get the impression that under Chow and the likes of Mandalorian director Bryce Dallas Howard, Star Wars will continue to shine for years to come.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a stunning addition to the increasingly convoluted yet connected canon of this galaxy far, far away. The series is a mature, beautifully realized slice of Star Wars that should be the blueprint for all stories of this kind — such as 2023’s Ahsoka. With Deborah Chow and Ewan McGregor, the series is in more-than-safe hands. With Leia in tow and Luke back under the watchful eye of Obi-Wan, there are several wrinkles to keep everyone hooked by the time John Williams’s soaring score kicks in as the credits roll.