Obi-Wan Kenobi
Legendary bridge between the prequels and the original trilogy not seen since Rogue One. While the first few episodes I felt were a tad slow and underdeveloped, I appreciated the return to many of the set pieces of my childhood, and the fantastic finale that perfectly connects old and new.
The star is obviously Ewan McGregor, in the role that I first got to know him in. I think he delivered everything we could have wanted and more. Everything about his performance fits so well into that moment in the Star Wars canon. He’s an old veteran with trauma from Order 66 and the rise of the empire ten years prior. He’s a broken man hiding out in Tatooine, watching over young Luke. He’s depressed, has lost his way with the force, and is just trying to stay out of sight for fear of being hunted down by the empire’s inquisitors.
The main hook happens when Princess Leia is kidnapped (A lot of people make fun of the scene where this happens; that chase scene with Leia and the pirates is pure 🤡). Kenobi is sent by the Organas (as their only hope) to rescue her. These first few episodes for me act as kind of filler, but it definitely plays in to both Leia’s and Obi-wan’s character development.
The most annoying thing about the first half is, by far, Kumail Nanjiani. He serves about as much to the story as the Coruscant deathsticks guy in Attack of the Clones.
However I believe Deborah Chow successfully brings the miniseries together in the back half. Darth Vader appears fairly early on in the series, and we see so much more of him than I expected. He featured heavily as an antagonist in Rogue One, and here he also stands out.
One of the inquisitors, The Third Sister, is hellbent on finding Kenobi and proving herself to Vader. Through a few episodes of chasing them around on different planets, they finally end up on Jabiim where we see the beginnings of a rebel alliance start to take form.
These final moments in episodes V and VI are incredible. The Third Sister is revealed to be one of the younglings whose friends were all slayed during order 66, and she has been plotting her revenge ever since. There is a tense moment where this is revealed to Obi-wan, soon before helping the rebels escape with the help of the inquisitor.
Personally, I found the last episode of the series to be some of the most tantalizing, exciting content to come out of Star Wars in years. The final battle between Kenobi and Vader, master and apprentice, spliced with flashback sequences of Anakin and Obi-wan training on Coruscant is incredible and reminiscent of their battle 10 years ago on Mustafar. At the crux of the battle, Kenobi slices half of Vader’s helmet off, and we get to see the man inside. No longer Anakin, but Vader himself. It’s the most shocking, heartbreaking image if you grew up on the prequels; we cut to Kenobi’s reaction and see how devastated he is that he allowed his friend, nay, brother become this monster.
I’m so glad we got closure as to what happened after Revenge of the Sith, because while Rogue One was fantastic, this felt like a real return to the prequels that we all needed.