Obi-Wan Kenobi released “Part I” and “Part II” on Disney Plus with Ewan McGregor returning in the title role. Disney Plus has been cranking out limited TV series over the past year, but I haven’t been as excited about one as I was about Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ll say right off the bat that it did not disappoint.
If you haven’t watched Obi-Wan yet, don’t skip the recap. Even if you’re a Star Wars fan, the recap was a great predecessor to set the scene for the show. It’s been ten years since Episode 3. Anakin Skywalker is presumed dead, even though we know he is becoming Darth Vader. The empire is gaining power and momentum. The Jedi are all dead or in hiding. Luke and Leia Skywalker have been separated and hidden from their father and the empire. Obi-Wan, or Ben as he prefers while in hiding, is working a terrible job on Tatooine to keep an eye on Luke, who is growing up with his aunt and uncle.
Kenobi is still the most infamous of the Jedi, and a particular inquisitor with the Empire known as Third Sister has made it her personal mission to bring him in. However, the Grand Inquisitor, her boss, has made it clear that he doesn’t care for her. It could be due to the fact that she was once a Jedi. She, among others, have turned to the dark side and are now hunting their fellow Jedis. Since Jedi can all sense one another, this makes hiding from the inquisitors a much tougher task.
On Tatooine, another Jedi is being hunted, and his name is Nari. He found Obi-Wan, but “Ben” doesn’t want anything to do with him. Is it safe to assume that Nari is probably one of the kids from the beginning scene where the Jedi were attacked by the empire? In any case, Obi-Wan refuses to help Nari. He goes so far as to tell Nari that the fight of the Jedi is over; they lost. Nari isn’t as skilled as he is in hiding and is eventually killed. This may be what sets Obi-Wan onto his next mission.
While we didn’t see much from young Luke Skywalker, we did get to meet ten year old Leia Organa. Leia is more or less enjoying the life of a princess, annoying her parents and sneaking off into the woods to climb trees and explore. Her father, Senator Bail Organa has kept her close, afraid of anyone finding out her true origins. When Leia is kidnapped and taken off her home planet of Alderaan, Bail looks to Obi-Wan for help. Kenobi claims that he isn’t that man anymore, but Bail needs him. Leia needs him. I was honestly waiting for someone to say he was their only hope. Don’t worry, they didn’t go that far.
By the end of the first episode, Obi-Wan boards a ship headed to find Leia on a planet called Daiyu. It is in this second episode that we learn this kidnapping was all a trick to lure Kenobi out of hiding. Third Sister, Reva, has gone behind the Grand Inquisitor’s back to pull this stunt. She doesn’t know anything about Leia, but she does know that Bail and Kenobi fought side by side in the war, and he will go after the Senator’s daughter.
On Daiyu, Reva isn’t far behind. Kenobi learns of a Jedi who is able to help. This Jedi goes by the name of Haja Estree and is played by Kumail Nanjiani. Obi-Wan sees through his charade right away. Estree is no Jedi. He’s only pretending to be a Jedi to con people out of their money. He claims to actually help the people he swindles, but it still doesn’t sit right with Obi-Wan. He does eventually help Kenobi and Leia escape Third Sister, and I enjoyed that his scenes added a bit of levity.
Reva wants to deliver Kenobi to Vader; he’s been looking for his old master for a long time. The Grand Inquisitor catches up with Reva and now wants Kenobi all for himself. She’s not about to have all of her hard work go up in smoke, so she kills him. Now, if you know the Star Wars timeline, the Grand Inquisitor can’t die here, so I’m guessing we will find out in the next episode that he isn’t actually dead. Obi-Wan and Leia do escape, with the promise that Reva and Vader will find him and destroy him.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of my most anticipated Disney Plus shows, and I’m glad that it’s living up to the hype. Ewan McGregor has done an amazing job showing how conflicted and defeated Ben is after his troubles with Anakin. I hope to see more from Moses Ingram’s Reva, to learn what drove her to turn to the dark side and hunt her own kind. And I truly hope we get to see more of Vivien Lyra Blair’s Leia because she has been an absolute delight. We did get to see a tiny peek at Darth Vader, so I hope we get more with him soon. Now that Kenobi knows that Vader is alive, when will they meet again? The limited series will run for 6 episodes, and I’m curious to see where they will leave off. There are very early rumors of a second season in the works, but we don’t know much else yet. So for now, we will keep enjoying this rich story of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
