Stole 2 hours to watch during my lunch.

9.5/10

This be Star Wars kiddos.

 

Deborah Chow is proving to be a pretty amazing director.

 

That Clone Trooper scene hit hard

 

I was very apprehensive about this because "Obi-Wan going on adventures in between trilogies!" really doesn't work for where the character is at that point in the story, but they've definitely assuaged my fears so far. Characterization has been good, the motives make sense, and everything feels like Star Wars -- so it's already way better than the Book of Boba Fett. There were only a couple of things that felt a bit off, but they were small enough that it was alright.

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That said, I don't mind Vader being in the series but I'd really like it if they didn't meet. It would definitely take some of the power out of what Vader said when they met on the Death Star if Mustafar wasn't their last encounter:

I’ve been waiting for you, Obi Wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the Master.​

​

 

That quote didn't really work after Episode III though, not with how it really went down.

 

Can we all talk about how good Ewan McGregor has gotten at acting? Like, he's been blowing my socks off for a decade now.

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I think the weakest parts of the episodes were probably the Young Leia / kidnappers bits. It all just felt a bit off. Fifth Brother being a normal sized dude kinda perplexes me as well. Surely they could have gotten a big actor?

Reva is an interesting character, but I wish the actress had a bit more of a menacing presence. She just doesn't have that psychotic vibe that every other inquisitor we come across in Star Wars tends to ooze. I guess that can kind of be addressed by some of the dialogue in episode 2, the bit about her being the 'least' of them.

On to good things. The dialogue was so on point and Ewan is almost full channeling Alec Guinness now. That is just awesome to see.

I really loved all the worldbuilding they did across just two episodes. Just lots of little details here and there that made me go 'aha they are paying attention to even the obscure lore'. Mos Eisley cityscape being somewhere between it's prequel / OG designs, the rapidly aging clone trooper, the Daiyu spice dealer and the different kinds of spice. Fucking great stuff.

Bacta Tank Vader. Nuff said.

 

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Loved it. 9.5 out of 10.

The actor for Leia is fine... but she seems younger than ten, the actress is nine, but to me is leaning more 7-8. Which makes some of her more mature lines harder to believe. Like when Indi!Harry starts talking like an adult at 11, it just doesn’t vibe.

Also the utter ridiculousness of her running away from first the kid appears then Obi-Wan. She wasn’t even sprinting, just jogging. Any adult would catch her in two long strides.

Kids are like Greece’s lightning when running, especially when ducking under stuff adults can’t. But she was just strolling about and some how evading everyone.

Small nitpick.

 

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Yeah that was one of my two "This feels somewhat wrong" things. Especially since one of the mercenaries chasing her on Alderaan runs into a clearly visible branch and acts like he was ambushed by the Ewoks.

One other minor thing I didn't like was the neon-haired young woman spice dealer on Daiyu, but I think that was more because she reminded me of Boba Fett's 1960's-soda-fountain-slash-cyberpunk speeder gang that he made his muscle (i.e., she didn't feel like she belonged in Star Wars). Luckily she was gone in like thirty seconds.

The last, minor nit-pick I've had was the trailer-sound "BWOAAA" that happened when Reva was parkour-ing through Daiyu's rooftops (also her parkour-ing was a bit overdone -- we didn't need backwards-forward-flips really), as well as I thought the soundtrack when the Inquisitors arrive at the beginning of the first episode to be a bit overdone.

All minor nit-picks that didn't take me out of it.

But yes, @KHAAAAAAAN!!, Ewans's acting has been phenomenal throughout. He really feels the part of a broken-down Obi-wan.

 

@R. E. Lee The spicer was actually McGregors IRL daughter.

 

Interesting. But it wasn't the actress I objected to, it was that she reminded me of these people too much. It just doesn't feel Star Wars to me.

 

I feel like she was literally a direct callback to the "wanna buy some deathsticks" guy from the prequels.

 

I think the sound effect you mention is supposed to signify force use as opposed to just athletics.

I can see why they do it, and am indifferent to its use.

 

Yeah, I understand what it is supposed to signify, but they've not used it before for the same thing. That's why I dislike it.

 

About the only thing I didn't like was the chase scenes involving Leia. She's so tiny that any adult would catch her in about two seconds. The one where Obi-Wan was chasing her was a bit better, because at least there were people in the way.

Those little too-insightful moments that she has make me wonder if they're going some sort of force power route. Like instead of having prescient combat reflexes like her brother and most Jedi, she is able to pick up things on people. Which would make total sense and would explain why she was such a successful politician in the future.

 

Very much the vibe I got from her. She dissected her cousin and my first thought was 'Force Power.'

I'm a fan so far. Ewan is great. The vibe is solid. Feels like Star Wars.

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Not a huge fan of the betrayal of the Grand Inquisitor at the end but IMDB lists him at 6 episodes so maybe he makes it through.

I'm def expecting Vader to take Reva under his proverbial wing given her zeal for finding Obi-Wan, then killing her at the end when she inevitably fails.

The lack of touching the Force for a decade make sense even if I want to watch Obi-Wan fuck shit up. Thought they'd go that route.

Stoked for episode 3.

 

Re the Grand Inquisitor, I wouldn't be surprised if this show (or the next Fallen Order game) shows the stuff from the Vader comics where Vader

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basically imprisons his spirit to evermore guard the Jedi temple on Tempes whilst eternally aflame.

 

One of the many small downsides of gap-fill storytelling is that we already know where the younger versions of the characters end up. In this case, see Rebels.

 

Something to keep in mind for those who are unaware: a Jedi's access to his powers is determined by how well he can keep his focus, among other things. Being distracted by strong emotions like doubt and fear affects them so strongly that there is an entire Sith combat form dedicated to it (basically the shit-talking that Palpatine is known to do). Given that what we've seen so far about Obi-Wan's mental state, combined with being 10 years out of practice, there's plenty of backstory reasons for why he's not as capable as he used to be.

--

Some of the things I've liked so far:

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- The inclusion of Leia as a main character. Luke gets a lot more focus in most media I've seen due to being a Jedi, so it's nice seeing the other twin getting a bigger role.
- How the Inquisitors make Lars' overprotectiveness from A New Hope a lot more reasonable. It's not just wanting to keep him on the farm to avoid him getting killed like his dad (plus, you know, the whole Tusken Raider slaughter thing), it's also about how the Empire is intentionally and publicly hunting down Jedi.

 

Reminder too that Luke’s desire to leave the farm at first was….joining the Imperial Academy. Dude would’ve been noted and found so hard.

Sidious gets a ping on his notepad… “A skywalker has enlisted” etc

 

Skywalker sounds like a name, a poetic name for pilots, that could be quite common in an interstellar civilization. Something like Smith from a blacksmith.