When Disney bought the Star Wars franchise, I was skeptical. Further down the road as I Left my local movie theater on the opening night of The Rise of Skywalker, I had to start reminding myself that I liked Star Wars. I had such a bad experience, it helped me quit smoking cigarettes. Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not one of those #notmystarwars people, it just didn’t have the same magic that I’m used to with a Star Wars movie. I had thought that maybe it was just me getting older and more cynical. Then, about 2 weeks later I binged Season 1 of The Mandalorian, and that ended up scratching the exact itch I had. Moving forward, I had trust in Disney once again and decided that after 3 mediocre film attempts (not you Rogue One, I loved you) that a second chance would be granted. Heck, even Donald Glover made Solo somewhat watchable.
So now we get to now. I’ve seen all of Mando, and Cheered at Boba Fett, multiple times but I still wasn’t completely sure about going back to the prequel era for the Disney + Obi-Wan Kenobi Series. Even Hayden was coming out of retirement to play Anakin/Vader once again. I expected sand, I expected little kid Luke, and I expected to not be wowed by the overall story. Luckily, my expectations were blown out of the water. I didn’t expect to find new and exciting side characters, and returning faces, and mostly I didn’t expect an adventure with little Leia.
So the new adventure starts with Obi-wan, still looking like Episode 3 and not a whole lot like Alec Guinness. He is hiding in the desert with a crap ass job while keeping his promise to watch over Luke and hiding under the very unoriginal name of Old Ben. Set in the time after the great Jedi purge, this was working well until an on-the-run Jedi shows up and asks Old Ben for help. He is told not to fight back and just hide. This is not a simple task as he is on the run from the inquisitors, who also believe Obi-Wan Kenobi is hiding on Tatooine too and they want their Kenobi Scalp. The story sets off when the Jedi is killed and strung up in the town square for everyone to see, but the inquisitors still smell blood in the water, so a trap is set.
Widdle Princess Leia is kidnapped by the bassist for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Bail Organa decides that Obi-Wan is her only hope, definitely setting a precedent for later on. At first Old, Ben decides that he can’t leave Luke and will go on no such rescue mission. Suddenly Bail shows up and reminds Obi-Wan that he needs to protect both kids. Skip ahead a little bit and our favorite Kenobi is on a ship, headed to steal back a princess, against his own better judgment.
Just to make sure that my point gets across that this show is worth watching, I’m not going to spell it all out. However, I will let you know that there is action and adventure and Obi-Wan wants none of this. What he does want is to lay low and not power up his laser sword. I assure you this does not happen, and it does not happen in great amounts. Honestly, the lightsaber battles are some of the best in the live-action canon, in my humble opinion.
Without being too spoiler-y, there are plenty of live-action debuts of characters and locations. This series knocks it out of the park for dedicated Star Wars fans and has plenty for the casual viewer too. While it does have a slow start, by the end moments you will assuredly be ready for more. Several previous plot holes are patched up and while there is plenty left unanswered, this season’s mini series did a great job at what it set out to do. Get Ewan McGregor in a tunic and have him say “Hello there”.
High marks on my end, this one is a definite watch. 5 out of 5 “You were the Chosen Ones”
