Written by Angela Rairden
Disney+’s new Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries begins with a four-minute recap segment that quickly portrays some of the pertinent events in the three Star Wars prequel movies that were released in the early 2000’s. For someone like me, who maybe hasn’t watched those movies all too recently, it was a welcome sequence that reminded audiences of how close Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker once were, a tie that seems likely to drive this entire series.
Because Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor, as it should be) vowed to hide out on Tatooine and watch over Luke from a distance, I anticipated that this would be a series mostly focused on Luke, and this is something that we do see happening.
Mostly, however, we get an idea of how tragic it is that a once-great Jedi Master like Obi-Wan has been forced to live a mundane and ordinary life in exile, afraid to use the Force even on a lonely Outer Rim planet like Tatooine for fear of detection by the Empire. Ten years have passed since the events at the end of Revenge of the Sith and Obi-Wan himself admits that he’s “no longer the man he used to be”. His only priority now is to do what he can to watch over and protect Luke, searching for signs of the Force in the boy. This dedication is born of the guilt that Obi-Wan feels over the fact that he believes that his duel on Mustafar with Anakin led to his former Padawan’s demise.
Something that I didn’t expect to see so much of, but was very pleased by, was a young Leia Organa. Stubborn, precocious, and wise beyond her years, Vivien Lyra Blair’s portrayal of ten-year-old Leia feels authentic to the princess turned Senator turned general that we all know and love. Leia has always known her mind and has never been shy about sharing her opinions and beliefs with others, which is a trait that we see has started at a young age. We also see that her own Force sensitivity is perhaps starting to show itself as she knows and understands things about the people around her that most adults, let alone ten-year-olds, shouldn’t be able to know.
Ten-year-old Leia Organa portrayed by Vivien Lyra Blair
Still, it’s Leia’s lack of fear that gets her ensnarled in a trap meant for Obi-Wan himself (which, to be fair, is a lot more interesting than just watching a miniseries about Obi-Wan going about his boring, repetitive life in exile would’ve been). The Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and two of his Inquisitors have traveled to Tatooine to sniff out a Jedi they believe to be there, unaware of the fact that their greatest prize of all, Obi-Wan, has been living in hiding on that very planet. While the Grand Inquisitor believes that continuing to hunt for Obi-Wan is a waste of time, fellow Inquisitor Reva, also known as Third Sister, (portrayed by Moses Ingram) has devoted herself to finding and delivering him to Lord Vader himself.
Inquisitor Reva/Third Sister (with a great hairdo!)
Nearly fanatical in her quest to capture the former Jedi Master, Reva proves that she will stop at nothing to draw out Obi-Wan. A former Jedi herself, Reva is a human who turned on her Jedi training and embraced the Dark Side. Wearing dramatic black armor and wielding a red lightsaber, Reva feels that her background means that she has a lot to prove to the other Inquisitors (perhaps to the entire Empire) and she knows that bringing Obi-Wan to Vader would grant her the power and respect that she craves. This character’s ferociousness and drive make her a formidable force, and I’m excited to see more of her in future episodes.
It appears that Obi-Wan Kenobi will force Obi-Wan to face old demons and new threats, whether he wants to or not. The series doesn’t have as much of the Western undertone to it that other Disney+ series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett capitalize on and is perhaps off to a slow start, action-wise. It does, however, have that classic Star Wars feel to it of underdog good guys rising to the challenge against insurmountable odds, and I can get behind that.
Angela “LaLa” Rairden is an avid fan of comic books, Star Wars, and most things nerdy. A cosplayer, she loves to attend comic cons dressed as her favorite fictional characters, particularly Harley Quinn. Although her day job is as a florist at a grocery store, writing has always been her true calling. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is currently writing her first novel.