If there’s any franchise that has had a rocky trajectory, it would be Star Wars and it all started with the prequel trilogy. While it has its fans and some great ideas, this trilogy was riddled with bad writing, hollow acting, an over reliance on CGI, and awful direction from George Lucas which ruined what was otherwise a fascinating premise, needing to rely on animated series like The Clones War from his own protege, Dave Filoni, to mop up the mess he left behind in his own franchise. Regardless, its fan-base was steadfast enough that when it was announced that Disney was going to release an Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries, with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen returning to reprise their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, the buzz for the show was immense. With Deborah Chow (who previously worked as a director on The Mandalorian) at the helm, the show had potential, and the trailers further pushed this by including elements from the popular video game, Jedi: Fallen Order, as well as the other popular Star Wars animated series, Star Wars: Rebels, it had the potential for everybody to enjoy it. But like every Star Wars property nowadays, it was met with pretty heavy criticism upon release, and much like the response that comes after every critique of this franchise, it’s not entirely unfounded. Set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi (played again by Ewan McGregor) is hiding on the planet Tatooine from the empire who are currently hunting Jedi, eventually showing up in the form of the jedi-turned jedi-hunting Inquisitors, who are looking for force-sensitive children to slay. One such inquisitor, Reva (played by Moses Ingram) specifically wishes to get Kenobi out of hiding and does so by kidnapping a young Leia Organa (played by Vivien Lyra Blair). Knowing that he is tasked with protecting both of Anakin’s children, Obi-Wan leaves the planet and sets out to find and return Leia to her family, all the while being tailed by Reva, as well as the dark shadow of his old apprentice, Darth Vader (played by Hayden Christensen/James Earl Jones) who is ready for another rematch. Released straight to Disney+ in the middle of 2022, this series wanted to bring light and balance back to this awkward era but only proved to anger people (as per usual with this franchise). Considering what could’ve been, it’s hard to ignore how much of this show feels forced, out-of-place and just an excuse to bank on nostalgia rather than adding something fresh and new to a galaxy far, far away.

Due to how poorly the future era of Star Wars has been received after Disney’s failed sequel trilogy, it’s unfortunate that both them and Lucasfilm are terrified to do anything besides focus on the past. The fact that they would green-light a show like this is evidence enough, but the fact that they are solely banking of a specific fan-base attached to a poorly received trilogy that eventually gained a cult following afterwards, paints a clear picture of how scared they really are. What was initially supposed to be a film was instead transformed into a 6-episode miniseries after the failure of the 2016 film, Solo, and on paper, there is plenty of material to work with for an Obi-Wan series, but while it had promise, it’s hard to pretend it fully accomplished anything. The basic premise could work, but the pacing feels incredibly off, and the writing does it no favors, leaving what could be a new exploration of an emotional dynamic left untouched by any previous Star Wars media (Obi-Wan and Leia) and instead uses it as an excuse to get him and Vader to show-down again. Episode 1 starts quite strong, with great pacing, acting, set-up and a tone that carries a sense of grit that is akin to what the prequels were trying to carry but failed to achieve. However, as soon as the mission gets put into action (mainly episodes two, three and four), things start to get messy and pretty pointless. The decisions made by certain characters is pretty laughable in moments, plot threads that should be explored go unrecognized against more generic and forgettable choices, and it feels like it is offering very little in terms of new or important developments for this franchise. It relies on past and future material to earn brownie points from fans without properly developing the new material they’ve created, which leaves any new ideas and content feeling largely weak, unmemorable, and wasted. The eventual conclusion has sparks of decent elements, but is matched with messy writing, a reliance on already used concepts that just feel watered down (the final battle has kind of already been done in another Star Wars spinoff) and it becomes extremely evident how much this series is forcing itself to exist through how many loopholes they’re jumping through in order to make this fit into the canon. Despite having a great track record with episodes from shows like Better Call Saul, Mr. Robot and The Mandalorian under her belt, the directing from Deborah Chow is also pretty mixed. There are moments where she truly shines (especially in dialogue sequences and moments of quiet stillness), but any moment of action or peril isn’t done particularly well and come across as pretty awkward. She might’ve done a better job directing if it remained as a film, but as a show (where she strangely directs every episode, which is not a very common practice for TV), it just feels off.

If there was a character that would really benefit from more exploration, it would be Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite being an incredibly crucial character, he has gone oddly underdeveloped and doesn’t have a lot of personality to work with. Going from the archetypal old mentor figure reserved for death in the original trilogy, to the catchphrase spewing action figure with zero personality in the prequels, Obi-Wan needed something to stretch his identity, showcase more of his personality and develop him in a way that showed a sense of growth. This show does this to a slight extend, but nowhere near to the amount that is needed. It alone isn’t entirely at fault as the character’s lack of development in other properties leaves him feeling like a hollow role being forced into a new arc without starting one previously, and the script makes his arc unsatisfying due to an endpoint that doesn’t really feel clear and a conclusion that’s more interest in recycling fan-service than exploring new avenues. The acting from McGregor can also feel a little caricature-like in moments due to how much he’s trying to emulate the voice of Alec Guinness, so that’s also a little distracting. Vivien Lyra Blair is saddled with the very hard task of portraying a role that is intentionally supposed to be entitled but also wildly deceptive and crafty for her age, so it would be difficult for anyone, but this kid doesn’t have the strength to pull it offer authentically. She’s stuck with pretty bad lines, the delivery always feels forced, the relationship between her and Obi-Wan is pretty weak, and she does come off as very bratty and precocious in the earlier episodes. Reva as an antagonist is also pretty poorly realized. Moses Ingram does add a level of intimidation to moments when she’s quiet and composed, and her resolution does provide for a more rounded portrayal that should’ve been explored much earlier, but from her shouting moments feeling poorly acted and the fact that she doesn’t hold much weight in the story, it makes her an odd choice for one of the lead villains (especially with Vader being presented). Some of the new characters aren’t too bad, like Indira Varma as a former imperial officer who’s come to regret her actions, but roles like O’Shea Jackson Jr., Kumail Nanjiani (because Disney keeps deciding to waste him) and especially the Inquisitors played by Sung Kang, Rya Kihlstedt and Rupert Friend are completed wasted. Vader’s inclusion has some merit despite being forced into every Star Wars property nowadays, as his oddly reckless, highly rageful demeanor and extreme brutality is a nice change of the pace to his usually stoic and collected but powerful presence, and how they incorporate both James Earl Jones and Hayden Christensen is a nice touch (with this no doubt helping him get brought back later on in Ahsoka), but the manner of tap-dancing they have to do to make this set-up work is a little distracting and makes no sense come the end.

From a production standpoint, the series does have a strong budget behind it and uses that to its advantage when showing off any new locations. The cinematography by Chung-hoon Chung is pretty effective and gets some great visuals that feel painted in nature and provide great scale and presence. Unfortunately, while the series allows the audience to see new parts of the Star Wars universe, none of these locations are particularly interesting. A problem that has arisen for many environments created in this new era is that they never feel fully alien or Star Wars-esque, rather just basic human locations with occasional weirdly designed creatures in them, and this plagues a lot of the environments and production design handled by Todd Cherniawsky and Doug Chiang, especially the new planet of Daiyu they travel to in the middle of the series, which is basically just Hong Kong with odd-looking creatures in it and nothing else to make it stand out. Even locations that feel more Star-Wars in nature like the labyrinth of the Inquisitors (which is goofily called Fortress Inquisitorius) or the planet where the final battle takes place, have a much heavier CG feel to them that make them feel less real and more fabricated. Most of the action carries a cool factor to it, but on the choreography element, it does feel a little clunky and not always the best laid out which is pretty poor considering that it feels like this series’ sole purpose is to deliver another fight with Obi-Wan and Vader (which even the prequels handled a little better). The music is also strangely unimpressive for a show of this calibre and for featuring impressive talent like Natalie Holt and even the great John Williams, no piece of music really stands out in a truly good or bad way.

Obi-Wan deserved a project about himself, and this period of Star Wars is a great moment in time to give him one, but it’s hard to say his character has reached a next level when very little was explored about him previously. It’s the folly of the prequels that projects are still trying to rectify their failings in new material (it will most likely occur for the new trilogy later down the line) and returning to an era like this which a lot of people hold dear, it’s going to leave some people unsatisfied. Overall, the series is quite messy, feeling like a pointless project meant solely to cater to prequels fans, and when everything is said and done, one that has added pretty much nothing worth keeping in memory after watching.  There are moments of good directing, acting, visuals and improvements over past projects, but some of the characters are pointless and bland (they’ve never been able to get the inquisitor’s right except for Jedi: Fallen Order), the writing is pretty poor, and the middle three episodes are pretty slow, uneventful, almost absurdly baffling in parts, and leave you wanting more in a bad way. There are talks about a second season coming and if there’s someone that needs it, it’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. See if this revisit to Star Wars’ past (again) is what you were hoping it would be.

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