Obi-Wan Kenobi Spoiler Recap: Part I and Part II
How do you even begin to review the show you’ve been waiting half your life for? Of course, back in 2005 when Revenge of the Sith came out, I didn’t realize I even had anything to wait for. I thought Star Wars was over and done with, only something to be rewatched, but never to be a new experience again.
Obviously I have been consistently wrong since then, and happy to be so, as the new era has brought me so many stories and characters that I love dearly. In fact, other than Obi-Wan Kenobi, the rest of my Top 4 favourites hail from the Disney era.
But we’re getting off track. We’re here to talk about Obi-Wan and his brand new show Obi-Wan Kenobi, which has been years in the making. I was fortunate enough to get to see the first two episodes at the world premiere at Star Wars Celebration, and the experience of watching it in a packed stadium with 2000 other people gasping, cheering and laughing with you is something I wish for everyone who might ever want to experience it.
But on to the episodes themselves. Were they everything I wanted them to be? Short answer: yes. Long answer? Let’s dive in.
Part I opens with that most grand of Star Wars traditions: Order 66. We thought we were safe from having to relive it on May 4 this year, but since all of May is Star Wars month, I guess we were never really out of the woods. A group of Padawans are training out on the balcony with their master when suddenly in come the Clones and things just take a turn for the worse. Their teacher is killed in front of them, and out of options, the little group decide to make a run for it.
Cut to ten years later on Tatooine - a planet I am bith sick of and increasingly charmed by - and three Jedi hunters known as Inquisitors arrive in search of a rogue Jedi. But it’s not Obi-Wan they’re looking for, but another Jedi by the name of Nari who is also hiding out there. It’s here the Grand Inquisitor lays out what I sincerely hope is the thesis to be refuted over the course of the series: that the compassion of the Jedi is a weakness to be exploited. He might be glaring at Nari, but we all know he’s talking about Obi-Wan, right?
Third Sister Reva certainly seems to think so, as tracking down the young Jedi they’ve come for does not rank highly on her list of priorities. Rather she has made it her mission, foolish as it may be, to hunt down Obi-Wan Kenobi and kill him. The Grand Inquisitor and the Fifth Brother think she’s on a fools errand, but despite agreeing to drop it, Reva doesn’t appear convinced. No, this hunt is personal.
Out on the dunes, in the carcass of what looks to me like a Krayt Dragon is the man of the hour. Obi-Wan Kenobi the great Jedi Negotiator goes by Ben these days, and he’s no peacekeeping warrior, but rather an underpaid butcher. He goes about his daily life, keeping his head down, not interjecting with that Jedi compassion, even when his heart compells him to do so.
That night, Obi-Wan has a nightmare made up of prequel trilogy flashbacks - setting the stage, perhaps, for a Clone Wars era dream sequence? He wakes and in a moment of vulnerability far removed from his stoic exterior, calls out for Master Qui-Gon. The man doesn’t appear of course, but I would be astonished if we don’t see him by season’s end.
The next day, he heads out to the Lars homestead, fulfilling his duty to watch over Luke by literally doing exactly that. He watches as Luke shirkes his chores in favor of pretending to be a pilot, and before Obi-Wan departs, he leaves behind a little toy starship for him. On the road back to the unfurnished cave that would cost $3000+ to rent as-is in any city I’ve ever lived in, he encounters Nari who implores him for help escaping the inquisitors. Despite his heart once again driving him to do the right thing, Obi-Wan sends Nari away with the advice that he get rid of his lightsaber and find a new way to live his life.
Whatever hope once lived in Obi-Wan Kenobi is long gone, it seems.
Meanwhile on Alderaan, a ten-year-old Leia Organa is shirking her duties and hiding out in the woods with her robot Lola, identifying each ship they see pass by. This small moment really drove home how much Leia could have been like Anakin, and probably would have been even more like him if they had ever met. Though professionally she is like her moither, her heart is full of Anakin’s passion, and her spirit is full of Anakin’s mischief.
Mischief stands no change, however, in the face of the Queen of Alderaan, Breha, who comes to fetch her daughter in to get ready for an official engagement that Leia is not looking forward to in the least. Actress Vivian Lyra Blair is a picture-perfect Leia, capturing the wit, sass, understanding and curiosity that Carrie Fisher infused the part with. I was genuinely worried this show would focus a little too hard on Luke, so it’s nothing short of a pleasant surprise that they opted to focus on Leia instead.
Her quick wit is put on full display when her cousins come to visit for an official function and prove themselves to be obnoxious and snotty. When she rightfully calls them out on it, she is told to apologize and rise above it. Though she doesn’t seem convinced - and frankly neither am I because that kid had it coming - it does lead to a very sweet moment betweeh Leia and Bail, where they connect on finding the balance between your wildest dreams and what the right place is in the galaxy for each of them.
Because she is Anakin’s daughter and therefore cannot stay out of trouble for more than 2 seconds, Leia runs out to the woods once again, only this time she is cornered by a group of mercenaries who capture her and take her on board their starship to places unknown. They even break Lola, so little Leia is left without a resource in the world.
Back on Tatooine, Owen Lars is less than amused that Obi-Wan has been sneaking around leaving gifts for Luke. Despite Obi-Wan showing concern for Luke - which for the record, I do believe is genuine, albeit driven more by his affection for Anakin - Owen is having none of it, rightfully calling Ben out on only being interested in Luke as a Jedi rather than a child.
As far as Owen is concerned, it was a Jedi that took Shmi Skywalker’s son away from her, and a Jedi that was responsible for the death of Anakin Skywalker. Their lives might not be fancy, but he believes he is doing right by Luke by keeping him safe. The same thought carries over into their confrontation with Reva in the town square, who threatens Owen in an attempt to draw out Obi-Wan, or to at least pinpoint his location.
Owen divulges nothing, likely assuming that even just telling her where Obi-Wan is would lead her to asking just a few too many questions and potentially discovering Luke. Just as he seems ready to die with the knowledge, he is saved unintentionally by the Fifth Brother, who admonishes Reva for her singleminded recklessness.
While Obi-Wan is licking his wounds and feeling sorry for himself, he receives a call on his old, hidden Jedi communicator. Bail and Breha implore him to set out and bring their daughter home because he’s the only one who realizes her importance. They even call him out when it looks like he wants to prioritize Luke instead. The twins are equally important, and it’s time Obi-Wan remembered that.
An in-person visit from Bail shakes Obi-Wan out of the well of guilt he is willingly drowning himself in. It’s because of what happened to Anakin that Obi-Wan refuses to act and insists on living his mundane existence. He has even, it seems, cut himself off from the Force. The conversation does change things for him though, and he sets off to Daiyu in pursuit of Leia. But not before making a very important stop.
Earlier he had advised Nari to bury his lightsaber in the sand and move on, and it seems Obi-Wan was speaking from experience. He heads out to the desert and unearths a box containing his and Anakin’s old lightsabers, and its with these in tow that he makes the trip to Daiyu.
While I’ve seen some draw parallels between this lightsaber burial and the one Rey performs at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, I find the comparaison frustrating. I don’t need to see the next 5 hours of the show to know why Obi-Wan did what he did, or why it matters so much to him. This is his and Anakin’s journey we’re reflecting on. The moment with Rey felt and still feels hollow because of how clearly her narrative was made about glorifying someone else. To say these moments are the same, to me, feels a bit like saying The Last Jedi has clear parallels to Back to the Future because someone happens to chug half a glass of milk in both of them.
Part II opens up right on the city-planet (because all Star Wars planets have a single ecosystem) of Daiyu. Obi-Wan used his Jedi iPad/Gameboy Advance to track Leia as far as the planet, but is now coming up short. With no way to track her on the planet, as those passing through value privacy, he takes up the search on foot.
Without a clue where to begin, he once again calls out to Qui-Gon for guidance. There’s something in the way he says “Master” when referring to Qui-Gon versus any other Jedi Master. There is a softness and vulnerability to it, and it makes him sound so much younger. He might have been ready for the trials all those years ago, but some part of him never stopped being that young man who lost his master too soon.
He’s pulled from the thought as a very familiar voice asks him for spare credits. He turns to see a member of the 501st sitting on the street (and yes, the entire auditorium started screaming) with his helmet extended. The solider doesn’t seem to recognize him, but Obi-Wan sees in him the face of hundreds of men he used to know. Rather than turn his back as he’s been doing up until now, Obi-Wan takes the first step back to being the compassionate man he was and gives the clone his spare change.
A young boy sees that Obi-Wan looks lost and offers to take him to a Jedi who can help. The Jedi in question, Haja Estree, is no Jedi at all, but rather a very theatrical, morally grey con man. He helps people escape their dire straits, sure, but for a fee. Obi-Wan plays along for a moment - and bless the show for giving us a chance to see Obi-Wan’s comedic timing in action - before not-so-gently suggesting that Haja point him in Leia’s direction.
When he does eventually find her, we get some of the episodes most charming scenes. Leia and Obi-Wan have such a natural rapport and meet each other with the same level of wit and strength of personality. It would be easy to let this episode feel purely action heavy, but their interactions give space for both levity and character growth.
Leia, in mere minutes, challenges every single wall Obi-Wan has spent the last 10 years putting up. She questions his need to be brusque and secretive, and you get the sense that for the first time since he lost Anakin and Padmé, Obi-Wan is letting his walls down just a little bit. And while I’m sure we’ll see their dynamic a little more in the coming episodes, even now it’s so clear to me why she trusted Obi-Wan enough to call him for help in A New Hope, and why she flew off her bench when Luke mentioned he had come to rescue her with the help of “Ben” Kenobi. I happened to see that scene shortly after watching these two episodes, and it already feels so different to see.
As a general note, another aspect I also adore is the way Leia’s Force sensitivity shows. It’s not in reflexes like Anakin, but instead in the way she can read right down to the truth of people. Calling her cousin a lower life form is pure 10 year old sass, but cutting to the heart of the matter and laying his emotional weaknesses bare in front of everyone? Or the way she manages to read Obi-Wan’s concealed emotions? That’s insightful, sure, but it’s also a part of that rare ability that makes her such a good politician.
As much as I enjoy the angst of this show - it was, after all, what I came to this show to see - its the smaller moments that really make this show work. Obi-Wan’s interaction with the little Jawa Teeka, his facial expressions when he realizes little Leia might remind him of Padmé but she is every bit as chaotic as Anakin once was.
Another aspect of Obi-Wan that this episode really brough to life is how much the man needs a distraction and a cause in order to plow through his grief. After he lost Qui-Gon, he threw himself into training Anakin, and never truly gave himself time to sit with the sudden loss of his mentor and father figure. The loss of Satine was followed immediately by the culmination of the Clone Wars. But the loss of Anakin and Padmé? There was nothing to distract him from that pain. As much as he tries to throw his energy into Luke, Owen won’t let him use his nephew as an outlet.
No wonder, then, that Obi-Wan grows despondent and cuts himself off from the Force - though not nearly as dramatically as Luke (he lacks the Skywalker Drama genes). It’s only in searching for Leia at the behest of his friend Bail that Obi-Wan begins to feel like his old self again: the witty, driven, measured warrior, the teacher and protector we know him to be.
The only thing that can push him into a grief so profound that not even the goal of saving Leia can pull him out of is Reva telling him that she’s there to take him to Darth Vader. The episode ends with the revelation (for Obi-Wan, anyway) that Anakin has been alive this whole time, concluding with an ominous shot of Vader in a backta tank.
His eyes fly open just as Obi-Wan says his name which could be an editing trick, but it could also be that their once strong bond is reforging in a twisted way. I know which version I prefer..
So where do we go from here? Disney+ started the first episode with a recap not only of major moments in Obi-Wan’s life as seen in the prequels but Anakin’s too - moments Obi-Wan could not possibly have been present for. Does this mean we’re going to be getting an inside look at Anakin’s mind over the last 10 years? I certainly hope so!
What did you think? Do you love little Leia as much as we do? Is Obi-Wan weary of letting Anakin and his kids boss him around or is he actually kind of enjoying it? Check back here every week for my Obi-Wan Kenobi recaps, and be sure to tune into Space Waffles for our recaps coming soon!
