Obi-Wan Kenobi series: speculation

After this series, I think I'm done. Time to call it a night and accept the story as is. This is probably our last chance at real connective Saga tissue. Between SOLO, this, and Rogue One, there's nothing that needs to be covered. If they do a Darth Maul crime boss movie (in my head, the secret Taika Waititi project is this), I'll watch it for fun, and if they do a live action DROIDS show, I think that would be fun. But I see things wrapping up, and everything we know about (Andor, Ahsoka, Mando blablabla) is a continuation of stories I don't feel anything for.

I was hoping for a sense of closure from TROS, but I think this series is either gonna be the last straw, or my peace of mind, when it comes to Star Wars.

Hmm...

This was a pretty turgid episode for me. Almost felt like a chore to watch compared to the first two. I got much of a "Mandalorian/Book Of Boba" vibe from this one. There's something just too mundane and Earth-like about these Disney environments and the storytelling that goes with them. The initial flyover of the so-called mining planet was good, but it was really just boring shrub desert, and the dwellings, when they got past the Imperial checkpoint, were like something you'd see in a cheap episode of Star Trek. And: a flatbed truck with a Confederate -- sorry: Imperial -- emblem on the back? Jesus, Disney. This trite, on-the-nose shit is why I hope this company fucking fails. No goddamn subtlety or imagination and retarded agendas everywhere. Just when I thought we could get past this aspect and we're in clearer waters... *sigh*

Seeing Vader again was anticlimactic. I thought there'd be more build-up. That moment when Obi-Wan hallucinates Anakin on the horizon in his Jedi robes was good. I was expecting a few more moments like that, where Obi-Wan's sense of reality becomes thin and twisted, until Vader either appears for real or he just experiences a waking-vision confrontation and you can't tell if they've doing battle for real or not. The way they did it, Obi-Wan just goes wide-eyed at Vader's sudden appearance in the village with the Inquisitors, hiding behind that door, not sure of what to do, until he's... somewhere. Somewhere anonymous. A petroleum field?

The battle itself was very short, little dialogue, little actually happening. It looked and felt more like a cut scene from a computer game. Very disappointing. This is the bullshit re-match of the century that overrides the simple continuity between ROTS and ANH? C'mon! They'll surely encounter each other again and it'll be more dramatic the second time. If not, you'll never get me to watch another Disney Star Wars thing (certainly not a Disney streaming thing) ever again. The only bit I liked was Vader telling Obi-Wan he made him the way he is, then torturing him with the fire at the end. The rest of it was pretty meh.

I don't know what the rest of the episode was about or what it was trying to do. It started off pretty good. The first scene between Leia and Obi-Wan was nice enough. Their scenes remain a highlight of the series. I liked how Leia totally disobeyed Obi-Wan's request not to talk. And I like how it was actually Obi-Wan that blew their cover with the stormtroopers in the truck. The one unexpected moment was Obi-Wan recalling flashes of his earliest years before becoming a Jedi. Canon that Obi-Wan has/had a brother??? Wow, okay. I guess that was meant to be some poignant symmetry with Obi-Wan losing Anakin in the prequels. Ewan was great in this again.

What else did I like? The loader droid. The water world of the Inquisitor base. Obi-Wan asking Qui-Gon for help at the start (he's done it in every episode so far). Seeing the Inquisitors again. They're probably cooler than Vader at this point. Although they don't exactly do a lot here. The absence of Rupert Friend is already glaring. As for Vader: Sometimes, he sounded like James Earl Jones (yes, I saw his name in the credits), and in a few places, more like Hayden. I guess that works. The scene were he casually strolled down the street and randomly assaulted villagers with the Force was pretty effective. That last person being dragged down the street, helplessly screaming for life, was nice and brutal. It teased the idea that the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader would be some truly next-level exchange of Force badassery, or Obi-Wan and his former apprentice relying on a careful series of tricks and evasions, so as not to totally annihilate each other. The lethality underplayed but always there, always threatening to consume them both. But that didn't really happen.

The rest of Vader's appearance had the typical cosplay-aspect that seems to define modern Disney productions top to bottom. Too shiny, too anonymous in his movements, and reduced to caricature by insipid, throwaway framing to come off as the villain of the franchise. At least the sequels never fucked this up. Kylo felt iconic and his talking to the crumpled Vader mask kept Vader's mystique alive. In fact, when Vader and Obi-Wan fought, I couldn't help thinking, "That fight scene in TROS between Rey and Kylo was a million times better than this desperate attempt at edginess and epic Force character reckoning." The TROS scene, where Kylo begins to reveal Rey's parentage as they shift between the "dark" environment of Kijimi and the "light" interior of Kylo's ship, with the Emperor's theme playing ominously in the background, just was far more compelling. The dialogue was more blunt and lethal-sounding, with the right mix of romanticism and regret, too. Yeah, I'm mentioning the Sequel Trilogy in an Obi-Wan thread again. If anyone doesn't like it, tough shit. Grow up. I can only be honest in my assessment of these things by comparing it to stuff I do like.

This episode was seriously lacking visual beauty and the tangy freshness of the first two episodes. Not many quirky characters, either. Even the ending was anticlimactic. Surprise! Reva's waiting for you. Kind of an awkward final couple of seconds as Reva runs off chasing Leia and the credits pop up. You're left wanting for a few interesting aliens, something playful, something digressive. Instead of: Let's get to this next checkpoint in the story. Oh, wait. I guess I'm meant to face Darth Vader now. Wait, we need to end that scene. I know, let's have an unmemorable underground-resistance character appear from a hill and shoot dead a single stormtrooper and reignite the oil patch that just went out. That'll fool a Dark Lord of the Sith and totally confound his ability to reason or in any way retaliate, no problem! 

Maybe I just had blinders on in the first two episodes (I'm beginning to think so), but for the love of Saturn, the action here was slow and embarrassing. You know, when Obi-Wan gets out of the truck, how about you fucking disarm him? Ever heard of that as a concept? No? Okay, then. Or wait, here come some more stormtroopers. Maybe they'll tell Obi-Wan to drop his weapon and then... Ah, fuck it. They've all been shot by another character. Wee! Obi-Wan is free. Free, free, free. Remember when all those idiots complained that Battle Droids weren't menacing and represented no kind of credible obstacle for well-armed Jedi in their prime? Look, I get it. Stormtroopers have always been dumb. But something slightly more dramatically compelling than, "Oh, no. Obi-Wan has been caught out. I guess he'll just have to go all John Wick on everybody" would perhaps work better than, y'know, building tension, only to have every tricky encounter easy to overcome because Obi-Wan can just blast away and clothesline every trooper that tries to stop him. I mean, what the hell happened to Obi-Wan using the Force to mind-trick stormtroopers, or telling Han, "You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting." Nah, when the going gets tough, just blast everyone and everything.

It was much the same in the Vader fight. I can see how they maybe didn't want to oversell their abilities. After all, their Mustafar duel is one thing, and their Death Star confrontation quite another. But their combat here -- for such a long-awaited confrontation -- was so lame. I think Obi-Wan practically flopped on the ground at one point, after they pretended to reach a deadlock with their lame sabering, only to be flung away very unconvincingly, acting like he was in serious pain. Nope, sorry. The only eerie part, as I mentioned earlier, was when Vader drew Obi-Wan toward the flames at the climax of their encounter. Ewan even sounded like Hayden as he moaned as the flames licked Obi-Wan's arm/shoulder. A touch of operatic menace in Vader is always welcome. That was the one part that managed to evoke some.

Another thing was the pacing. I'm putting this last for whatever reason. Maybe because it's more ephemeral. However, it may be the most crippling and oppressive aspect of the episode, overall. While this wasn't a fast-paced thrill-ride by any stretch of the imagination, it wasn't ponderous or slow and careful, either. There was no real forward momentum. It was a series of little scenes that kept ending and cutting away as follows:

- One character speaks.
- Another character speaks back.
- A meaningful close-up.
- Maybe one more line of dialogue.
- Next scene, please.

I was longing to go back to Star Trek -- the good Star Trek of TOS, TNG, DS9, and VGR -- after watching this. In those shows, while choppiness couldn't always be avoided, there were well-written scenes that took their time, or followed naturally and built organically on preceding ones. And there were multi-episode arcs (well, in DS9, anyway) that allowed for complex storytelling and rich character development. Not inane filler dreck that goes nowhere and eviscerates the continuity of Lucas' Saga for cheap fan-pandering thrills. I feel like I'm already losing faith in this thing.

Yes Obi Wan pretty much just lays on the ground and waves his sword around limply. I'll keep a couple other opinions and observances to myself before I get too negative. It almost felt like they were going to work in some kind of explanation for Leia's memories of her real mother, and we may get that yet.
There's no chance Obi-Wan and Vader don't meet again in this series, so there's that. What I'm wondering is, by the time ANH rolls around, why isn't Vader looking for Kenobi anymore?

Okay, so this is a little off-topic, but since Arch Duke responded, I want to respond back:


Yes, I'm aware that his "Cosmos" television show is far from perfect and lacks considerable nuance. This page, for example, tears apart the series' simplistic take on the fate of the Library of Alexandria, which Sagan deploys as something like a synecdoche for the destruction of knowledge at the hands of religious barbarians (although he also critiques the undemocratic, elitist pursuit of knowledge in the same passage):

talesoftimesforgotten.com/2020/02/05/carl-sagan-was-really-bad-at-history/

Of course, it must be kept in mind that "Cosmos" is giving a broad overview of historical movements and critical moments in time that eventually lead to the Scientific Revolution and the flowering of human knowledge in the past few centuries. It is not an historical documentary, per se. And the general view it paints is accurate. The human mind has been fettered by religion and superstition for thousands of years, and overcoming those fetters has not been easy, nor are the gains from having done so trivial.

Since the development and application of the scientific method, we have conquered or suppressed many diseases that used to kill in infancy (infant mortality rates have dramatically reduced in the developed world), extended human lifespans, increased population literacy, split the atom, gone into space, developed computers, the Internet, and even begun a credible examination of the universe for the presence of life beyond the Earth. Science has made significant in-roads in our understanding and our civilisation. You know why? Because science works.


I know about that website and have read some articles posted there before. It being a "great resource on the history of science" is debatable. For instance, in a lengthy piece on heliocentrism and Galileo, the following is asserted:

thonyc.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/galileo-foscarini-the-catholic-church-and-heliocentricity-in-1615-part-2-the-consequences-a-rough-guide/


This is an artful dodge of the oppressiveness of the Catholic Church and the power of its centralised authority within much of Europe at that time. To claim that a revolutionary document had only "mild censorship" applied to it, by the same institution that later threatened its chief advocate with torture, and then placed him under house arrest for the remainder of his life, curtailing his intellectual life and forbidding him from publishing any further of his own writings, might be historically accurate, but it's a gross whitewash. It massively downplays the very serious threat that contravening the official positions held on various matters by the Catholic Church posed to life and limb at the time. Before religion was beaten back by science/empiricism, in the forms we know today, many intellectuals risked imprisonment, at best, or total, painful destruction of their own lives at the hands of Catholic Inquisitors, at worst. Hey, look. I tied it into Obi-Wan, after all. 

Anyway, that's the story of science gradually gaining ground over religion. Even if it's a story that Carl Sagan sometimes simplified or distorted, to go back to the days when a central, mafia-like authority could literally condemn a person to death for speaking truth to power (and intimidate many more into silence), is not a place I would like to return to. Unless you feel that living under ISIS or Putin's Russia sounds right up your street. Then, by all means, you are free to embrace anti-democratic tyranny and villainy.

I understand you may be something of a history buff, but let's keep perspective on what remains at stake in the world, right now. Leaders don't want people questioning dogmas or performing actions that undermine their power. That is, of course, why the press is always seized and controlled, why the population is kept in the dark and docile. Science, on the other hand, is built on questioning, data-gathering, and (increasingly in our modern data-sharing world) open collaboration. 

BTW: If I were to classify "Cosmos" as one thing, and what Carl Sagan really stood for, then it was for the importance of knowledge and critical thinking not just as a matter of scientific principle, or because Sagan blindly believed in the inherent good of science or technology, but as the means and the tools for holding leaders and sundry authorities accountable and safeguarding democracy from dictatorship. "Cosmos" was basically Sagan's paean to science as a civilising, democratic enterprise. This is surely something George Lucas could get behind. 

Okay, so I just got done watching it again...

Weirdly: Much better this second time around. I must have been more in-sync with the way this episode goes.

It's a different episode, that's the thing. And, this time, I had to remind myself, or I randomly caught myself reminding myself, "It's television Star Wars, you idiot. Not the movies." Once I accepted certain limitations, I found myself enjoying it much more. I'm still not sure about the episode's flow or momentum. Still seemed a little choppy and off. But maybe that could also be said for the first two episodes and I was just ignoring it or distracted by the novelty of watching a brand new Star Wars thing, featuring Obi-freakin'-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan freakin' McGregor. The joygasmic nature of that initial experience may have hidden certain televisual flaws/realities and I got a little too excited to care about them. When I fired up this third episode earlier, all the limitations, by contrast, suddenly seemed to be hitting me, like the Darth Vader that emerges to terrorise and thrash Obi-Wan alone in the mining field. I got glimpses of it on the horizon, saw a naked vision of the terror of televisual Star Wars, then carried on, pretending it wasn't there, until it caught up with me that evening in the dark village of my meanderings and became real -- and then it lifted me in the air, dropped me to the ground, and I got burned. Or something.

Star Wars metaphors FTW.

Yes, even those damn televisual Star Wars ones.

So, yeah, I had more fun this time. If fun is the word, 'cos...

Gaah, there's something odd about this episode, something brilliantly odd. I think it might actually be getting to the core of the series best. I can't quite put my finger on it, but my mind says it's got something to do with the latent "flashes" -- to use Obi-Wan's word -- of the past. Not nostalgia bait, per se. No, that would be putting it way too reductively. It's like how Obi-Wan is experiencing a jumbled, eerie, spiritual montage of the past. I think this has been touched on in the thread with the "Passion Of The Christ" musings (I dislike religion, but here I am talking about and agreeing with all those religious overtones in Star Wars -- go figure). The little flicker of Anakin in the distance. Then seen a bit closer... Is it him, is it him...? A great moment. I disagree with Seeker of the Whills . The camera work there was very intelligent. It didn't oversell the moment. A prequel fan would instantly realise what, or who, it was that Obi-Wan momentarily believed he was seeing. There was, of course, little indication that Leia could see it. This is Obi-Wan's spiritual odyssey. Great close-up on Ewan in that moment, too.

I'm already losing the thing I'm trying to say. This surfeit of "old things that won't die" gave this episode a certain... cutting sting. Like a lightsaber graze or a Jedi Master given a taste of the heat, the wild, untamed fire, that cooked Anakin and turned him into a cold and pitiless tyrant. But the things that won't die are both, in true Star Wars style, positive and negative. Like the little talk between Obi-Wan and Leia in the truck. How, even as they're pulling their ruse against the stormtroopers, they kind of make a hash of it, but that's because there's so much connection between them. That was made obvious and beautifully brought to conclusion (for that scene) when the stormtroopers depart the truck and Obi-Wan and Leia have that little discussion about Obi-Wan's past: about Leia's past. They were definitely setting up something there about Leia remembering Padme through "images" and "feelings". Almost as if Obi-Wan were encouraging her to embrace her own "flashes". His ephemeral descriptions of his pre-Jedi life, of his pre-Jedi family, totally evoke the way Leia describes Padme to Luke in ROTJ. Such great acting from the pair -- totally sells the whole thing.  

I love how human and empathetic the stuff between Obi-Wan and Leia actually is. The gentility of it contrasts well with the sudden, clipped bursts of violence we see here and in the former episodes. Vivien Lyra Blair is a total star and Ewan is magnificent. Now that I think about it, the truck scene may be my favourite scene between them: my favourite scene in the show, period. At first, I didn't remember the Tala lady too well (the lady who helps shepherd Leia to safety -- well, until she runs into Reva...), but in this second viewing, she had a lovely warmth and perfect determination about her. They seemed to be implying a lot of Leia's future "warrior spirit" through her brief interaction with her. This whole adventure is clearly changing Obi-Wan and Leia and molding them into the people they will become. 

I want to give some credit to that opening scene. Even the first shot, the camera tracking through the middle of the ship, moving up to Obi-Wan from behind, is wonderfully cinematic. It's actually the kind of slow, patient shot I wish the series was attempting a bit more of. But the vision Obi-Wan has of Vader is actually: really, really good. I forgot about that in my dismay at the rest of the episode the first time. I paid more attention this time. Again, some great camera work (see?), when the camera tracks down, way down, along with those morbid-looking pincers/hooks, as Vader is assembled. It's like a perfect visualisation of the Force -- of Obi-Wan sinking into his subconscious. Terrifying, stark, epic; and a touch Lovecraftian. Really clever. Doesn't Reva say that Vader has been waiting for him? Throwback to TPM: "And look over there! Chancellor Palpatine is waiting for us." The use of prequel audio in this part was also fantastic. Oh, man. This series totally connects to the prequels. Or it's at least sincere and unashamed in its summoning of prequel material, prequel memes, prequel themes, prequel legacies. I also found it interesting that Obi-Wan whispers (in his head, without "speaking") to Qui-Gon -- like a child afraid of the dark (or the Big Bad Wolf) -- that Anakin/Vader is here. There's a certain mystery to it. Has Obi-Wan communed with Qui-Gon before? Has he had many of these little conversations? Have they all been one-way? A really awesome scene.  

I noticed another prequel reference that I totally dig. Reva demands that they send out the probe droids. And three are sent. Maul sends three probe droids out on Tatooine. Epic! I also like how the camera goes up in that moment, following their path as they shoot out of the tower: a kind of reverse-phallic movement to the camera travelling down in Obi-Wan's vision of Darth Vader. Reva was very good in her limited scenes in this episode, too. Fuck the haters. Moses Ingram totally embodies her character. Her cold demeanour, her swagger, her cat-like curiosity, her hints of vulnerability. What are they leading to, here, I wonder? She has that little moment where she talks to herself when the other Inquisitors leave the room, repeating herself in a fragile tone, and later, when she is looking at the markings on the wood panels in the hidden room, in search of Obi-Wan and Leia, she seems to have a very pensive moment, as if having a very personal reaction to one of the inscriptions. Oh, and I loved her dark wit at the very end. That's Dark Side humour, alright.

Now I have to talk about the Obi-Wan-Vader confrontation again. It clicked more for me this time. It's still a bit abrupt, and somewhat annoying how they cut away from it a few times (although that's a long-established Star Wars tradition), but the anticlimactic nature of it felt less bothersome on this second viewing. It was quite well-managed. Maybe I was expecting too much the first time. That's always a problem with Star Wars and us fans. I'm sure they're going to have another confrontation, anyway. I like how Obi-Wan was reluctant to turn his saber on and engage Vader in a fight. He pulls the saber out, thinks about it, and runs off. Does he think that Vader is also a vision? Then, turning it on finally, the beam brings no clarity, only confusion. Very stark lighting there. I loved the line "What have you become?" It's a very Jedi line -- very pointed, very layered. There's derision, pity, remonstration, and a sense of shock and duress. Perhaps, in that moment, Obi-Wan also begins to see what he has become, and how important it is that he start being Obi-Wan Kenobi again.

Another thing that worked for me much better this time was Obi-Wan's weaksauce ways as he tried to fend Vader off. First, as mentioned, there was the running away when he initially sees Vader. A far cry from his firm and unflappable "I shall do what I must" on Mustafar. Then there was the way he kinda yelped and reacted to every lightsaber blow. Like he has forgotten how to hold a lightsaber, forgotten the savagery of the Dark Side, and in shock that this is actually happening. All he can do -- barely -- is block Vader's attacks and hold on for dear life. Vader definitely moves him into position so he can ignite those crystals/salts (or whatever they are) and have Obi-Wan where he wants him. His elevating Obi-Wan (a spiritual "high ground"?) echoed Snoke lifting Rey and making her suffer to disclose Luke's location. I also couldn't help notice a sort of vague visual pun in the landscape to the "high ground" concept. Little mounds of dirt/gravel everywhere. But no attempt to embrace that geography on the part of either Obi-Wan or Vader.  

What I also noticed this time was Vader's petulance. This really is a bridging Vader. It came through this time. He's got that "cool" James Earl Jones voice, but there's definitely some Hayden in there. Pay close attention to his line readings. He really wants Obi-Wan to taste his hatred, feel his pain, understand what Obi-Wan did: to him. But there's something up because it seems he doesn't want to go all the way. He pulls Obi-Wan into the fire but then flings him out of it, extinguishes the flames, and demands a stormtrooper retrieve him. When Obi-Wan is suddenly rescued (a little unrealistically and conveniently, but I'm prepared to go with it now), there's an interesting symmetry in that the loading droid comes to help. A droid rescuing Obi-Wan from the droid-man he helped create. Witnessed by the droid-man watching through a wall of fire. 

Vader just standing there, reflecting on an enormous set of emotions he must be feeling, also came through hard this second time around. I like to think he is maybe castigating himself for toying with Obi-Wan and not finishing him. Look how swiftly he disposes of Obi-Wan in ANH. It's like he recognises his petulance -- his simplistic, yet long-held desire for vengeance (REVENGE Of The Sith) -- has foiled him and ruined his whole life. Watching himself through the flames. The stupidity of wanting to "strike back" and even the score. Not being able to let go. It's that glimmer of recognition you imagine Vader having that's entrancing. All this machinery and menace, all the wheels of empire, all the plotting and scheming, and when Kenobi is within his grasp, he still can't take him down. All his theatrical posturing amounting to nothing more than a bean on a hill. Deep inside, Vader is still little Ani: a frustrated and frightened child. 

So, yeah. The episode left a stronger impression this second time around. Although I still think the village set could have been better.

Best. Post. Ever.


It just needed a cameo from Bruce Campbell, didn't it?


"What's your name, kid? Darth Vader? That sucks. You're Penis Head The Pyromaniac: Derp Lord Of The Gravel."


You captured exactly what felt so rancid and off about this episode on my first viewing. Obi and Leia go to redneck outback land, run into a shed, and there's a scrap round the back of the gravel factory at midnight. No kicking in the nuts, no chokeholds. First person to get his shoulder pinned to the ground for five seconds loses.

It does, unfortunately, feel like they'd blown most of their budget once they came to this episode or were saving it for the others. The village was laughably pathetic, the coverage of the Obi-Wan/Vader fight was mediocre, and now septic tanks are a thing in Star Wars. Fucking great.

I agree that the traipsing around in the desert with the visions 'n' shit was very "The Outer Limits"-ish. It was kinda low-rent, in a way, and had that typically spooky, surreal vibe, but all compressed and simplified for TV. Really not Star Wars. Definitely not Lucas Star Wars. Almost nothing in common between the two.

The resolution of the fight made no sense. How could anyone possibly get away from Darth Vader, a detachment of stormtroopers, and three -- count 'em: three -- Inquisitors in a village of like thirty people? The motherfucking prequels this ain't.

I don't really have a word of complaint against the Inquisitors, though, apart from the lack of Rupert Heard. The Fifth Brother is pretty "Mortal Kombat"-y. Almost like there's been a rupture between the Star Wars universe and the world of low-rent B-movies. Like, c'mon, Star Wars is every B-movie you've ever seen, but done with A-level production values and aesthetics. Until, I guess, it isn't.

This episode, I enjoyed on my second viewing, but it's a little harder to justify on some aesthetic grounds than the previous two. Is it all codswallop to you, my dear Ingram? So-bad-it's-good? Dull and stupid, but enjoying it for the camp factor? An ill-conceived Jolly Rogering of the glorious Lucas Saga we all know and love? Was there anything that felt serious, focused, artistic? 

Interesting resonance. Some neat episodic symmetry was also noticed in this post in the Obi-Wan series thread on TFN (I see you have also posted in there, Seeker):

boards.theforce.net/threads/official-obi-wan-kenobi-series-discussion-thread-spoilers-allowed.50051097/page-397#post-58000507


There'll definitely be another confrontation. Obi-Wan just wasn't fit to face Vader in that moment, in all his dark prestige, and Vader knows it -- hence the tossing aside at the end. There was nothing in it for Vader to get fired up about (no pun). This was a spectacularly weak and out-of-touch Obi-Wan, not fit to be the spit on Vader's shoe.

Here's how a commenter puts it on YouTube (all spelling and punctuation left as it is):



Title: Kenobi VS Vader Fight Scene - Obi-Wan Episode 3
Uploader: The Real Motherrucker
Date: 1 Jun 2022

AH RE, 7 hours ago
how vader must have felt that the person who diabled him to this degree is now this lousy in a fight.

I mean he must have faught (in his diabled state in the vader armor) dozens if not hundreds of fleeing jedi who were more of a threat to him then this obi wan.

- not connected to the force as it was in the past
- rusty in terms of speed, strength, stamina
- absolutely no match for vader

it makes sense for vader to let him flee, he´s is sure, that not only he will catch him again if he wants to but also he wants to humiliate obi wan if he is more connected to the force. he wants to show him the true power of the dark side and that is only possible if obi wan is the strongest in the light side, which is now not the case. He wants not only to prove obi wan that vader is right, but also that his way was the right one to chose (power wise)

And the response from the uploader underneath:

The Real Motherrucker, 6 hours ago
Wow that was a really amazing perspective you took from the episode! I concluded a similar outcome when watching him let Obi Wan live. Some people thought it was dumb and that Vader wouldn’t let him go but I honestly feel like it’s what Vader lives for to humiliate People and show them how powerless they are.


I love how he was so determined to make Obi-Wan suffer: to transfer some of his anguish onto his former Master. But there's a sense at the end of their confrontation that it has left him hollow inside. The rawness of Vader and the reality of Anakin's life really come to the fore in this moment. The Vader in "Rogue One" is more detached, although no less brutal in the way he handles those poor Rebels. There's more of a Hayden aspect in the way Vader walks, poses, and even talks in this series. There doesn't seem to be the same striving to make that apparent in "Rogue One". Not that there really ought to be in the 2017 film, but this series is giving us something different and humanising the "brothers" of Obi-Wan and Anakin even more than the prequels did, while building straight on their legacy.


Some people are advancing the idea that this is an Obi-Wan suffering obvious signs of PTSD. His snippiness with Leia is one indication of that, especially on that line. It verges on being out-of-character, but Obi-Wan is evidently feeling raw and diminished after discovering -- and feeling -- that Anakin still lives. Ironically, Obi-Wan's jumpy, distrustful nature causes them to miss their contact at the intended co-ordinates by quickly abandoning the spot, while Leia's overly positive view of people causes them to nearly be captured at the Imperial checkpoint they're driven to. The series captures something rather poignant about the duality of navigating through a difficult world (cynicism and idealism) and the complexities of perception.


There's some pretty crisp and effective writing here. I think it may take a few more viewings to really shine through. It's a little hard to process it all on a first viewing and we really need all the episodes to gain a healthy respect for all the intricacies. Joel and Jimmy are probably going to appear again.

Ewan is absolutely formidable in this. He's the anchor of the whole show and entirely engrossing. This is the acting performance of his life. Better, even, then the final stretch of ROTS. His eyes are incredible and it's amazing how much trust Deborah Chow obviously placed in Ewan to deliver, given the amount of closeups that scrutinise his face exactingly, only seeming to find more and more subtle layers of emotion the closer the camera pushes in.

I thought Mark Hamill was good in TLJ, but this is even beyond that; it's so subtle, so delicate, so vulnerable. Ewan has unusually piercing eyes and they are a prodigious weapon in this show. I worry that Star Wars will fail to work on the same level after this. Will they ever find an actor so richly embodying such a fundamentally decent yet complex character, in such a wonderfully understated way, ever again? This series has made me appreciate Obi-Wan and what Ewan brings to the role on a whole new level.


Well, I don't think it necessarily fails as visual art -- I just find it a bit compromised. A lot of the cinematography is built around the actors' faces, not so much the cultures, the technology, or the vistas. When the series needs to be visually slick, it normally succeeds. But yeah, this episode seemed to cheap out more than the previous two. Alderaan was beautifully realised and Daiyu has eye-poppingly deep colours. The mining planet just doesn't have a lot going for it. It is kind of a bland staging ground.


I don't rate the technical execution of the last shot as all that great. Has a flat, cardboard appearance. The lighting is simplistic and the people look like cutouts. However, it does what it needs to do. The top shots are very well-executed and I don't mind the repetition. It's more of a motif than anything. I just wanted this show to look reasonably good and it does. I dunno, but expecting great visual inventiveness on television is maybe unrealistic. The visual greatness of the series lies mainly in the way the characters look and respond. It's about humanising Obi-Wan and his world, while still finding flashes of the unlikely and the extraordinary among the mundane.

Since I haven't seen the other spinoff shows, or not in any detail, everything in Obi-Wan hits me as a uniquely contained take on the character and his psychological complexity. Because that's definitely what he has now, if he didn't have it before: complexity. This show is arguably doing something radical with the world of Star Wars, partly by not focusing on the world quite so much, or mere character beats, but going hard for an examination of human guilt and regret. Yet doing it with just enough pep and energy to remain interesting and entertaining.