SPOILERS AHEAD….
Presenting its status as a television series, the
premiere episode opens with a skippable recap showing a montage of clips from
the prequel movies establishing the relationship between Kenobi (Ewan McGregor)
and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), the latter’s fall to the dark side,
and Kenobi’s subsequent exile along with Anakin’s kids.
Ten years later, we find Kenobi going by the name of Ben
and living in a cave and working in a meat factory (did any of us imagine
Obi-Wan might’ve had to have a job?).
We see his day-to-day routine of working the production-line, going home on
what’s basically a flying bus and cooking for himself at home in a scene not
unlike Rey’s introduction on Jakku in The
Force Awakens. But as it transpires, he’s not the only Jedi on Tattooine
when some fascistic “inquisitors” arrive on the hunt. Not having yet seen the
animated series Rebels, I didn’t feel
I’d missed out when these new villains – led by the Grand Inquisitor – are
introduced. Said Jedi may well be one of the “younglings” that escapes the
massacre of Order 66 in the Jedi Temple in the opening scene (perhaps
unfortunate timing for the release, given recent the latest tragedy in America).
When Kenobi isn’t working, he’s keeping a distant eye on young Luke Skywalker
and, rather like Father Christmas, delivers him a toy overnight. Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton) pays him a visit
to warn him to stay away.
Meanwhile, we cut across the galaxy to Alderaan and meet
the child incarnation of Princess Leia, played by Vivien Lyra Blair, who fittingly
somewhat brings to mind Natalie Portman in Leon. At this point, it almost feels like a whole
other show or film (a Princess Leia origins movie wouldn’t have been a bad idea)
but soon it provides a contrivance to get Kenobi to interrupt his exile and go
off-world (I’d have otherwise been content with the thought that he spent the near-two
decades piddling around in the desert). Kenobi soon faces a choice not unlike
the one later faced by Luke as he eventually reluctantly accepts a call
for help but it takes a death to get him there.
Part II concerns his trip to a planet that recalls the “ground
level” of Coruscant in Attack of the
Clones as he tries to evade the inquisitors whilst he goes on his mission. Eventually, he learns a terrible truth about
someone from his past (no prizes for guessing whom) and we end on a haunting
final twenty seconds that leaves us signing up for Part III.
It’s all pretty engaging stuff and hopefully won’t turn
out to be a slog like both seasons of Star Trek: Picard,
another show that brought back another fan favourite out of retirement. This, however, feels like it’s made by people
who love and respect the mythos and in some ways is managing to rehabilitate
the prequels.
Welcome back, Ewan McGregor. It’s been a long time.
A long time.
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