The new series of ‘Star Wars’ has many things to prove, some of them essential for Disney and the fans themselves to verify that the continuity of the saga is feasible. Many of these questions are not going to be answered because, in the end, ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ is a spin-off, and stars an essential character in the franchise, that literally backbones the entire saga. In fact, for better or worse, the series is for viewers who know ‘Star Wars’ well, especially the prequel trilogy, and abounds in cross-references to its lore.
But although it does not serve to answer essential questions, such as whether the saga will ever be able to fly free without the ballast of its honorable past, it is a good wake-up call towards other keys that fly over the originality and possibilities of the franchise. For example: has the success of ‘The Mandalorian’ become too heavy a slab, where all the ‘Star Wars’ series now have to be reflected?
And as in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’, despite its indisputable virtues, the answer was that at the moment no, since that other story of bounty hunters on Tatooine lived too much in the shadow of the adventures of the Mandalorian played by Pedro Pascal , here it is a relief to see that ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ finds an identity of its own, and in many aspects it surpasses its predecessors. So yes, there is room for ‘Star Wars’ series that offer alternatives to ‘The Mandalorian’ formula.
In this case, all the credit goes to Deborah Chow, who caught the attention of Disney after directing two of the best episodes of the first season of ‘The Mandalorian’, the third and the seventh. It is she who has commanded this entire first season of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’, and the truth is that she gives it a visual packaging that rivals and sometimes exceeds that seen in ‘The Mandalorian’. She leaves behind the sometimes excessively televised planning of that one and, especially in the second episode of this new series, she shows that although we know the hero’s destiny, there are many emotions that this classic character can bring us.
A new adventure in the gaps to cover
chow comes to provide a remarkable cinematographic packaging to the adventure on a planet that is not Tatooine and that we will not reveal here. With an aesthetic radically different from that of the arid desert where Luke Skywalker lives (here we go to night and urban settings), Chow gives this new place a feeling of constant threat that suits the story wonderfully. The reasons why Obi-Wan Kenobi leaves Tatooine (something that is appreciated after two series taking place almost entirely on the planet) will not be detailed either, but they are sufficiently well embedded in the character’s history.
And of course, we have a superb Ewan McGregor as the protagonist. It is obvious that you have to know the dense background of the character in the three prequels to understand why he behaves that way, and in that sense, ‘The Mandalorian’, introducing new characters and new conflicts, was more daring. But with everything, the good work of the actor makes us quickly empathize with the contradictions of the Jedi hidden from the forces of the Empire.
Which, by the way, they have in Inquisitor Reva, played by Moses Ingram, a character capable of standing up to Obi-Wan Kenobi. His motivations are still obscure, but he is a great example of how interesting the ‘Star Wars’ universe can be as he digs into the internal conflicts of the characters, often contradicting the interests of their own side. the. He points to a background story full of chiaroscuro and his physical presence is imposing, and he takes good advantage of a stage not yet sufficiently explored by movies and series such as the Jedi Purge.
Interestingly (because Chow’s two episodes in ‘The Mandalorian’ were plagued with violence), ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ limps along in the action sequences: the chases are weighed down by the presence of a child character, and the shooting on the rooftops , despite some well-shot acrobatics and some suggestive image (Reva looking at the lights of the guns in the distance, for example), they do not stand out. Fortunately, McGregor’s charisma and the possibilities of a more thoughtful adventure than ‘The Mandalorian’ make it possible that the series ends up revealing itself as a very remarkable proposal.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism