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Deadline: Cameo-Filled Season Finale Jostles With George Lucas Canon

posted 2 years ago by Satan2016 (25539)
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https://deadline.com/2022/06/obi-wan-kenobi-season-finale-spoilers-recap-1235049969/ (SPOILERS)

What aggravates fans the most? When canon is broken or fudged with (i.e., “Han shot first”), and Obi-Wan Kenobi does bear some guilt in that. More on that later.

The only upside here for Disney is that any shortfall of success in a Star Wars TV series, i.e., low viewership, can be hidden, especially compared with the public scrutiny of a box office upset (Han Solo: A Star Wars Story displeased the masses and wound up as the lowest-grossing film in the franchise with $213.7 million domestic, $392.9M worldwide).

So what tried to move the needle forward here in Star Wars lore in the Obi-Wan Kenobi season finale? Darth Vader was rather one-note obsessed in chasing down his old master for nothing more than revenge, whereas in Empire Strikes Back his pursuit of Luke was the mere fact that he’s his long-lost son. Was Darth angry that Obi-Wan split his body in two back in Revenge of the Sith? Or is it just about good and evil? Or the taxation of trade routes? What was the point of seeing Darth Vader and Obi-Wan fight again in a lightsaber battle –the aorta of the finale– that sees the latter buried momentarily beneath a pile of boulders? I would say the arc here in Obi-Wan Kenobi is this old Jedi regaining his strength after hiding out in the desert during an Imperial Jedi purge. Ben damages Darth Vader again, slaying his helmet and breaking the control box on his chest. Ben sees Anakin’s face, and calls out his name, and apologizes. “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker,” Darth Vader booms. “I did.” And then in a play on a line from Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan responds, “Then my friend is truly dead.” Well, duh. We knew that all along.

But what now for Obi-Wan? It’s back to being a hermit in a Tatooine desert cave until the events of the 1977 film occur.

We had a sense at the end of episode 5 that Imperial Inquisitor Reva would survive when she reached for that comlink, thus learning the whereabout of Luke. She was clearly headed back to Tatooine to nab the kid. Seeing Uncle Owen with a laser rifle shooting after the Third Sister was a bit much; he’s a farmer, not a fighter, and has had no business fighting evil space people. When we first meet Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in the 1977 film, they’re peaceful folks in the middle of nowhere. They’re massacred by stormtroopers. Now Owen in his early days has the cajones to take on a dark Jedi with a blaster. Go figure.

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[–] moviefanman (17) 2 years ago

I didn't enjoy the show that much but I thought the moment when Obi-Wan cried was good. A bit of emotion from Ewan! You felt his sadness. His friend, his apprentice, lost to the dark side.

I didn't like the idea Luke had encountered the Empire/Inquisitors prior to A New Hope. Felt that was unnecessary reinvention. Not to mention the original trilogy never mentioned the Inquisitors. Obi-Wan was, in theory, still a wanted Jedi in A New Hope but that wasn't the vibe you got from watching the film.

Constant looking back, rehashing content, leads to narrative confusion and contradiction. Disney seem obsessed looking back. Maybe they'll take a leap of creative faith and set a new trilogy far in the future and break with some of George Lucas' mythology. The Empire/First Order can't be the enemy forever. It's a huge galaxy. Time for some new villains to shake things up.