Say hello to the Obi-Wan Kenobi we all know and love
Plus, "Part IV" shows Moses Ingram slowly emerging as the MVP of the series
TV Reviews Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi gets his groove back! This was the biggest note I made while watching this fourth installment of the Disney+ series. Like a true roughened and retired Jedi roped in for one last mission (surprised we’ve never gotten Ewan McGregor exclaiming, “I’m too old for this shit!”), it’s taken our trusted Master some time to get back into the swing of things. As Vader taunted him last episode, it’s clear Obi-Wan is out of practice and his student has quite obviously surpassed him. No more, though. By the end of “Part IV” we get to see the Obi-Wan Kenobi we all know and love. And, truly, there may be nothing sexier in the Star Wars franchise than seeing Ewan McGregor’s beard/hair be lit up by the blue light of his character’s lightsaber.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before the Jedi successfully pulls off a grade-A heist/rescue (again, another SW narrative staple), we witness him slowly healing from his burn wounds—in a water tank, it must be noted, not unlike the one Anakin himself was submerged following his own bout with flames/lava following the events of Revenge Of The Sith. It’s a lovely mirrored moment when Master and Padawan are connected yet again, making their trajectories feel even more intertwined than they once were. But Obi-Wan has no time to wallow and recover (“Your body is not the only thing that needs to heal,” he’s told). He has a princess to save.
Not that Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) is any kind of damsel in distress. Presaging the toughened no-nonsense princess/general she’ll grow up to be, young Leia Organa is an enraging prisoner. Even the cool-headed Third Sister (Moses Ingram) seems to start losing her patience with the sassy young girl who keeps screaming about her father and Obi-Wan coming to save her. If Ingram is slowly emerging as the MVP of the series it is because she’s keyed into a kind of villain this franchise so seldom deploys: There are no histrionic power-grabs here nor the kind of casual cruelty that the likes of Vader, the Emperor, and even Kylo Ren have trained us to expect from the Force’s foes. Instead, Third Sister moves through the world like an immovable object who will bulldoze everything and anything in front of her until she gets what she wants. There’s a disturbing stillness about her demeanor, and that’s nowhere more apparent than when she’s faced with the young princess—especially because it’s clear she so sees herself in the girl.
“The braver you seem the more afraid you are,” Third Sister keenly tells Leia, an admission of how well she’s come to read people around her but also how self-aware she is about how her own upbringing made her who she is today. This is the closest we’ve gotten to getting some backstory from this imperious mask of a villainess, and I do hope we get a tad more in the episodes that are left, even as Ingram has clearly colored in Third Sister’s background with enough details to make her choices (about how she moves, how she speaks, how she fights, even) feel grounded.
Leia may not be a true match for her powers (though she clearly puts up a fight), but seeing the two go toe to toe (or mind to mind, I guess) was delightful, proof that sometimes all you need to make a solid SW scene sing is a great pair of characters sitting in a room with crackling dialogue. Then again, the thrills of this episode (director Deborah Chow clearly had a ball with these action sequences) came courtesy of a perfectly executed heist/rescue with Tala (Indira Varma), the double-crossing Imperial officer who smuggled Obi-Wan into the Inquisitor fortress, playing her hand with Third Sister long enough to help the Jedi save Leia.
And so we arrive at yet another would-be escape. For, while our mischievous heroes manage to flee from the grips of Third Sister and Darth Vader, they are now about to give the Empire a solid lead on how The Path (the Jedi underground railroad that’s helped Obi-Wan before) functions and may lead them back to where that most elusive of Jedis is headed. It’s all thanks to Third Sister, who is clearly always thinking two steps ahead, playing a kind of 3D holochess with everyone around her and refusing to be played by a little girl, her droid, and an aging Jedi.
Stray observations
- A good Star Wars show/film lives or dies on the strength of its humor. There’s room, of course, for self-serious posturing in this galaxy far, far away, but if you don’t have yourself a C3PO, a Jar-Jar Binks, a grunting Chewbacca, or a quippy character whose asides can get you to snicker, you’re probably doing it wrong. What I’ve been enjoying about Obi-Wan Kenobi is that it’s colored its cast with powerhouse comedic performers (see: Maya Erskine in this episode), as if the show understood that you need that kind of energy on set lest the energy be wholly drowned out in sterile brooding pomposity.
- Let us sing the praises of composer Natalie Holt. It’s no easy feat to build on the monumental legacy of John Williams who turned so many of the Star Wars themes into iconic pieces of film music history. She joins the likes of Michael Giacchino (Rogue One) and Ludwig Göransson (The Mandalorian) as a welcome heir to Williams’ scores. In this episode in particular, especially in its climactic moments when Leia is being interrogated and later when Obi-Wan fends off Stormtroopers around the fortress, her soaring, thrilling compositions feel decidedly vintage Star Wars yet hum with a contemporary urgency that’s wholly novel.
- And while we’re speaking about below-the-line folks, what production designers Todd Cherniawsky and Doug Chiang are doing with this show is nothing but inspired. There is, of course, just a number of sets that populate Star Wars properties (desert-like abodes, roughened guerrilla-style bunkers, and techno-brutalist Empire environments). So there is something to be said about nailing and reinvigorating that latter category in a way that never feels reductive nor repetitive. The Inquisitor fortress, for instance, may echo spaces we’ve seen in Empire Strikes Back and in The Last Jedi, say, but its red-hued accents and geometric configurations make it feel cavernous and claustrophobic at the same time.
253 Comments
Moses Ingram slowly emerging as the MVP of the seriesI haven’t seen the ep yet, but is this trolling of the haters? So far I think she’s been fine. (Ewan is the MVP of any Star Wars he’s in).There are no histrionic power-grabs hereArguably, stabbing the Grand Inquisitor in the gut?
I suspect he was in her way to getting Kenobi rather than a power grab.
The whole point of her character’s story is that she has to get Obi-Wan Kenobi because she wants to be Grand Inquisitor.
Can’t someone just comment on the Reva character with it having absolutely zero to do with what trash people happen to have been saying? Who gives a shit? I also like the character and have sung her praises without pausing for a nanosecond’s thought about what some asshole might think about it.(that said, she kinda sucked in this episode.)
If you know how the internet works, then you already know the answer to this question.
I haven’t really enjoyed her line delivery but I am unsure if she is being that directed that way or it was her choice.
Yeah, I mean, it’s not her fault her running across the rooftops looks like its out of the 2004 Catwoman movie.
I mean that was silly but I specifically take issue with how she says her lines. She sounds like she is in an old Twilight Zone episode. I have a feeling she was directed to do that and most likely did not feel comfortable pulling a Harrison Ford who flat our refused to say certain lines or take certain directions.
I mean Hayden Christensen suffered the same in the prequels. He gave pretty good performances in Life as a House and Shattered Glass and then in Star Wars he became wooden even when he told the truth about sand.
I think it’s part and parcel of this being directed like a TV show. We’re getting TV quality visuals and acting from a lot of the cast. And I don’t mean prestige TV, I mean CW.
I don’t think he ever gave pretty good performances. Go back and watch those.If he did, he’d get more work.
Not really. Those are “pretty good” performances but there were always actors still better than him like Ryan Gosling and probably actors who could have done a better job in those roles. My point he was fine in those and painfully awful in Star Wars. Anyways, the idea that you simply have to be good actor to succeed in Hollywood is silly. It is not a meritocracy it is a weird blend of talent, luck, and who you know. His talent was decent (though not great) and then he had the bad luck to be in Star Wars. He wasn’t charming or good enough to overcome the badness of the script like Harrison Ford or Ewan McGregor are so Hayden was sort of dismissed by Hollywood.
Considering the other performances, it seems like it’s the direction.
Ewan isn’t the mvp episode 1, he has literally nothing to do for the whole movie
In this episode, Varma was a close second to McGregor. A distant third was Ingram, who had more screentime, better lines, and most importantly, an improved delivery from the previous episodes.
I’d lean trolling of the haters. She’s not the MVP. She is not even remotely close to as bad as the haters say. But she’s also not the MVP or crushing the role. Mostly because the role hasn’t exactly been written all that well so its not like she has much to work with. You used the right word though. She’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with her performance. She’s not bad. She’s not winning any awards for it either. She’s perfectly fine and that’s ok
You know that it is. That’s how this works and you’re already seeing it all over, right on cue. Critics, in a show of support, will now go out of their way to speak only positively about the character in all their recaps, whether she’s good or not. Even when an episode was weak, Reva alone was still great. Personally I think it compromises these reviews a little bit, because the character is officially shielded, but it’s more important that the message be sent.
Wtf? Are you implying that it’s a bad thing or slanted that critics don’t want to promote racism? Come the fuck on.
Sorry if I’m splitting hairs (with my laser sword lightsaber), but shouldn’t it be “I’m too old for this bantha poo-doo”?
You can almost sense Reva getting her own spin-off.But I think her planting a bug in Young Leia’s beloved droid might just backfire on her.
Mystified by the grading. This was the worst episode yet by far, while last week’s was the best.Way, way too much idiot plot here.I’m utterly exhausted by the trope of someone bluffing their way into a secret base or whatever. It’s been done a million times and the whole, “I’ll speak to your supervisor! ploy realistically wouldn’t work on anyone. At least the episode didn’t let her get away with it twice.But hiding Leia under a trench coat while they all just casually stroll out was even dumber.The editing and directing really felt off. The glass cracking/corridor flooding bit should have been much tighter.And the final battle in the hangar was pretty awful.Having Vader not in the base because reasons was also just unforgivably lazy.
I’m still on board with this series and this episode had at least a few moments of suspense. And the Jedi “trophy room” was truly chilling.But there’s also way too much stupid for this episode to truly work.
And, sadly, this was the first episode where Reva wasn’t remotely intimidating and came across like a chump.
That said, I hope this was just a momentary blip as the show speeds towards its conclusion.
I actually thought this week’s episode was easily the best so far. We got Obi-Wan deflecting lasers, a little bit of suspense, and Rebel ships coming in and kicking butt without all the messy staging issues that have plagued the first three episodes. It felt like Star Wars for once.
Hiding Leia under the trench coat was really silly and obviously shouldn’t have worked, but in that situation what else would you expect the characters to do? It was either hide somewhere within the base or walk out like you own the place. Either way, it didn’t seem like they made much of a plan for extraction.
Side note, who within the Empire is responsible for decorating? There are huge rooms with just two computer consoles in the center, other huge rooms with just one torture chair, and so many hallways. So much wasted space! They could have easily fit way more stuff in there.
Glad you had fun with it.
Must like to watch shows you hate.
Huh? Not sure what this sentence means, but I never said I hated this show. I like it a lot, but this episode was fairly stupid and is the worst one to date. Overall, it’s solid. You don’t have to worry about me.
He does, he really does. The Mandolorian season 1 reviews here are full of his comments about how much he hates the show and how he expects it to be a colossal failure, and as the season goes on and it becomes such a massive cultural success he keeps telling everyone how wrong they are. It must have been funny to read as that season aired, but it’s even more hilarious reading it now knowing how universally praised that first season was.
“There are huge rooms with just two computer consoles in the center”
isn’t that known as Fascist-Chic?
I liked episode ones world building at the beginning. The story just never feels as urgent as it should feel(and not because I know what happens to leia), and if they are going to slow it down like some of the original movies with the action then they gotta capture some that humour.
I agree, the show is in dire need of some humor. Baby Leia isn’t coming across nearly as cute as I suspect the writer’s expected and I wish they would have leaned into the humor in pairing an “old” Jedi with a little girl.
exactly, and they could easily do some foreshadow jokes since Leia eventually because an “old” leader of the rebellion.
foreshadow jokes of that nature are always awful.
What story?
lols, they had a good concept and then forgot they had to do a story.
There are huge rooms with just two computer consoles in the center, other huge rooms with just one torture chair, and so many hallways. So much wasted space! They could have easily fit way more stuff in there. Probably the same person who designed the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds. Seriously, even low-level officers have cavernous cabins on that ship.
I mean, there’s no real reason they couldn’t have left the way Obi-Wan came in, unless they were too dumb to carry a couple extra of those little respirator things. I mean, that doesn’t leave room for the rescue they had no way to know was coming, but again, this is not a show that does things because smart characters would do them, it does things so that it can have neat moments.
I definitely noticed the dining table and benches that they appear to have brought in just to have somewhere for Leia to be sitting in the beginning. I was like, oh, furniture.
That’s just good planning, building ahead of your needs to provide room for expansion and all that.
Fortress Planner: “If we don’t spend all of our budget this year then next year they won’t give us as big of a budget.”
Fortress Planner 2: “Ok, make the rooms bigger until there’s no budget remaining.”
Yeah, I have to think Imperial functionaries protect their budgets as jealously as any U.S. government agency head.
After The Expanse, and it’s near-claustrophic quarters in some scenes, I notice this a lot more in SF. I kept looking and thinking wow, so much wasted space. I had similar thoughts on Dune (although I loved it). This isn’t a criticism; I can find ways to rationalize — maybe they’re just showing off, basically — but still, I can’t not see it.
Maybe stick her in an R2 unit? A crate? This isn’t the prisoner you are looking for? Dont’t write yourself into a corner?
Regarding the trenchcoat, I know, right? How is that working, it’s not like he can mentally cloud the minds of people who look at him suspiciously. What is he, the “not the droids you’re looking for” guy? Hah! I’d like to see that! Oh wait.
No, actually, he can’t. As seen in “Star Wars” (and every subsequent use of the power), it is performed in a certain, specific, deliberate way.It’s not something you can clearly just toss off to a room of dozens of people casually while running through a room.And Obi Wan is still largely de-powered.
It’s a trade off. They can’t realistically write sneaking into a fortress but they want Obi-wan sneaking through halls in Jedi clothes deflecting blaster bolts, so they do it anyway. There’s no reason that lady’s cover should have been intact after she mowed down her own squad and went MIA, but they needed someone to distract Third Sister. The speeders just kind of float around and shoot people and there’s zero air defenses, but they wanted both an OT callback and some fighter action. It’s all a bit lazy, but it’s fun to watch.
Obviously it’s a trade off and you have to allow all SW content to exist in the realm of fantasy swashbuckling. Nitpicking everything is the way to madness. Essentially not a single imperial facility ever glimpsed in any piece of SW content has the security of your average modern-day office building and we have to be okay with that.THAT SAID, when we got the 10,000th scene of “How dare you question me, I’ll tell your boss!” and when Obi Wan smuggles out a ten-year-old girl inside a baggy coat, well, even genre-appropriate latitude starts to strain.
My office building definitely has tighter security than the Fortress Inquisitorius, or whatever it’s called. Threatening to talk to the boss is just asking to be locked in a room while they call the police (who never show).
THAT SAID, when we got the 10,000th scene of “How dare you question me, I’ll tell your boss!”I think it’s great that the Empire has all this rigid formal structure and paranoid security, which can be gotten past by simply being sufficiently rude to the officers who are in charge of security.
Okay, fine. Maybe the old “I’ll speak to your supervisor!” threat really works BECAUSE Imperials spend 90% of their time being chewed out (if not outright tortured) by their bosses for minor offenses.
In terms of themes and action sequences, this was the most “Star Wars” episode so far, hence the grading I believe. I was willing to overlook all the silliness, but Leia hiding under the trench coat was a bit too much. Still enjoyed it overall, unlike the previous episodes.
Glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed most of it, but the dumb things piled on top of each other so by the final “rescue” scene, the cumulative effect was too much to bear.I’ve enjoyed the other episodes much more.
Vader not being in the base shouldn’t be an issue. The moon orbits Mustafar which is Vader’s stronghold so he isn’t that far away. Also Vader himself isn’t just there to hunt Jedi. He also has military and political actions to take.
Here’s your clue on this review:“A good Star Wars show/film lives or dies on the strength of its humor.”In other words, the weakest part of Star Wars is the most important part?
Thank you! So much stupidity
But hiding Leia under a trench coat while they all just casually stroll out was even dumber.Totally a missed opportunity to go full Little Rascals and have Leia be on Obi’s shoulders while wearing a fake mustache. “Helloooo fellow empire people! Just taking a nice walk. Boy, that Lord Vader is something, huh? I really like the cut of his jib. All hail the Empire!”
Why did I read that in the voice of Vincent Adultman?
I liked this episode the best, for the simple reason that it had Obi-Wan Kenobi doing Jedi shit. I got to watch him slice stormtroopers up in the dark. I got to see speeders fly in at the last second going “pew pew.” All this especially after the third episode with the fan film-budget Vader/Kenobi fight that contributed nothing to the show or the overarching mythology. After reading comments for the last three episodes going, “It’s just faaaan service we knew that going in!!!” I’m not going to turn my nose at the episode that gave me what I wanted to see.
That’s perfectly fair! I’m glad you liked it. I liked much of it, but eventually they just kept on piling one silly thing after another until, by the final “escape” action scene, I was kinda checked out. Disagree about episode 3, though, I thought it was really good.
The white coated Storm Troopers are the stupidest, worst shooting bad-guys in any movie or show Ive ever seen. And they die if you look at them with a mean glance. But that’s SW and you gotta accept it.
I mean, at this point you have to believe in the stupidity of their universe. Jedi always wearing the same type of clothing (that serves no functional purpose other than they’re traditional robes that Jedi wear) when trying to hide the fact that they’re Jedi. Obi-wan sneaking onto a base, not in a pilfered imperial outfit, but in his Jedi robes, then not taking the opportunity to put on the Stormtrooper armor after he kills the guy. Reva’s plot to let Leia be rescued when her only goal/assignment has been to capture the guy doing the rescuing. All of those and much much more have been an issue with the whole series (and most Star Wars shows/movies). They are trying very hard to write plots that a 10 year old can follow (success), and also please an adult fan base (less success).
Yeah and I have to acknowledge that stupid is part of the universe and not to overthink everything. But this episode had such a preponderance of stupid that eventually broke my very fluid suspension of disbelief.In Reva’s defense, it seemed very clear that bugging Leia was a fallback and not really “her plan all along.” But that hardly matters much.
This is a positively baffling opinion. Last week’s episode was messy and disjointed, and gave us a long-awaited confrontation that was as confusing as it was underwhelming. This week’s actually had a cohesive narrative that didn’t require any absurd leaps of logic to buy into, whereas last week’s had the mother of all “moments of stupid” wherein the Dark Lord of the Sith was confounded by a small patch of flames and a slow-moving droid.
This week was all absurd leaps of logic.Vader let Obi Wan get away.
There was no reason for Vader to let Obi Wan get away that’s firmly established in that or any other part of the Star Wars narrative. Let him get away why exactly? Obi Wan is public enemy no. 1. He’s at the top of their “Kill all the Jedi” pyramid. And even if Vader already is experiencing conflict, there’s no reason at all to think he’s experiencing it for Obi Wan. Even if that’s what he was doing, it needed a line of dialogue. “No. Let him go. I have a different use for him.” That’s the kind of thing old Star Wars would’ve done and it was necessary in that episode. As shot, it felt out of place and ridiculous.It also wasn’t the only logical chasm in that episode.
“Firmly established in any other part of the narrative?”Oy. The last thing SW needs to do is tell more stories that are “firmly established” elsewhere. This is a new narrative, it needs to do new things.Vader isn’t experiencing conflict at all. The exact opposite. He decided to let Obi Wan get away to prolong his pain and suffering. Vader could have killed him in the duel. Instead, he literally dragged him through flames. He’s torturing him. Letting him live was just more of the same. There’s no “different use” and the large plots about Jedi paths and whatnot are of little concern when he has his nemesis to deal with on a personal level. Sorry that the dialogue here wasn’t suitably bad or on the nose for your liking.
We’ve been back and forth plenty, so I won’t rehash previous discussions, but I do find it interesting that we’re so on opposite sides of this. I think this was the best episode of the bunch, which is kind of damning with faint praise given where I stand.
There was less dumb in this one than most. Not none, but less. Even the action staging looked better, give or take a weird shot that definitely implied those speeders were going to crash right into the back wall of the hangar.
Ha! I’m glad you noticed the speeder shot. They were racing towards the wall just as the shot cut and then magically weren’t seen until they came into a gentle landing for the rescue.But, hey, I’m glad you enjoyed the episode. I did enjoy MUCH of it, but at a certain point, the corner-cutting just got too much to bear.Everything from the tired old trope of someone talking their way past security by threatening to “call the boss,” to the comically poor security throughout the base, all the way up to the slapstick Little Rascals-style escape via trench coat, and finally the “oh, no, I let them escape!” twist. A lot of rusty old cliches and some very, very silly leaps of logic. I think most of the series is pretty good. Still giving the show on whole a B/B+. Easily my favorite of the SW series to date, which is also damning with faint praise. And, of course, it could still go catastrophically awry in its final two episodes.
Well, again, the bar is pretty low. If Obi-Wan Kenobi is actually IN the last two episodes of his own show, it already puts it above Book of Boba Fett, lol
I’m one of the most forgiving Star Wars fans. I grew up on the original SW and I love the universe it takes place in. I can let things so and just enjoy most SW content. I’ve been enjoying the Obi Wan series, but this episode was even too silly for me. Why didn’t the the tie fighters get launched when the heroes arrived in their ships? How didn’t they fly into the wall? How did no one notice Obi Wan hiding a person in their trench coat?
I was giving Reva a chance even the she seemed out of place. That is until this episode. Her dialogue is terrible, and her acting is not good. She also seems out of place in terms of skin color and gender and I’ll tell you why. It has nothing to do with race or hating on women. It’s about continuity in SW. In the original SW OT, where are all the black and hispanic and asian officers in the Empire? Where are the women officers in the Empire? Somehow they were never there and now they’re everywhere? I guess by the time ANH came around Vader had them all removed? Maybe Vader became racist and chauvinistic over the next 10 years?
Aside from that the Reva character is just annoying and taking center stage in a show that supposed to be about Obi Wan and Vader. Disney is trying to force us into liking her, no pun intended. They’re even talking about giving her a series. Disney has trouble reading the room when it comes to SW fans. They don’t know us. They need to know us. Know the true Star Wars fans.
So even by the Imperium standards, that Inquisitor Stronghold had to have some of the security I have ever seen. Although I did couldn’t stop laughing when I realized that Kenobi had decided to infiltrate an Imperium base… Wearing his desert clothes. Also while I don’t want to give notes, do ear pieces not exist in Star Wars? Although the hilarity of watching Tala openly guiding Obi Wan through the base while sitting next to another Imperial officer was almost worth it.By the way, and this is a legitimate question, but why did this episode lean so heavily on the idea that Leia had some crucial information about the Passage as I couldn’t remember anything told to her in the last episode that would support that. Although it was again funny watching this episode while knowing that Third Sister did casually kill that pilot in the last episode who probably could have told them a lot about the organization in question.
The “impenetrable fortress” doesn’t have any air defenses and also has easily breakable underwater windows. I guess no one thought to actually try to penetrate it before.
Yeah the “it has no shields” “no one would be foolish enough to attack it” riff confused me, not sure of the logic there. And the lack of air defense despite racks of TIEs hanging there? I can see the argument that they let them escape as they were being tracked but at that point who knew besides Reva? Surely it would be a standard procedure to scramble the fighters when they’re attacked from the air? Whatever, dumb but fun, hope this was the ‘light relief’ before we hunker down for the last few episodes.
Yeah the “it has no shields” “no one would be foolish enough to attack it” riff confused me, not sure of the logic there. And the lack of air defense despite racks of TIEs hanging there? I can see the argument that they let them escape as they were being tracked but at that point who knew besides Reva? Surely it would be a standard procedure to scramble the fighters when they’re attacked from the air? Whatever, dumb but fun, hope this was the ‘light relief’ before we hunker down for the last few episodes.
except a few years earlier another jedi in hiding did just that, the inquisitors are clearly gone by a new hope because Vader just doesn’t tolerate incompetence
Windows that cannot withstand a laser blast. 1,000 people equipped with laser blasters. I’m surprise the place lasted this long.
“Shouldn’t we make the doors watertight in this underwater passage with tons of windows that face onto the ocean, a hundred feet below sea level?”“Why would we do that? Next you’re going to start saying we should put railings on our catwalks.”
And building a substantial portion of the structure underwater. They have flood control doors so they got that part right but I would maybe leave the windows out of the underwater levels. Unless you’re also charging admission to school groups and calling it an aquarium…
By “before”, you mean “in the last five years”?
Breakable underwater windows that can be broken by blasters that are the primary weapon of the stormtroopers patrolling the passages made completely of breakable underwater windows.
It’s a critique on the perils of unfettered free market capitalism that The Empire represents. No safety regulations – breakable underwater glass and railingless catwalks all over the place.
It doesn’t have any defenses bc, “anyone would be crazy to attack it”. Umm, that not how fortresses work. “Hey this base has no air defenses”. “Well we sure as hell better not attack it from the air then, cuz that would be CRAZY!”
Leia was present when Tala told Obi Wan how the Path worked and where their base of operations is.However, there’s no actual reason why Reva would assume Leia had this knowledge. But Reva knows Leia was at least present in their safe house, so it’s possible, from Reva’s POV, that she picked up some info. However, it’s definitely a stretch that Reva continues to insistently demand the location of their base on a hunch.
Everything Reva has done so far has just been a stretch of logic. For some reason it just keeps working. Or mostly working at least.
Reva could have captured the actual rebel pilot who was waiting for Leia and Tala instead of killing him. Chances were he had actual intel to give… but the cringy Leia interrogation scene was deemed more… dramatic, I think.It’s realle a badly written show.
Leia was bait and had to be convincingly scared so Obi-Wan would feel her through the Force.
…And you feel that fear could not have been simulated without demanding information about the Passage? Which Leia herself admits having during that particular interrigation? Also Kenobi brings up the information Leia has when talking with the Passage people.
Why not interrogate Leia on the off chance that she overheard valuable information? If you’re going to be scaring her and torturing her to lure Obi-Wan in your might as well try to get some information out of her while you’re at it.
Maybe, but the show didn’t remotely indicate that was the plan.
“Maybe, but the show didn’t remotely indicate that was the plan.”That is a frequent problem with the show. Why didn’t Vader just like force pull him 10 feet through the fire to him? You can justify that with a few reasons, but the show does zero work to convey any of them to us, the viewer.
Earpieces 10 years in the future don’t look so great in the galaxy far, far away. They are probably even more cumbersome at this time.
–
Are those tanks no longer Bacta tanks?
I mean, that people in the Star Wars universe heal within?
Those tanks filled with blue light and blue fluid, etc?
–
Is that right, Star Wars nerds?
*Googles*
Yup.
Who am I kidding.
I knew that.
Those are Bacta tanks that they heal in, unless Lucas has retconned more Bull Farble into his system, or rather, taken more away.
glad this is done in 2 weeks. it’s fine, but it’s just fine.
Even the cool-headed Third Sister (Moses Ingram) seems to start losing her patience with the sassy young girlShe’s been losing her patience with every single character she interacts with, except Darth Vader. Her patience was lost a long time ago, it seems. That’s kind of been the crux of the character thus far. Cunning, manipulative, and ahead of the game, she is. Cool-headed, she ain’t.
Pretty sure the Inquisitor Fortress and its interiors are directly lifted from Jedi: Fallen Order. I am not sure how much design work is actually Cherniawsky and Chiang’s, there, but I haven’t played the game.
You’ve nailed it. It’s nearly identical, right down to the hallway with the glass that breaks… which also happens in the game.
Depending on the timeline, you’d think one of those incidents would make them take measures to prevent the other.
It’s low key hilarious that Jedi are able to break into and out of this thing more or less at will.
which also happens in the game.The game that occurred about 5 in-galaxy years BEFORE the show?
Nobody would be dumb enough to shoot blasters at a Jedi in this corridor AGAIN!
“we witness him slowly healing from his burn wounds—in a water tank, it must be noted”It must be noted that everyone knew what a bacta tank was in 1981. But I guess “people versed in the lore” are rare in today’s av club. Criteria for this gig has gone from “Have you seen the prior instalments” to “will you move to California” after all
Yes it certainly seems that the reviewer needs to go bacta where it all began and watch the OT through with eyes and ears open.
They repeatedly call it a bacta tank within the show even.
What’s wild is they refer to it as bacta a couple times. How hard is it to just repeat what the show called it?
Plus, “Part IV” shows Moses Ingram slowly emerging as the MVP of the seriesNice trolling. She’s been mostly fine, but her character is terrible and her delivery seems off at times. Hardly MVP material.
Nailed it. Her delivery is awful.
No one’s trolling you, you child.
How condescending of you, asshole.
You said the reviewer was “trolling” because they complimented an actress. An actress who has been the subject of grotesque racist attacks in recent weeks.You characterized her liking that character as trolling. You’re god damned right I’m going to condescend to your worthless bullshit, you fuck.
Complimenting an actress is one thing, claiming they’re the MVP of the show is something else. Stop acting like a willfully obtuse shitbrain and maybe chill out. Or don’t, I don’t give two fucks what you think. You’re god damned right I’m going to condescend to your worthless bullshit, you fuck.Adorable.
It truly seems as though the remaining writers at the A.V. Club have been given an editorial mandate to troll the readership.Earlier this week, Sam Barsanti made a similar MVP comment about James Corden. Corden is an objectively terrible host, yet Barsanti explicity stated that he had raised the bar for late-night TV to the extent that an entirely new format would be required in order to move forward.
Is ‘fuck’ the only word you know or are you just grasping at straws cuz you don’t like being called a racist.
Grasping at what straws, asshole? If you truly believe criticizing someone’s acting automatically makes someone racist, then you need to get out more and touch some grass. You can start by revaluating why you believe that, then get back to me.*Edit*I can see by your other comments that you’re the troll. Fuck off.
criticizing the character an actor plays is NOT the same as personally attacking the actor . Take your aggression and vile obscenities elsewhere.
Finding a reason to criticize her character and saying it’s not racist begs the question why you went to far out of your way to find something negative to say about a mostly fine performance. Do you not see the ingrained racism of that?
That’s like someone hating Asian people but then saying they don’t like an Asian persons hair but “that doesn’t make me racist” – you’re just finding ‘reasons’ to mask your racism in the same way that white baby boomers argued the BLM movement against their kids when deep down the reason they felt insecure was because they know they’ve been benefitting from racism for years.
Educate yourself. Learn more about why you “don’t like” her.
Her performance is pretty objectively bad, but as I’ve said elsewhere in terms of bad acting in the star wars series it’s pretty much par for the course. I will never deny racism because there wasn’t any of this vitriol for the entire cast of Mandolorian who can’t authentically deliver a line for the life of them.
Saying “I’m not racist but I don’t like her line delivery” is just a bullshit mask for racism. You’re searching for anything negative to say about her.
Just say “I don’t like watching Black people on screen” you’d win points for honesty.
Totally in agreeance, LaurenceQ, fuck this person.
Thanks. I need to learn to stop taking the bait with these assholes. Life is WAY too fucking short. Cheers!
I need to learn to stop taking the bait with these assholes.Right back at you, asshole.
nice try. Have a great day.
She doesn’t deserve the vitriol from racist online trolls. No one does.But I agree, her character and delivery are serviceable at best. It’s not a matter of skill, but perhaps not being suited for this role. While she improved in this episode, Indira Varma put a master class in comparison.
No one deserves the hate and racism she’s received, but that shouldn’t make her immune to criticism.
Judging by your whole energy here, it should not surprise you at all that man people have different takes from you. Even if there was nothing else, she’s the most interesting and dynamic character here because she’s the only principal whose entire fucking story we don’t already know. And she’s playing the character in a manner different from any character in the franchise. She’s the one thing pushing back against all the inherent problems with prequels focused on established characters, and plenty of people like that sort of thing, even if you can’t comprehend diverse perspectives.
even if you can’t comprehend diverse perspectives.*rolls eyes*Because I don’t find her interesting, that must mean I can’t comprehend diverse perspectives. Cool, got it. That’s totally it. she’s the most interesting and dynamic character here because she’s the only principal whose entire fucking story we don’t already know. And yet, I personally have zero interest in her backstory. She’s interesting and dynamic to YOU because we don’t know her backstory, that’s great, so why can’t you recognize that others might not feel this way?
Son, I didn’t say you can’t comprehend diverse perspectives because you don’t like the character. I said that because you refused to believe that anyone else could.I don’t have any problem with people not liking this character, but it takes a special kind of clueless dick to be certain that someone is trolling because they like a character that we haven’t seen in many movies over decades.
Oh look, another condescending cunt.Sport, I never refused to believe that anyone else can like her character. I called it “trolling” because I expected it to rile up the people who legitimately didn’t like her because she’s Black, and I felt like it was an unnecessary way to describe her. It’s obvious you missed that completely. Go figure I get a bunch of keyboard white knights like you and Laurence coming to her defense who just want to argue about, what? That I don’t understand people like different things? Hahaha, okay, bud. It’s ironic, really.Why don’t you just fuck off and we’ll end this here.
My dude, this whole conversation was about you being pretty sure no one could legitimately have a different take than yours. If you’re going to be such a dick, don’t be so sensitive.
If you’re going to be such a dick, don’t be so sensitive.Lol, whatever dude. That was never was this conversation was about, nor did I tell anyone they couldn’t have a different opinion. You’re just coming off like a whiny hypocrite.I’ll just reiterate my previous comment, with added emphasis; I personally have zero interest in her backstory. She’s interesting and dynamic to YOU because we don’t know her backstory, that’s great, so why can’t you recognize that others might not feel this way?
I never said anything resembling a criticism of people having a negative take on this character. I merely greeted your certainty that a positive take was insincere trolling with derision.And, son, if you’re going to sprinkle your comments with incel buzzwords, at least use them correctly.
Seems pretty obvious from the opening scene we know exactly what her backstory was: the little girl who gets some actual dialogue during Order 66. If it wasn’t her, they wouldn’t give a kid a line.
Compared to like every other character on this program, she’s a mystery.That one scene and one line is probably part of her past, but Obi-Wan has already been in four films and multiple cartoons.
racist
I don’t think she’s any worse than the majority of star wars actors, which by and large are some of the least talented people in the industry (Save for Kylo, Rey, Finn, and Poe). Mandolorian in particular went out of their way to find the most charisma-less actors possible
I don’t know about any MVP, but that kid actor playing Leia is the casting choice of the decade.
Who’da thought 10 year old Leia is the most interesting her character has ever been, and that kid’s performance is on point.
If anyone deserves the MVP title, it’s her. She’s perfect for the role.
That you think it’s trolling tells me you’re racist.
HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahYou’re pathetic.
it’s so funny how quickly star wars went from blockbuster film releases to mid budget streaming series. you deserve this, nerds.
“Say ‘hello there’ to the Obi-Wan Kenobi we all know and love” was RIGHT THERE.
On one hand, this was a pretty dumb episode. On the other hand, that dumbness is kind of in the DNA of Star Wars.The dumbness of the infiltration of the Inquisitor Fortress was about on par with the dumbness of the infiltration of the Death Star in ANH. Although it does seem so much worse here, maybe because all those tropes have become such a joke that it’s embarrassing to see them played straight here.
The difference is (in addition to 4 decades worth of staleness seeping into the trope) is that, in Star Wars, the vibe is that we’re getting two goofballs poorly improving their way into and out of danger. In this case, the tone is much more serious and Obi Wan should be much smarter. And, frankly, the Empire is coming across as much dumber in this situation, with easily intimidated guards and so forth. Even the original SW wouldn’t have done anything as friggin’ goofy as the trenchcoat trick.
in Star Wars, the vibe is that we’re getting two goofballs poorly improving their way into and out of danger.At least those “two goofballs” were wearing Stormtrooper armor, instead of walking around in desert robes.
Which Obi-wan did. Both times.
I think it’s instructive that in all the sneaking about on the Death Star in ANH, we get the sense that Obi-wan is using the Force to choose his movements judiciously, and is staying out of sight. In this show, for some reason, it feels like he’s just blundering around in the open and not getting caught because, I guess, it isn’t time for the scene where he gets caught yet. (I also loved the multiple times that he has his back to stormtroopers or attack droids, who shoot at him at fairly short range and miss despite the fact that he’s not moving.)
I feel like they’ve actually picked spots in all these live action shows to address some of the dumbness that ran throughout the original trilogy. I always agreed with Han’s incredulous “You call that easy?!” after Leia somehow knew they were tracking them to explain “the ease of our escape.” That never made much sense. Maybe this is where she first encountered and remembered that Imperial tactic, so she’d be the only one to realize what was happening years later?
I’m still waiting for the flashback scene that explains why Reva hates Obi-Wan so much but it’s getting very late. I don’t understand what the show is waiting for because I’m not expecting the reveal to be that shocking (she’s probably angry he didn’t come back to save her during Order 66, hence “no one is coming to save you”).Meanwhile, the show looks like it’s stalling for time and waiting for the finale to play his best cards. That means we get a whole episode of Reva snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and surviving because of bad writing. Definitely no MVP.
Because she’s one of those Padawans from the cold open and he represents one of the very few remaining Jedi from the era that failed her so utterly? Oh and also he’s the only thing Vader gives a shit about so that makes him the only target worth pursuing in her mind. One of those.
Unfortunately, like BOBW, the show has waited too long to give out some character-defining bits of backstory. Boba waited until episode 4 of 8 to even bother sketching in ANY reason why Boba would care about making a radical career shift.It’s less egregious with Reva, but they should have filled in the remainder of her backstory no later than episode 3.
Book Of Boba… Wett?
Ha. Whoopsie!
BOBW?
Best of Both Worlds. The epic Star Trek two-parter with the Borg.Also, I’m an idiot.
Because she’s one of those Padawans from the cold open and he represents one of the very few remaining Jedi from the era that failed her so utterly? She could very well be the very first person you see in that episode 1 opening. It pans in and the first person you see is a Padawan of color.
Those younglings would be 19 right now. I hope they aren’t trying to pass Moses Ingram off as a late teenager.
Definitely the first one, because it’s the stupidest – “They didn’t successfully destroy an entire secret spontaneous empire-wide coup! Argh! Probably should join the guys that killed everyone I knew and all that!”
There’s got to be some kind of twist with the Order 66 backstory. Because if she just hates Obi-Wan for not rescuing her from the assault on the Jedi Temple… shouldn’t she kind of blame the guy in the black suit who escorted the Stormtroopers to the Temple and personally cut down dozens of Jedi, including the younglings? He’s right there wheezing loudly, due to injuries suffered when Obi-Wan dueled him over a lava pit trying to bring him to justice for his role in Order 66.
I think she’s one of the Younglings shown at the beginning and it’s going to be revealed that she wanted Kenobi to be her master since Anakin had “graduated”.
I am sure it’s something similar to this…
Am I the only one who thinks her real target is Vader and not Kenobi? Since she’s clearly one of the padawans from the opening sequence, my thought all along was that Obi-Wan is bait to get her unrestricted access to Vader, so that she can attempt to avenge her slain friends.
You forgot to add /s at the end of this review.
This episode was nearly as bad as Episode 9. We got no explanation for what happened at the end of the last episode. Why did Vader let Ben go? How did Reva get to the other end of the tunnel before Leia? After Ben leaves the bacta tank, they’re suddenly talking to some character we have never met and trying to persuade him to help. Suddenly, Leia supposedly knows something about the Rebels? What?! It had a piece of terrible fight choreography when the undercover rebel is being escorted by the two storm troopers and she beats them up somehow. How does Ben suddenly get his powers back? Why were they gone in the first place? Luke didn’t use the force for years ever and he was still really powerful in Episode 8.Then there were the rebels saving our heroes again out of nowhere. If you’re going to have Obi-Wan mysteriously get his powers back, you could have had him save the undercover rebel and Leia while fighting and killing Reva. How does a force pushed bomb go faster than a spaceship? I liked the hallway fight scene with the water and the tombs. I was hoping Vader would’ve just killed Reva. That would have made the episode for me. Those are just the issues off the top of my head.
This show is just incredibly lazy. Someone just reading some of this and saying, “No. Do better. Come up with something creative.” could have done so much:
“We want Leia to be chased. “Ok, but wouldn’t she be caught immediately?” “Yeah, but let’s just do it and have her not be.” “Sure.”
“How should Tala get by security?” “Well, she’ll just pretend that she is very important and it’s all very secret and tell them ‘do they want her to bother their boss’s boss.’” “Hasn’t that been done a million times?” “Yes” “Isn’t this a FORTRESS?” “Sure.” “Ok.”
“We are worried that Obi-Wan could just use the force whenever.” “Let’s have him forget it.” “Ok. But, what about when we want him to do Force-y things?” “He can just remember it then.” “Cool.”
And, my god, somebody needs to check the machina to see if there are any deus left. “How do we get our heroes get out of this?” “Someone just arrives.” “Just arrives?” “Sure.”
I do, however, approve of The Empire’s more inclusive work policies allowing so many hearing impaired people to serve their government. Progress is progress.
As far as I can tell, most people who work for the Empire have several cognitive impairment issues. It’s like if the Pakleds conquered the entire galaxy.
You can still pull (most of) this off with just a couple casual one liners for explanations in the episodes too.No air defence for the fortress? The Inquisitor ordered it off so her ploy about planting a tracker on Leia would work.
– You can have this line explained when Vader challenges her after they got away.Tala gets by security with clichés? The Inquisitor ordered any suspicious activity among personnel be allowed and discreetly reported to her.
– You can have this line explained when Inquisitor confronts Tala.
— Added bonus, Tala speaks not very quietly in a room full of officers? See above reasoning.Leia has a seemingly exciting but unrealistic chase? The chasers were coralling her into a specific area away from where they confronted her, because they knew guards were coming.
– You can have this line explained by one of the other chasers just saying something small like “the guards are on their way” to the main chaser just before Leia starts running.As for Obi getting his groove back, it did seem to lack a pivotal moment and just kind of happened instead.
– Simple fix is just to have his first big use of force being around something significant, like swooping in to rescue Leia from those two guards.These are small things, but they are important in making your world feel believable, something that this and Boba Fett have lacked a fair bit sadly.At least that’s this person’s opinion!
Hell, I could have lived with the most stupid plot point the episode brings to the table – the Scoobie Doo “two kids pretend to be an adult in a trenchcoat” nonsense – if they had JUST hung a lampshade. Just a quick exchange like “This is NEVER going to work. They’ll see through this in seconds.”“You have a better idea? There are no other options.”Boom, sorted.
At least she wasn’t on his shoulders with the two of them pretending to be a very tall person with a child’s head.
“How should Tala get by security?” “Well, she’ll just pretend that she is very important and it’s all very secret and tell them ‘do they want her to bother their boss’s boss.’” “Hasn’t that been done a million times?” “Yes” You know what hasn’t been done a million times though? A character lying convincingly. When we first saw Tala, she commanded the space and we had no reason to believe she wasn’t an Imperial. When she’s talking to subordinates in the fortress or to Reva, there’s a tone in her acting that conveys she’s lying that seemingly no one but the audience can pick up on. Why? The audiences knows she’s on the good side. This happens in movies and TV shows all the time. It bugs me. Just have her walk in, command the room like a boss, and get on with her mission.
In Tala’s defense, her delivery was so strong that I almost started to believe that she was an Imperial mole operating to infiltrate the Path.
That’s a major pet peeve of mine as well. The audience doesn’t need a character to act nervous and stand there silently while they’re being accused, sweating and gulping, to understand that they’ve been putting up a front. It strains all credulity that this behavior wouldn’t end any chance they have at being believed.
I get why shows do this—to make it clear to the audience that she’s lying & so we can all be in on it. But as you say, it does take one out of the scene. And frankly it’s insulting to the audience, like we would be confused if she lied convincingly, as people do, all the time, in real life.
Yeah. That is both terrible and frequent. It also doesn’t give the actor “anywhere to go.” If you start bold, then you can actually throw in a little nervous look that 1) lands and 2) could come off as not insanely suspicious within the scene.
Have you ever been in a public space and a whole bunch of people are having speakerphone conversations? And we do have both wired and wireless earphones that exist and are really inexpensive. That’s how they make us believe that it makes sense.
Really glad to read some like-minded comments. You even missed the most obvious. “Isn’t Obi Wan supposed to watch and protect Luke Skywalker?” “Yup” “Because he’s very important for the galaxy right?” “Yes, that’s why the forth episode is called “a new hope”” “But Obi Wan leaves him behind on the first episode to go after Leía Organa?” “Yes, because her father asked him” “isn’t he some kind of senator, who could deploy some kind of, I don’t know, army?”
in a water tank It’s a bacta tank (since 1977) and you should not be reviewing Star Wars anything. FYI Boba Fett was in one too in The Book of Boba Fett.
thank you .. this review reads like a press release
Were there bacta tanks in ANH? I thought they were introduced in ESB (1980). Still, it’s even referred to as a bacta tank within the show, so there’s not much of an excuse.
Yeah it was ESB. In universe, though, they predate the OT. I can’t remember if we saw bacta tanks in the prequels, but I know we saw them in The Clone Wars.
Hey now, lets be fair here. The Bacta tank was 1980, not ‘77.
Oh my bad. I guess I’m just gonna have to do what everyone does with Star Wars discrepencies. Retcon that sucker into ANH.ETA: and we know they were around during ANH because Sidious dunked Anakin in one after Obi-Wan cooked him on Mustafar.
“Plus, “Part IV” shows Moses Ingram slowly emerging as the MVP of the series”I don’t believe you. you just want to juice the angry comments to increase engagement.
what was up with the jerky hand-cam in the scene where our heroes planned their rescue of Leia via the holograms ? Also, an underwater base doesn’t have watertight bulkheads ? No wonder the Empire was doomed to fail. The dialogue is truly awful. Worse than Lucas’s own writing. It seems like the script and direction is AI-generated
Wasted opportunity. You’d think her keen insight and wit that allowed her to one-up her older cousin first episode at the formal ambassador gala on Alderaan would pay off while under interrogation.If she really wanted to piss off the 3rd sister, Leia could’ve pointed out her obvious desperation that Reva captured and is interrogating a 10 year old girl. “Please, fill me in on all the details when you’re summoned for a progress report to your superior.”
I do feel like this has a much stronger premise than Book of Boba Fett. Obi-wan is a more nuanced character with a rich history, especially if you include the Clone Wars series. It makes sense to explore how he would deal with his time in the desert following Palpatine’s coup and Anakin’s turn to the dark side. And I think McGregor and the writers nail the sort of jaded and self-loathing state he’d likely be in during this period. That said, there are just a lot of lazy/stupid decisions made here about the specifics of the plot that make it feel like there’s little quality control for these Disney Star Wars shows.
Initially I thought Boba Fett had the stronger premise because they effectively had a blank slate, since Disney wiped the EU canon and we know next to nothing about him from the OT. Plus, it was set post-RotJ so it didn’t have to create tension with characters the audience knows will survive.Disney appears determined to find the worst possible premise for every show.
*and movie, minus Rogue One.
Nah, I’d include “what if we told the story about the people who stole the first Death Star plans but make them boring” too.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I thought Rogue One was top 5 SW after the OT and Last Jedi.
I’m pretty sure I’m the one in the minority, at least on io9. The battle at the end was S-tier, no doubt – better than any of the space battles than in any of the prequels or sequels. And I would watch a spin-off about K-2S0 because he was hilarious. Every single other character was boring to me, which is a problem because it’s ostensibly a “character-driven” drama. A good space battle does not a good movie make. Even several of the people who love it that I’ve spoken to IRL seem to admit that the first two-thirds of the entire movie are weak.
It’s entirely possible I have some recollection bias because the ending is bravura, and I haven’t watched the whole thing in quite a while.
The music you are praising Natalie Holt for was written by John Williams’ longtime collaborator William Ross. He is listed in the end credits right after Natalie Holt for adapting John Williams’ new Obi-Wan theme, which those scenes feature. William Ross deserves the credit.
One of the shots of the inquisitors’ tower early in the episode showed several TIE fighters suspended above the deck. And NONE of them scrambled when the (not snow) speeders showed up?At least give us a shot of the speeders taking a few out before they can launch, I’ll fill in the rest. But you’ve got to meet me halfway, here. And if they aren’t taking Leia DIRECTLY back to Alderaan, I hope Bail Organa withholds whatever gratuity is customary in these situations.
Reva was able to throw s big explosive crate and hit a speeder that was flying away, but wasn’t able to do so when it was just hovering. So not scrambling the fighters seems about on par with their reaction time. Assuming she is the one and only person in the entire base that’s allowed to command anything.
For being on Jabim where the base is, it seems awfully dry.
I still mostly entertained by the series, but man, this series is proving to have some pretty bad writing at times. And its stuff little dumb shit too that could easily be cleaned up by having one person just read it/watch it and say “Hey, this little detail is dumb. Fix this”. For example, its pretty damn dumb that Tala is giving Obi-Wan directions to break out a prisoner with another officer literally sitting next to her within ear shot. Or how the entire break in was just lazy and too matter of fact (massive base, embarrassingly low security, ease of escape, yadayada).It’s just that you see the bones here for what the story should be and how it should go. And if they hit it, it’d be like a high 90s A grade show. Instead, we get this writing so we end up in the middling 70s/80s B/C grade range. Yeah, you get a passing grade and I can be entertained, but I know you can do better if you just tried a tiny bit harder.
They’re all rather generic, poorly developed and defined, and disposable- and tend to be quickly overshadowed by a Vader appearance. The problem they’re running into is that you cant have Vader show up every week only for him to run away going “I’ll get you next time, Gadget Kenobi! NEXT TIME!!!!” before he looks like a clownshoe. But you also can’t have the inquisitors too good at their job or they’ll upstage their boss.
Or you could have the Inquisitors be really good at their jobs and then have them fall like wheat to the sickle when confronted by Vader (kinda like how they were handled in Fallen Order).
They are done so well in that. Having not seen the cartoons and only played the game, my understanding is that while Inquisitors are skilled, they still wouldn’t really be a match for a full-fledged Jedi. (Cal Kestis was just in training, which balanced it out.)
I feel a lot of the SW properties sound like no one ever read the dialogue out loud. It’s also still infected by Lucas’ “it’s for the children!” revisionist mindset from the prequels and doesn’t offer any respect for the audience’s intelligence.
I really disliked this episode. It was very poorly written.First, if somebody decides to write a book on the “Bavarian Fire Drill” trope, this episode will fill several chapters. Because the way Tala pulled that shit with absolute easy in what is supposed to be a top security fortress… And while at that, it was annoying as hell how clumsly Obi Wan “sneaked” around the place, yet was not detected for a long time.Second, while I stand for my admiration for Moses Ingram acting, the writing of Reva was awful here. She’s either the dumbest “I’ve no plan and I’m just improvising shit for the sake of evilness” or a master tactician that would put Batman to shame… Because to put a tracker in Lola she had to actually want Leia to be rescued. It the only way it makes sense. In this case, why the hell interrogate and send Leia to the torture chamber? The information she is after (where is the base of the “Path”) will be obtained by tracking her after rescue. Putting Leia in a guarded chamber would only difficult a rescue that she wants to happen. But if the plan was to obtain the info from Leia, and on top of that using her as bait to attract and capture Obi Wan, then Reva had no reason to plant the track, unless she thinks her plan is so shitty that she expected it to fail.In fact, when Vader was choking Reva, and she reveals the planting of the tracking device as a justification for Leia’s escape, Vader should have gone, “Wait… You actually planned this shit show, where a lot of Empire property was destroyed, several troopers killed, and Obi Wan, who was right here, got away? Let me choke-kill you even harder”.
At this point, even if the final two episodes are miraculously perfect (by which I mean, contain no stupid writing), I think I’ve pretty much had it with live-action Star Wars. Even at its best, these shows have all been really disappointing (and in some cases outright atrocious). Every episode of OWK has had some good moments, but they also have tons of writing that just… I shouldn’t constantly wincing at how embarrassing the writing is. I shouldn’t constantly get distracted by wondering why every character in the show appears to be stupid or say stupid things constantly. “You have no idea what the Empire’s capable of!” What the fuck? The guy is running an underground railroad-type thing to protect Jedi from the Empire, and you think he doesn’t know what the Empire’s capable of? Either Obi-Wan is a moron, or the writers are.
The writing on this show is TERRIBLE
What really made me laugh was, Obi-Wan says that incredibly stupid thing, and then Ice Cube Jr – instead of saying, “uh, so yeah – fuck off forever”, he’s like, “so hell yeah I’ll do the thing I just said ‘No’ to”
My partner pointed that out as we were watching. “Wait, that’s it? No impassioned speech to convince him? And he’s not going to explain what convinced him?”It says something that this was my favorite episode and the writing is still shite…
I was half asleep watching this scene and I thought I missed several lines of debate. Alas.
I… I think I’m in your same boat. Especially because the next batch of shows give me absolutely nothing of interest to hold onto. I couldn’t care less about Andor or Ashoka. I might check in with Mando season 3, because it’ll be neat to see him and the little green dude having adventures, but if it just turns into another cameo parade, that’ll be the nail in the coffin for me.
Honestly, I thought the trailer for Andor was really good. One of the best trailers I’ve seen lately. But I’m not convinced that the show will avoid the stupid writing that is plaguing all the other SW shows. At this point I’m perfectly happy to wait until it’s over and then binge it, or just miss it entirely because who cares.
We must be watching different shows. Moses Ingram’s line delivery is extremely wooden and her action scenes look terrible. I know, label me a “toxic” fan because I don’t happen to like a character in a tv show even though my reasons have nothing to do with her skin color.
Why does the Empire interrogate a 10 year old girl as though she were a hostile agent that would have actionable intelligence?That was super dumb.
“Super dumb.”-The A.V. Club (now)
To generate the heightened emotions to bait a force user into action.Presumably, they’re still hesitant to physically torture the daughter of a Senator like they will torture Han in ESB. “They didn’t even ask me any questions.”
Enjoyed the episode and do not have any issues with Ms Ingram’s performances so far.
My only issue was the lightsabre attacks on the troopers taking multiple hits when they should have been cut through in a single swipe.
This was the episode that solidified for me that this show is a colossal waste of the talent they have put together and the idea of a show focused on Obi Wan. At this point, I have to keep watching to see if it’s possible to get worse, so I guess they win? Do ANY of the non Storm Trooper Order members have beards? That his disguise was a trenchcoat and a hat would have been laughable enough, then the Leia size bulge out of the side made me laugh hysterically. So much of what happens only works through the lens of “This needs to happen so that the next plot point can happen” and not “This is how actual people act and react.” When Tala is talking to Obi Wan using the little microphone thing, there is another person sitting a few feet to her right that apparently doesn’t think this is abnormal. Then she gets called out, somehow beats up the other officer, and that other guy at his station is just gone. There’s so many moments like that. And the thing that really sucks for me is that this show could be really good.
Both here and in Boba Fett characters are submerged in liquid with hoses running to their mouths, but their noses remain unplugged. And every time I see this I ask “why isn’t liquid going up their noise?” This irritates me more than the familiar narrative.Also: lightsabers don’t cut through stuff? Why did it take three hits for a stormtrooper to drop?Still digging the show on a decreased-expectations/I’ll-watch-anything-with-McGregor level.
But yeah, her talking to Ben over the comm with a dude right beside her who GLANCES OVER AT HER and she continues to do it…yeesh.
Indeed painful.
Also: lightsabers don’t cut through stuff? Why did it take three hits for a stormtrooper to drop?I know, right? I guess to line up with the video games.
At the end of Rogue One, Vader’s saber goes through a six inch-thick metal door. So I’d say they should pierce a stormtrooper with little effort.
In Episode One, Qui-Gon’s saber goes through a similarly-thick metal door. The show Obi-Wan Kenobi is not great about consistency.
I dunno … we were really excited about this mini-series. But with only two episodes left – what’s the point? There’s some nice set pieces, but no drama. Obi-Wan survives, of course. As does Leia, of course.So what are the stakes? What’s the goal of our characters? It was maybe supposed to be about watching over young Luke? But now it’s about rescuing Leia. Ok, fine. I’m down with that and that young actress is charming. So now Third Sister bungled the rescue response and planted a meaningless tracking device that everyone knows is going to Alderaan or wherever her parents are. Big whoop. Ben drops her off, the little droid stays with Leia and Ben goes … where? Worthless. We don’t need Tala anymore. Third Sis should have offed her. No mercy, right? And to really heighten the drama Vader should have killed Third Sis for her insolence and complete incompetence. What a screw up she is. Vader has killed better for less. Now that would have been surprising and deepen the darkness of Vader. The fact that the talented Ingram is emerging as a ‘star’ would have made that even more shocking and fun. This all just seems like fan service in a way Mando and even Boba didn’t. STRAY OBSERVATION: So what that Christensen is back in the Vader suit. Could be anybody in there. Thank goodness JEJ is still around to do that voice.
I’m not even convinced that it actually IS Christensen—at least not all the time. The credits list Dmitrious Bistrevsky as “Performance Artist – Darth Vader”. That specific phrasing makes it sound like he’s more than just a stunt performer (especially as there is also a Vader “Stunt Double” listed).
I noticed he was in the credits and wondered where he appeared…
On its face, bugging Lola to find the Path as if the first thing Kenobi does is drop off Leia is kinda funny. I guess maybe Lola is now programmed to just follow Kenobi around. I also don’t know when she got Lola back into their possession.
This show is certainly better than Boba Fett, largely because Obi Wan is an actual character, but dang the idiot ball gets passed around a lot every episode. I think Ingram is doing the best anybody could with the Third Sister, but frankly the entire Inquisitor squad are weaksauce villains in all their appearances. They’re all rather generic, poorly developed and defined, and disposable- and tend to be quickly overshadowed by a Vader appearance.
The Inquisitors in Kenobi come off like Scooby Doo villains, which is baffling because they were so well handled in pieces (Rebels, Fallen Order).
I’d say that’s because Filoni doesn’t have control over this project. The Inquisitors from Rebels are his doing. But since he has little to no influence over this series beyond an “advisor” (whatever that means), I’m not surprised it feels undeveloped. You’d think they’d give a show set in the prequels time to the man that salvaged the prequels with his shows.
I disagree that Ingram is doing the best anybody could, and I’ve got to continue to harp on this because I think it’s important. A weak character can be saved by an actor with charisma. We see it all the time (heck within this very franchise), so it feels a little like settling for less, to suggest that what we’ve gotten couldn’t be better. Thinking about who I would cast, without changing any of the writing or even the look of Reva, I landed on Tati Gabrielle, who, as a villain in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and the Uncharted movie, does a lot with a little. She exudes a presence the Third Sister desperately needs, imo.
She can be great in other roles, it’s definitely the writing and directing. but possibly it’s just fundamentally a miscast, she has too much of a babyface to be an evil heavy doing this turgid dialogue without adding overtones of spoiled brat.
I agree. She was good in The Queens Gambit, I think, and she’s really cute-looking for what this evil Inquisitor demands. At the risk of sounding condescending, she’s adorable. Moses honestly should have just been one of the heroes.
I think if they just made her less human like the other inquisitors it couldve worked
“Third Sister moves through the world like an immovable object . . . “Huh?
How Leia’s used in this show is so baffling in one scene she’s acting like you would expect a sheltered 9 or 10 year old to act and then the next scene she’s the smartest person in the room.
She is intuitive but inexperienced. The rest follows.
Literally nothing about Tala (Indira Varma)? Edit: apologies, a sentence, sort of
Obi-Wan struggling to use the force and needing multiple saber strikes to take down stormtroopers kind of validates how Jedi seem to be portrayed in videogame needing to reconnect with the force and get back in thier groove.
Honestly this episode really seems like was adapted from Jedi: Fallen Order. The sneaking into fort Inquisitorius from underneath water to the flooding the tunnel. This whole episode felt like it was set up for a video game than an television episode.
Best episode of an underwhelming season so far. Reva was a little bit better this episode – she at least managed to communicate her evident reluctance to torture Leia quite well, but I find her an unthreatening antagonist. I also think they could have done more with her appearance – if you compare her to the Inquisitor Trilla Sudari (the Second Sister) in the game Jedi: Fallen Order, for example, Trilla looked visibly corrupted by the Dark Side. Reva just looks like she’s thrown on some natty black leather threads and is off to do some bad wire work while cosplaying a Sith. The exfil with Leia under his coat was deeply stupid, as was the fact Obi-Wan swims into the base and then is bone dry seconds later. But overall I enjoyed it. I don’t understand the criticism of Leia – she is brilliant, and for a young actress to nail Leia’s defiance, petulance, pride etc takes some doing. Her relationship with Obi-Wan is developing nicely too, from initial wariness to affection and understanding.
Are we going to talk about how Tala managed to stagger a stormtrooper with a slap to the helmet? Helmets that are literally designed to protect against blunt force such as a slap?
This show is awful. Never in a million years do I want to be associated with white supremacist incel fucking losers, but the third sister is a bad character and not being played well. Plus the way she’s described here — as an unrelenting terminator type villain— is completely inaccurate, and that wouldn’t be too revolutionary anyway cause it’s the major trend since John Wick if not longer ago (remember Vader in Rogue One?) This show is a real disappointment. No idea what’s going on at the leadership of disney plus. We have netflix taking up all the failure oxygen by having a complete meltdown, apple spending tons on Brad Pitt (who is an abuser, ask Angelina and his kids, but will anyone ever take him down when he delivers profits?), Hulu making the same true crime trash without a good take on things, etc. But Disney to me is the real story. Where is the quality control? Where is the vision? These are the best writers?
“These are the best writers?” sums up my opinion of most SW properties, including the ones I like. It’s like no revisions were made from first drafts.
Huh.
“And, truly, there may be nothing sexier in the Star Wars franchise than seeing Ewan McGregor’s beard/hair be lit up by the blue light of his character’s lightsaber.”I know it’s fairly out of fashion to mention anything resembling hetero male proclivities, but come on. This is still the franchise that gave us the gold bikini.
Plus I’m way more turned on by the traditional rotoscoping of the old prop swords without the built in light. Made for better duels with less bounce.
Rule 34.
“Ingram is slowly emerging as the MVP of the series it is because she’s keyed into a kind of villain this franchise so seldom deploys: There are no histrionic power-grabs here nor the kind of casual cruelty that the likes of Vader, the Emperor, and even Kylo Ren have trained us to expect from the Force’s foes.”First, what show are you watching, because I want to see that one. Not the one where Reva screams every other line, murders a superior in a histrionic power grab, and casually prepares to torture a 10 year old child while telling said little girl that it’s her own fault.
Second, “the Force’s foes”? Dark Side users use the Force. That’s like saying someone is a foe of water or air.
The writing and directing of this show continue to disappoint. I know it’s Star Wars but it’s really rather awful even within this universe. I’m speaking about the small things not even the larger themes or character-based gripes. I almost threw my remote at the TV when Tala slapped a Stormtrooper on the helmet to escape. It’s like the blasting of the gate to walk through when all it was blocking was the road. The Stormtroopers were in the frame facing Obi-Wan to see what we see when he jumps out of the hallway to hide from them. There’s not alerts for ships approaching this super important secretish And the Vader-Third Sister dialog. There’s no alert system for ships approaching this super important and secretive technologically advanced base? Etc., etc. All I can see are the many, many silly or sloppy choices. I will still watch for the Vader of it and then cancel D+ again until inevitably giving Andor a shot.
i’m enjoying watching this, but it is very children’s TV. Obi-Wan smuggling Lelia out under a jacket, made me super-lol. i wish the writing wasn’t stupid, at times.i’m surprised only 2 episodes left. feels like it’s only getting started.
Disney owns Star Wars, but they don’t know Star Wars. They present Star Wars like a teacher in class passing out Power Rangers books. Is this what you kids want? That Power Rangers thing? Here it is and we have a lot more where that came from. Yeah, but can the teacher tell you anything about Power Rangers? No.
It’s true John Favreau and Dave Filoni get Star Wars, but they can’t run everything Disney produces. Star Wars content should be produced by people who really get Star Wars. Who were raised on Star Wars and interreacted with fans. Debra Chow is proving she doesn’t get Star Wars. I hate to say this but it does seem like the series is pushing a woke agenda. Which is fine, but it’s focusing too much on that and less on Obi Wan and Vader. Which is what the series is about.
Even the cool-headed Third Sister (Moses Ingram) seems to start losing her patience with the sassy young girlShe’s BEEN losing her patience with every single character she interacts with (except Darth Vader)! Her patience was lost a long time ago, it seems. That’s kind of been the crux of the character thus far. Cunning, manipulative, and ahead of the game, maybe. Cool-headed, she ain’t.
Well there goes any levity I gave AV Club….this show is bad, like not good, bad. You sit here and approve of this sub-mediocrity…. lol, it’s not good…
Star Wars is dead. It was killed by Darth Kennedy. The drivel they spew out now is nothing more than content for Disney Plus. Canon, continuity and even quality will be largely ignored, such things just slow down the process and make it hard for you to check boxes in the writer’s room.
As someone who recently played and finished Jedi:Fallen Order, this episode made me wonder:Is Fortress Inquisitorius doomed to be flooded by every Jedi that seeks to infiltrate it?
My theory as to how anything happens in the Star Wars universe is that there’s only like 3 people in the universe at any time who are any good at their jobs. It must be impossible to get fired. Murdered by your employer, yes. Fired, no.
This was about the worst thing I’ve seen in several years. Every scene was full of the most idiotic plot development possible. Ewan M. has NOTHING to play, Moses Ingram has dreadful dialogue and delivers it dreadfully, the action is filmed in such a way it doesn’t come across as cool, L’il Leia is hellanoying, and we’re not even talking about the ‘knocking out an officer in a huge room full of imperials and letting his body lie there in almost full view, hiding a little girl under a long trenchcoat to the side of your body so it looks like you’re incredibly deformed, sneaking into an imperial fortress in full Jedi robes… the list goes on and on and on. This is truly embarrasing horseshit, the worst Star Wars has been since the Ewok special. This series should be shoved into the trash compactor and shot out into deep space where it cannot harm anyone ever again.
I could go on about all the things wrong with this show and this episode specifically, but I want to comment specifically on the praise for Moses Ingram in this review.The kind of racist vitriol she’s been subjected to online is horrific and I think we’re all pulling for her because of it, but if we’re being realistic here she hasn’t been that great. I don’t even necessarily think it’s her fault, but the character just isn’t written that well. We’re supposed to think she’s super cunning and badass, but she doesn’t come across as either. I can’t help but feel that this character should have been played by an older actress.
I cringed hard at “Fortress Inquisitorius”.