[00:00] - Introduction
[02:56] - Analysis
[08:41] - Verdict
Ironically, my first viewing of the Kenobi series on Disney+ was an overwhelmingly positive experience, but for reasons that had nothing to do with the series. A friend of the household who had already seen it was eager to get my opinion on it, so we had her over for a watch party, and binged our way through the first three episodes, while a playlist of my videos played in the background on the other television, and we had frequent pauses where I read passages from The Dark Lord Trilogy out loud.
It was that kind of evening.
This will be a bizarre review, in that it will be focused largely on how the series depicts Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, specifically the lightsaber duel that capped out the third episode, and will be structured like one of my Versus Videos.
As for my general opinion on the series as a whole, on the plus side, I like the production design, Ewan McGregor is bringing his A-game, and knowing that it's actually Hayden Christenson inside the armor definitely gives Vader a different feel. But on the other hand, the Inquisitor Reva, much like Ahsoka Tano in TCW, is a superflous third wheel crowbarred into a storyline that should be focused on Kenobi and Skywalker, while lacking the charisma or likeability that made Ahsoka accepted and popular despite that.
On a similar note, I view the inclusion of Princess Leia as being analogous to the multiple confrontations between Kenobi and General Grievous in TCW; even though the context of their dialogues in Episodes IV and III respectively make quite clear that these characters have never met, it's never explicitly stated, which is all the excuse Dave Filoni needs to force them together. For my part, I see Filoni's fingerprints all over this production, and find that it is ultimately structured like TCW; rushed and contrived plots intended to set up for fanservice encounters and visuals.
For anyone who wants my opinion on the apparent internal civil war within Lucasfilm, I think it's all kabuki theatre, a mock conflict between colluding factions analogous to the Clone Wars itself.