Kenobi Series Thoughts

[Darth Logos]

Ep. 3 pros/cons:

1.) I felt that this is where I actually started to engage in the story. Give an atta-boy to the writers for this one because they actually started getting into some real depth and character development. I loved the "Leia" slip of the tongue and the subsequent confusion cover story.
2.) Hated the bad alien design. Really?!? A mole-man working as a miner? Tres original.
3.) Liked that they're becoming less squeamish about showing the perils of lasers when the trooper got sliced.
4.) Loved the new droid, NED. Strong silent type willing to go up side some troopers.
5.) HOW THE HELL DID REVA GET AHEAD OF LEIA?!?!?! It makes no sense for that tunnel to have any other path.
6.) D. VIDDY GOIN' ULTRA DARK SIDE. <woot woot> I think they are finally starting to understand.
7.) But then they screw it up by not having Vader be able to sense Tala's presence and what she was up to while he's having a barbeque for his old buddy.
8.) Despite my unease about the meeting screwing up everything, it was well written and executed. I felt Vader's recognition and handling of the situation was very in keeping with the character.

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Ep. 4 pros/cons:

1.) I have such a love-hate relationship with Imperial security. Either the writers struggle as much as I do with being congruent to practices established in a bygone era, or they openly embrace them for plot armor for weak ass plot points.
   a) the would-be 'Rebels' not only know of the top-secret base of the Inqs, but they know its name? Prolly "read about it in a book." That seems to be the go-to for any bumkin in the galaxy to know things above their pay grade. What makes equal sense is that Tala just happens to know its location. As compartmentalized as the Empire is, this info would be "Need to Know" and precious few officers would have it.
   b) a uniform and chutzpah will get you into any imperial installation. Tala just barges her way into the restricted area and accesses a control terminal and no red flags go up. (NTM all the while speaking suspiciously on a communicator.) It smacks too much of Mando accessing the Imp network by simply showing his face. The computer didn't need to recognize his face though. Is this the SW equivalent of answering "I am not a robot"?
   c) the base has conveniently overridden underwater access doors......because we have underwater......patrols? This point of ingress makes 0 sense.
2.) WOOHOO T-47s! Always happy to see them, more so when they're not exclusively deployed as "snow speeders".
3.) That "UGH!" moment when you see the pilot helmets that look far too akin to the ugly helmets favored by the copycat brigade known as the Resistance. <puke>
4.) Kinda getting really tired of EVERY imperial craft (non-fighter or non-cruiser) having the folding wings. I mean, c'mon.
5.) Not really sure I buy that Leia is skilled enough of a con artist to con an Inq. I know it was an "almost got me" moment, but I think it can be viewed one of two ways. Either it was actually good writing in that it exposes how hell-bent Reva is to fulfill her plans that she could be that easily manipulated, or......we could pretend that I have some eloquent and pithy phrasing to constructively critique the writing staff.

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Ep. 5 pros/cons:

This is easily my favorite episode in the entire series.

1.) Let's begin with the good stuff. As I mentioned before, the mental "chess match" that takes place between Kenobi and Vader is probably the best piece of writing that has come out of the Disney canon. The harkening back to a saber duel was particularly classy. I love how they applied the logic Seraph uses in Matrix Reloaded; "You do not truly know someone until you fight them." Absolutely loved this.
2.) Vader Sithing out again. #AWESOME. Slamming the ship to the ground and ripping it to scrap. Love it.
3.) Not entirely sure how feel about L0-LA59 being controlled with just a simple bug. It seems plausible, but to me it would make more sense that a droid would have to be reprogrammed.
4.) I liked how attempted to deepen Reva's motives; that she wasn't after Kenobi, he was just a means to an end. But that's where it kinda fell apart. How did a Force sensitive fail to sense a life among the dead as she hid among the bodies of the slain? More so, how does Vader not sense her intentions for all that time? I'll give credit to the possibility that the comics have fleshed out a personal quirk of that he enjoys seeing people fail when they believe they are within arm's reach of success; similar to him generating wind with the Force so his cape blows and looks cool. IDK.
5.) Too much saber deflection via the Force. Way too much. Like I want to establish something akin to a swear jar for every time they use that ability instead of making saber choreography. UGH! Granted, Vader is far more powerful than any Inq, and he could easily fling her around like the rag-doll she is, but....then do it.
6.) Not sure if Vader has been working on his saber-whoring since his chastisement in the comics (which I actually liked btw), but I felt it took him far too long to draw a saber.
7.) Which leads me to groaning even more about the technological abortion of the Inq saber: it splits now?!? <PUKE> Don't get me wrong, Vader putting her in her place with her own weapon is always a good idea, but Force I hate this saber.
8.) Oh hey! The Grand Inq. isn't dead. [monotone] Shock and awe. I'm getting beyond sick of this trope. I get it though, cuz he's supposed to die in SWR, but.....UGH!
9.) Ending on a high note: it was good to see Hayden again, even if the "de-aging" CGI didn't really do its job.

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Ep. 6 pros/cons:

Ok. Last installment. Not a lot to gripe about.

1.) Best.....live action......saber.......fight.......EEEEEEEEVVVVVVVEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dun get me wrong, Duel of the Fates will always be one of the greats, but this time they really knocked it outta the park.
2.) A little too much rock throwing, especially when the rocks aren't that hard. But Vader effectively earth-bending was pretty special.
3.) I was appreciative that they didn't over use "saber push", but there was also a lot of throws. IMO Force adepts should know how to defend Force push/pull attacks reflexively.
4.) I didn't like how they blatantly had Obi-Wan pulling his "punches" as it were. He should have been giving everything in the attempt to kill Vader. I know he's not allowed to for continuity, but c'mon....using the pommel to break his life-support controls? That just felt weak.
5.) I actually didn't mind the "glancing" strike across Vader's back. Normally I would have screamed "THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!" but in this case it was. Vader's gorget would have given him the needed protection.
6.) Getting a little sad how many times Disney is ripping off TFU, by letting Vader get his ass handed to him and ending up with severely battle damaged armor, and they don't even recognize it as canon.
7.) I still can't figure out why Reva moved from kidnapping Leia to flush out Kenobi, to simply wanting to kill Luke after receiving a garbled partial transmission about a boy on Tatooine. That was bad writing just so she could have a redemption moment.
8.) Also can't understand why the Lars couple have.....sawed-off blaster rifles?...stashed in a hidey-hole. It's not like the Empire have outlawed blasters. (Biting tongue to make further comments.) I also didn't like how close they resemble the slug-throwers favored by Tuskens. It's not like every blaster on Tatooine has to have wooden chassis.
9.) I'm hoping that there is a better explanation as to why Ben gets home and immediately decides to change residences, beyond "we have to get him to his ANH home." Perhaps it was an allegory of him coming back into the light; not necessarily from the dark side, but from being separated from the Force.
10.) I REALLY didn't understand how Ben had such a hard time communicating with Qui-Gon, when Luke was near death and untrained when he saw Kenobi on Hoth.

All in all, this series was, IMO, one of the best things Disney has produced in the franchise. Even despite my belief that the bar was set pretty low, this was overall very well done.......if you can overlook the 2 major plotholes of Vader's and Leia's tones toward Kenobi in ANH. Leia is far too formal in her plea for help to be addressing a beloved family friend. And considering the count of Kenobi kicking Vader's ass and leaving him for dead now stands at 2 ........Vader is too calm about it on the Death Star. WWWWAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too calm.

Those are my thoughts. I welcome any concurrence or counters.

[Darth Logos]

Finally getting back to this: Taegin, you said there was something to do with teleportation in this. I never saw anything to do with that in this series.

[Taegin Roan]

Finally getting back to this: Taegin, you said there was something to do with teleportation in this. I never saw anything to do with that in this series.

Teleportation is not what the called it. They call it "hyperspace travel" but it takes 0 discernable time. And the way you can tell is that the character go from one place to another with seemingly no time passing. It could just be bad editing, but that's not what it seems. Especially in that last episode when Obi-Wan is fighting Vader, and at the same time, Reva is chasing Luke. Then Obi-Wan wins and leaves and somehow manages to make it to Tatooine almost before she finds him. Also, Reva went from the one planet where she was stabbed all the way to Tatooine before finding any sort of medical attention, which should've killed her. I'm fine with her not dying from the stab because of where it was, but for the amount of time it should've taken her to get to Tatooine, her body definitely wouldn't be working correctly (if at all) from that would. So therefore, the only reasonable explanation is that it didn't take any time for her to get there. Therefore, Teleportation. 🤷🏼‍♂️
Ahsoka doesn't have this problem, thankfully. Nor did Andor. And I do get from a storytelling perspective, that they didn't want to have to tell what happened during that time, but still. They need to not make it seem like there's no time passing at all.

[Darth Logos]

Teleportation is not what the called it. They call it "hyperspace travel" but it takes 0 discernable time. And the way you can tell is that the character go from one place to another with seemingly no time passing. It could just be bad editing, but that's not what it seems. Especially in that last episode when Obi-Wan is fighting Vader, and at the same time, Reva is chasing Luke. Then Obi-Wan wins and leaves and somehow manages to make it to Tatooine almost before she finds him. Also, Reva went from the one planet where she was stabbed all the way to Tatooine before finding any sort of medical attention, which should've killed her. I'm fine with her not dying from the stab because of where it was, but for the amount of time it should've taken her to get to Tatooine, her body definitely wouldn't be working correctly (if at all) from that would. So therefore, the only reasonable explanation is that it didn't take any time for her to get there. Therefore, Teleportation. 🤷🏼‍♂️
Ahsoka doesn't have this problem, thankfully. Nor did Andor. And I do get from a storytelling perspective, that they didn't want to have to tell what happened during that time, but still. They need to not make it seem like there's no time passing at all.

Bad editing. Typical. Setting is usually more important to them than temporal mechanics. Although, one might consider that they were showing the "exciting" events at the same time, even though they may have been hours or even days apart. I had to gain an appreciation this type of story telling while watching the Witcher S1. In which Geralt's story begins like 15-50 years before Siri's, and moved by leaps and bounds, while Siri's story is "present day" and moves in sequential steps until both stories lines converge. It was awesomely confusing the first time through.

Is Andor really worth a viewing? I hate that character, but I might watch for the sake of everything else.

[Taegin Roan]

Bad editing. Typical. Setting is usually more important to them than temporal mechanics. Although, one might consider that they were showing the "exciting" events at the same time, even though they may have been hours or even days apart. I had to gain an appreciation this type of story telling while watching the Witcher S1. In which Geralt's story begins like 15-50 years before Siri's, and moved by leaps and bounds, while Siri's story is "present day" and moves in sequential steps until both stories lines converge. It was awesomely confusing the first time through.

Is Andor really worth a viewing? I hate that character, but I might watch for the sake of everything else.

Witcher was confusing, but it was obvious that that's what it was doing. This is not that. But that still doesn't explain Reva's survival without medical attention.

As for Andor, it phenomenal. It helps that I liked the character in R1, but even without that it has some of the greatest performances in Star Wars, and just tells a good story. I recommend viewing it as a Sci-Fi political spy thriller set in the Star Wars universe rather than a Star Wars show. Because if you're expecting High Star Wars, it's not that. It's a very gritty, intimate story. And it stays away from our-world politics (which is so nice).

[Darth Logos]

Witcher was confusing, but it was obvious that that's what it was doing. This is not that. But that still doesn't explain Reva's survival without medical attention.

Actually it wasn't apparent until you were like half to ²/₃ through the series. And to quote $#!%ty G.I.: "Revenge does wonders for the will to live." <cringe but true>

As for Andor, it's phenomenal. It helps that I liked the character in R1, but even without that it has some of the greatest performances in Star Wars, and just tells a good story. I recommend viewing it as a Sci-Fi political spy thriller set in the Star Wars universe rather than a Star Wars show. Because if you're expecting High Star Wars, it's not that. It's a very gritty, intimate story. And it stays away from our-world politics (which is so nice).

BAH! Damn you. I'll put it on the docket next. I hate you.

TBH, That was something I really really enjoyed about TBB; it's SW, but didn't have a super deep SW feel, but also didn't feel super separated. I actually loved it. I mean even to a point of getting a punch to the feels when the Empire destroyed Tipoca City. Still getting the punch to the feels remembering it. THAT was good writing.

[Taegin Roan]

BAH! Damn you. I'll put it on the docket next. I hate you.

TBH, That was something I really really enjoyed about TBB; it's SW, but didn't have a super deep SW feel, but also didn't feel super separated. I actually loved it. I mean even to a point of getting a punch to the feels when the Empire destroyed Tipoca City. Still getting the punch to the feels remembering it. THAT was good writing.

I need to catch up with TBB. I haven't even finished S2, and S3 is already coming out. I haven't had a ton of time to watch things though, and TBB s2 was airing at the same time as several other things I was more invested in getting to right away, so it got pushed back. Now I'm behind. But I agree. That s1 finale was great.

[Darth Logos]

I need to catch up with TBB. I haven't even finished S2, and S3 is already coming out. I haven't had a ton of time to watch things though, and TBB s2 was airing at the same time as several other things I was more invested in getting to right away, so it got pushed back. Now I'm behind. But I agree. That s1 finale was great.

Steel yourself for the end of S2.