Thursday 2 June 2022

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part III

 "He's coming, Master..."

Halfway through and, yes, this series is somewhat predictable in how it's padding out. It looks good, it's acted well, but the story is nothing ground-breaking, still, prepared to the work of Jon Favreau. But that's actually ok. This may not be awesome, or ground-breaking, but it's very good nonetheless. It's pure fanwank, but very good fanwank.

This is essentially about Obi-Wan trying to get Leia to safety without getting caught by Stormtroopers, and there are a lot of suitably dramatic tension-filled scenes. But it's also, from the first shot, in which Vader emerges from his flotation tank to put on his armour, about the countdown to a lightsabre fight between Obi-Wan and Vader, which is a huge event but which Kenobi essentially loses but survives- much like Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.

The chemistry between Obi-Wan and Leia here, moving realistically from wariness to mutual affection, is brilliant, and makes us see her message to him in Star Wars quite differently. But the cliffhanger is deeply horrifying, as it should be. And I love the deliciously petty power struggle between the two Inquisitors, and the real sense of political divisions over order vs freedom now the Empire is in charge.

It's also great to see Indira Varma, who was superb in Torchwood and is superb here, and it's especially awesome to hear James Earl Jones. This may not be original stuff, but I'm having fun with it.

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