That rat bastard and life ruiner Obi-Wan Kenobi (Eps 1 and 2)

[rthstewart]

Spoilers ahoy












Many many years ago (like 1999) a group of us, no lie dubbed the Wan-tons, deemed that the best Young Obi-Wan (YOW) was when he was wet, chastised and dirty.  Now he's Middle-aged Obi-Wan (MOW) and still dirty, still getting chastised, and angst-filled.  In all my fandom flings, focus, and obsessions, that rat bastard Obi-Wan is the only where I've really always preferred him with a heaping dose of angst. 

In any event, work continues to be insane and I've taken the last two days off and will now really, really regret this at about midnight tonight.
But, in the meantime, my joy in the Obi-Wan series knows no bounds.  I ADORE Leia.  I've wanted to hear someone should at those arrogant Jedi for DECADES, "she's as important as her brother!"  Goddess yes, yes.  Give me the uncanny Leia and a Force gift manifesting in the ability to read people.  She is exactly as I imagined her (and as I've written her) and I ADORE IT.  How she figures out that she's been kidnapped to get to him took my breath away.  I love too how much she harkens to both Anakin and Padme -- and an adult Leia (the little red outfit in the beginning is Leia Bespin and the little green outfit is Endor Speeder Bike Leia.  

I saw speculation about the whole "You remind me of someone" as whether it was Satine or Padme and I do think Obi-Wan was thinking of Padme. 

But ooof, that beginning sequence in the Temple.  I remember seeing Anakin advance on the younglings in the Temple in RotS and thinking, welp, grim, but I'm glad Lucas went there.  Just, well, obviously even more devastating. 

And a word about Reva -- yikes, brilliant.  Loving a WOC playing such a badass.  The Inquisitors were in Rebels but they actually came from much further back, the West End Games RPG back in the days of the SW Adventure Journal and roleplaying game.  A bunch of us hung out over there in those days, writing RPG stuff and Adventure Journal stories and one woman, Patty Jackson, LOVED those dark side inquisitors and wrote and played them a lot.  I've not seen or heard from her since the mid-90s but she was a huge SW fan, a WOC and I can't help thinking how much she would love Reva.  

Also side note is how much fun Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen are having doing promotion for the show.  It's just delightful.  SW fans can be awful and I regret that even seeing the clips at the beginning of Ep 1 reminded me how very poorly Christiansen and Portman were directed and how bad the dialogue was.  But it's wonderful to see Christiansen getting so much love. 

Comments

[movingfinger]

I saw some conversation around "You remind me of someone," and was/am puzzled; that is a thing people say to children who look or act like their parents. I do not think it is a thing that a character says to an unrelated child about her reminding him of an old girlfriend, unless the intention in writing the line is to hint at skeeviness.

[cofax7]

Yeah, I thought it was very obvious that he was thinking of Padme. She even canonically looks like Padme!

[princessofgeeks]

Yes to this. Padme all the way.

[rthstewart]

EXACTLY! Like EWWWW. I loved the dynamic between them and didn't get anything skeevy out of it? And it renders so many other things more poignant. Something someone else pointed out is that when Luke "rescues" her, Leia immediately knows "Ben Kenobi! Where?!" And that he tries to give toys to Luke and then ends up buying clothes for Leia -- the gloves was JUST a wonderful touch. The whole line from TPM about nothing to barter with but the Queen's wardrobe. Yeah, he's been there.

[colls]

"You remind me of someone" was clearly referencing Carrie Fisher... I mean Padme. ;)

[rthstewart]

I know, right? The casting is just glorious. There's some troll going around saying, "well they made Princess Leia unlikable." And I'm like, first, dude, I do not care what any person of your persuasion says about a 10 year old girl. Second, you are talking about my mouthy, smart ass princess and I wish to goddess I had an 8 year old niece at the moment. "I recognized your foul stench the moment I was bought on board." But ESPECIALLY how she's sassing Darth Vader when he first apprehends her -- he's SEEN her ship running for Scarif, he SAW the plans handed off, and she's like, "plans? What plans? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a diplomat!" ROTFL. It's about 10 years too late. They STYLED her to look Leia and wrote her to be all the best and worst of Padme and Anakin.

[petra]

I love sad Obi-Wan so very much, and Leia is perfection.

Reva is brilliantly terrifying.

[rthstewart]

Sad, dirty, and ginger. No better vehicle for angst imo.
And Reva. Ad I'm hoping we DO NOT get a redemption arc. She's so deliciously ambitious. I do wonder at Anakin confiding in her. I had thought maybe that she blamed Obi-Wan for Anakin and the murder of all her cohort in the Jedi Temple creche (I assume she's the youngling saying RUN" in that chilling opening sequence. The development at the end of Ep 2 was interesting that apparently she's in on more of it.

[princessofgeeks]

Oooo I didn't pick up on that; that she was in that opening scene. Wow.

[schneefink]

The Wan-tons xDD Perfect.

[rthstewart]

Yep. Lol. I was younger then. Obi-Wan Dressed as Ewan (ODAE) was a THING for a long time. Rat bastard. Life ruiner.

[princessofgeeks]

Thank you for this. I am thoroughly enjoying the show so far. Must look for MacGregor and Christiansen interviews now.

[rthstewart]

It's adorable.

[yalumesse]

Leia is ADORE-ABLE in a very different way from being ADORABLE (which she is also). I really hope this show focuses way more on her than on Luke, though I suspect we'll spend some time with him later, even if Obi-Wan isn't(?) supposed to interact with him for another 10 years. But I hope not, Leia has always been sidelined when they were given 'equal' importance, and she is such an important character! Possibly MORE important than her brother given she was in a position (royal, senator) to actually DO something in the galaxy other than be an unknowing father-killing tool. Which I'm still mad about. Yoda and old-Obi-Wan in ESB... I just don't believe they were ever going to tell Luke the truth, and that makes me so angry.

Do you think Reva was one of the Jedi children who escaped in the prologue? Feels like they lingered on those kids for longer than they needed to just for the grim shock factor.

[rthstewart]

There is a little black girl Youngling who says "We run" or something like that and I'm assuming it's Reva. She's not identified as such in the cast list (unlike Corran and Nyche).
And I think Leia is in all 6 episodes, so YES I do hope we get LOTS more of her because she is delightful and I just love her bossing Obi-Wan around. I've waited for decades for someone to say Leia is as important as Luke and I"m so glad that Bail chastised Obi-Wan for his myopia. People are always SO dismissive of Leia and her Force skill and I'm so over it. AND THERE'S A NEW EPISODE TOMORROW!

[generalleia]

YES. YES TO ALL THIS. SO MUCH ALL THIS!

You took the words out of my brain!