After getting mixed reviews, I went into Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi not knowing what to expect. Having just finished The Mandalorian, I was hopeful Obi-Wan Kenobi could keep the momentum going, and entered with cautious optimism.

Maybe that’s the attitude I need to take with all Star Wars from now because I enjoyed Obi-Wan Kenobi even more than The Mandalorian. It feels much, much more consistent with the original trilogy, the prequels, and The Clone Wars animated series than the sequels ever came close to achieving.

Its problems are mostly centered around the character of Reva, but her character, and Moses Ingram’s substandard acting, were not enough to write the show off and ignore everything it did well. Overall, it’s a vast improvement over the sequel films and the Solo movie. It’s not comparable and the show doesn’t deserve the hate its getting.

WARNING: There will be HEAVY SPOILERS in the rest of this article. If you haven’t seen Obi-Wan Kenobi yet, you’ve been warned.

Vader Dominates

I disagree with the criticisms that Obi-Wan Kenobi is as much about Reva as it is about Kenobi, and that LucasFilm was trying to make Reva’s character the real star of the show. The real co-star of Obi-Wan Kenobi is Darth Vader.

Disney seems to do much better working within the confines of the Star Wars universe that’s already been established, than it is taking Star Wars into new territory. I say this because after completely failing to make a compelling villain with Kylo Ren in the sequel films, they absolutely nailed Darth Vader’s character in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Vader dominates every scene he’s in.

Complaints can be leveled at Reva’s character for bad acting and being too chippy and ambitious for her own good. At first, it looked like she might be a female version of Kylo Ren, but once Vader enters the picture, there is no question who is running the search for Obi-Wan. James Earl Jones is back as the voice of Vader, and seeing Vader on the screen again added gravity and weight to the show that can’t be overstated.

This is important because it’s not at all a given that Disney is capable of getting legacy Star Wars characters right after what they did to Han Solo in The Force Awakens, and to Luke Skywalker and Leia in The Last Jedi. Vader’s character didn’t share that fate. He’s an angry monster who is the absolute focal point of every scene he’s in. James Earl Jones, Hayden Christensen, and the writers should be applauded.

Young Princess Leia

Another popular criticism is that the show focuses too much on Leia at the expense of Luke. Again, I disagree. It’s made clear at the beginning of the show that, not only has Kenobi not met Luke yet, Owen doesn’t want Kenobi anywhere near Luke. Kenobi is forbidden from having any kind of relationship with him, and since we know this is consistent with how Owen feels about Kenobi in A New Hope as well, and that Luke has yet to begin his Jedi training even in that movie, which takes place years later, it wouldn’t make sense for Luke and Leia to have equal time with Kenobi in the show.

Plus, I enjoyed seeing a younger version of Leia. She’s a little Miss Know It All, and a somewhat spoiled princess who’s a bit on the bossy side, and probably a little too smart for her age, but that’s exactly what I would expect from a Force-sensitive, Alderaanian princess who ends up becoming a major leader in the future Rebel Alliance. It’s pretty consistent with how we know her from the original trilogy, in case anyone has forgotten:

A Weak Obi-Wan Kenobi?

The Obi-Wan Kenobi that we see in the show is the same one we remember from the prequel films and The Clone Wars series. He’s older now and been a fugitive for ten years. He’s decided his days as a Jedi are done and even buried his lightsaber (and Anakin’s) out in the sand. So we know right away he hasn’t been keeping up with his Jedi training. Then he’s called on to rescue a kidnapped Princess Leia, and it becomes necessary to dig up his lightsaber and try to be a hero again.

He struggles at first. His Force powers and lightsaber skills are rusty. He gets abused and almost killed by Vader in their first meeting. Vader even comments on Obi-Wan’s weakness at one point. However, the rust wears away and by the end of the season, Obi-Wan seems to be close to full form.

Criticisms that Obi-Wan’s character was intentionally written to portray him as being weak, in order to make room for Reva’s character, who they wanted to make the strong focal point of the show, don’t seem accurate. If that was the intention, they failed. Not only did Reva’s character get completely schooled and made to look foolish by Vader when she tried to attack him, Obi-Wan almost kills Vader in the series finale, cleaving his helmet and leaving him on the ground gasping for breath.

Why Didn’t Obi-Wan Kill Vader?

Which bring us to the big question of: why did Obi-Wan let Vader live? Once again, Obi-Wan had the opportunity to kill Vader, but didn’t.

There’s an excerpt from Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno that answers this question. This novel takes place right before the events of Revenge of the Sith:

Sidious: “They (the Jedi) will not pass up an opportunity to capture Count Dooku.”

Dooku saw Grievous’s armorplast head elevate in surprise.

Dooku: “What leads you to believe that the Republic will not simply flatten me at this point?”

Sidious: “The Jedi are predictable, Lord Tyrannus. I needn’t tell you this. Look what they risked on Cato Neimodia in an effort to capture Viceroy Gunray. They are obsessed with bringing their enemies to justice, instead of merely administering justice themselves.” (bold mine)

Dooku: “It is their way.”

Obi-Wan didn’t kill Vader for the same reason Anakin felt guilt over having slain Count Dooku in Revenge of the Sith: it’s a violation of the Jedi code to kill a defeated or unarmed opponent. Since there was no chance of Vader being brought to justice in a galaxy run by Vader and Sidious, Obi-Wan did the only thing he could do: he walked away. He still considers himself a Jedi – just a Jedi in hiding.

The real issue with Obi-Wan’s character is that it took him ten years to find out Darth Vader is alive and that Anakin didn’t die on Mustafar like he thought – even though Vader has been the Emperor’s right hand for a decade by this point, and it’s likely he’s a household name. Not only does it clash with John Jackson Miller’s Kenobi novel in which Obi-Wan finds out almost immediately after landing on Tatooine that Vader is alive, it’s unbelievable that Kenobi would not have heard Vader’s name even once during the ten years he was in hiding, even on a remote planet like Tatooine. Not only does it clash with Expanded Universe canon, it makes no practical sense.

Reva: Another Mary Sue?

Finally, we come to the biggest sticking point for fans in Obi-Wan Kenobi: Reva.

She had all the makings of another Mary Sue character. Not to mention Moses Ingram’s acting was subpar throughout all six episodes of the first season. She desperately needs acting lessons if they plan on bringing her back.

Her character started to improve by the end of the show – sort of. We found out more about her and her motivations. It went in a way that was unexpected and interesting.

However, that doesn’t excuse the most egregious error of the whole show:

There is no logical or practical explanation for how Reva could be walking around after her fight with Darth Vader. Vader ran her straight through with a lightsaber. She should’ve been either dead or close to death. She had a hole in her chest, but she was walking around like everything was fine.

Nor was it made clear why she went to Tatooine to kill Luke afterwards. She listened to a garbled message sent from Bail Antilles to Obi-Wan, and somehow from that deduced she should go to Tatooine and kill ten-year old Luke? That is poor and inexcusable writing. It made no sense and was never explained.

Reva’s character has potential if her acting improves and the writers can manage to control themselves and focus on writing a good character and carving out a place for her in the Star Wars universe. If they can do that, she has a future in Star Wars. If they try to use her as a poster-child for girl-boss ethnic and gender diversity, she will be rejected in the same way Rey was rejected in the sequel films.

A Vast Improvement Over The Sequels

Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t perfect, but the same can be said for The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, The Clone Wars animated series, the prequel films, and the original Star Wars trilogy (although Empire Strikes Back is pretty close). I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect excellence. More than anything else, I expect respect for the history and legacy of Star Wars, and that includes the Expanded Universe. We didn’t get that in The Force Awaken, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, but it was there in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it was incredibly refreshing. LucasFilm exceeded my expectations, and it felt amazing to be surprised and awed by Star Wars again after all these years.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett are vast improvements over the sequel films and Solo. LucasFilm seems to be finding their footing with Star Wars, and all we can do fans is hope this run they’re on isn’t an aberration – that this is the new status quo going forward. It feels like Star Wars is on its way back. Finally.