Episode 6 commentary:
- I thought the finale was mostly excellent.
- I was expecting something a little different, but ultimately liked the battle between Kenobi and Vader. I really liked the dialog at the end of the battle about Darth killing Anakin, and wished they had even more discussion.
- I didn't like the quick timing of Reva's instant recovery from a lightsaber stab and flying to Tatooine. At first I thought we were going to get disjointed timelines and they were just showing them side by side for dramatic effect. Ultimately it was fine but I wish they would have spaced these events out further.
- I had a flashback to The Last Jedi and am a little bugged by the Star Destroyer vs. transport battle. The Star Destroyer managed to track down, disable, and capture the Tantavie IV without much trouble but couldn't do that with a transport? I get it that its a plot device, but I wish they would find something a little more plausible if they need more than a few seconds for the story to play out.
- I liked how they wrapped things up with Leia, Luke, Owen, Bail, and Kenobi. Luke/Ben still don't have much of a relationship. Leia is stronger and still independent. Kenobi has refound his Jedi mojo.
Series commentary:
Overall I enjoyed it. There were some uneven parts and goofy things early on, but ultimately it was entertaining and far better than BoBF. I'd probably give it 4 out of 5 stars and I had fairly high expectations going in. Sure it could have been more complex, more clever, and developed the characters more, but it was still a fun ride and a solid effort.
Its gotta be tough writing a story around such key, core characters without messing with the canon. We know everyone survives, so creating tension and drama was probably a challenge. The Andor series will have a lot more room to operate, but we still know he doesn't die in the series. Ultimately creating all new characters like The Mandalorian and Grogu is a challenge, but is probably the most interesting as the writers have tons a freedom and we're never quite sure what is going to happen to the lead characters.
I'm not sure if they've talked about a second season for Kenobi or if this is it. I wouldn't mind another season with another adventure (ideally without Leia and Luke), but would be totally okay if this is how they left the Kenobi story line.
