It’s safe to say Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn’t the home run Star Wars fans were hoping for. We got to see what the title hero was up to in his time on Tatooine, a peek into Leia’s childhood, and the much-hyped battles with Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader were worth the wait. On the other hand it felt rushed, the overall plot was repetitive, the special effects were lacking, and we had issues with some of the performances, although it did dodge one bullet.
In the 1977 classic, Obi-Wan and Darth Vader square off against one another on the Death Star, with Vader delivering the iconic line “When I left you I was but the learner. Now, I am the master,” and Kenobi answering “Only a master of evil, Darth”.
Prior to Obi-Wan Kenobi, this line read as if they hadn’t met since Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith, but the show just about squeezes their Disney Plus reunion into the story without creating a plot hole. Some fans still have doubts:
Responses indicate that the showrunners threaded the needle:
Some argue that the show actually makes Kenobi’s dialogue in A New Hope more meaningful:
The consensus seems to be that it adds more emotional weight to A New Hope:
But there are those who still think Obi-Wan should have finished off the wounded Vader:
Is this just a repeat of Mustafar?
And it also closes the tiny plot hole of Obi-Wan calling Vader “Darth”:
Even the most ardent Star Wars fan has to admit that Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn’t all it should have been, though it’s clear that the showrunners were extraordinarily careful not to contradict anything in A New Hope. Pulling that off is impressive, not to mention the added context their Death Star duel has now that we know all that’s come before.
So, full marks on this front at least.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is available to stream in full on Disney Plus.