‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Episode 1 Recap: Redux of the Fates

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a school shooting. Armed gunmen burst into an academy for children and began firing at anything that moved. A teacher sacrificed her own life to protect her students, dying so that they might live.

If you came in search of escapism, look elsewhere: This is the painfully timely way in which Obi-Wan Kenobi begins. At this early stage in the series—the most ambitious live-action Star Wars project that Disney+ has yet unveiled—it’s hard to tell if this awful coincidence is for the better or for the worse. Driving home the horror wrought by the Empire and its architects gives this project an emotional heft that predecessors sometimes lacked. (In the very first Star Wars film, an entire planet—which we see in some detail here—gets blown up, and it’s barely a blip on the emotional radar.) But does the show’s story of a Jedi Master’s time in the literal wilderness merit this kind of seriousness?

If you’re basing your assessment on the show’s lead performance, the answer may well be yes. Ewan McGregor reprises his role from Star Wars creator George Lucas’s still-controversial prequel trilogy as the title character. Once a great Jedi Knight and mentor to the powerful young Jedi Anakin Skywalker, he’s now a haunted man in late-middle age, joylessly toiling away in a meat-processing plant on the desert planet Tattooine. That’s his day job, anyway; his true task is monitoring Anakin’s secret son Luke, who’s being raised by his uncle Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton, also returning from the prequels). The fact that Owen wants “Ben” Kenobi as far away from the kid as possible, rejecting gifts he leaves for the boy in the dead of night, doesn’t help matters.

Indeed, Obi-Wan’s devotion to this cause is treated as almost obsessive, to the exclusion of all other duties. When a young Jedi named Nari (Uncut Gems co-director Benny Safdie) appeals to him for help after a group of Jedi-hunting Imperial Inquisitors arrive on the scene, Obi-Wan turns him down. He also (initially, anyway) rejects the pleas of Alderaanian Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits, another prequels holdover) to help track down Luke’s twin sister Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair), who has been kidnapped by bounty hunters led by a man named Vecht (Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea—yeah, the casting is pretty interesting on this show). McGregor invests these decisions will palpable weariness and wariness; his Obi-Wan, who appears to dream nightly of his failure with Anakin, is a broken man.

But when Nari turns up dead in town, strung up as a lesson to the locals, and Bail shows up at Obi-Wan’s cave, begging directly for help, Obi-Wan feels obligated to lend a hand. He digs up his old lightsaber (and that of Anakin) from the desert sands and, presumably, sets off to hunt for Leia’s kidnappers. 

What he doesn’t realize is that Leia’s kidnapping was orchestrated by one of the same Inquisitors who appeared on Tattooine hunting for Jedi. That would be Reva (Moses Ingram), the so-called Third Sister, a colleague of the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and the Fifth Brother (Sung Kang). Like her fellow Inquisitors, she believes “the Jedi hunt themselves” by being constitutionally unable to resist helping others in need. Unlike her fellow Inquistors—indeed, to their disapproval—she has become obsessed with tracking down the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi to repay some kind of debt she feels he owes her. Was she one of the children who ran for their lives when the Jedi Temple was sacked by Anakin and his child-killing Clone Trooper followers? Almost certainly. Would that leave her with a lifelong grudge against the Jedi she feels allowed all this to happen? You can probably bet on it.

If you’re a fan of the prequels—hey, we’re out here, and we will not be silenced—Obi-Wan Kenobi is the Disney-era Star Wars franchise’s most direct appeal to your fandom yet. The revolving door of writers involved in the creation of this episode, culminating (after a firing or two) with showrunner Joby Harold, lean hard on the weight that the simple passage of time has lent to the performances of McGregor, Smits, and Edgerton; they look, and I mean this as a compliment, like the years have not been particularly kind to them. Why wouldn’t they? Obi-Wan and Owen, two men who pretty much can’t stand each other, are stranded on a desert planet trying to hide the identity of a little boy; Bail, still ensconced in what’s left of the Galactic Senate, is doing the same with his daughter while essentially hiding her in plain sight (though she’s not been allowed off-planet until those bounty hunters whisk her away). These are demanding roles for the characters to play.

And even though 17 years have passed since the last prequel, Revenge of the Sith, was released, it’s only been ten years in Star Wars Universe time. So it looks like the characters we’re familiar with have aged nearly twice as much as they otherwise ought to have. As a matter of timeline continuity it’s pretty wonky—it always has been, ever since we were meant to believe that young Ewan McGregor could transform into aged Sir Alec Guinness by the time Luke Skywalker turned 17—but it does have the desired effect of making these characters look older, wiser, and sadder than before.

But there’s still a major missing variable to consider: Darth Vader himself. The Dark Lord of the Sith has yet to show his face—er, mask—on the show, but we know that Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen will be returning to reprise his role as the fallen Jedi. What will that look and sound like? How will it work? In many ways the most intriguing question about Obi-Wan Kenobi has yet to be raised. 

But what we’ve got so far is sturdy science-fantasy storytelling, anchored by McGregor’s measured lead performance. And before Vader shows up, the white-faced Grand Inquisitor, a holdover from the world of Star Wars’ various animated series, will do just fine. It’s too early to tell if the Force is truly strong with this show, but with another episode dropping today, we’ve got more to learn. 
Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) writes about TV for Rolling Stone, Vulture, The New York Times, and anyplace that will have him, really. He and his family live on Long Island.