Check out my Obi-Wan Kenobi Episodes 1&2 review. This will be a no spoiler review. I will get into full SPOILERS when we discuss the show on The Cantina, which we record later today. However with the show just being out, I just wanted to give my thoughts in a non-spoiler manner. Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered today on Disney+ with the first two episodes. Episode 3 hits the service this coming Wednesday and every Wednesday thereafter.

Thankfully Subtle and Powerful

My one worry about Obi-Wan Kenobi was that the show essentially is walking a tightrope between what can be exciting to watch, without destroying canon of what comes around it. Subtlety is the word of the day and thankfully these first two episodes balanced that tightrope magnificently well. Kenobi world builds well without the need for much exposition. We quickly begin to understand a lot about Obi-Wan and his state of mind, naturally as the story progresses, and frankly I bought into where his head is at.

McGregor does a great job here of showing an Obi-Wan burdened with too much baggage and with no clear path ahead. Equally, I must give praise to Joel Edgerton who just manifests as the perfect Owen Lars. He is so good here and sounds (and looks) so much like the A New Hope version. Edgerton is a great actor and we never got to see that at all in Attack of the Clones. We should have, because he’s perfect for this role in every way. This felt like how I imagined these two being to one another when I was just a kid.

I was also very impressed so far with Moses Ingram as Reva. I’ve never been a huge Inquisitor fanboy, but I thought Ingram did a great job, so far, of showing someone clearly mentally unstable. The interactions between the Inquisitors were also interesting to see in live-action.

Off-World

I won’t get too much into the plot here, but a lot of the opening episode takes place on Alderaan. For a planet so important to the mythos of Star Wars, we’ve seen very little of Alderaan in live-action. It looks brilliant, and Ilm so glad we got to see more of this beautiful planet before i gets DS’d. I don’t want to name some of the other cast members or characters, but I do want to give credit to all the performances so far, there are some surprisingly emotional moments that happen in these first episodes already. Again though, the show doesn’t beat you over the head with it, subtlety is the word and as I said so far they pull it off.

Obi-Wan as I’m sure you know from the trailers does venture off-world. The feeling I got from McGregor’s performance was fear and anxiety. You really feel like Obi-Wan doesn’t want to do this and is being pulled in several directions internally. Most of this comes from great body language acting from McGregor as to begin with, being primarily alone, McGregor plays this extremely taciturn.

Plot – Don’t Panic

As for the plot, don’t panic means two things. One that I won’t spoil the beans here, so have no fear. Secondly though, it means navigating that tightrope so far. There are a few details here that if you told me them without context I’d be worried. However, again the subtlety of how this is all put together helps to ease my mind. Unless the director says ‘F*** it!@ in later episodes than I have admiration for how conscious they are being to make this story fit into the canon. What’s more, this feel’s, again, so far, like a story that needed to be told, rather than a story that shouldn’t have been told. If the show can keep this up for the full run, and also remain exciting, powerful and emotional? I think we may have the best Star Wars show we could hope to ask for.

Now, I don’t want to put that hoodoo on the show, things could change, mistakes could be made. However a few missteps would no longer offend me due to the care and attention that has been taken here. So far, Obi-Wan Kenobi feels like essential Star Wars. What more could we feasibly ask for in the opening two episodes? Let’s hope it continues.

RELATED: Get Ready To Rebel With The Andor Teaser Trailer And Poster

That’s my Obi-Wan Kenobi Episodes 1&2 review. I hope you loved the show so far as much as me? Whether you did, or didn’t, feel free to leave your thoughts, or review, below. Or, over on Discord we have a spoiler chat set up to get into the nitty gritty. I can’t control spoilers in the comments of this article, so be aware if you were checking this out before watching for yourself.

GRADE: A

  FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoG, Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube! Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts |  Spotify |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play