Mini Series Obi-Wan Kenobi - Part 4 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Also she’s ten. It’s not like she can save herself.

 

Leia getting captured again was the flaw.

 

also there’s a pretty good reason she was captured again, you know how Kenobi was almost burned alive, and Tala leaving Leia to go help Kenobi

it would have been kind of weird if she had not been captured again during all that

 

They didn’t need to have Tala leave Leia to save Kenobi, especially when the saving scene was ridiculous.

 

They like pickling.

 

so somehow Kenobi who was burned and lying in the sand unconscious was supposed to save himself?

 

Yes but Ultimately I feel like Im going to end up feeling like they should've beefed up Leia's first capture and rescue....skipped a 2nd capture/rescue and used that time to build out Kenobi's Recovery and reconnection to the force and all the people connected with the path/jabiim.

That first capture should have had much more tension and depth too it as well as breaking her out. Give Leia and Kenobi even more time together in that first act......but they went for the cartoon villain route with Flea.

However...once Vader is on the scene and you have him come face to face with Kenobi again after all these years where Kenobi had thought he had killed him...To do what they did, and to not really follow up on that in the next episode is almost blasphemous in terms of story structure IMO.

Once Vader is fully on the scene the focus then has to be dominated by the headspace of those two characters. To then take almost a full episode off from that is really pretty mind boggling.

 

Stormtroopers and Imperial officers have been completely idiots since 1977. So nothing new here.

 

That's true only if you consider Vader to be the main antagonist of the series, which he isn't.

 

Nah, not really. It was a mix of all sort of behaviours.

The most noticeable difference however, is that in the OT the heroes were constantly on the run from the stormtroopers and barely took the fight to them unless left with no choice, while nowadays the heroes can waltz right through them unless the plot magically demands that they can't. There is a reason why they often had to introduce improved troopers to up the threat-level again (Deathtroopers, Darktroopers, etc.).

 

She gets a lot of screentime, but they don't really develop the character. I've seen Moses Ingram in other shows, and she is great, but here the acting is very one note, presenting Reva as an unlikable bad guy (and I mean unlikable as in frustratingly bland) with just one expression in her face:



What is the point of her character other than her knowing stuff she should not know, like Vader's identity, or finding a connection between Bail Organa and Obi-Wan, or magically appearing at the exit of a hidden tunnel. All of these things are not earned through her involvement in the story. The scene with the Grand Inquisitor in episode 1 was great, because they reveal an important insight into the mind of the Grand Inquisitor, and why he is great at hunting Jedi, because he understands how a Jedi thinks. Where are the similar scenes with Reva? What are her motivations? Why is she so obsessed with Obi-Wan? Why does she know stuff nobody else does?

 

I’m talking about how they needed to go out of their way to find the code breaker and slip into a vent on the ship unnoticed after jamming the signal and then also taking down a shield.

the “sneaking around stuff” in Star Wars is always kind of silly

 

Reva is freakin' awesome in Part IV. Moses acts the hell out of every scene she's in and I am loving it.

 

This is just not true. The opening scene of ANH is ample evidence of that. Even in ROTJ which saw the Empire's best troops be defeated by teddybears, the stormtroopers managed to hit both R2-D2 and Leia.

 

@DrDre
She is clearly the main antagonist in the show and thus she is given a corresponding amount of screentime.
Now, of course everyone can dislike whomever they want, but I couldn't help but noticing that claiming that the show has a "fetish" for her is a rather interesting word choice in this context.

 

It also sets up the finale since the Inquisitors now have a lead on the Path, Leia, Obi-Wan and potentially other Jedi fugitives. It raises the stakes considerably now since it’s not just Obi-Wan in danger. We know he makes it out okay but these proto-Rebels and fugitive Jedi are another story.

 

Reca has been great and her character is supposed to be unlikeable

 

I'm saying the show has a fetish for her, because she was clearly pushed to the foreground in both the marketing and she gets plenty of screentime, but for all the time spent with her, we know very little about what drives the character. So, I'm left wondering what the point is of putting a new character at the center of the Anakin/Obi-Wan story, if you are not going to really develop that character, and give her a clear character arc. Moses Ingram is a great actress, but the writers are not giving her much to work with. Her confrontation with Leia would have been the perfect opportunity to show a different side to the character. To make her seem more sympathetic and subtle, to reveal more of her background. However, other than revealing she had a droid, she's just the same one note villain, who's yelling and threatening people, as if that's the only way to get information. Tarkin is unlikable, but he fools Leia into thinking, that revealing the location of the rebel base will save Alderaan. Dooku is unlikable, but presents a friendly face to Obi-Wan in an attempt to have him join Dooku's cause. Palpatine is unlikable, but he presents a friendly face to Anakin to manipulate him into joining the Dark Side.

 

she’s the show’s main antagonist, of course she’s going to feature in the marketing and have plenty of screen time

 

And that's one of the many things I'm loving about this show. Sure it's about Obi-Wan and it deals with the many issues surrounding Obi-Wan, but there is some serious connective tissue between the films concerning characters like Vader and Leia. And for Leia, it's the initial building blocks to who she will one day be. And like you, I think the casting is spot on for young Leia.

And where connective tissue is concerned, I'm starting to think that this is the role that Star Wars TV plays in the overall story. The movies present the main concepts, the TV shows flesh out the in-between important stories more and provides that serious connective tissue. That then leaves the role for the books and comics to explore more obscure stories.

A generalisation I guess, but it just appears to be the case with the TV shows so far.

 

At this point she is not, because she is treated as a place holder for Darth Vader with her only distuinguishing feature being her scowl, and her ambition. Vader has a clear personal motivation for wanting to get Obi-Wan, Reva does not. Yet despite lacking any clear motivation other than being evil and working for the Empire, she's more zealous in her pursuit of Obi-Wan than perhaps Vader himself, why?

To quote https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/:

The most powerful antagonists are those who offer the protagonist a compelling argument against whatever the protagonist's climactic choice will be (whether she chooses in favor of the thematic Truth or a Lie). This means the reasons behind the antagonist's motives and goals need to be legit.

Given that we spent quite a lot of time with the Inquisitors, it would have been great to see what drives them to do what they do. What distuinguishes the Third Sister from the Fifth Brother other than appearance? If Reva is to be a main antagonist in the story, what makes her so special other than being given some a-priori knowledge by the writers? We're two thirds into the show, and we know little more about the character than we did in the first episode. That is disappointing to me.

 

Well, the writing of the show is not award material. I personally find it acceptable, that is, good enough for it not to be flat out annoying, but yes, I can agree that better could have been made. I wouldn't single out Reva in this though. She has a bunch of bland lines like everyone else, but that's it. As far as her motivations go, more will be explained later, hopefully.