Mini Series Obi-Wan Kenobi - Part 6 (Series Finale!!!) - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

That's because nothing can happen to the characters, so you get stupid decisions like Obi-Wan sparing Vader again. That's why they should never have fought again. Because you will have to end up at the same place as Revenge of the Sith. But now it just doesn't make sense. We learned absolutely nothing new from the show. It was just one big, contrived fan-service galore. Training with Qui-Gon, that was heavily hinted, never came. Qui-Gon was reduced to a last minute MCU cameo. I think this show exists solely to cash in on the prequel nostalgia.

He was at this point in Revenge of the Sith.

Hopeful look on his face, as he looks at the Lars family with Luke, while the Force theme plays in the background.

The whole point of Obi-Wan's arc in the OT is that he compensates with Luke for his own failure with Anakin and failing to finish him off at Mustafar. Luke is the only one strong enough to confront Vader because of the power in his lineage. He hopes Luke can either save him or kill him, since he failed at both.

PAUL DUNCAN: Obi-Wan knows more than he lets on.
GEORGE LUCAS: He knows that, eventually, Darth Vader is going to come looking for them. He knows this whole thing is going to blow up into a big war. He knows a confrontation is brewing between Luke and his father. Ben hopes Luke will either save his father or kill him, because whatever extra powers Luke’s got in his lineage, he is the one person that can probably fight his father and win.

But now not only Obi-Wan was strong enough to utterly humiliate Vader, but he also consciously let him live and let him wreck havoc and suffering upon the Galaxy. And Obi-Wan doesn't seem to care. The show never addressed that. This show really does not make a lick of sense when you think about it for more than a minute. And the writers did not care either, nothing was addressed, and we just move on. Hey look! He said "Hello there!" Look, it's Qui-Gon!

 

I get people like the fantasy of Leia and Luke being the chosen ones that saving the galaxy comes down too. But there is absolutely no believable reason why Obi Wan would see it as the galaxy's fate depending on these babies. Beyond hindsight of the OT, there are at least a dozen jedi out there hiding away and Obi Wan looks at these 2 babies as the saviors? It makes him seem abit crazy without any particular sign to really explain his reasoning for thinking it.

 

If Luke and Leia weren't seen as being critical in addressing the issue of the Sith/the Empire, then it would beg the question as to why Yoda and Obi-Wan were pinning their hopes on Luke and Leia... and why Obi-Wan felt compelled to watch over Luke on Tatooine. There's a reason why Episode IV is called A New Hope... The reality is that Luke and Leia (specifically Luke as he's portrayed in the Lucas era films) are that important to the plans of Yoda and Obi-Wan. Luke is referred to as the 'last hope' and Leia as 'the other' if Luke failed. It's all there in the text of the films...

 

I always thought that "there is another one" was referring to Anakin, rather than Leia.

 

The thing with Ben sparing Vader's life is that yes, he thinks of Anakin as dead but no, that doesn't mean he has given up hope. Just like Luke years later, all he's saying is that right now, Anakin is nowhere to be found... but there's still hope that he'll come back one day and set things right.
Whether that means he still believes Anakin is destined to destroy the Sith or that he just won't give up completely on his friend and brother, I don't really know.
I do think there is a hopeful voice inside of him that tells him to walk away, though.

 

But truth is, they have no reason to be important. they are just babies. apparently, there are still many jedi out there hiding. Why ain't they important? Why isn't banding together? why are they waiting for these babies to grow up? it doesn't make sense. there is no thought process for that logic. At least not as yet.

And then of course. you could easily say Obi Wan felt a responsibility for these kids and was protecting Luke because Anakin was his father. Although the show says Obi Wan didn't even know again was alive until 10 years after ROTS so i ain't even sure at that point it was about hiding the kids from him.

There is just very little common sense in ignoring whats out there and holding faith in a child. With Anakin it was about the prophecy and his Midi count.

 

It's just absurd. From what I've read, Obi-Wan killed a number of Stormtroopers throughout the series. Yet somehow, he can't slay a demon who just acknowledged that he murdered his brother-in-arms. There is no Anakin. Only a demon who is the butcher of the galaxy, and whose very existence poses a grave threat to the children of Padme.

There were a million ways to write around this, even if it was something as lazy as Kenobi calmly moving in to execute Vader, only to be separated by some sort of cataclysm/enemy intervention. Anything would have been better than this.

A shame, because having watched this duel in isolation on Youtube (without having seen the series), I can state with confidence that it's as powerful as anything from the Lucas Saga. McGregor is just divine, Christensen chilling, and the direction and choreography accomplished. But damn, that capper tarnishes everything.

 

Rebels showed that Obi-Wan believed Luke to be the Chosen One at this point. Which makes sense with what he said in Revenge of the Sith. This show never addressed any of it.
And it didn't seem to me like there was any hope in that last fight. He admitted that Anakin was dead and he mockingly called him "Darth". That's not what "not giving up on your friend and brother" looks like.
And it still doesn't address the fact that Obi-Wan just lets him go off scot-free, effectively unleashing this monster upon the Galaxy, again. He just let this child murdering maniac go, well because he was above putting him out of his misery.
It's just absurd that he walks away. It was just extremely anti-climactic, repetitive (already happened in RotS, but it made sense there), and made no sense.
It boils down to this:

 

I agree.

I'd feel very conflicted about killing my brother so his inaction makes sense to me. Victims of said brother's terrible acts would orient to him very differently and act differently.

Clearly, Vader also has a very different moral orientation to Obi-Wan too. I mean, he does kill who is effectively his brother.

I'm definitely on the side that Obi-Wan was right to do what he did. It was not a "nice" or easy decision to make. There are always plenty of reasons to counter a compassionate response but without that same compassion, Luke would have lost.

Obi-Wan lives with the consequences of his actions, Reva presents these to him (a bit of foreshadowing) and the galaxy lives with who Vader is - and he has to be accountable to the galaxy for that.

But not bringing yourself to kill your brother seems legitimately OK.

 

Well if you are asking me personally, then yes, a 10 has to mean that it is equally good to the best thing ever for me. And I can most definitely rank episodes that receive the same grade from me. The scale of 1-10 practically has only one significant digit. So a 97% and a 98% and even a 95% all round up to 10/10.

But to your point, I am fully aware that the people who rate any Kenobi episode with a 1 don't think it's the worst thing ever. This is exactly why I don't take these ratings seriously.

The moral conversation about whether it is right or wrong to kill a defenseless monster, who in this case used to be his brother and best friend, is definitely not a binary one. There is nothing hypocritical in Kenobi leaving Vader alive with the argument that if he doesn't kill him then, Vader will go on to commit atrocities. I truly believe that the vast majority of people who are so easy to jump the gun, would do exactly the same in Kenobi's position.

 

That's what reverse psychology looks like.

 

But he wasn't. He was on his feet with his lightsaber ignited, willing to fight until the end. He was defenseless in RotJ. Not in Obi-Wan Kenobi. That's a lie.

It is hypocritical that he is going to train his son to fight Vader, when he could have done the job himself. The fact that he lets the maniac go is not hypocritical, no, it's just full blown stupidity. Although it is hypocritical that he slaughters stormtroopers en masse without a second thought, but can't kill a child murdering maniac in self-defense. And the show did not address any of it.

 

Defenseless, overpowered... Vader was beaten, which is the point.

 

You must have seen a different show. I saw one where Vader is on his knees, pathetically trying to threaten Kenobi as Ben walks away with his back on him, and Vader can't even breathe well or even stand on his legs, let alone fight. The fact that he had his lightsaber ignited shows how hateful and consumed by the dark side he was.

Kenobi did not kill anyone while not in self defense. Zero hypocrisy, sorry

 

I just realized this has to be the most voted on episode of any of the TV shows 215 votes

now if only 2 more people could give it a 10/10

 

Yeah and it's still amusing how some media are trying to push the narrative that Kenobi was a failure or it is divisive or whatever. While some people have had their complaints, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. For this episode in particular, it's quite impressive how 70% of the voters here gave a 9/10 or a 10/10, and only 7% have rated it with a 5/10 or less.

 

There are it’s detractors and that’s fine, but It’s still generally well liked even on bigger rating sites like IMBD. That means most people liked most episodes. Metacritic was review bombed and I never trusted Rotten Tomatoes

 

I have the feeling that, had the series presented murder (and murder of a close person no less) as something easy to do for Obi Wan, it would have been unmercifully panned for bad writing. And rightly so.

 

What is hypocritical is for the writers to go for the vibes of Kenobi being merciful (shown on screen) while not committing to show the other side of the coin, that is, Vader being allowed to keep slaughtering innocent people across the galaxy. They didn't give any emphasis on that aspect -the pain brought by Kenobi's decision- because it's an uncomfortable territory to explore. The same is true for Boba Fett, by the way, who is indirectly responsible for the destruction of the Tusken village. These elements, that would make for a powerful drama, are often neglected, or they don't receive the weight they'd deserve.

 

Within universe… within the story… both Yoda and Obi-Wan believe that Luke and Leia are the key to defeating the Empire/the Emperor. They are the children of the Chosen One and (as we see in Luke) have great force potential. This is what Yoda and Obi-Wan are trying to protect and nurture I.e. their last best hope for saving the galaxy. Other Jedi are irrelevant to the story… primarily because… 1) Other Jedi didn’t exist in the OT. 2) Any PT Jedi that could have survived Order 66 have no bearing on the larger story… This is being retconned to some extent with Ahsoka and Ezra, but the reality is that they still have no bearing on events set during episodes I-VI. It was all about Luke and Leia.

 

70% of the vote gave the finale a 9 or 10 - that's awesome

 

Well Obi Wan didn't even know Anakin was alive for 10 years. And then in the OT he tells Luke he probably will have to kill Vader.

I don't think there was ever a thought about using his children against him.

 

The Jedi have a certain affinity to what they call the "will of the Force".

They reference a Prophecy, and they wonder who is supposed to be the Chosen One, so much, that it influences their decisions.

This brings a certain level of importance to the fate of the Skywalker kids.

It makes sense that Yoda and Obi-Wan feel there is something special about those two kids.