Kenobi Returns

Ten years after the Great Jedi Purge, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is now a hermit and a fish-meat, butcher(?) on the planet Tattoine as he keeps an eye on his apprentice's son, Luke.

Okay, before we begin let me just say that I am so hyped about this series. I rewatched Episode III just to watch the horror that is Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, and Obi-Wan's failure to redeem him.

This is my take on the first episode of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, and so I am letting you know right now..

One of the biggest horrors of Episode III for me is the Great Jedi Purge, where Darth Sidious (or Chancellor Palpatine) ordered the clone troopers to shoot down their Jedi generals via Order 66. Imagine fighting with the clone troopers only to realize that they can take you down regardless of how well you treated them. The Jedi themselves were caught off guard. And sadly, even the younglings were not spared.

The show's creators showed a glimpse of the purge in the first scene and when the master was finally brought down (not after bringing many troopers along with her), her younglings are left with no one and they just ran into the unknown – we will never know if they even escaped or turned into Inquisitors - dark force-sensitive agents tasked of further hunting down the Jedi who managed to escape the initial wrath of Order 66.

I am calling it right now - I think someone (if not everyone) in that group of younglings have been tortured to become an Inquisitor. But we will see in the next episodes.

What was good

• I like how they showed us the daily comings and goings of Kenobi as he tried to survive each day in hiding. I love that part where he has a sensor at his home that tells him if it's clear or if there's a trespasser. Plus, it's a good idea to work as a fish meat butcher because at least you can slice a small piece of fish meat for you to feed your camel-like transport out of the city with some more to spare for dinner. This scene suddenly make me crave for salmon or tuna.
• I found a good callback to Episode IV! That toy that Kenobi bought from a Jawa for Luke - we saw Owen throwing it back to Kenobi, knowing it was from him. I remember this toy from Episode IV when Luke was playing with it as he cleans R2-D2 and C3P0.

• The dreams that Kenobi's getting is telling us how much guilt he must have been experiencing for ending Anakin (still not realizing he survived that ordeal). He was trying to summon his master Qui-Gon Ginn to have someone to guide him, but it looks like he unknowingly disconnected himself from the Force just to avoid detection. I am still hoping we'd see Qui-Gon grant us a cameo at some point in the series.
• I like how Leia grew up to be as strong as her mother, who's not going take bullshit from other people sitting down. The way he put his cousin on his place was remarkable and a promising trait for someone who will lead the rebellion someday. It's nice to see the guy who played as Bail Organa return - really plays with the continuity of the characters.
• The death of a younger Jedi (Nari) gave us a reminder of how tragic Inquisitors could be, by showing us how they hanged them over an arch to show people fear - make the people fear for their lives to refuse any Jedi of refuge in their homes.
• Awww, Kenobi still has Anakin's lightsaber buried along with his in the middle of the desert!

What was bad

• I don't know what's with the Grand Inquisitor. I think at this point the Inquisitors (especially the Grand Inquisitor) are too soft in trying to hunt down the Jedi (or even tired I guess?) that they just tire people out with long speeches and deductions. I think  Third Sister (Reva) just get tired the most and just threw a knife at someone just to see if someone will react - which what usually an Inquisitor would do. While Reva wants every last Jedi - most especially Kenobi - dead - the Grand Inquisitor surprisingly wants them alive. Maybe for questioning and later conversion to Inquisitors as well?
• I know that Luke and Leia are twins, but somehow it looks like Luke has gone a lot taller (and more older?) than Leia. Is it just me?

• The chase scene between Leia and the kidnappers are so cringe. The scene was trying to show us how agile Leia was by making her go through several obstacles that no fully-grown man can go through. But the obstacles that Leia squeezed her way through were not that big of an obstacle to stop his kidnappers from their tracks. They could have easily walked through those obstacles to capture her almost immediately. They could have tried thinking of a better obstacles.

Conclusion

This first episode showed some promising points on how this series would go. I am starting to think that this will be somewhat like Din Djarin and Groggu (from The Mandalorian) where we now see Kenobi and Leia. But that's for another episode.