Brief Obi-Wan Kenobi Gush (Spoiler Free)

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I just want to echo [personal profile] princessofgeeks and say I really enjoyed the ending of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. I found the whole series enjoyable overall, if a bit wandery, but the last episode really stuck the landing. I was impressed by how much genuine storytelling (all moving and narratively useful) it packed into one episode.

This series also accomplished something new in my Star Wars experience: it made me actually care about Anakin/Vader as a character. I mean, original Vader is cool as a scary villain with a nice redemption arc. The full arc of Anakin is a good story on paper. But Scary-Villain-Redeemed never got to show depth, and Anakin in the prequels suffered from being badly written/directed/acted (in some combination). And while I think Anakin is reasonably well-written/acted in the animated stuff, I never got into it overall. This show, however, wrote an Anakin I actually find relatable and (comparatively) nuanced as a character, and very appropriately tragic. And props to both James Earl Jones and Hayden Christiansen for combining their talents to pull off an impressive “transitional” Vader. I don’t know quite how this happened (good writing, acting, directing?), but Jones delivered his lines in a very Christiansen-like way (I mean that as a compliment to both) that really helped sell the character in transition between RotS and ANH.

Likewise, the casting of young Luke and Leia was very good, and it was nice to see a bit more Luke in this one. Good showing for Owen and Beru too.

All in all, I am very satisfied!

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Arwen Spicer
Arwen Spicer

Arwen Spicer is a science fiction writer and writing teacher raised in the San Fransciso Bay Area, and Northern California will hold her heart forever, even if it turns into a desert. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on ecology in utopian science fiction and is an educator on the concept of workable utopias. Her novel The Hour before Morning was hailed as “A carefully paced, rewarding sci-fi debut” by Kirkus Indie.

Arwen Spicer By Arwen Spicer

Arwen Spicer

Arwen Spicer

Arwen Spicer is a science fiction writer and writing teacher raised in the San Fransciso Bay Area, and Northern California will hold her heart forever, even if it turns into a desert. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on ecology in utopian science fiction and is an educator on the concept of workable utopias. Her novel The Hour before Morning was hailed as “A carefully paced, rewarding sci-fi debut” by Kirkus Indie.

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