Flickery lightsaber edge of the empire
In its 44-minute running time, not counting credits-the second-longest of the series after the premiere-the finale had a lot of plot points to tick off. From my point of view, Star Wars has rarely seemed so ossified-such a prisoner to its protagonists’ pasts and a captive to their futures. To regurgitate an old line myself, there is still good in this series-but it’s buried in self-reference, rushed characterization, and egregiously implausible plotting, as characters repeatedly make confounding choices and inexplicably leave each other for dead to ensure the ship lands at a predetermined point dictated by canon. Tragedy draws power from repetition, true, but there’s a difference between retreading old territory for dramatic effect and doing it for lack of new ideas. But as I watched the last act of Kenobi (for now) reduce itself to a legacy act tailor-made for DiCaprio pointing or “ He said the thing” memes, I felt like Kenobi as he stared at his old friend’s ruined mask. There’s undoubtedly a market for this kind of thing. The 10-year-old Luke of Obi-Wan Kenobi is a long way away from delivering a version of that line-though he does double down on declaring, “I’m not afraid”-but he (almost) mutely flits through the finale long enough to trigger an obligatory third invocation of Kenobi’s catchphrase. (He also repeats that he must face that friend alone.) Many parries, rolls, and slashes later, Obi-Wan bids goodbye to his ex-apprentice with the words, “Then my friend is truly dead,” echoing another hero who will one day try to redeem Darth Vader. “Then you will die,” Vader answers, again, as he readies himself to fight a former friend, again. “I will do what I must,” Obi-Wan says, again, as he prepares to duel Darth Vader, again. In the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi-and possibly the series finale, though let’s not kid ourselves-characters from old trilogies take turns quoting Star Wars at each other.