It's difficult to know exactly what the general public thinks of the Disney + miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi. From what I've seen, the reception has been mixed, and has depended on the expectations you had going in. If you were determined to like the series, you probably did like it all the way through, and felt especially vindicated by the strong finale. If you were determined to find that The Mouse "doesn't know Star Wars" and the studio was bound to screw things up, you might see the finale as too little too late, or even a tone-deaf attempt at fan service that didn't really understand the lore. The average fan, if I can take a guess, would probably find the beginning of the series slow but be won over by the last or the two last episodes, and find themselves reasonably satisfied at the end. I'm guessing this because I'm an average fan myself, and this is more or less where I landed.
I may be leaning a bit towards the over-positive side to be honest, because although I acknowledge that the build-up of the series was slow, I enjoyed this part too – at least, most of it. There were some storylines that fans weren't very happy with but which I gobbled up without complaint, while understanding their position. One was Obi-Wan's own role in the series.
I think I've finally stumbled upon at least one reason why so many resent the portrayal of Luke in The Last Jedi. There are some characters you just don't want to get caught up in a Broken Hero story arc. This arc features someone who has been a hero once (or has the potential to be one) but who has become disillusioned and disheartened and doesn't want to enter the fray because he (it's mostly a he) thinks there's nothing he can do to make things better, and he may actually make things worse. As the story progresses, the Broken Hero learns to have faith in himself again, and finally he's strong enough to save the day. I had no problem seeing Luke go through the BH story arc in The Last Jedi or Obi-Wan going through it here, but I understand those who aren't too pleased, and who would rather see these characters at the peak of their heroic powers. They've been through and learned a lot already, do they really have to go on another hero's journey?
I had pretty much the same feeling when watching the first three episodes of the latest Around the World in 80 Days and then giving up on it, in spite of having looked forward to a chance to see it. There were many reasons why, but one of them was the depiction of Phileas Fogg as a poor fish who had to be brought up to the mark by his companions. I can buy Fogg as an emotional cripple, but not as an emotional wreck. He should own the stage and not be a Broken Hero.
But, as I said, personally I didn't mind a broken Obi-Wan, especially as Ewan McGregor gave a stellar performance throughout as the haunted Jedi whose former Padawan now terrorises the galaxy. I also had no objections to the focus on young Leia, and the bond growing between her and Obi-Wan as he has to step in and rescue her (twice). Yes, it's strange that they don't seem to know each other at all in the Original Trilogy after having been on adventures together, but I think the series managed to explain that pretty neatly, and after all Leia later calls her son Ben, presumably after Obi-Wan's alias. There are already continuity problems between the OG trilogy and the Star Wars prequels, and in my opinion this series doesn't make them much worse.
However, I did mind the sometimes rushed storytelling where you weren't given explanations of things you really needed to know. How does Reva (I'll get to her) know Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are the same person? How can Obi-Wan be unaware that Vader (whom he knows to be Anakin) is still alive until Reva tells him? How does Leia know that the strange guy calling himself Ben is really Obi-Wan Kenobi? How does Reva survive two stab wounds with a light sabre, one when she's just a child? How does the Grand Inquisitor survive a stab wound (his species is supposed to have two stomachs, but this is never spelled out in the series)? How does Reva guess that Luke is really Vader's son, and if she didn't guess, then why did she want to kill him?
The other problem for me is the way the character of Reva is written. A member of the Inquisitors, a Force-sensitive group tasked by the Emperor to hunt down surviving Jedi, it's clear from the first – all too clear – that she has her own agenda. Moses Ingram, who plays Reva, is a good actor and does her best. She manages to put Reva's emotions across well enough during the easy-to-foresee story developments in the final two episodes to make her go from annoying to passable. But she can't do anything about the script, and in my opinion, Reva is a badly written character.
It might have been different if the series had allowed the viewer to take a sterner view of what is, in essence, a side villain, and see her as an example of everything that is wrong with the Sith creed. From the first, she is seething with resentment and wants to get "what I'm owed". So here we have a character who really is fuelled by anger, hate and vindictiveness, emotions the Emperor seeks to encourage in his followers, and they do her no good. But instead of highlighting this, the series gave at least me the impression that I was supposed to sympathise with Reva to a certain extent, to find it unfair when she is sneered at by the Grand Inquisitor when her methods, though brutal and unsubtle, give results, and to admire her badassery. I wasn't prepared to play ball here. The line between interesting bitterness in a villain and irritating self-pity can be a fine one, and for my money Reva crossed it with her constant hints at her own trauma (for instance during her interrogation of Leia) and blindness to just how much damage she caused in pursuit of "justice", i.e. her own revenge. Perhaps a corrective view where Obi-Wan or someone else pointed out how much she has gone astray would have helped, but as it is only other bad guys are allowed to criticise or question Reva, and we're not supposed to listen to them.
I would much rather have seen more of Rupert Friend's Grand Inquisitor, a cold, calculating and precise side-villain who could have filled the role of "major threat besides Vader" better than his emotion-ridden, disgruntled employee. In the end, though, and in spite of the fears of some fans, Obi-Wan remains the hero of his own series, and isn't elbowed out by Reva or any other character. And those waiting for an impressive showdown between Obi-Wan and Vader, leading to a highly charged emotional moment which allows Obi-Wan to move on from his guilt over "failing" Anakin, will not be disappointed. Just hang on in there.
