Obi-Wan Kenobi:  Good Series But The Action Writing Needs Cleaning Up

I'm really into the Obi-Wan Kenobi series so far. I can't wait so see where this goes. I can't wait for next Wednesday, and I love how well the menace of Vader is captured so far, combining the unstoppable force of Jason Vorhees with the intellect of Hans Gruber. So make no bones about it, I'm very much a fan of this series, but I have twice been pulled out of the story by questionable action sequences. This series is otherwise too well written to fumble at the goal line like this. Getting pulled out of the story is something that really disappoints me, and it's happened twice.


Vivien Lyra Blair is one heck of a little actress, but no one is going to confuse her for Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Her sprint looked to be the equivalent of a brisk walk for an adult, yet she repeatedly outran her full grown pursuers. The poor adult actors had to virtually run in place to try to sell that they were being outpaced by a 10 year old. Why was this even necessary? The trope for children escaping adult pursuers is well established. You have the half pint escape via a space that is too small for an adult to squeeze through. Leia could have easily used her knowledge of the Alderan terrain to give Flea's gang the slip. There was no need to have her beat that Falleen mercenary in a foot race.


Let me see if I have this right. Vader uses the Force to spill some of the mined Vintrium after cornering Kenobi on Mapuzo. He then uses his saber to ignite the mineral and again uses the Force to pull Kenobi into the flames. Next Vader use the Force (I assume) to instantly extinguish the flames so as to close on Obi-Wan. Tala, to protect Kenobi, fires a blaster bolt at the Vintrium to reignite it, and in response Vader does...nothing. Huh? He just watched NED-B carry his old Master away. He doesn't extinguish the flames again. He doesn't use the Force to lift Kenobi over the wall of flames. He had just been Force rag-dolling his way through town, so this wouldn't have been much of a challenge. But no. He just watches helplessly. Why? Because the plot needed Kenobi to escape?

These things could easily be written better, so I'm at a loss as to why they weren't. But this isn't a damning criticism. There was plenty of plot convenience and plot armor in The Mandalorian, which is a 10/10 series, but Kenobi needs to really stick the landing to make sure these quirks don't weigh the series down.

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