My theories are: either she wants to kill Obi-Wan because she thinks that will gain her favor with Vader, or (and this is a long shot but I’ll put it out there) she blames Obi-Wan for the attack on the Temple and turning her into an Inquisitor because he trained the future Vader.
Edited by Tuckerscreator on May 28th 2022 at 11:04:53 AM
I just watched the first episode, and that was sloooOoOoOOoooOoOOoooOOOoOoOOOooOOOw. 56 minutes for something that could easily have been done in 25.
I assume they are trying to emulate the slow pace of the Mandalorian, but A/Mandalorian is an homage to the western genre and B/since it takes place in an unknown setting, it allows some organic worldbuilding.
Hopefully it gets better in the second, shorter episode.
Pacing was much better in the second episode, and Leia's actress is very good (as is Ewan, but it goes without saying).
However, I absolutely do not enjoy Reva as a character. Aside from the uninspired name which is one letter away from a legendary one, she is just...not good. She looks really out of place in a Star Wars setting the way she acts. And the angst/anger combo got old in her first scene already.
Hopefully she gets better because if that is Obi-Wan's main antagonist for a season, it will be painful to watch. So far I am very much regretting that she killed the Inquisitor instead of the other way around. I know that soft-spoken and affable antagonists are nothing new in this universe, but better a classic that works instead of something new that does not.
Edited by Bexlerfu on May 29th 2022 at 12:00:28 PM
And I think we're not supposed to like Reva. Really at this point I'm watching to see how epically she's going to get fucked after all the shit she's been pulling. Seriously, kidnapping a Senator's child to lure out the POSSIBILITY of a certain Jedi? There's no telling what the political blowback on the Inquisitorius will be if that becomes public, even if Bail doesn't want it getting out.
Also, I'm increasingly skeptical about what the whole "doesn't fit into Star Wars" thing's even supposed to mean.
Just a reminder that many of the prequels' detractors claimed the movies "didn't feel like Star Wars" as well.
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on May 29th 2022 at 12:32:42 PM
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyI know that we're not supposed to like her as a character, but she is still supposed to be entertaining to watch. So far, she looks...all over the place. She is angsty, but she's not pure angst like Kylo Ren. She is angry, but she is not pure rage. She gets a few moments that are supposed to make her look cool, but she's not Dooku, Vader, or Maul cool. She is supposed to be both single-minded to the point of being uncontrollable, and a shrewd chessmaster.
She is the main "original character" of the show so far, but after The Mandalorian gave a masterclass in character introductions, here it falls super flat. I know it's not always fair to be compared to a character played by Giancarlo Esposito, but Moff Gideon was by far the superior original antagonist whether you look at behavior, acting or perceived threat.
And considering these are Imperial agents we are talking about, I just don't get how she has survived what are implied to be repeated displays of insubordination in the past. By all accounts she should have been beheaded ten times over pulling stunts like this.
Final gripe is that she looks incredibly generic for a Dark Side force user. So far they always have had cool designs, or they were Christopher Lee. I guess that it saves on makeup but it's disappointing.
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I mean that so far she looks like the villain from a YA film adaptation: visually distinct from the other mooks, super edgy angry, behaving like an ass with everyone...She could really represent District whatever in a new Hunger Games.
Honestly I'd be way more sympathetic if she was either way more calm and collected, "all business", or if she was desperate and angry to the point of eliciting sympathy like an early Zuko. We got two episodes' worth of her being obsessed with Obi-Wan, she should be screaming in rage seeing him escape her at the end of episode 2, not taunting him like it's all going according to plan right after stabbing the Grand Inquisitor.
Edited by Bexlerfu on May 29th 2022 at 12:45:32 PM
So I generally like what we've seen so far, McGregor is great as always and it's nice to see some plausible development to Obi-Wan's normal life on Tatooine. I like that it doesn't just have him in the hut, wearing his normal robes and doing nothing but waiting around until the events of ANH, even though I don't think a full planet hopping adventure was ever needed this set-up is a great mid-point between ROTS and ANH.
The overall story is not fully engaging because it is dividing itself with multiple plotlines between Obi-Wan, the Inquisitors looking for Jedi and Leia's life. It's hard to reconcile tonally between Obi-Wan's Thousand-Yard Stare as he lives day to day in a desert hellscape and a ten year old outmaneuvering trained mercenaries with a light jog and tree branches. The actress is adorable in the role, but the show is leaning a little heavy into the cutesiness. This will hopefully change as the show continues, but personally I'm not sure I could handle another 8 episodes of the misadventures of Obi-Wan and Leia before getting her back home.
As for Third Sister, I kind of felt a similar issue when it came to her presentation. Something between the writing, directing and acting is not clicking together. The other performances between Obi-Wan, Owen and Grand Inquisitor feel like they are in a Shakespearean play but she is a more modern acting with mumbling her lines, while her motivation seems to be "I brood with generic anger." It's a similar problem across many Star Wars works, especially in the Disney era, where actors either play it over-the-top because they are excited to be in Star Wars or they play it self-referential because they are excited to be in Star Wars, but don't actually become the character they are supposed to be. There does appear to be more to her and her goals that will be revealed, so we'll have to see how that plays out.
Kumail's character grew on me, I initially felt he was falling into the same trap as Third Sister but seeing his con artist ploy dismantled by Obi-Wan was satisfying and there is also the subtext he imitated Jedi not just to scam people but also make them feel more at ease because he was providing real smuggling services.
Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.I like it so far. Obi-Wan's sadness and trauma, the way Ewan plays him, the actress for Leia and the plot- all good. I'm excited for a Star Wars project again!
My AO3I did like how they subverted the "con man" stereotype by making it so he did genuinely help people. Yes he's still getting paid for it and he's tricking people but he's not a bad person at heart.
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."Reva so far kind of reminds me of Maul. Devilishly clever and capable of setting up nasty and hurtful traps, but a psychotic ball of violence and rage who can barely hold it in sometimes.
She stands out next to the other Inquisitors, who tend to be Warrior Poet types who hide their inner pain and rage until yadda yadda the right time comes out to monologue about it, but she's not - like - something alien to the series.
I also agree that we're probably not supposed to like her. People were expecting her to end up switching sides by the end of the story - I know I was at first - but after watching the episodes I'm not so sure. When your primary character trait is that you're vicious and bloodthirsty even in comparison to other Inquisitors - all of whom are murderous sociopaths at best - it's hard to imagine the writers won't end up committing even further to that villain role, and Obi-Wan has to come out of this story still believing that it's impossible to come back from the Dark Side.
So I think we'll get sympathetic reasons why she is the way she is, making her a pitiable-even-if-scary figure like Maul, but in the end Obi-Wan will still be forced to cut her down just as he will Maul... or put her in the path of Vader's temper.
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 30th 2022 at 10:45:35 AM
I just got around to seeing it. My thoughts:
- The introduction was pretty great.
- Leia is very precocious, which actually makes sense I think. She does act quite a bit like I'd expect her to.
- Having Leia gets kidnapped was probably a smart idea to get us away from Tatooine, a planet we've seen quite a bit of lately. I also don't know if we've seen her much
- I kind of liked the fake Jedi. Fake Jedi sounds like they'd exist in this setting, so it's nice to see one. Cool that he gets some degree of redemption too.
- Leia grabs the Idiot Ball hard with her trying to run from Obi-Wan, she really is acting pointlessly paranoid.
- The Grand Inquisitor was pretty great.
- Reva works just fine as a villain, nothing to complain about, but nothing stand out either.
Edited by Protagonist506 on May 30th 2022 at 11:59:21 AM
Leviticus 19:34To be fair, up to that point Leia doesn't really have any reason to trust Obi-Wan - she doesn't know him, her dad never mentioned him and then she finds out there's a bounty on him as well. Also, let's remember that despite her snark etc, she's still a ten-year old child - those don't always make the best decisions (though "not immediately trusting this weird stranger who shows up after you've been kidnapped" is not really something I'd hold against her).
We learn from history that we do not learn from history

I can't imagine what, but I feel like Reva has a personal stake in this. From the trailer, I thought she was hunting Obi-Wan directly on Anakin's order, but the actual show depicts her as more of a renegade. The other Inquisitors suggest that she's just trying to make a name for herself, but her obsession with Obi-Wan feels like it's about Anakin.
Pretty much from the moment she finds him, she starts ranting about Anakin. And that could have just been her messing with him emotionally to get him to reveal himself, but she keeps going. Her final threat, watching him fly away, is that Obi-Wan will never escape him. Not her. Not the Empire. Anakin specifically. You will never escape him.
So it still feels like she's doing this on Anakin's behalf more than anything else. Like she wants to take down Obi-Wan for Anakin. She is demonstrably concerned with who gets the credit, but it just doesn't feel like this is solely about the glory of defeating some famous Jedi.
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