This finale showed out far better than the previous episodes of the series, however I still feel that the conclusion completely missed the mark on what the story is actually trying to tell.
The Clone Wars was able to build on Anakin's character by showing how he was a caring and compassionate person and how he was manipulated to do what he did out of desperation because of how passionate he is about the things he loves. We understand his perspective when Anakin taps into the dark side because in TCW he does so in order to protect his friends, save his men from fighting needless battles, etc. Kenobi abandons all of that compassion on focuses only on Anakin's brashness and overconfidence. This is fine for the fight scenes, but in six episodes we didn't see any of Anakin's PTSD, no scenes of him visiting Padme's grave, no clone wars flashbacks, nothing. The wording of Vader's finale scene was also poorly executed as it doesn't show Palpatine's manipulative nature, but instead makes Vader out as his obedient lap dog.
It not only misrepresents Anakin as a character, but it also retells his story through Reva. After she brings back Luke, Obi-Wan tells her that she chose to not be like Vader and that she's now free. This is precisely Vader's conclusion when he saves Luke in ROTJ. When you already have one of the best redemption arcs in fiction, you don't need to retell different versions of it over and over. (Reva, Ben, Boba) Some characters need to be bad, and not just pure evil like Palpatine or the GI. Some people are just too far gone to be saved and that message is okay for the audience. At this rate we'll be trying to redeem Sidious in the next series.
The benefit of having an antagonist as powerful and layered as Vader is that the protagonist (in vaders case luke and obiwan) has to change and improve significantly in order to overcome that antagonist. In Kenobi though, the characters get by only due to the villain's negligence. The Grand Inquisitor survives because Reva doesn't finish him off, Reva survives because Vader doesn't finish her off, Kenobi survives because Vader doesn't finish him off. (and vader can't feel kenobi's force energy either apparently??) If your villains consistently let people live, there is no stakes in their actions. In some cases no finish the job works, like Obi-Wan being unable to kill Anakin due to their history together. However, all of these examples are just lazy writing that aim to create an intense moment without that moment having any consequences. So having Obi-Wan overwhelm Vader thanks to his strength gained by a flashback is the pinnacle of this sloppy writing. Obi-Wan did not defeat Anakin because he's stronger in the force, he beat Anakin because he outsmarted him. In no world should Obi-Wan be able to bombard Vader the way he did. Having him get that power boost from a flashback is also contradictory to the power system because using emotion in combat is a path to the dark side, and since this isn't expanded on at all, it's clearly not intentional. Regardless, even if Obi-Wan gets an emotional power boost, the boost Vader gets from his trauma trumps anything Obi-Wan can muster for Luke and Leia. No stakes and abandoning the power system leads to a cheap victory with no fulfillment at the end.
I thought the actors did an incredible job. Ewan was great, Hayden was phenomenal in the finale, and even Reva was a compelling character in the last two episodes. However, these actors were failed by the writing and directing crew that gave them absolutely nothing to work with. I hope this is a lesson to Disney that you can just slap a fan favorite's name on a product and just throw out whatever. It's lazy and it's a disservice to those who play the characters we already know and love.
The Clone Wars was able to build on Anakin's character by showing how he was a caring and compassionate person and how he was manipulated to do what he did out of desperation because of how passionate he is about the things he loves. We understand his perspective when Anakin taps into the dark side because in TCW he does so in order to protect his friends, save his men from fighting needless battles, etc. Kenobi abandons all of that compassion on focuses only on Anakin's brashness and overconfidence. This is fine for the fight scenes, but in six episodes we didn't see any of Anakin's PTSD, no scenes of him visiting Padme's grave, no clone wars flashbacks, nothing. The wording of Vader's finale scene was also poorly executed as it doesn't show Palpatine's manipulative nature, but instead makes Vader out as his obedient lap dog.
It not only misrepresents Anakin as a character, but it also retells his story through Reva. After she brings back Luke, Obi-Wan tells her that she chose to not be like Vader and that she's now free. This is precisely Vader's conclusion when he saves Luke in ROTJ. When you already have one of the best redemption arcs in fiction, you don't need to retell different versions of it over and over. (Reva, Ben, Boba) Some characters need to be bad, and not just pure evil like Palpatine or the GI. Some people are just too far gone to be saved and that message is okay for the audience. At this rate we'll be trying to redeem Sidious in the next series.
The benefit of having an antagonist as powerful and layered as Vader is that the protagonist (in vaders case luke and obiwan) has to change and improve significantly in order to overcome that antagonist. In Kenobi though, the characters get by only due to the villain's negligence. The Grand Inquisitor survives because Reva doesn't finish him off, Reva survives because Vader doesn't finish her off, Kenobi survives because Vader doesn't finish him off. (and vader can't feel kenobi's force energy either apparently??) If your villains consistently let people live, there is no stakes in their actions. In some cases no finish the job works, like Obi-Wan being unable to kill Anakin due to their history together. However, all of these examples are just lazy writing that aim to create an intense moment without that moment having any consequences. So having Obi-Wan overwhelm Vader thanks to his strength gained by a flashback is the pinnacle of this sloppy writing. Obi-Wan did not defeat Anakin because he's stronger in the force, he beat Anakin because he outsmarted him. In no world should Obi-Wan be able to bombard Vader the way he did. Having him get that power boost from a flashback is also contradictory to the power system because using emotion in combat is a path to the dark side, and since this isn't expanded on at all, it's clearly not intentional. Regardless, even if Obi-Wan gets an emotional power boost, the boost Vader gets from his trauma trumps anything Obi-Wan can muster for Luke and Leia. No stakes and abandoning the power system leads to a cheap victory with no fulfillment at the end.
I thought the actors did an incredible job. Ewan was great, Hayden was phenomenal in the finale, and even Reva was a compelling character in the last two episodes. However, these actors were failed by the writing and directing crew that gave them absolutely nothing to work with. I hope this is a lesson to Disney that you can just slap a fan favorite's name on a product and just throw out whatever. It's lazy and it's a disservice to those who play the characters we already know and love.