Opining On OBI-WAN: Part III Recap (Patreon)

It’s another shit awful news day out there, so let’s talk about Star Wars crud as a distraction.

As always, we’ll go subject by subject.

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Run Away! - I fully understand that writing for a living makes you more sensitive to things that audiences tend to be a little less sensitive to. But it happens because you really are taught to hold up the tenets of the job, and thus hold people to the standards of that same job. Within which, there’s a well-worn adage that gets tossed around when you’re breaking down your story and it’s this: “If you have it so your character is always getting into conflicts / stand-offs and running away, you don’t have a story.” The reason is because a story is about arcs and changes from conflict. You want events to have an impact. To create a change in status or power. To confront things within characters and create a feeling of evolution. And so, having constant “stand-offs” of action create the appearance of danger, but there’s no change and growth? That’s just creating constant stasis.

And on a pure story level, that’s all Obi-Wan has done so far. They had a whole episode of refusing the call and since he decided to go for it, he’s then run from situation to situation, often running away / fighting badly / or fighting super good with no rhyme or reason as to which (we’ll come back to this). No matter how much they try to get at the texture of guilt or fear in his psychology, there is absolutely zero “story” happening here with regards to how that psychology is directly affecting the drama. And that’s because they only have one conflict to play and one piece of character development. And they’re WAITING to deploy them. So that means everything is just about putting off til that happens. It stinks because a story is about having an arc that should be full of various, fool-hardy attempts that create more learning. So I’m going to be forthright in saying that I’m kind of at a loss? These are writing professionals and I’m honestly like “how do you not know this?” It could purely have been a function of time, but this is the most basic stuff and the show feels like it never even considered it. And if they did, then why did it end up like this? But really, the haphazard writing stuff goes deeper…

Guess Work - So last week I was asking for clarity on Reva’s clear motivations and invited all this guess work from folks - and at the beginning of the episode we find out immediately that, yes, Inquisitor Reva is working directly for Darth Vader. I have three competing thoughts about this.

1) What is it about Star Wars that so readily inspires its fans to fill in gaps? I get that it’s a lore-heavy saga, often full of off hand references that spark imagination. But this isn’t about lore or even the past of characters. Nor is it even about a mystery inviting speculation. This is about clarity in motivational storytelling. And where I draw the line is how often guess work is used to defend utterly muddy details, whose clarity would help in the NOW, but it gets punted for later (or often, never explained at all). But there's a reason I’m harping on this.

2) It’s about drama. Because drama is based on the ability to understand what’s happening, because you need to KNOW where the tension is, so you can then lean in with anticipation. But when everything is muddy, you don’t know where the tension is. You can only react to whatever comes out of it and be like “okay, I can GUESS it’s because of this.” It puts you on your heels, just like so much of the plot itself. And the reason it hits so hard on the “what’s Reva’s angle” thing in particular is because…

3) They just further muddled it anyway. Because I understand nothing about Vader’s relationship with the Inquisitors. Is he in charge of them or not? Reva seems like she’s going rogue for him, then she just comes in and is like “I spoke with Lord Vader,” and they all defer to her / him anyway? Like, why all the secrecy? Why wasn’t this something being assigned from beginning? As I said above, it’s not about logic. I know that I can guess all sorts of stuff. It’s about “where’s the line of tension?” What should be leaning into here so I can get the dynamics of the group? If this is about their mutual competition, why is it being so coy about that? Because right now it’s trying to have it every which way, often without explanation, and worse, none of it adds up into anything. It’s not about logic clarity, it’s about using that for dramatic tension.

Obi Wan’s Fighting Abilities? - This is a good example of how a lack of clarity hurts tension. Once upon a time in the prequels we watched Obi-Wan cut through a million clone troopers like butter (which is, in itself, its own dramatic problem). And now we are told we should understand that Obi-Wan is reluctant and “rusty.” Last time I said it was weird to see him fist fighting like a chump, but now he’s in blaster-heavy stand-offs and hitting dudes with pinpoint acumen. And I’m just full of questions. For instance, I think about that line about “a more elegant weapon, not as clumsy or random as a blaster,” and he seems pretty elegant with it. But why hold off on the lightsaber? Why are we on our heels again? And when it comes to staging, why do we see him get scared and give up when three troopers slowly arrive when we JUST SAW  him take out literally five dudes?  It’s all about dramatic sequencing and understanding. And hoo boy does this episode get to a sequencing problem in the larger story…

A Vader Saber Face-Off Already!?!?!! - I feel like there has been a stunning lack of patience in the new Star Wars shows. Boba Fett’s not working? Quick make it The Mandalorian again! Show luke! Show Jedi Temple! What do people want? Cross it off the list!!! Forget how much this messes with the logic and established understanding (talking about lines like “last we met… now I am the master” and I know there’s going to be more fighting it’s just weird) -  they’re just so quick to get to the thing you want to see without any real build up that feels meaningful or part of an arc? Now, you may ask “hey, aren’t you the one who argues to not hold off on things and play your cards early, because it forces you to play more cards?” See that’s the whole thing. They’re not playing new cards, they’re just playing the same card again and again and having the never-ending stand-off. Like I KNOW this is being built to Obi Wan facing Vader AGAIN again, but it feels so damn haphazard and weird. And if there was more meaning to be gathered from this fight, well it brings us to a larger problem…

Let’s Talk Action Blocking - So far, Obi Wan has a major blocking problem. Like I’m kind of flabbergasted. Also, know that I’m using the word blocking instead of choreography because it’s about where characters stand / move in relationship to the camera, not the choreography itself. It’s the staging of all this that is making everything look awkward as hell. For instance, I noted the foot chase last week and thankfully tik tok seemed to notice and make light of it too https://www.tiktok.com/@issameee_mollyyy/video/7103958239439621418?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1 . But it hits a really drama-damaging level in the saber fight. The logic of who is where, where he’s running and escaping to? And just what in the heck is “stopping” Vader from going slightly around the flame and after them? Again, it’s not the logic. It’s about dramatic tension. You need to FEEL the close calls and where the real danger is. You need to worry X or Y is going to happen and feel like “phew, just made it out!” and believe it. But the blocking just lets ALL of this down. This isn’t an editing fault mind you. I can picture an editor losing their mind at not having the shots to string things together coherently because this footage is all they have. I really can’t get over the lax standards of this. These are talented people. What happened? And I guess all of this wondering about writing, execution and, most of all, PURPOSE, gets at this larger idea…

A Sam Raimi Aside On “Earning It” - Thus far I know, I’ve been hard on this show and I really want to get into why. The simple answer is because I like Star Wars and I genuinely want it to be the best it can be. But getting the best from this series means understanding a certain kind of responsibility. One I think was put perfectly while listening to the most recent episode of Blank Check on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, where one of the hosts, Griffin, eloquently summed up Raimi’s sense of moral responsibility in how many kids were going to see this movie. I’m going to directly quote his paraphrasing of Raimi, but I think it is put beautifully:

“You put this costume up on screen, you apply the world’s most expensive special effects to have him swing through the city, and you have Danny Elfman’s horns blaring. And immediately the character becomes iconic. And we imprint upon it. And we care about it. And we defer to it. And in a way that is unfair and we haven’t even earned… Because with most movies you have to work to make an audience care about your character, or be impressed by them, or get excited by them. And with Spider-Man… the iconography is there. You have it in the tank.” And to nail the exact point of what this means: “So my challenge in making these movies is to earn what we are being given for free.”

My problem with these Star Wars shows is they are now milking every free thing you give them. There is so little that is being created in earnest. That is not using your prior affinity. That is doing THE WORK. Or being fostered to the delight of the new. Or, most of all, being dealt with in terms of the strong moral center of why. It is just powered by the idea that we love Star Wars and we love these characters and they are going to keep trotting them out to the increased strain on the dramatic system at large.. Whatever these projects are aiming for? They hit the nostalgia button of happiness, but by every single standar I have, they are missing the mark so spectacularly on the dramatic foundations of the kinds of ground-up storytelling that made the original trilogy so beloved in the first place.

Nothing here is earned… And I desperately wish it was.

Because I still love it.

Random Notes!

-Regarding the episode’s opening, you want to talk about playing the same cards again and again? Obi Wan is meditating and seeing Anakin put on the suit, which is literally just a redo of the exact sequence at the end of the last episode, but with more details. Which is something I feel like I’ve said so much about all Star Wars lately.

-Is it me or did the first half of the episode look like an improvement, visually speaking? Especially in the color correction department? May just help that it’s using way more locations.

-Speaking of which, I enjoyed Mojave Desert Just Outside Los Angeles Planet. If Hollywood had a dime every time that’s been used for a “foreign planet” they would… I dunno… have thousands of dimes or something. Also, fields haven’t grown there in a long, long time.

-Please I’m going to try and note the stuff I like, too! And there’s something to the notion of Obi-Wan defining the force as “safety” that I find interesting. I just wish they hit on something more with that, particularly why he’s been so avoidant of the force if that’s true?

-Am I wrong or did Obi-Wan take his anger to like a 6-7 with Lil’ Leia at times that felt weird?

-PS after calling her Baby Leia last week I’ve come around to the internet calling her Lil Leia. Alliteration always wins.

-Zach Braff as Freck! I thought I recognized that voice! How weird! But it goes to show you, never trust anyone with an imperial flag.

-There’s been several moments where I forget where I am in the Star Wars timeline and it’s like oh yeah, wait, the Empire is coming up now I guess.

-When Leia asks Obi-Wan if he’s Daddy and he responds, “I wish I could say I was,” it’s SUCH a weird way of putting it because it immediately makes it seem like he wanted to do Padme, instead of merely talking wishing Vader wasn’t Daddy? The whole thing felt odd, but very funny.

-There was actually something really sweet about Obi-Wan remembering his parents. The addition of brother thing felt weird though?

-Oh Star Wars, name another PG series where dudes get hands off and / or dude’s get sliced in half on the reg. I literally yelled “oh shit!”

-Indira Varma!!!!! An amazing actress who I’m always happy to see pop up in anything. Feels like it’s been a big week for crushes showing back up in huge pop culture, huh?

-When I talk about dramatic sequencing, here’s a question: after all that precocious banter, why is Lil Leia NOW talking about being kidnapped as if it's her fault and feeling bad about it? I get that this is a logical thing for her to wonder. But why not earlier? What motivated it here at this moment? This is exactly what I mean about haphazard sequencing. It’s so easy to just act deductively and be like “oh I guess that’s what’s on her mind,” but when you write stories, you want the psychology of a character to be motivated and coming in the order of an arc. And literally nothing is going on like that?

-“The Path” is our underground railroad metaphor it seems. Since it’s so loaded a reference, I sincerely hope that metaphor doesn’t get wonky.

-Okay, coming back to last week and me talking about the continuity issues of Leia not knowing Obi Wan in the original trilogy. I got a lot of people being like “he only said Ben! They’re going to account for it!” But  then in this scene Varma clearly calls him Obi Wan and even though he says, “it’s just Ben these days,” Leia is RIGHT THERE… so she wasn’t listening when she clearly said obi-wan kenobi? This is one of those things where it’s not so much about the logic as it is the story. What is this really going to be about? Where is it going? Cause I still have a bad feeling about it.

-Inquisitor Reva - So there’s a moment where she recognizes the symbol and it’s probably setting up her having been let down by people trying to get her out, but the thing is the delay feels weird. They’re not even mystery boxing this one, it just feels like this half-hearted story that’s full of muddied teasing. Again, dramatic writing is about how you whip people’s motivations around to foster new kinds of understanding. I feel like either they need to do better at feinting in one direction OR be laying the groundwork of empathy and letting us get in her head right now to understand the pain. But I really am not getting the halfsies approach with this character. Which, to be clear, I say because I want her character to rule. Which I want to make super clear because the whole culture dialogue has instead been absorbed by…

-The racism of Star Wars fandoms, which just continue to disgust. I don’t have any insight here that a million people online can’t say better. Moses Ingram is a hell of an actress. And the idea that every person of color in Star Wars, particularly women of color, are just going to have to suffer this online harassment shit without some kind of proper support or compensation just drives me nuts. I don’t know. People went through so much crap with this in The Last Jedi and so many fans tried to “discuss” what “bothered” them, when really they were just weaponizing their hypocrisy with bad faith takes. In the end, it’s just about getting more of the obliging, indulging, white-male-centric thing they want. So no matter what progress Star Wars shows in terms of diversity of casting, it’s the reason the indulgent, unchallenging storytelling bent toward power fantasy will just always bug me in this series. Like, why are we catering to the wants of all this on any level? Is it just for the Disney Plus subscriptions? Because it keeps learning all the wrong lessons and going deeper and deeper inward?

Sigh… I really don’t mean to be a drag about this. I really, really don’t. But sometimes you can’t put a big happy shiny face on things. Sometimes there’s commiseration in being bummed out by all this. So in a sentence that’s surely never been said before, “I’m going to go play Elden Ring in order to journey into a more joyful world.” Ha!

But I also remain weirdly hopeful. Or at least curious. Because Andrew Stanton apparently wrote the last two episodes of this series? I can’t imagine what that might mean, he’s written so much incredible stuff, along with some stuff that gave me pause. But he’s certainly a real voice. And I’m deeply curious what it will result in.

Here’s hoping.

<3HULK