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I definitely enjoyed it. I still had issues related to the show in general in terms of budget, and some of the pacing and action scene direction in earlier episodes, but this finale was so fun to watch.
I guess my personal biggest issue with the series is that these characters are too big for the small screen. It felt weird seeing Obi-wan and Vader have an epic battle with each other, which should be one of the biggest moments in ALL of Star Wars, but I'm watching it at home on TV.
To add to that, most of this series, my first viewing of episodes was on my iPad with headphones, trying to cram in watching on Wednesday at 6 in the morning before work. I really don't like the Disney+ release schedule and timing with episodes dropping at 3am ET on a Wednesday morning. Why can't streaming companies do releases during prime time? Like 10pm ET/7pm PT? It would make the shows MUCH more of an event with more people watching at the same time. I cram in watching shows in the morning so I don't get spoiled. But seems like an easy change of doing prime time releases would boost their engagement numbers and be a better overall experience.
Back to this episode, Hayden and Ewan were outstanding. Yes I liked how they redid that Ahsoka scene from Rebels, and took it a step further in this show. I loved the Owen and Beru scenes as well (Beru was gangsta in this episode!) Reva had an outstanding arc throughout the series as well - we've seen dark sider redemption before but this was different in that she was never actually committed to the dark side. And props to Moses Ingram - she had to act as a character who was "acting" in universe as a dark sider, which is why in the early episodes she was trying too hard to prove that she was down, while really being focused on her own quest. (I do wish that she died at the end of this episode though, I don't like Obi-wan being cool with a former Inquisitor being around knowing about Luke and Leia.)
Again, this episode checked all the boxes. All of the lines in A New Hope fit perfectly, and we have new insight on some. Vader was clearly still the learner here. Even the line from ROTJ about "Obi-wan once thought as you" works here - with Kenobi literally apologizing and calling Vader "Anakin" a couple times, before giving up and saying "Goodbye, Darth".
Then the Palpatine Zoom call manager check-in meeting also helps make sense of the story from this point on - in terms of why Vader doesn't continue pushing to find and defeat Kenobi. Palpatine told him that Kenobi was a distraction and he needed to focus. (I wonder if the Grand Inquisitor snitched on him about letting the ship full of force-sensitives go to get Kenobi?) Also, they better not do a season 2 and have Vader see Kenobi again. As of now it's PERFECT, with Vader only seeing Kenobi when he came to the Death Star.
I loved the Qui-gon scene at the end. Loved Leia in this episode. Only issues are again with the small screen and the budget. Like that Vader/Kenobi battle should have been in a more epic location than on a dusty moon that clearly looks like a set within the volume. I don't mind scenes like that on Mandalorian or Boba Fett, but Vader vs. Kenobi is WAY too important for that type of setting.
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