Now that we’re halfway through Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars fans are getting a bit more of an idea of where Ben Kenobi is in his journey and how he’s feeling after the events of Revenge of the Sith. And the answer is not great! While we know how Obi-Wan hid away on Tatooine and was a bit of a hermit, according to Luke in A New Hope, we never really knew just how much pain he was in after what happened with Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. The more and more we watch Obi-Wan Kenobi, the more we can see that he hasn’t unpacked what has happened to him and is still grieving the loss of his friends.
In episode 3, though, we’re shown exactly how deep that pain is in Ben, and it’s a lot to unpack—especially in his scenes with Leia (played by Vivien Lyra Blair).
**Spoilers for the first three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi lie ahead.**
In the third episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, we’re gifted with more of Leia and Obi-Wan’s dynamic with each other, but we also see just how deep his pain runs when Leia continues to remind him of her parents. As they’re sitting on the transport that she secured for them, since Obi-Wan doesn’t trust anyone, they’re forced into lying to a group of stormtroopers, and when he slips up and calls her Leia instead of her made-up name, he talks about how losing her mother was hard on him and how she reminds him of her.
The problem is that Leia is way too smart of this and knows that Obi-Wan knew her mother. To be honest, with him continually bringing Padmé up, I knew that she would figure it out because she’s smart and Obi-Wan isn’t exactly hiding the fact that he knew her. But the more he talks about how Leia reminds him of Padmé, the more we can see just how much he hasn’t really explored that pain.
The Jedi way
Part of what is so fascinating about these moments is that we get to see Obi-Wan sharing his emotions in a way that isn’t exactly what the Jedi would have approved of. The Jedi aren’t emotionless, but they aren’t ones to openly show their pain or upset. Obi-Wan has always been different in that way because we see the pain in Anakin’s betrayal in Revenge of the Sith, but still, seeing him show just how much he misses Padmé and Anakin and the relationship they all had before? That is surprisingly the kind of journey I wanted for Obi-Wan with this series.
We got a glimpse of the relationship he had with Padmé in the prequels, but having Leia straight up ask him if he’s her father, and he says that he wishes? That’s a pain that I didn’t know Obi-Wan had (his own desire for a family or his own regrets), and getting to see him start to explore that, even though it is because of Leia’s pushing, is something that makes me excited for the future of Obi-Wan.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
