Main cast: Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Indira Varma (Tala Durith), Vivien Lyra Blair (Leia Organa), Moses Ingram (Inquisitor Reva), O’Shea Jackson Jr (Roken), Maya Erskine (Sully), Sung Kang (The Fifth Brother), Rya Kihlstedt (The Fourth Sister), James Earl Jones (The Voice of Darth Vader), and Hayden Christensen (Darth Vader)
Director: Deborah Chow
The signs are there, but Part IV makes it clear that, just like how so many of these shows nowadays claim to have a male lead only to not-so-subtly introduce a female character that is the main character in all but name, the people behind this show want everything to be about Reva.
Moses Ingram gets to shine here and she blows it badly. Sure, the script is already blown sky high due to these people hiring cheap no-name no-talent types based on their skin color and professed sexuality to defecate all over things, but Ms Ingram demonstrates that she likely isn’t chosen for her acting ability either.
She’s stiff, her intonation of her lines is all wrong because the emotion behind the delivery is at odds with the intent of the delivery, and everything about her big interrogation scene is just 100% yikes and ouch from start to finish.
Mind you, Reva turning out to be a colossal mess of a dumb dumb the more and more I see her doesn’t help. She kidnaps Lala the Wunderkind to lure Obi-Wut into her clutches, but proceeds to interrogate Lala like the girl is some kind of mastermind behind the whole thing. Really, is Reva’s judgment that impaired?
She wastes her mind reading powers on that girl, but when she should use her mind-reading abilities on Tala, she doesn’t. Why? Because Tala has plot armor, duh, and Reva being sensible would derail the plot the screenwriters have in mind and that just won’t do.
Meanwhile, the same mess present in past episodes is still here. Sure, there are only two screenwriters this time around, but these two obviously didn’t speak either while working on the script, because there are so many inconsistencies here.
How did Obi-Wut and Friends escape in the end when Reva had killed their pilot earlier? Who is piloting the ship? The ghost of Qui-Gon Jin? Yoda’s missing sibling? Po Ping?
Lala manages to resist Reva’s mind reading powers because, ooh, she is female and females are just awesome or something. Early on, these people have made it clear that Leia is the ultimate Jedi Mary Poppins that out-talent and out-better Luke in everything because the force is female or some crap, so I guess they are sticking to this with Leia even if it makes no sense because Leia was never supposed to be that way.
Oh wait, what am I saying? This is Lala, not Leia. Carry on, people.
Tala has so much plot armor that it’s ridiculous. While undercover, she acts so suspiciously and even refuses to call an officer “sir”—strong, independent woman doesn’t respect rank, protocol, or rule, you see—but no one somehow suspects a thing.
Obi-Wut is in the show, oh yes, and he rescues Lala by… hiding her under his trench coat while he and Tala are running away. Somehow, only Reva can spot that lump under his coat because she’s awesome that way—at least, I suppose that’s what the idiot screenwriters are trying to impress on me. I just think everyone on this show in front of and behind the screen need to find another job that is more appropriate to their capabilities, like unwrapping burgers for the flippers to cook at some fast food restaurant.
The Stormtroopers, geniuses that they are, for some reason keep aiming at Obi-Wut’s lightsaber instead of at his legs or something to keep him from running away. I know, these people have a history of being idiots that can’t aim and are easily distracted by shiny things, but still, shouldn’t at least a handful of them have some common sense to realize that aiming at the torso or the legs will be more effective in preventing his escape?
I can go on and on but oh my god indeed.
Wait, you say I haven’t given the synopsis of this episode? If you still want to know after all I’ve said earlier, please just go to Wookiepedia or something to read it up yourself and let’s pretend we don’t know one another.
Anyway, I look up Joby Harold at IMDB, and this fellow has zero screenwriting credit prior to this show.
Hannah Friedman had written a few episodes of various shows that have nothing to do with science-fiction and she is currently using that masterpiece series Willow as her next public toilet, how awesome. She’s also the “consulting producer” of this show, which explains a lot.
As for director and show executive producer Deborah Chow, this show is her biggest gig to date, with her track record consisting of directing an episode or two of various TV series here and there.
Why are these people allowed to run wild on a Star Wars show without anyone reining them in? What has happened to Lucasfilm and Disney?
Diversity and inclusiveness are always admirable, but what these people are doing is demonstrating just how horribly awry things can go when you let the lunatics manage the asylum.
At any rate, eff this show. Two more episodes and then it’s done, so let’s just quickly get this waste of time of a show over and done with.
