Jedi v Djinn

Last night's Obi-Wan Kenobi was an improvement over previous episodes but still quite a few problems linger and a few more are introduced. Meanwhile, it was once again outshone by Ms. Marvel and the radiant Iman Vellani.

Famed Pixar director Andrew Stanton was a co-writer on last night's Obi-Wan and will be on next week's, and I suspect he's responsible for the parts I liked. The best part was the conversation between Reva and Obi-Wan and it was a moment when Reva finally became interesting for me. I'd seen a lot of people predict exactly what was revealed in the dialogue, that Reva had been a youngling and wasn't completely evil. I'd seen these predictions before I'd had time to think about it myself. In any case, it makes the character much better suited for Moses Ingram, who's just too gosh darn cute to be a great Star Wars villain. It's too bad she doesn't know how to pick her moments.

Maybe stabbing Vader in the back would've worked while he was tearing apart that decoy ship but it was pretty silly of her to do it when he was standing there not doing anything amid no distractions. All of her work infiltrating the Empire ruined because, I guess, she suddenly got impatient. I liked Vader's line about how Obi-Wan was wise to use her against him, though. Yeah, how would Obi-Wan know she'd completely whiff? This isn't on him. I also liked how Vader dismantled that stupid helicopter lightsabre.

And, keeping their precious continuity with Rebels, the good old Grand Inquisitor returned, good as new. Getting impaled with a lightsabre through the chest just isn't as deadly as you'd think, I guess. It just happened to Reva and, thanks to a few other ludicrously convenient plot contrivances, it's clear she'll be up to hijinks next week, too. I mean, if it's this easy to survive a lightsabre through the gut, even one from Darth Vader, why don't we just bring everyone back? Why not Qui-Gon?

Please don't let that happen.

Anyway, the main problem, for me, continues to be a lack of Star Wars music and Deborah Chow's inability to create a sense of scale. When Vader was marching through the hidden base, the score seemed to impotently be trying to build into "Imperial March" but Disney just won't let Natalie Holt do it.

A problem having nothing to do with paying John Williams, though, is how dinky everything feels. Maybe they can't afford to show hordes of stormtroopers or the landing of attack ships. Could we not get at least one establishing shot of Vader's Star Destroyer? Last Friday, I wrote about how much better The Orville is at this kind of thing and I can't imagine The Orville's budget is bigger than Obi-Wan's. Seth MacFarlane knows that part of this kind of story is just how cool it is to be in space in these big mechanical behemoths. So he takes the time to give us big, majestic shots of the ships sweeping into view accompanied by a lush score, emphasising that this is pretty damned amazing. That's what Star Wars should be, too. I mean, that's why the opening shot from A New Hope is so effective, of Leia's ship being overwhelmed by the big, angular shape of the Star Destroyer.

Meanwhile, on the second episode of Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan continues to be adorable. I want to see a team-up with her, Hawkeye 2, and Black Widow 2. I figure they could call themselves the Kitten Avengers. It's absurd Kamala is going to have to share a screen with Captain Marvel and Monica Rambo. That's like teaming Tom Cruise with D.B. Sweeney and Sam Worthington. It's like A+D+D.

I bet a lot of people are staying away from Ms. Marvel because they're expecting obnoxious politics. There are a few awkward lines where one of the characters inorganically brings up her skin colour, as though the writers don't understand why they have to tow this line, but mostly the episode focuses on story. Sure, a lot of that story is inexplicably Turning Red, but it has a few ideas of its own. Maybe Marvel and Pixar writers shouldn't get lunch at the same commissary?

I love the awkward scene where Kamala is distracted by her own showboating so that she almost fails to rescue a kid. That really felt like a fledgling, teenage superhero, and it's a big improvement over the too typical pattern where the new superhero is immediately able to throw down big bosses without breaking a sweat. This is something Hawkeye did well, too, at least as far as Hailee Steinfeld's character.

A lot of the writing feels a bit sitcom-ish, especially around Kamala's family, but it's decent sitcomish. I loved how Kamala told her brother that the guy she was out with was their cousin. That was really funny. Though I would point out that SRK's best movie is actually Daar.

Neither of the boys in her life has much charisma. Kamran is bland and Bruno seems kind of like a villain, despite dressing like Marty McFly.

I keep expecting Kamala and Zoe to get together, actually. People writing about the show call Zoe a bully but what has she done to bully Kamala so far? She just seems a little narcissistic. Anyway, I'm enjoying this show.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ms. Marvel are available on Disney+.