The final episode had some beats that worked for me but I still can't say I was blown away. No real surprises to be had though I did think it was one of the better episodes of the show.
I loooooooved hearing some of the established musical themes and am truly baffled why they didn't use them more throughout the series. They hit so much better than the generic stuff we mostly got.
Not sure why Vader's ISD apparently had no TIE fighters or tractor beams. Looked like we were about to settle into another slow speed chase.
The final duel was weird and lackluster. I haaaaaated that Obi-wan didn't make a single attempt to redeem his old friend. In my mind, that should've been the focus of the show, not Leia. Anyway, the damaged helmet stuff was predictable and cheesy but could've been worse I guess. I had a feeling they couldn't resist doing the "cool" battledamaged Vader look, especially with Hayden being brought back. That said, I actually thought he was strangely underutilized overall, with hardly any flashbacks. This duel makes the DS duel 10 years later seem even more out of place. Obi-wan must reeeeeally go downhill in these final 10 years. I did kinda like how he called Vader "Darth", however.
Reva going to the homestead was dumb and I hated that whole subplot. It honestly felt like her story ended in the last episode but they still needed something else for her to do. Who knew Luke had already encountered an evil, lightsaber wielding lunatic when he was 10? I will say I thought Moses Ingram's acting was much better at the end, with her expression of crushing remorse and guilt. I liked that, even though her character just didn't work for me overall. For all the recent talk about lightsaber impalements, I can only laugh that it was even more marginalized to the point of being a minor inconvenience. I honestly briefly forgot she had even been stabbed at first. If this hadn't already been shot a year ago, I'd say Disney is just trolling those of us who have an issue with their blase handling of such a serious wound. "Tis but a flesh wound!"
Though occasionally a little too precocious for my tastes, I thought young Leia was well cast. If I squinted at the right moments, I could almost see Carrie Fisher in some of her expressions and mannerisms. I thought she did a good job selling me on this character being a young Princess Leia. I suppose I'll buy Obi-wan's comments about basically not acting like they knew each other. It's weak but I'll go with it. It's whatever.
I also was way more on board with Bonnie Piesse and especially Joel Edgerton as Beru and Owen. I really didn't think I'd ever buy them in those roles but they did a fine job with what they were given in the show.
While I never honestly loved Ewan as Obi-wan as much as many seem to, I thought he was great and the emotion he showed at the end of his duel with Vader was very nice. I just never bought that he turns into Alec Guinness and frankly still don't. He's fine as his own take on the character but they never have felt like the same person to me.
Qui-gon's return honestly felt like an afterthought and I even wondered if it was added late, perhaps as a response to fan speculation that he would surely return (right?!). The show almost felt like it was originally supposed to cut to credits as soon as Obi-wan said "Hello there". For me, that would've been a great way to wrap it up and a nod to fans that weirdly have made memes of that line. Then again, Qui-gon was referenced throughout the show so maybe they just couldn't come up with a better way to do it. It was neat to see Liam Neeson again but his just popping up in the middle of the desert didn't quite have the emotion and gravitas I thought they'd give his reappearance after all these years.
Generally speaking while I didn't hate the show, I felt it was pointless and added nothing to the canon. It never justified its existence as far as I'm concerned. I really hope they don't do another season. A few times I saw glimmers of potential of what it could be but I just don't think they can pull it off. Just put it to bed. I didn't hate it; I didn't love it. It's done and let's move on. That is that.
