The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped today, following the continuing adventures of the legendary Jedi Knight during the “smelly drifter working in a revolting meat factory” phase of his life. And while everyone was expecting a ton of references to the prequels (Hellooo, Jimmy Smits!), the show is also, surprisingly, crammed full of symbolic homages to the recent sequel trilogy, AKA the foundational texts for most rageful YouTube videos.
For starters, Obi-Wan working a crappy job for little-to-no pay followed by solitary desert meals distinctly recalls how we meet Rey in The Force Awakens.
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
And obviously, Luke’s controversial arc in The Last Jedi follows the pattern of previous exiled Jedi masters, like Obi-Wan and Yoda – but here, the show takes the opportunity to have Obi-Wan’s story mirror what we’ve seen of Luke’s. We literally get a scene featuring a young Jedi offering the dispirited Obi-Wan a lightsaber, which he refuses.
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Obi-Wan even remarks that the Jedi’s time is “over” – not unlike how Luke claims that it’s “time for the Jedi to end.”
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Lucasfilm
Plus, we later see that Obi-Wan’s lightsaber is buried in the Tatooine desert, which calls to mind the final moments of The Rise of Skywalker, in which Rey does the same with Luke and Leia’s sabers (before straight-up lying to a senior citizen).
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm