Obi-Wan Kenobi Part II Has Fans Making All The Breaking Bad Jokes
"Obi-Wan Kenobi," which debuted its first two episodes on Disney+ Friday, is a wish-fulfillment fantasy for many "Star Wars" fans. Bringing Ewan McGregor back to reprise his role as the titular Jedi, the show fills in the gaps between "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" and the classic "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope." On top of that, the series hails the return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in his early days as the feared Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Fans seem to be responding positively to the first pair of episodes, which together comprise the first third of the limited series. After catching audiences up to speed on the current state of Obi-Wan's life — in hiding from the fearsome Imperial Inquisitors who hunt him, working as a butcher for meager pay, and trying to keep an eye on Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely) from afar — the series launches the former Clone Wars general on a new adventure among the stars.
Thankfully, given how much of it we've seen in "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett," "Obi-Wan Kenobi" quickly transports its hero away from the twin suns of Tattooine to the darkened streets of Daiyu and even gives viewers a look at the majestic planet of Alderaan. There are a variety of new sights and sounds in these worlds, which means plenty of fodder for fan discussion as viewers take it all in.
One such discussion, however, led fans to make a surprising comparison between "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and the much more terrestrially bound TV show "Breaking Bad." If you've ever wondered what Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) cooking laboratory for their infamous "Blue Sky" would look like on an alien planet, "Obi-Wan Kenobi" surprisingly answers that question, leading fans to make some hilarious jokes.
The last thing fans expected to see in Obi-Wan Kenobi is an alien drug lab
Part II of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" plants viewers on the darkened streets of Daiyu, a location best described as the criminal underbelly of Mos Eisley with a lot less sand and a lot more neon signs. There, while searching for Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair), Obi-Wan meets Haja (Kumail Nanjiani having more fun than anyone else on this show), a conman who impersonates a Jedi by using a system of concealed magnets to fake Force powers. When Obi-Wan overpowers and grills Haja regarding Leia's whereabouts, the grifter directs him to the place she's been taken: the back room of an alien drug manufacturing operation.
Earlier in the episode, Obi-Wan is given drugs by a young street punk named Tetha (Esther-Rose McGregor), and now he sees how the chemical sausage gets made. The room is filled with beakers, tubes, and pots, with aliens clad in gas masks tinkering about. In case viewers had any doubts as to the purposes of this operation, a dish filled with the same spice powder given to Obi-Wan sits on a shelf toward the back of the room.
Given that the average person's main frame of reference for a drug lab comes from "Breaking Bad," it was only natural that fans started to crack jokes about seeing a similar criminal enterprise pop up in "Obi-Wan Kenobi" of all places. On the Reddit episode discussion thread for "Obi-Wan Kenobi," fans flexed their quick wits, with u/DarthGipper18 quipping, "Better Call Maul!" Drawing on the alias Obi-Wan uses when we first meet him in "A New Hope," u/JediJacob04 quickly let off the zinger, "Breaking Ben".
Haja Estree's magnet-based scam led fans to even more Breaking Bad puns
If the inclusion of a full-blown drug manufacturing operation in a "Star Wars" show invited a slew of "Breaking Bad" jokes, things were taken to the next level when fans considered Haja Estree's reliance on magnets to convince his marks he can wield the Force. One of the most commonly memed moments from "Breaking Bad" is Jesse Pinkman's expletive-punctuated outburst after Walter engineers a giant magnet to remotely strip data from an incriminating hard drive held by police. Jesse famously lets loose a gleeful, "Yeah, b****, magnets!" It's a loose point of connection, but on top of the alien drug lab, the presence of magnet-based plot points in both shows created space for yet more knee-slappers from fans.
Fans took the opportunity to invoke that quote in service of the "Breaking Bad" joke train, with u/ubryan868 writing, "And magnets! Yeah!" Others simply quoted the line of dialogue verbatim, as u/JeffreySource did with the comment, "Obi Pink-wan to Haja: 'Yeah [b****]! Magnets, ow!'"
While seeing such adult themes in "Star Wars" certainly feels jarring for a franchise that has usually had a limit to such things, fans seem to be embracing the darker tone favored by "Obi-Wan Kenobi." After all, the show takes place during what is arguably the darkest part of Obi-Wan's life, with his fellow Jedi destroyed, the Empire closing its stranglehold on the galaxy, and his former apprentice now his greatest foe. Perhaps fans needed a good laugh after all of that.