This show is… okay, I guess. It has moments of greatness (Vader scene, obviously), but it’s just weirdly bland in so many ways. The production is weirdly amateurish compared to Mandalorian: my theory is Disney got lazy with Obi-Wan because they figure they don’t need to try so hard when the plot is literally just what millions of 10-year old Star Wars fans have been acting out on playgrounds since 1977.
But the writing and plot so far is also kind of just… bland. Like, there’s nothing that really departs from the obvious basic plot synopsis required: Obi Wan is on Tatooine looking after Luke, some stuff happens, he’s nearly caught by the Empire, runs into Vader, survives, etc.
There’s no creative spark. How about something more than the most obvious plot-line required of a post-Clone Wars Obi Wan show? The only place I’ve seen real creativity from Star Wars lately is with Visions. I feel like your average random Star Wars fan could vomit out a more creative plot in a YouTube comments section. Here’s an idea from me, a random guy on the Internet: Obi Wan is laying low on Tatooine, but then something like the plot of Seven Samurai (a Lucas inspiration) happens. Some local warlords/bandits attack a moisture farming community. One of the farmers tries to recruit some “Ronin”, and asks Obi Wan for help. At first he refuses but comes around after realizing the Galaxy needs the Jedi again, blah blah, etc, you get the gist. That could be the whole show - you don’t even need Vader (and a Vader-less show is probably better for the overall consistency of the saga).
If you absolutely HAVE to have Vader because Disney execs insist, then maybe Obi Wan’s involvement in the Seven Samurai escapade alerts some local Imperials. Obi-Wan realizes his cover is in danger and has to temporarily flee Tatooine. But if Vader is involved, he should be way more mysterious. Plant some seeds early on by mentioning rumors of a mysterious “Jedi killer” working for the Emperor - nobody is sure what “it” is: a new Sith apprentice? Some kind of droid/Cyborg? Nobody really knows. When Obi-Wan finally encounters Vader, we can get a big emotional pay-off when he realizes it’s Anakin. (They did this better in Rebels with Ahsoka; in the actual Obi-Wan series Obi Wan is basically just told that Anakin is still alive by another character.)
I’m with you but Seven Samurai is also pretty unoriginal for this kind of thing, it’s been done in every Filoni show so far. Sometimes the western and samurai movie references are so blatant that they’re obnoxious. It came full circle in Visions when one of the episodes was a retelling of Hidden Fortress, when that’s literally already what the original Star Wars was.