Strong opinions.
And of course things can be edited around, but I find Obi-Wan to be a more interesting character with all this baggage (regardless of copy-paste Luke TLJ storyline and some trimmed moments from ep 1 with Organa) than someone who goes straight back to Badass after meeting Vader and two minutes in a bacta tank. In fact, even though he starts out as TLJ Luke, his character arc is way more fitting to the losses he has endured and his growth in the series far more rewarding than TLJ Luke ever came near to. And with that in mind, diminishing the importance of a redemption arc done well because of the failures of another film should NOT make Obi-Wan - as it’s own thing - sacrifice a working series component because of the mirrored arc with a character arc that did absolutely and utterly NOT work. And I’d debate anyone that I’d rather watch episode 4 WITH the cringe ten times unpaid than watching The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker one time with payment.
Either way, this debate was good to have. The episode has its meaning beyond just filler imo and that was a point that had to be made. I have no idea if the episode will have its place when the edit is said and done as the current main timeline is only up to ep 3 until further editing commences (my flu fkn calms down) and a separate cut was made up to ep 4 with good, fatty trims (which hell, might become a separate cut for ep 4 admirers) so who knows.
The main priorities now is to make the ep 5 content bridge well in tone and pace of the rest of the project, and improve the series’s score. I don’t think I’ve heard a good soundtrack since the ten seconds of the Ep 3 planet introduction, and what I thought would be one of the easiest fanedis I’ve done in years is actually turning out to be another beast entirely because of this and the rollercoaster of good and bad storylines and the execution therein.