#The only logical explanation why he haunted him all the time as Vader

[bayonettassecondgf]

Ngl I would too survive burning on the shore of Mustafar just like Anakin did because imagine your brother/father figure tells you he loved you after he cuts off your hands and legs and lefts you to burn.

Man, I would be mad asf too. Like king couldn't have you told me that earlier, like we could have avoided all this...

[renegadeontherunn]

happiness by taylor swift is a disaster lineage song, sorry I don’t make the rules

okay so yes I should be writing or doing homework instead of making this extremely rambly, slightly incoherent post but it’s friday so I’m vibing and you lovely people get to join me!

this is the ultimate star wars grief song for our tcw trio and I see it in three different contexts:

Ahsoka’s POV to Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the Order after she leaves in the season 5 finale

Ahsoka & Rex during/after Order 66

Obi-Wan & Ahsoka to Vader (Obi-Wan on Tatooine and (REBELS SPOILERS) Ahsoka after her duel with him in The Twilight of the Apprentice—for reference, I’ve only seen parts of Rebels so if some of that stuff is inaccurate, let me know!)

so we go . . .

honey when I’m above the trees / I see this for what it is

on a ship, in the Force, in hindsight

but now I’m right down in it / all the years I’ve given / is just shit we’re dividing up / showed you all of my hiding spots

#1: Ahsoka’s years learning in the Order, being a Padawan, her dedication to the Jedi and her faith to their teachings (”the values of the Jedi are sacred to me”), all the years she’s given are just completely thrown away as soon as there’s suspicion against her (in the unfinished episodes, Anakin says “well what choice did we give her? the moment there were any suspicions about her loyalty the Council turned their back on her.”) they both share this anger about her expulsion, and Ahsoka brings it up later during the Siege of Mandalore when she says “and what? defend the Council’s actions? I hardly think I’m the best person for that.” 

#2: again, Ahsoka’s years fighting alongside the 501st, growing close with Rex and Jesse and everyone else to suddenly find them turning on her (this is before she knows about the chips, of course). she could also be feeling this in tandem with Rex—“those soldiers, my brothers, are willing to die and take you and me along with them!” all the years Rex has given in the 501st, with his brothers, fighting for the Republic, having to watch his brothers be killed and not be able to do anything, all his hardship just means nothing. their attempts to be themselves, to be unique, to not just be “another number,” were useless in the end. the “showed you all of my hiding spots” line points to the closeness and friendship that they had with each other

#3: again again, pretty self-explanatory, all the years Ahsoka and Obi-Wan have given to teaching and learning from and loving Anakin are just completely thrown away by his fall to the Dark Side and him ultimately trying to kill them. the same for the last line applies here, they were brothers, they were sister and brother, they were a family and then it was all ruined.

I was dancing when the music stopped

In each of the scenarios, they were preoccupied, in the middle of something else (the war, capturing Maul, defeating Grievous, helping Ezra, etc.) when everything stopped and collapsed. each situation was completely unexpected and each time, their worlds fell apart.

and in the disbelief / I can’t face reinvention

#1: all Ahsoka’s ever known is the Jedi, and now without them (without anyone to help her or any connections or support), she has to completely change her way of life, as well as lie or invent a new background for herself (”Skywalker Academy,” “my older brother taught me,” “I used to live on the upper levels of Coruscant,” etc.)

also—Ahsoka becomes Ashla, and then Fulcrum (reinventing herself over and over again) and Obi-Wan becomes Ben. obviously, they don’t want to have to change, and again with “in the disbelief,” each of these events was unexpected and a complete gut punch.

there’ll be happiness after you / but there was happiness because of you / both of these things can be true there is happiness / past the blood and bruise / past the curses and cries / beyond the terror in the nightfall

I don’t think this line needs any explanation, but I’ll give some anyway! In a meta-sense, the audience started Star Wars with the happiness after all three events, but especially Vader. the Original Trilogy showed the end of the Empire, the Rebellion, the happy endings of Luke, Leia, Han, etc. in-universe, both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan hold this sense of bittersweet nostalgia (because how can you not?), both with Obi-Wan training/looking after Luke and Ahsoka joining the Rebellion and helping the characters in Rebels. they’re both trying to ensure happiness after Anakin. 

but, of course, of course there was happiness because of Anakin, that’s what The Clone Wars shows us! we see them happy (or, at least, somewhat) in tcw, which obviously makes everything much sadder, but still. they were happy. and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka both know it—we see it explicitly with Ahsoka meditating to Anakin’s holo and reminiscing in Rebels. they found happiness and love and family in the war, where there was so much death, so much destruction, so much darkness and terror. they found each other, they found happiness anyway. this can also apply to the OT, since that trio also found family and happiness in the midst of the Empire.

it’s this inherent optimism that both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan share that Anakin doesn’t (or didn’t) that’s keeping them afloat. it’s the adherence to the light, to kindness, to compassion. 

haunted by the look in my eyes

#1: going back to our three scenarios, you could say Ahsoka was probably haunted by the look in the Council members’ eyes—especially Yoda, Plo, Obi-Wan—when they expelled her. as well as, of course, the look in Anakin’s eyes when he begs her to stay and she says no. the ending image of season 5, the last image we ever saw of tcw for years—with Anakin’s sad, wide eyes—yeah. that look.

#2: overall, this context has less to it, but I’ll still argue that the look in Rex’s eyes, in the clones’ eyes haunted both Ahsoka and Rex, probably especially Rex. or even, not seeing his brothers’ eyes and instead seeing their blasters pointed at him. their final scene, with the eyes of the helmets (Ahsoka’s eyes painted on) stuck on sticks. yeah, that definitely haunted them both.

#3: Obi-Wan and Ahsoka both get horrifyingly clear images of Anakin’s gold eyes. Anakin’s look when he shouts “I hate you!” surely haunted Obi-Wan, as well as Anakin saying “Ahsoka” and “then you will die” with a very clear, obvious image of Anakin’s gold, scarred eye through his mask. 

that would’ve loved you for a lifetime

#1: Ahsoka was prepared to be a Jedi forever, for a lifetime

#2: Rex, more in this case, but both he and Ahsoka did and would’ve loved the clones forever. those were Rex’s brothers and it’s so clear, especially with the scene of him crying in the hangar bay, that this is killing him

#3: Obi-Wan and Ahsoka would’ve loved Anakin for a lifetime—and I’d argue they did, despite everything (”you were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!” and “my Master could never be as vile as you” and “to the best of us”)

leave it all behind

#1: sorry if this is getting repetitive, but yeah, Ahsoka left everything, her entire life, everything and everyone she’s ever known behind

#2: Rex and Ahsoka leave everything on that moon, including her lightsabers that she just got back and then had to give up a second time

#3: Obi-Wan leaves everything behind and flees to Tatooine. Ahsoka tells Ezra this—to let Kanan go, essentially leave the past behind him. And she can’t “save her Master” either. she too must let him go. 

tell me when did your winning smile / begin to look like a smirk?

this is just so Anakin slowly falling to madness and the Dark Side. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan thinking about the signs they’d missed, if there was some way they could’ve stopped it, if just one thing had been different, if they’d just noticed. trying to figure out where it all went wrong. 

when did all our lessons start to look like weapons pointed at my deepest hurt?

#1: “the values of the Jedi are sacred to me”—and then she’s expelled and told that it was part of her great trial in becoming a Knight. a foundation of the Jedi Order and its process gets turned against her.

#3: this line becomes literal—Padawan lessons, sparring, suddenly became dueling Anakin to death, for both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka

no I didn’t mean that / sorry, I can’t see facts through all of my fury

#1: you could argue that Obi-Wan is right when he said Ahsoka let her feelings cloud her judgement in leaving; that she couldn’t see the facts through the pain of being betrayed by the Council. and then, when she comes back in the Siege of Mandalore, immediately, she and Obi-Wan start arguing, and then both of them are clouded by their feelings, both feeling hurt by the other and lashing out.

#3: again, this is just so Anakin turning to the Dark Side. he obviously doesn’t realize that he’s being blinded by fury (or maybe he does and just doesn’t care, or probably, thinks that is the only way). but he is. he’s completely blinded to logic, to reality by the fury that Sidious has spent years amping up and harvesting and Anakin himself has spent years bottling.

you haven’t met the new me yet

this line is really painful if you view it from Anakin’s perspective. they both believed he was dead, but no, turns out he’s a Sith Lord, in fact the Sith Lord that’s been the Emperor’s tool in causing immense pain and destruction across the galaxy. it’s this evil, excited little line from his POV (think that ROTS comic: “please say it’s Kenobi. Lord Vader gets such a thrill from killing people who care for him”)

there’ll be happiness after me / but there was happiness because of me / both of these things I believe

again, there’s that optimism, that desire to help people, to do good in the world, and this faith that Obi-Wan and Ahsoka both have. that’s why Obi-Wan helps Luke, that’s why Ahsoka joins the Rebellion. it’s all to ensure that there will be some happiness, some light after them (and maybe a little because of them. again, see the first chorus. they were happy once, and they both know it. “we’ll be fine, as long as we stay together.”)

there is happiness / in our history / across our great divide

I see this mostly as Ahsoka and Anakin (and Obi-Wan) during season 7. there’s still a connection, of course, love and happiness between them, despite the ending that’s right on their heels, as well as the great divide of Ahsoka leaving the Order.

there is a glorious sunrise / dappled with the flickers of light

Anakin does end up returning to the Light Side and his reunion with Obi-Wan is surely like a “glorious sunrise” that ended the darkness of the past twenty+ years. the second part I just see as a fun, literal line—flickers of light are lightsabers, blaster fire, the Light Side

I can’t make it go away by making you a villain

in short, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka can’t make the pain or the past happiness go away because Anakin’s now Vader. they still both remember Anakin fondly and with love, despite his fall. they loved him, still. in ROTS, when Anakin says “from my point of view, the Jedi are evil!” Obi-Wan doesn’t say “then you are evil,” or even “you are wrong,” he says “then you are lost.” lost. as in, can be found again. not evil, not unworthy, not wrong. just lost. there’s this goodness that Anakin has that he is ignoring and straying from (”there is good in him”). and in the context of Order 66, Ahsoka can’t and doesn’t make the clones villains because she knows they’re actually the victims. as much pain as it causes, they’re not the villains and she can’t act like they are. 

so I know there’s a lot of discourse about Anakin apologists or whatever, so all I’ll say is that George Lucas has said that the prequels are to show how a “nice little kind kid, who has good intentions” turns into Darth Vader. the whole point of the PT is this line—while Anakin/Vader is no doubt the villain in the OT and in ROTS to a degree, that doesn’t make everything else go away. the other stuff doesn’t excuse what he did, all the pain he caused, but we can’t make it go away, just because he’s a villain. that’s one of the beauties of the prequels, that we get this extremely fleshed out, torn and struggling kid who ends up making all the wrong choices and becoming the terrible villain we see in the OT. 

I guess it’s the price I pay for seven years in heaven

while none of these scenarios is seven years exactly, it does continue to drive the point of “all the years I’ve given is just shit we’re dividing up.” everything these characters had, individually and with each other, just gets utterly, completely ruined. 

in a more meta-sense, the ending of The Clone Wars is the price we, the fans, pay for seven seasons of the show. 

no one teaches you what to do / when a good man hurts you / and you know you hurt him too

this could point again to Ahsoka and Anakin, but also Ahsoka and Obi-Wan after she leaves the Order. when she comes back, none of them really know what to say, what to do, how to act around each other. this obviously comes out as arguments and words that are so close to what they really want to say, but just short. they’ve all been hurt and none of them know what to do about it. 

and, of course, Obi-Wan and Anakin in ROTS. Obi-Wan doesn’t want to believe that Anakin’s fallen to the Dark Side, and later on Tatooine, knowing he’s hurt and been hurt by Anakin, doesn’t know what to do

after giving you the best I had / tell me what to give after that

again again, all the years they’ve given. all the love they had. everyone they knew & loved. gone. 

leave it all behind / and there is happiness

[frumfrumfroo]

I’m new here and couldn’t tell from the tone of some asks (sorry) but did you like what they did with Ben in TRoKR ? I saw the discussions abt him lacking agency in it and I 100% agree but did you personality agree w/ the passive, “things only happen to me” vibe they gave him? And second question: can u give examples of how soule’s writing was telegrsmed in TFA? Thank u for taking the time xx

Like I’ve said before, it’s exactly the kind of backstory I would have written for him/always imagined. I had expected to find out he didn’t kill the other students/fought them in self defence/it was some kind of accident or emotional overload incident in TLJ. That was where everything was pointing.

Someone this insecure and conflicted about what he’s doing, someone who prays for help to resist his loving nature and cries when he sees his dad, who is so uncomfortable with himself he is covered head to toe not even his voice unmasked, who immediately latches on to the protagonist as a kindred spirit in loneliness and needs her to know he’s not a creature and wants to help her rather than hurt her- that’s not a person who had an eyes-open, all-in fall to the dark side full of decisive action and unhindered agency.

Leia saying ‘it was Snoke’ told us from the get go we’re in a situation where he was haunted and manipulated. His subservience and rote, childish repetition of ‘the Supreme Leader is wise’ when Han tells him Snoke doesn’t care about him. The constant, ongoing contradiction of his behaviour and motives tell us he has no conviction in the cause he’s supposedly supporting. His self-harm and naked suffering in the face of his own actions, his recklessness and inability to commit to selfishness and lack of ambition tell us those aren’t qualities which drove him here. He is highly emotionally driven, there’s no tangible goal and he doesn’t have a vision of the future. So why is he on the dark side?

It’s not that things only happen to him or that he’s passive, it’s that Ben has never pursued or been comfortable with what darkness really is and that has always been obvious. He tries very, very hard and fights tooth and claw to cling to something good in the comic until all of it is in ashes- he’s not passive, but he can’t win. No one can hold out forever against that kind of relentless onslaught. That he was absolutely a victim doesn’t mean he has no agency in his later choices. He’s not absolved of responsibility. But his reluctance and victimhood only makes sense, anything else would be incongruous with TFA.

There was never pursuit of power for power’s sake from him- there’s nothing he wants that the dark side can give him, he is there literally because he felt he had nowhere else to go. I said this before TLJ even came out. He felt he could not escape it, both because of the fatalism his family unintentionally instilled in him and because Snoke convinced him none of them loved him, that he is only useful or valued as a tool. Ben is a person who doesn’t believe he has any inherent value just for himself- just Ben, he believes that he can’t be forgiven for the sin of being born a disappointment, and that everything is his fault because he’s wrong and bad no matter what he does. None of his choices feel to him like real choices, all of his options appear to have been taken from him, and he feels compelled to plunge forward on the only remaining path. The comic provided an emotionally and logically cogent explanation for exactly why he would feel that way which is completely consistent with all the implications about his past and his characterisation from the films.

As I’ve pointed out before, there’s a reason he says ‘it’s too late’ to coming home not ‘I don’t want to’. There’s a reason he says ‘what I have to do’ and ‘he (I) was weak and foolish’- there’s a reason he needs Han’s help to go through with killing his father. It’s not about what he wants (he wants to go home with his dad- he thinks he can’t), he has never felt free to make his own choices or that freedom is possible for him.

Even at his darkest he never became cruel, he never enjoyed killing or hurting people, and he totally fails to suppress his instinct to be compassionate. He has a highly developed conscience and an overflowing core of empathy he can’t seal off. That’s why he’s so miserable as he pushes himself to do things he finds abhorrent- but he thinks he has to, there’s no escape, it’s the only way. In the sequence which establishes this character, even before any layers are stripped away or the investment we naturally have in him because of who he is is revealed, one of the first things we see him do is have compassion for F/nn. Those two characters are connected and a comparison is invited- this is visual storytelling showing you that they have something in common (it will be made clear later on that Ben saw himself in F/nn and that’s why he takes his actions so personally- cognitive dissonance).

F/nn was a good person trapped in the mask of the stormtrooper by circumstances beyond his control, but he is able to reject it and reclaim his identity. Ben is a good person hounded into the mask of Kylo Ren by his family’s failure to reconcile with Vader. The crushing weight of their expectations and their total lack of faith in him combined with their lies and Snoke’s manipulation convinces him there is ‘too much Vader in him’ and that Ben Solo isn’t and never will be good enough for anyone. That his love, compassion, and selflessness are all weaknesses which will only cause both him and the galaxy further suffering.

He is the most morally sensitive person in the new gen, he is the most outward-orientated and loving. His impulse is to be selfless and helpful, but that impulse has been relentlessly punished until he mistrusts it and thinks he must repress his wrong instincts and serve a ‘greater order’ guided by someone stronger than him. He has an acute sense of the impact of his actions and he considers it (even when he loses control of his emotions, he overwhelmingly targets things rather than people and his angry threats are empty).

In contrast, Anakin (who was committed on the dark side and successfully cut himself off from his empathy for many years) was all in on the pursuit of power even when he still had good intentions. Anakin also knew that power was the foundation of the dark side and he and Palpatine would always be at odds, that some day he would overthrow him and take his place. Ben only values power out of fear, and solely primal fear not more abstract, possessive fear like Anakin’s, he wants safety. He doesn’t go to Snoke thinking he’s ever going to take his place or gain his power- he wants Snoke to give him belonging and acceptance. He’s then convinced that the ends justify the means and doing things he knows are wrong and which cause him pain are necessary because his whole life and Snoke’s machinations have set him up to believe that. He is still trying to create safety and doing what he’s convinced must be done and will be done one way or another.

Ben is a beautiful compassionate person and always has been and that is why he’s in such constant, excruciating pain trying to shut himself off from love and vulnerability. He is following Snoke’s demands and trying to kill his past to stop the pain, to kill this vulnerability and need and weakness in himself. Connection was always what he wanted most and he is trying to cut off and cauterise all of the broken, abandoned bonds of love his family has left him with. And even here, he still wants Snoke’s acceptance, Snoke’s validation and esteem. He is still pouring himself out for an other, giving everything to please someone else, the last person left who tells him it’s possible he can achieve value.

He latched on to Rey instantly when he realised they were alike and did everything possible to lift her up and spare her what he went through. He only rejected Han and Rey’s offers to come with them because he thinks their love is conditional and that small, dirty, broken Ben Solo will never be able to meet the conditions. He thinks he is a tool or an obligation to them and it’s easy to understand why he thinks that. Han couldn’t wipe away a lifetime of baggage in a few words. Rey pretends it’s about the cause, she doesn’t tell him she loves him.

He thinks he must ‘become who he was meant to be’ and that his destiny is to become a new Vader. Everyone told him that. Whether with their fear or directly with words. When he finds out the truth about his grandfather, it’s a complete confirmation of what Snoke has told him and how his parents have treated him. Luke deciding he can’t be allowed to live because it’s that inevitable is the nail in the coffin in Ben believing there’s any place for him with his family. There is nowhere for him to exist as himself, he has to be someone else, someone less weak. And in running away from himself, his legacy, and his identity he puts himself under Snoke’s thumb and Snoke can finish inculcating his worldview.

Being able to love is freedom to Ben. He is an immensely loving person who feels like he is not worthy or allowed to love people, that his love has done nothing but make things worse for everyone. The tension and repression of trying not to need or care about people is what makes him so emotionally unstable. Kylo Ren is a mask and a shield and a prison built by Ben’s hurt and anxiety but equally built by Snoke out of his boyhood fancies to control him and shape him into an instrument of pain. Ben could never have conviction in it because it is so alien to his nature. He is so fundamentally unselfish that he never coveted like Anakin eventually did, his love never became possessive or jealous, he never sold his soul for a boon, the only way he could be selfish enough to murder is out of animal fear and pain. Wanting the hurting to stop. Rationalising it post-facto with the philosophy that the ends justify the means.

He pours himself out for Snoke because there is no one else left. All he wants is the safety and acceptance that he has literally never had anywhere. Anakin received unconditional love from his mother, Obi-wan, and Padmé and was warped from giving compassion into selfishness by his fear of loss and need for control. Covetousness became his tragic flaw and thus his fall culminates in trying to kill Padmé rather than lose her. Control became so important that others ceased to matter and love became possession. Anakin (despite also being a victim of manipulation and Jedi hubris) got to make real choices, he had real options, and thus he was a villain with conviction. Ben’s attempts to take control of his life are unfocussed and mostly involve abnegation, he pushes people away instead of trying to clutch them close; his response to loss is to isolate himself not seize power to recover the lost thing by force. Ben never received unconditional love until Han’s sacrifice on the bridge and the experience immediately shatters him from his already tenuous position in the dark. The only thing keeping him from coming home after that is sunk cost and the idea that he can never be forgiven. That it was too late.

He just needed someone to show him it wasn’t.

[sonfaro]

Problems I had with Star Wars: The Last Jedi...

So, first: Merry Christmas!   Second...  Saw Star Wars again... SPOILERS, obviously. After second viewing, I still like it, but it's now below the Force Awakens for me in terms of how much I liked it.  This is a complicated metric though, as I think it's a better written movie in some ways than Force Awakens.  It certainly takes more risks, and leaves us in a fresher state story wise than ever before in Star Wars.  However, I still have problems, and this time I wasn't as glossed over by the stuff I hadn't seen before to ignore them.  To be fair, Some of the problems I had with it (Super Leia for example) WERE better the second time, but some things got worse.  This will largely be a rant of the things I didn't like, just because I want to get the negativity out.

Most people are complaining about Canto Bight, and it's understandable - not much of consequence happens there.  However, I think a lot of the Rey/Luke island stuff drags on and doesn't really fit together well either.  Rey repeats some version of "Kylo Ren is evil and we need you to come back" three or four times to Luke.  One of them after Luke has agreed to train her already.  It seemed like a ham fisted means of getting her to talk about the Force as a power for Lukes lesson, but if so there are better ways than repeating information both the audience and Luke know already.  I think that section needed reworking.  The first lesson should have been the one in the cave - how the Jedi order were hypocrites and what not.  Then move from there.  Also, Luke should have commented on/helped improve her sabre technique so she's not just proficient after having used it only once.  Him watching her suddenly become a ninja and doing nothing just illustrated that Rey again didn't have to work at being super skilled at something and just sort of was.

While we're on the subject of Rey - in TFA and in TLJ (though much less in the latter thank you Rian) Rey is OP.  Flat out.  The explanation we're given in this movie is that as Kylo get's stronger in the force so does she... despite this notion being nowhere in canon prior (Sidious is the most powerful being on the dark side and Vader is second to him.  Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda could hold a candle to either, and honestly neither could Luke (well, he could have dealt with Vader towards the end maybe, but definitely not Palpatine).  The force produces no light side equivalent in the 20 years the two run roughshod across the galaxy.  But it does now?

Snokes death is still a supreme waste.  And no it's not similar to Palpatine.  Palps got NO real hype until return of the Jedi, and his death wasn't treated as a joke.  Cut Luke milking the pokemon down and add in twenty seconds of Luke telling Rey in that cave "Snoke made that hole at the bottom of the island.  I fought him there.  I thought I killed him but he escaped and has haunted my family ever since".  <- takes ten-twenty seconds.  You can easily trim 10-20 seconds of this behemoth for enough so that I at least know where he came from.  I shouldn't HAVE to read an EU book to have a little character backstory on the evil counterpart to Luke in this series.  

Also, Rey and Kylo's story arc made less sense to me upon second viewing, because Kylo never seems to show her any conflict within himself before they force touch.  He barks a command at her the first time they link up.  The second he taunts her about the look she gave him in the forest and hints that Luke did something to him.  Third time was the creepy shirtless scene where we get his side of things.  Then Rey jumps into the dark side hole and suddenly she thinks Kylo is okay to have at a fireside chat - and that there's good in him... When he's displayed NO good to her the entire time?    What?  If their link allowed them to see memories - like Rey sees him decide not to shoot Leia - then it's justified, because that moment would have given her a sliver of doubt.  As it is, it just doesn't make sense, and makes Rey come off as an idiot (which, if you wanna make that her flaw - that she's a naive idiot sometimes, that's at least a step in the right direction.)

Also, one of my major problems that the second viewing crystalized for me is - ALL of the characters hold the idiot ball way too long.

Poe is probably the most egregious, but his idiocy I like, because it's a bit more character than the last time we saw him and it gave Oscar Isaac something to do.  I like that he'll be leading the charge next film.

Admiral Holdo though?  Oh, she came off much worse in the second viewing.  She tells no one... NO ONE about her plan?  I could agree with the think pieces I've read about fighting mansplaining and toxic masculinity if it were clear she'd told some people and was keeping Poe and his crew out of the loop as a lesson, but while I agree Poe was out of line - some sort of plan should be relayed to the rest of the crew while they're running for their lives.  She's literally told no one, and her excuse is some random quote that Leia says about "hope being pointless if you can see it (<a paraphrase, sure - but that's her reasoning)" which inadvertently hands Leia an idiot ball.  That's a flimsy as heck contrivance for unneeded tension that doesn't make logical sense, and is directly responsible for literally everything bad that happens to the resistance.

...I still love that character though.  Best death in Star Wars bar none.  Also, Laura Dern played her really well.  I WOULD be willing to read EU books about her and Leia complaining about politics and blasters and dudes and whatever they wanted to talk about while murdering Stormtroopers

On to my favorite new trilogy character, Finn, and his new buddy Rose.  It's still better than I expected from the trailers... but not by much.  I've read a few articles trying to pass his storyline off as character building, including one from Rian Johnson.  In no way do I believe them.  Finn's character is right where he was at the beginning of the movie, only now he's in an apparent love triangle (ugh.)  Some one wrote that the point of his story was to have him grow from someone who ran to someone proud to be in the rebellion... except a.) that was his story arc in The Force Awakens, and b.) he was 100% already working with the rebellion and happy to do it when the film began!  After his initial "where's Rey" he works with and asks questions of Leia about the Resistance's next step - He's all in when the movie begins.  Him running away isn't cowardice, he just literally puts his relationship with Rey over the resistance.  Which makes sense, because she's his first friend.  And also because HOLDO TOLD NO ONE HER PLAN SO FINN THOUGHT REY WOULD DIE!!!  Another option I read for his arc was that Finn learns the lesson not to run into danger... but that wasn't Finn's problem in the film, that was Poe.  Finn was super cautious, trying to escape the ship in secret to protect Rey, and not wanting to ride the horse-rabbit.  And then even after Roses' sacrifice he still thinks he needs to run in to help Luke, so that's not a lesson he learned.  That situation should have been reversed.  Rose should have wanted to make the sacrifice, but Finn should have stopped her.  Just kill the arbitrary "save the things we L.O.V.E.", because that still wouldn't be earned though.  -_-

That said, Rose remains adorable, and fares better on second viewing.  I'm pretty sure she caught on to Finn sneaking off before she let on, and if so, that's cool on her, she's super observant.  My only problem with her character wise was... why was she, a mechanic, flying with Poe and the remnants of Black squadron?  I can sort of see Finn, because he's a soldier, but her being in her own cockpit seemed contrived for her weird rescue attempt that didn't make sense.  (Those things were old, and safety couldn't be great on them, running into Finn COULD HAVE KILLED HIM.  There's her idiot ball).  Apparently there's a bunch of shippy scenes between the two that build up her crush on Finn that were left on the cutting room floor.  But so much was cut that it just feels unearned.

I'm still eternally grateful that Finn finally got a win of some sort after getting kicked around all of TFA.  The fight with Phasma was 100% more awesome on the second viewing because I saw so much more going on.  I now really need a Star Wars fighting game, no lie.  (Also, lets be honest.  Phasma isn't dead.  They showed blaster fire ricocheting off her armor for a reason.  She'll come back and if we see her face there'll be a massive scare over her eye... Or... OH WOW, I LITERALLY JUST THOUGHT ABOUT THIS AS I TYPED IT!!!  EYE-PATCH GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE!  Someone who fanarts DO THAT PLEASE!

BB-8 played deus ex machine one too many times in this movie.

I paid more attention to Hux this go around, and I actually liked him much more as the sniveling weasel who thinks he's more powerful than he actually is.  Domnell Gleeson is so good in that smarmy role.  I can't wait for the inevitable Kylo/Hux infighting.

Why is Chewie getting orders barked at him from Rey?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?  Or could she ask?  It's the difference between "Chewie, swing us around!" and "Chewie, CAN YOU swing us around?"  Minor point but bugged me.

Kylo Ren is my favorite Star Wars villain of all time.  Adam Driver is awesome.  He's essentially a school shooter who has been rewarded with power and nothing can be more despicable.  I really don't want him redeemed.  "Star Wars is all about redemption!"  you might cry.  Yeah, if one wants it.  But kids need to be shown what happens if you reject it too.  Food for thought.

You couldn't have given Benecio Del Torro a name IN the movie?  Finn and Rose wouldn't have asked him?  Huh?

Also, that war profiteering storyline seems flawed to me.  Of course a weapons dealer will eventually sell X-Wings.  If the rebellion beats back the empire in your sector, what are you gonna do?  Sell them cheap but unsafe TIE's?  The logic of that scene didn't work for me, and the storyline seemed discarded as soon as Benecio Del Torro left, unresolved.

There is no reason Lando Calrissian couldn't be in Canto Bight.  Heck, he should have been the dude with the pendant, and he missed Leia's call because he was gambling and not paying attention.  Rose and Finn could have missed him before they saw him... or just not known who he was because they were young when the first rebellion was a thing.

This is the best acting from Mark Hamill in a star wars movie ever.  It's a shame they veered so far away from his original characterization.  I disagree with him on the notion that Jedi don't give up.  But that's because I think that trait is Luke's.  LUKE doesn't give up, even when he should.  So derpy depressed Skywalker doesn't really gel with the rest of the Saga to me.

Carrie Fisher was a gem and will be missed.  She was perfect.

 A lot of my friend who have issues with it say that they think it's a good movie, just not a Star Wars movie, or something along those veins.  I will say now, that having watched it a second time, I don't quite agree, though I see where they’re coming from.  This one felt more like a prequel Star Wars though.  Not in terms of quality though, as I'd say it was much better than the prequels.  Certainly Attack of the Clones anyway, which is still my least favorite live action movie (the Clone Wars Movie is worse).  I don't think it's a great SAGA movie, because Rian seemed determined to throw away most of the promises and intrigues from TFA and ignore basic lore stuff to make this one. It felt like he hated much of the Force Awakens and wanted a mini do-over, which I would argue was a dumb idea. But despite that, it's definitely a Star Wars movie.  Just not a great one for the saga.

Here's the big issue though - the REASON it's not a great Saga movie, is because this story team Disney's cooked up haven't been much of a story team.  When they got the property and decided to do a trilogy, they should have written out a skeleton for the three movies, just so everyone who writes and directs has an idea of where they're going.  Rian had free reign on this one, and it almost felt like he was making both the first and second movie of his own personal trilogy.  I am looking forward to his actual trilogy, because his ideas were interesting to me and I feel like he does love the franchise.  But it did a disservice to this film.

And finally, just because it irritates him so - Reylo is a terrible garbage ship.  I hate shipping in general - but not since SasuSaku have I truly loathed the idea of two characters hooking up.  Shoot, Reylo is worse.  In no way should it happen.  Honestly, it shouldn't even be promoted, and should be looked on the way Sansa and Joffery's relationship as looked at.  The fact that SO MANY media outlets are romanticizing the damaged white boy (and sorry to make it racial, but it really does feel like there's some of that in there) and thinking it would be totally hot for the first truly prominent female protagonist in Star Wars history to boink him makes me fear for society.  Literally any other ship is preferable to this...

Star Wars is my favorite franchise of all time and holds a special place in my heart, and this movie does bring that love back.  But the people who are confused as to why it’s not as liked as ESB should take a more critical eye to it.  It’s great, but not that great.

...And again merry Christmas!