#The whole 'personal space cruiser thing' comes up a LOT during this arc

[bobauthorman]

TMayNT Day 24: Favorite Turtle-Adversary Dynamic

I kinda like how the Turtles refuse to take the Triceratons seriously. While them mocking their enemies isn't really new to the franchise, the fact that even in more serious mediums like the Mirage comics and the 2k3 show, the Turtles decide that the best way to deal with these giant, dino-men from outerspace is to verbally lay into them.

[starellas]

Voltron S6 Review/Thoughts/Venting? XD

So I’ve finished watching s6 a while ago and my emotions are all over the place. I saw a lot of Tumblr users writing their impressions/thoughts, so I decided to do the same. Right now I’m a mess with feelings all over the place so this will also be a mess (sorry).

The post is long so be warned.

Ok so before I get into anything, right off the bat I want to say that the animation was absolutely gorgeous and stunning. I’m not knowledgeable in animation or anything like that but I was honestly blown away by the small details. I also noticed some mistakes here and there like Lance pushing Kaltenecker into the Blue Lion instead of the Red one, but i think that at this point the VCrew are also confused about the whole lion swap just as much as we are.

Music was stunning, especially during the Keith vs. Shiro fighting scene. It’s so powerful and beautifully goes along with the feelings the characters feel. It portrays their inner conflict but also hurt they’re feeling. We, as audience, can feel all of that in the music alone and honestly, the music made the feeling of that moment all the more powerful. I know it’s something people tend to miss a lot so try listening for yourselves. If you re-watch the season and pick out the music, you’ll see what I mean.

Now I’ll separate my points because if I don’t, it’ll get a bit messy. One thing that got to me is that most fans are talking about ships and about Allurance. Are you guys serious? You’re going to talk about ships while there is some powerful shit going on aside from romance?

Don’t get me wrong, romance plays a huge role this season. We got our very first kiss and then the words “I love you” being spoken. It was a shocker and especially with the kiss, however, before I get to all that, I want to admire the masterpiece that is Keith and his development.

Keith’s arc

Keith was absent from the team for 2 seasons and we were all complaining how badly we want him back. Well, I can officially say that this makes it up to me for all the seasons he missed. His actions were so fucking powerful, and his words were so sincere that it made me cry on multiple occasions. Keith has grown tremendously and his journey of self discovery has really helped him achieve all that, giving us this masterpiece of a finale.

Keith’s selflessness

Keith is the most selfless person on Voltron and nobody will tell me otherwise. I know that we have the other paladins who are just as willing to sacrifice themselves for their teammates but it’s noting quite like Keith.

From s1 we always saw Keith running into danger and in s2 he even went and infiltrated a Galra ship by himself. While his intentions for doing that may have been different (for the mission), this time he’s putting himself in danger for the ones he loves. He jumps into danger for Shiro but also for the rest of the team. We can see Keith’s love for Shiro when he follows him persistently, and even faces a whole fucking fleet of Galra cruisers on his own. That single scene shows how desperate Keith is, and to what lengths he would go for the ones he loves. That scene was so powerful that it left me breathless and that was just the beginning of it.

When Keith got back into Black, we could see his maturity there right away. After taking a hit, the first thing Keith does is ask “is everyone okay” and that one sentence just tells us so much because it shows how much he cares about his team. He also returned to help everyone instead of chasing after Shiro and the pod. Remember when in s1 Allura was captured? Keith was against going to save her, thinking that it would be the best in order for Voltron to not fall into Zarkon’s hands. And now? He’s fucking doing everything he can for his team, placing their wellbeing before his own. That is some quality character development and I’m so proud that words can’t express it.

Keith’s leadership

In s3 Keith has been struggling to accept his role as the leader of Voltron, but now by the end of s6 we see a completely different attitude.

First Keith was placed into the Black lion without a choice.

Then he rejected the Black lion altogether.

Lastly he made the decision to go and pilot Black by himself.

And this decision to pilot the Black Lion again shows so much of his development since s3. Keith isn’t the insecure leader anymore. He’s learned from his past mistakes and doesn’t intend to repeat them again. He realises that being a leader comes with responsibilities and he knows that team comes above anything else. If his time with the BoM taught him anything, then it’s the importance of teammates and teamwork. That’s the main part of his story arc and honestly I think he finally learned this lesson fully. It’s something that’s been with him since s1 and finally seeing him change to a mindset where he values his teammates over his mission is so satisfying.

Keith’s relationships

First I’d like to address his relationship with Krolia. While I noticed that many fans are pissed about the way Keith and Krolia were stuck on the space turtle creature, I personally think it was something he absolutely needed. It gave him the family time he missed with Krolia and gave him an opportunity to bond with her. Since Keith and Krolia just met, I think that gave them the perfect opportunity to get to know one another (without it requiring too many episodes to do). Also, you can imagine the many flashbacks of the past they must have had while there, which means that they got to learn everything about each other whether they wanted to or not.

Not to mention that Keith’s wolf is adorable and him having the wolf while living with Krolia gave me a true sense of a “family home” which is something I think the writers were intending to do.

Keith’s past with Shiro was finally revealed and oh god... Wow... Episode 5 is easily my favourite episode of the entire series. I have no other words but to say that it’s a literal masterpiece. There were so many emotions put into it and so many things come to a resolve in their relationships that it made he cry over and over again.

While watching the episode, you can practically feel Keith’s love for Shiro in his actions, words, and everything he does. If Keith was an orphan and Shiro was the one who raised him instead of his parents, then I fully understand why their relationship would be so deep. Keith loves Shiro as his brother, his only family he had.

Keith’s words “You’re my brother. I love you.” Are so powerful and full of emotion, conveying all of their feelings and their relationship thus far. Those are some powerful words, and they hit you right in the face when you hear them. It’s not subtle at all but it’s out there and in our faces. Not in a bad way! But in such a powerful way that it shows Keith and Shiro’s relationship perfectly.

Shiro has been Keith’s only family, the only person that didn’t give up on Keith. Even if Keith gave up on himself, Shiro never did. “I’ll never give up on you. But most importantly, you can’t give up on yourself.” And those words hit me so hard because I personally do give up on myself a lot. This scene made me realise that and I feel like this will resonate with a lot of you as well.

“And I should have abandoned you, just like your parents did. They saw that you were broken, worthless. I should have seen it too.” Is what Shiro says but despite these strong words, Keith still says “I’m not leaving without you.” And then after that he says “I love you”. I don’t think I need to say anything to this. It speaks for itself.

And just as he cuts Shiro’s arm off, he looks like he’s about to cry.

For the entire fight the animation was done so perfectly and we can see the care the staff put into this scene. They wanted to portray how Keith feels here and they did a fantastic job with it. Keith is beautiful and seeing him like this after all this time of isolating himself is just... so fulfilling.

Keith’s Galra side

Keith suddenly turning part Galra during his fight with Shiro was totally unexpected but at the same time it kind of was? We know that Keith is a hybrid but so far he wasn’t seen with any Galra traits on him. That is except for his sword of course, but other than that, nothing much. Not even purple skin.

After watching this, I feel like we’ll be seeing more of this Keith in the future. I’m going to theorise a bit and say that Keith may be having a problem with his Galra side in future seasons, something he might need help controlling.

But then again at the same time, Keith’s emotions may have been so strong that they triggered him to turn Galra when facing Shiro. It adds to the portrayal of Keith’s feelings towards Shiro, and further strengthens their fighting scene. It is meant to show how strongly Keith is feeling towards Shiro, aside from his words and actions.

Also, is it just me or do you feel like Keith was onto Lotor for the entire s3, s4, s5 and s6? The rest of the paladins were played by him while Keith was the one running around and uncovering the hidden truth. Just a random thought.

I could go on and talk about Keith forever because his scenes were so perfect and beautiful. However, I also want to focus on other things I noticed and I’ll fist tackle another big part of the season; and that is Allurance. But most importantly I want to focus on Lance’s character arc

Lance’s arc

So we know that Lance will have an endgame lover by the end of the series and I think that they’re finally beginning to push Lance towards that direction. Lance’s crush on Allura was there since the very first episode, and I personally believe it is something he will have to get over in order for his character to develop. This development will be essential for him and will push him forward to better things. Allura will be the one to push Lance into this direction because she is his friend, and they’ve undeniably grown really close during these past seasons. There is development and I’m not going to deny it. However, I do not think it’s romantic in any way shape or form.

This part will be ship heavy but I’m conscious that I can’t approach this unless I address the ships. I’ll admit that I’m a klance fan so I’ll approach this from a biased point of view. Then again, nothing is really unbiased so I’ll just go ahead and explain how I feel about this.

For me, Allurance is a ship that died this season. Right from the get go we get a scene where Lance saves Allura and then Allura saves Lance in return. However, for me, these scenes aren’t romantically coded at all and rather portray the closeness between the two as friends. The moment in ep 1 also shows the growth of Allura’s powers (which in my opinion are too op).

But we see Lance struggling with his unrequited feelings for the whole duration of the season and in the end they’re not addressed. It will be brought up again in future episodes since we were left hanging like that without a closing.

Allura rejecting Lance and telling him how she really feels will set Lance on the right path to his character development. Allura has always been something he wanted, a crush, but not what he needed. Sure they may have grown closer during the seasons, but Allura still isn’t returning Lance’s feelings. At the beginning I was super happy about everything that was happening because that means that Lance will finally get over his crush and I really believe that Allura will reject him at this point.

Lauren and Joaquim pointed to Lotura’s relationship affecting another character and that was undoubtedly Lance.

Lance isn’t dumb, he knows what’s up. He realises that he’s the third wheel and that Allura may not have feelings for him (he even says it in episode 2). Yet he’s still here, trying to win her over. But I think that now his feelings got the wake up call they needed and the scene where Allura embraces him is the moment where Lance realises that he’s chasing an impossible target. Allura doesn’t love him back, and I think he realises that much this season. Now we just need Allura to tell him herself before he can fully move on from her.

Also, remember this quote from Lauren?

Lance will end up in a completely different place then he expected, and that will undoubtedly be with Keith. I can go on and on why Klance will become canon, but maybe it’s better if you all read about the reasons here. (yh, good luck with that btw XD)

My prediction for future episodes is simple. Allura will reject Lance and then Lance will realise that he had a crush on Keith all along as well. It may take time, but I believe it will happen. That’s when his sexuality arc kicks in. Remember the drawing by Lauren as well? We have Shiro standing next to Lance here, and since Lance missed to act on Shiro’s warning that he was a clone, I can imagine that Lance would want to make it up to him somehow. Shiro will tell him about Keith and maybe reveal a little something about Keith that Lance didn’t expect. (I’m a firm believer in the fact that Keith is gay, so Shiro telling Lance subtly could make him realise that Keith had been hitting on him since the very beginning).

I still can’t believe that they did nothing with Lance and Shiro this season. I can only imagine how guilty Lance feels for doing nothing, even though he knew something was wrong with Shiro.

Also, Allura’s face when she found out about Lance tells us everything. She has feelings for Lotor and by the end of the final battle, she still feels something for him. Love defines all logic and reason, and I believe that at some point, Allura will forgive Lotor for what he did. She may not fully forgive him, but she may be willing to be with him again. This is a stretch and I don’t know how confident I am in this, but I’m keeping everything on the table thus far.

Keith and Lance’s arcs

Ok so we were all confused about this Klance thumbnail for the trailer. And they put it during pride month of all times. However, hear me out on this one. The thumbnail wasn’t meant to show Klance, but show that this season focuses on their arcs.

Keith’s arc was beautiful and showed so much of character development that it was breathtaking and we’ll probably end up talking about it for months to come until s7 hits us. However, apart from Keith, Lance also had his own arc explored in this, and it’s heavier than in any other seasons thus far. Lance’s character development was always shown in the background, however now, it’s out there in broad daylight.

Keith’s arc is about being there for the ones he loves. He understands the importance of a team and values his team over the mission.

Lance’s arc is about... love as well. He had decent development in s5 where he unlocked a new bayard form, and him becoming Red’s paladin overall was a huge step up for him. He understands the weight of war now, and isn’t goofing around like he used to in s1 and s2. However, apart from all that beautiful development, Lance’s character arc is all about love.

We know that Lance will get an endgame lover by the end of the series and I think that the VCrew are slowly beginning to address that. Love is complicated so it needs time to be solved. Lotura is a perfect example of how complicated love is, and even though Lotor fought against them in the end, Allura still feels something for him.

This season didn’t give us any klance but it did give us Keith and Lance’s character development. It was separate but done in the same season, and that’s what the thumbnail is showing. Both of their character arcs focused on love.

Lotor & Allura

Lotura was strong this season, that is until it all came crashing down in the end. But did it really crash? I mean, I can’t deny that Lotor did some terrible things but I still feel like Allura has some feelings for him. In the last episode when they fought against Lotor, she expressed her hesitation at not wanting to leave him behind. The team had to push her to the right direction, begging her to leave even though she didn’t want to. Allura’s emotions were all over the place, and they mirror Lance’s own perfectly. Both of them had their hearts broken this season, and I think the VCrew portrayed that perfectly.

You can see it in both her expressions and her words that she is pained, and didn’t want to leave him. They kissed this season, and a kiss portrays so many strong emotions into one. The VCrew could have chosen to take this in a different route but I firmly believe that they were aiming for Lotura to kiss and that it was a must in this season.

I’m not going to lie, I’m torn about Lotura. A part of be believes that Allura will never forgive him, but there’s also a part of me that thinks she might.

Lotor didn’t have evil intentions, and nothing is black and right. His cause was just, and I believe that he really wanted peace. However, his methods of achieving that peace were wrong and that’s what broke his and Allura’s relationship at the end. Perhaps a part of Allura knows this, knows that Lotor really meant what he said, but her finding out what he did to achieve that broke that trust and made her love for him crack.

There is still hope for Lotura, at least in my opinion. Lotor will appear once again, and judging how Haggar was protective of him ever since she fond out he was her son, I can see her coming back to get him.

Also Lotura mirror Zarkon and Haggar’s relationship so I can see Allura taking on Zarkon’s role of saving her lover from overexposure to quintessence. Possibly?

Other random thoughts

This post is already getting too long so I’ll wrap this up. All of the characters got screen-time and a moment. Even Coran! And him finding his grandfather’s toolbox was very sweet. Then when he had to let go of the Castle, that was a big step of letting go for him as well.

As my friend @msbluebell said, this season is all about letting go of the past and focusing on the future. The destruction of the castle ship showed that, as well as Lance’s arc where he slowly understood that he had to let go of Allura. Keith, and everyone else for that matter, also changed for the better.

And now that the team is going back home, we are told that things will get more “personal” by the VCrew. I can only imagine that the issue of Allurance will be carried over and that there will be even more focus on ships. Also relationships will be explored, whether it be family, platonic or romantic.

I’m expecting Hagar and Sendak to return as well now that Lotor is gone. Also, I’m not giving up on Alteans from the alternative reality because we know that they have a comet as well. The one Team Voltron found was a second one, meaning that they could very well cross over realities and find Lotor. It may be a stretch, but it is possible. I think we’ll focus more on the Alteans in the future, since now we found out that there are living Alteans in the universe.

(Also, I can imagine that Allura will make Romelle a princess while she sleeps with the rest of the paladins. We know because of a spoiler leaked by Kimberly that the paladins will sleep for a very long time. So what if during that time Romelle becomes a princess?)

Either way, there are still mysteries that are left unsolved and a lot of potential as to what direction the VCrew might take this in. I can’t wait to see what s7 has to offer. I loved all of the season, despite Lance’s arc leaving me a bit unsatisfied by the way it was carried out. Keith’s arc was stunning though and by far the best moment in the entire show thus far.

I probably forgot to mention a million things by the time I post this but the post is already too long so whatever.

(Thank you for reading if you made it till the end)

[thescarlettempress]

Unpopular Opinion: VLD S7 was Brilliant

I love season seven. 

Major spoiler warning if you haven't seen it (or S6) yet.

I am unashamed to say it. I finally got a chance to finish watching it this weekend, and Holy Hannah, the game has changed. Each and every episode (minus "The Feud", of course) was dedicated to re-building the universe around a new order caused by the culmination of events of season six, and sacrificing the Castle of Lions.

The Castle's destruction meant that something big was coming. Change was on the horizon and inevitable as the sunrise itself. And something big did happen. The paladins have never been on such a level of cohesion. Yes, they came a long way from a rag-tag group of cadets scrambled on short notice; but not everyone was on the same page. And they had all just gotten off an immense emotional roller coaster (Season 6), of course tensions would be high. But opening up is not the easiest thing for anyone, let alone a secretive techie, an insecure flirt, a temperamental lone wolf, and a person who literally lost their entire world and then some. Being pushed to the brink of insanity brought out a lot, hopefully put some skeletons to rest. And as a result of this pushing, they are beginning to exceed their predecessors.

Now, Earth was going to become a player in the conflict proper sooner or later, and people, specifically Galaxy Garrison personnel, dying on the front-lines was inescapable. Who died, died because they followed orders like good soldiers, and died a soldier's death. And that's just the military. Who knows how many civilians lost their lives in the first wave alone? Death follows war, no matter who fights, who doesn’t, who wins, or who loses. And Commander Holt's return and the Garrison's reaction was also handled as realistically as an Earth post World War III would. With the utmost caution, even with evidence of an intergalactic war staring them right in the face. As depicted, humans can be quite dense, stubborn, and sometimes just want to be right no matter what. Hence the following of protocol in spite of being told that protocol would be utterly ineffective in the face of highly advanced alien war technologies. (People needlessly took Ion Canon Fire to the face, in Earth tech-only crafts, those pilots dead. Good job Sanda)

And Hunk's arc, that was beautiful. We finally see what we haven't truly noticed for six seasons. That Hunk is a braveheart. It takes courage to admit fear. And a whole lot more to face it in spite of that. Hunk has freely admitted to being realistically afraid of dangers that any normal human being would cower in fear from at the very sight of. But in spite of that, when push came to shove he has always been willing to go into danger and join the fight. Would Hunk rather not be a hero on the front-line? Definitely. But who among the living would be willing to sacrifice their life at a moment's notice? Certainly not me. Hunk has always been a hero, this season just let him shine.

And then there's the IGF-Atlas. Oh sweet Lord, the Atlas. An amazing blend of Altean, Glaran, Advanced Earth technologies, all (possibly) fused together by Olkari technique. Then to be powered by the Castle-Crystal from S6, oh what a trip. And it makes sense that a crystal made from dozens of collapsing blackholes, several quintessence rifts and the explosion of a magitech Altean vessel and the Battle-class Balmeran crystal inside it, would be powerful enough power and upgrade the Atlas; in spite of its size. And its particle barrier was so strong it actually withstood sustained fire from SIX Zaiforge cannons. The Castle of Lions would have never survived that. Though, to be completely fair, after 10,000 years of inactivity, the Castle was probably past peak operation, or even just "rusty" from disuse.

And then Shiro. Beautiful Shiro. Our beloved Space Dad. The one who led the Atlas crew effortlessly; who snuck into a fortified Galran Battle Cruiser; who -- during his infiltration -- left complete sentry carnage in his wake, got into the power core, blew it up, snuck back out, and -- after all that -- fought and held his own against Sendak on the top of said Battle Cruiser crashing at terminal velocity, after having his soul/consciousness transferred from within the Black Lion into a clone body; that same Shiro, some-way, somehow (I'm still speculating the specifics of how) turned the Atlas, an already epic Battle Cruiser, into a giant mecha more than twice the size Voltron itself. As if it already wasn't cool enough.

Other high points for me were when Shiro quietly, politely, cut Lance though for a crack about forgetting something after all he's been through, and Hunk and Romelle sharing concerns for the team's general cavalier attitude to danger. And of course Coleen Holt. Full stop. She needs no explanation.

Full disclosure: I went into this season with my own fears and reservations. But I have to thank and congratulate the writers, producers, storyboarders, directors, artists, and of course, the voice actors for all their hard work on this masterpiece. It's been over twelve hours since I've finished watching it, and as I write this, my heart still isn't beating the same way it did before. And for a work of fiction to do that, to invigorate me like that is nothing less than inspiring. As a writer, I want to do for others as this season, and Voltron: Legendary Defender has done for me as a whole. To open up the imagination of my audience and immerse them in a different reality entirely. And they've done it in spite of bullying, hate, threats, and general harassment. I admire their strength for it. I don't know how I would've survived under fire and still bring my A-Game like that, if I were in such a position.

To wrap up: this season was wonderful, and I wait with bated breath for the next one.

[cryptovalid]

Star Wars Episode VIII: the Last Jedi...

...is not going to go the way you think. Ended better than it started. I honestly can’t tell anyone if they’re going to love or hate the movie. I understand why it’s so divisive, and I’m not even sure how much I do like it, all told. But I appreciate its ability to surprise me, at least. My only concern in this analysis is the story, and making up my mind about it is harder than I want to admit. SPOILERS under the cut.

Ok, here’s a quick synopsis of the plot:

After the events of the last film, the first order have discovered and attacked the last rebel alliance stronghold, prompting Leia, Poe, Finn and all the other survivors to flee in a small number of ships. Their problem is that the first order has technology that can track their fleet even when they jump to hyperspeed. During the chase, the Rebel leadership dies, with the exception of Leia, who uses the Force to FLY UNAIDED IN THE VACUUM OF SPACE, barely surviving.

This causes a rivalry between the new leader (Laura Dern as Admiral Holdo), and Poe Dameron. Holdo insists that the fleet keep moving forward, while Poe begs her to do something more, as their fuel is running out. Ultimately, this leads Poe to conscript Finn and Rose to recruit a codebreaker so they can disable the First Order’s tracking tech. He even stages a mutiny against Holdo to make sure this plan succeeds (it doesn’t. This entire subplot ends in disaster for the Rebellion).

Meanwhile, Rey meets up with Luke Skywalker, who doesn’t want to join the rebellion, stating he can’t save them. Luke refuses to train Rey at first, fearing she will turn out like Kylo Ren. He implies that there is an inevitable hubris in the Jedi, and it must end. We later discover that Luke, suspecting Ben Solo had already turned to the dark side, had to suppress the urge to kill Ben. Seeing his mentor standing over his bed, lightsaber drawn, is apparently what drove Kylo Ren to join the Sith. 

Rey discovers that she has an involuntary psychic link with Kylo Ren, through which she feels that he is conflicted about his evil deeds. Failing to convince Luke to join her, Rey seeks out Kylo Ren and allows herself to be captured by him. Supreme Leader Snoke then orders him to execute Rey after interrogating her, but Kylo tricks Snoke and kills him instead. 

Rey then attempts to persuade Kylo to return to the light, but he chooses to take Snoke’s place, Rey and Kylo fight to a draw. Rey escapes and Kylo chases the Rebel Fleet to their destination. It is then that we see Admiral Holdo’s plan: to take small, undetectable craft down to a remote rebel base, while their remaining cruiser lures the first order away. And it would have worked if the codebreaker Finn and Rose recruited had not betrayed them. In order to save the Rebel ships, Holdo stays on the cruiser and rams it into the First Order flagship at lightspeed, sacrificing herself.

This only buys them a little time, as the few survivors of the rebellion are now trapped on a planet, assaulted by ground forces. Rey arrives, but is unable to stop their bunkerbusting canon. Finn is ready to sacrifice himself to save the rebellion, but is stopped by Rose. Luke shows up and confronts Kylo, buying Rey enough time to sneak the rebels out of the back of the bunker. In the end, Luke dies. The Rebellion is still on the run, and Kylo Ren is leading the First Order.

First, let’s start with some things I liked, since they are less complicated than the things I disliked.

I like the idea that Luke is disillusioned with the Jedi Order and doesn’t want it to continue. Honestly the movie could have done more to dive in to his criticisms, as I feel they could have made the movie a great deconstruction of the Jedi’s commitment to authority and violence, or their messages about healthy relationships and emotions. It even has the potential to comment on political attitudes toward violence in the real world. As it stands, it seems like the only reason Luke is initially hesitant to join Rey is his fear of her power, fear that she will betray him like Kylo Ren did. Which is not a criticism of the Jedi, but a criticism of his own mistrust of Kylo. It’s not a bad arc, but I would have liked to see a more strident critique of Jedi teachings. 

i like that the movie has an egalitarian message at its core: The Jedi aren’t really special, and Rey’s parents are not tied into the history of Star wars at all. I think the idea that the Force is a power passed down through a couple of bloodlines really undercuts the message that it connects all living things. It’s good to change it up and imply that anyone could tap into the Force, that it belongs to everyone. 

Leia, Finn, Rose and Poe all survive the movie, even though their deaths seemed almost certain at times. The stakes are up for the entire movie, and anything seemed possible. Deaths are numerous but meaningful.

The climactic battle with Snoke is a nice subversion of the expected ‘Lightsaber duel’, and I really like how it did not redeem Kylo Ren, underscoring his emotional immaturity, alienation and deep need for control instead.I also enjoy how this movie shits all over the First Order’s dignity, without trying to make them look cool.   

I really enjoyed the actual plot twists in this movie. Sadly, I spent most of my first viewing frustrated by my own expectations. At times I was convinced that Finn and Leia would die, and that Reylo would become canon. This mercifully did not come to pass. 

The plot elements I did not like are a bit more complicated. I was particularly frustrated with the power struggle between admiral Holdo and Poe. It was very convenient from a plot standpoint. From the beginning, it was obvious that Holdo had a plan she was not sharing with Poe. He doesn’t trust her, so he even goes so far as to stage a mutiny against her. Because of the framing, I spent most of the movie frustrated with both characters. Either one could have communicated a little bit better to prevent most of the movie’s drama. The subplot about finding the codebreaker felt useless anyway.

The movie also isolates Finn and Rey from each other completely. Considering how fun their dynamic was in TFA, this is not an improvement. The whole subplot with Finn and Rose meandered around, and didn’t really reflect the urgency and tone of a high stakes death march through space. Ultimately, nothing Finn and Rose did actually had a positive impact on the Rebellion. This isn’t necessarily an objective flaw in the story, I just dislike that Finn has become a secondary character. Also the Kiss from Rose at the end was completely unexpected. Unlike Rey, Rose doesn’t really get a chance to form a bond with Finn, since their subplot doesn’t involve any real choices to define their characters in contrast with each other. Given how much I like the actors and characters, this is a waste. I was sure, given the context, that Finn and/or Rose would die. Small mercies, I guess. 

Comparatively, the movie spends a lot of time trying to make Kylo more sympathetic, which really rubs me the wrong way, especially because of the way his character parallels real life bigots and spree killers. He fits into a growing real life trend of white men who become desillusioned with basic decency when they don’t get what they want, and lash out violently in retribution. Episode VII made it crystal clear that Kyle Ron has spent his entire adult life murdering and torturing unarmed people, participating in a explicitly fascist regime that enslaves children and commits genocide. All the while, several people give him ample opportunity  to opt out, and he threatens to murder them every time. The only time his supposed ‘conflicted’ nature actually stops him from murdering is when he’s emotionally invested in his victim already. Redeeming a nazi-analog is not impossible, but it is also not cheap. Making minor exceptions to your violent outbursts is not a sign that you’re a good person at heart. It’s typical abuser behavior. How much slack are we supposed cut this asshole? Did he really turn to the dark side simply because Luke thought he already turned, contemplating killing him? Sure, this is traumatic as fuck. Is Rian Johnson aware of what this means for the nazi analogy? Will this be dealt with in more detail in the next movie?

It is no secret that there are many Kylo Ren apologists out there. People downplaying his own agency and the severity of his crimes. Shipping him with Rey, a woman he has kidnapped, threatened, assaulted and violated. It’s hard not to see this movie as vindicating or at least baiting them. It matters, in the end, how Kylo’s arc wraps up. And honestly, I can’t think of a way to redeem Kylo Ren that wouldn’t be gross. How could Kyle realize that murdering people was wrong all along, given the chances he’s been given? What message does that send to victims of abuse? That no matter how many times he’s shown you that he feels entitled to hurting you, you have to keep being compassionate because he will eventually, when things look really bad for you, make a sacrifice to save you, redeeming himself? Is it even possible for a murderer as wilfull and committed as Kylo to make a heel turn, given that he’s already tried to kill everyone he cares about?

I’m also a bit confused about this movie’s message about the Jedi. Luke hems and haws about continuing their traditions, but there’s no actual attempt to get into a discussion about it. Yoda tells Luke to teach Rey, but destroys the texts when Luke hesitates to. And then Luke dies without speaking to Rey. Maybe I shouldn’t expect a thesis statement here, but I think strong opposing arguments would make it clearer what the movie is trying to say.

So it should be clear why The Last Jedi is so polarizing. It doesn’t go the way anyone expected it to, and it deliberately steps away from anything that came before it. Whatever you think Jedi used to be is now obsolete. Anyone can tap into the Force, and it doesn’t come down to special blood. That’s bound to alienate long term fans who are really invested in canon. I actually like this, and the way it sets up future stories to have their own meaning.  

On the other side, the movie really focuses on building expectations for Kyle Ron’s redemption and makes Finn, Poe and Rose partially responsible for the death of the rebellion, sidelining them in the process. Again, this isn’t an objective mistake, but I do not like it at all. I really like Finn and in particular, his relationship with Rey, which is absent in the movie.

Kyle Ron is a good villain, but trying to build empathy for him actually backfires. Yeah, discovering your mentor uncle thinks you’re evil and wants to kill you is fucked up. Feeling seperated from your parents sucks. But it doesn’t excuse Kyle’s many crimes. Trying to redeem pseudo-nazis is a bad idea both in-universe and as a story to tell in 2017. It should have something more substantive to say if it wants to go that route.

All in all, this movie was a mixed bag for me. I think it will be for a lot of people, depending on what they’re looking for. If you aren’t really invested in Finnrey, Poe, the Jedi Order and the Skywalker Dynasty, or Kylo Ren being recognized as entitled and awful, you’ll probably enjoy this movie more.