#also someone here was talking about how luke's reaction was a trauma response and it is that was well. It's his flaw and his trauma

[just-another-turkey]

Man, I love the reactions both Percy and Luke have after Percy cuts Luke.

Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty. He still considers Luke his friend, and he just hurt his friend. He's 12 years old, he's new to this whole world of gods and monsters. He's just a kid, and when a kid accidently hurts their friend, their first instinct is to apologize.

Luke has been a part of this dangerous world for years. He had been on the run for years before camp. He's fought monsters then, he fought monsters when his dad sent him out on a quest. And the kid he took under his wing, thought was a kindred spirit in their hatred of their parents and the gods, taught him how to use the sword, just cut him. Luke was going easy, but now he's been injured. In a world where you fight to survive, where you kill or be killed, you don't go easy on your opponent. You fight to kill, and when you do it so often, it's instinct.

But Luke's fatal flaw is wrath.

Percy has refused to join him, refuses to turn against the gods. They're fighting, Luke is going easy because Percy is a kid who just learned how to hold a sword. But he draws first blood, in Luke's mind, it now marks them as opposites in the upcoming war. Despite everything Luke has done for Percy, despite thinking that his own betrayal wasn't truly a betrayal, this is Percy's betrayal.

He's pissed, he's wrathful, and just like how he wants to strike down his Father and all the other gods, he knocks Percy down, cuts him, and nearly kills him.

Only Annabeth stops him. The girl he sees as his sister defends Percy, stands against him. And after a moment of hesitation, after the rage starts to fade, Luke runs.

[thewritetofreespeech]

Is it okay if I can request head cannons of the Obey me boys (Brothers and Nowdateables if you can) reacting to a chaotic, savage MC that takes no shit and isn’t worried about their life when they get threatened? The brothers start off as jerks to them and MC’s like “I think tf not! You will treat me how you would like to be treated or we’re gonna have some problems! 🤨”

Lucifer:*threatens them* I’ll punish you if you keep embarrassing Lord Diavolo’s program! *in demon form*

MC: Luci, if I’m gonna be very honest; I don’t really care. In fact, I didn’t even ask to be here for you to nag at me like that’s my concern. Do your worst so I can cope with my trauma in my room again 😑

Leviathan:*threatening to kill MC over TSL*

MC: Go ahead, funerals are expensive anyways 😐 *genuinely doesn’t care*

That’s literally all my picks in the game, and I think the boys assume I’m a serial killer. *Insert Rick & Morty Summer shrug*

Obey me Boys + ‘Fight Me’ MC Headcanons

Lucifer

At first he thinks it’s all bravado

Which is really just annoying

Once he realizes that they really don’t care, he’s amused and intrigued

Concerned for their safety though. Bravery is one thing. Stupidity is another

Mammon

Flabbergasted

No one has ever clapped back at him before

Doesn’t know what to do with an abnormal response like that and just deflates like a flan in a cupboard

Low key high key more in love with MC

Levi

Metal Gear Solid exclamation point sound

Doesn’t know what to do if someone calls his bluff

His bark is a million times worse that his bite

Goes from big attack dog to shivering lap puppy in 2 seconds

Satan

Frowny face

Does not like this attitude (even though he’s the one copping attitude by threatening to maim you)

Will try to reason with MC since violence doesn’t seem to be the answer

Admires & respects them after a while. You have to be tough to hand in the Devildom

Asmo

The only thing Asmo like abrasive is his loofa

Would not respond well to chaotic energy

Attempts made to have MC act more delicate and genteel. Like a backwards, demon My Fair Lady play.

Low key aroused. But then again, what doesn’t get him aroused

Beel

Confused. Why do you want to fight everybody?

Wouldn’t really get where this energy is coming from, since his life’s goal seems to be peace and harmony wherever he can find it which is rare in the HL

Gets upset when you talk about yourself that way, like your life doesn’t matter

Also mistakes MC’s ‘fight me’ energy as wanting to spar. Sparkle eyes over the idea to train.

Belphie

“Ahh...my angel”

Being super yandere, he’d respond really well to this

Someone who will love him even though he’s moody and violent and would straight up cut people. Yes please!

Will test the bonds of your loyalty and bravery though. Be sure to dodge.

Solomon

Calm down Beyoncé......

His dry sense of humor is often misunderstood. So his ‘threats’ are really a joke

Would find it incredibly amusing if you came back at him with an equally cool ‘come at me bro’ quip

Congratulations. You are now best friends

Luke

Cue sad puppy eyes

I think his ‘threats’ would be more cranky comments about how your no better than those smelly demons

But he really doesn’t mean it! Honest, honest! Please don’t be mad!

More senpai in love with you if you use your ‘cool stats’ to stand up for him. His shiny human hero.

Simeon

Wh....Why would you say that?

Would not understand why you had such an extreme reaction.

Being an angel, and their expression level on standard neutral, he wouldn’t really get why you would want to react this way to things

Not every slight deserve a response. Let’s move along dear.

Diavalo

Cue trade mark boisterous laugh

As mentioned before, you have to be tough to hang in the Devildom

Proud and admires your spunk in not letting things get to you

Let’s both do our best and be strong together!!

Barbatos

Amused and delighted by your spirit

Unintentionally the one that makes you feel most like a child with his response

He doesn’t mean it. It’s just that unintentionally condescending butler tone

Fury more times 1000x when he pats you on the head like he doesn’t take you seriously

[samsspambox]

luke pearce made me sob as if i haven't been crying all weekend

ima be talking about luke's birthday event story, specifically one scene.

tl;dr: luke could have thought the party popper was gunshot, but maybe i'm reading too much into it (tw: gunshots and insinuations of ptsd)

this image right here made me start crying all over again

this is right after the party popper. he's still surprised and he hugged rosa and said this and i burst out sobbing bc this boy has so much trauma (listen, luke buddy pal amigo, you gotta make me stop crying to your shit. i sobbed at the end of your personal story and you're the only one of the boys that has made me cry)

look, for this to make sense you have to understand that while there's this divide within luke when it comes to him and agent raven, the people that he "hurt" in the name of the NSB won't care about this distinction. they see agent raven and they see someone close to him and decide that that's the person they hurt bc agent raven fucked their shit up and they want revenge.

luke, on a fundamental level, must know this. he has to have lived through countless missions where someone he mildly cared about died. hell, we know how fucking dangerous his job is bc he almost fucking died in one! we know some people didn't fucking make it when it came to the same mission!

i think that's one of the things that he's afraid of when it comes to rosa. in his personal story he revealed that he wasn't even going to try to seek out rosa bc of his thing but i think it also had to do with rosa maybe being targeted by enemies of the state. it's his need to protect rosa that keeps him on edge. (cough cough rosa was experimented on as a child cough cough)

rosa calls him over saying they need some help right? and lowkey in code too. they could say 'come home, our old one' and i get that it's supposed to be cute! but in luke's mind they could have been using it to signal something else? you know that trope of 'i'm doing something out of the ordinary so that you know something is wrong'? YEAH THAT. he's already on edge and ready to jump in action. especially bc this is rosa and he hasn't talked to them all week! he already thinks that they hate him and that he made them mad! (*grabs a spray bottle* bAD LUKE! YOUR FRIENDS LOVE YOU)

and then the party popper happens.

do you see where i'm going with this?

luke's mentality is always in the 'worst case scenario' space. the second he heard that party popper he could have thought of the worst. rosa asked for his help but couldn't divulge the details? all the red flags.

now, i'm not saying that party poppers are loud, hell the tiny ones are offenseless. but we don't know what type of party popper rosa might have had in that moment. but the big ones? the ones for gender reveals? they can be big! or bc some are small, it could be the sound of a silencer?

luke probably thought someone had killed rosa and that he was too late. luke is the type of person that's like "let anything happen to me, but not to the ones i love" type of person. if rosa was gone? he'd break. we saw how a week made him antsy! but obviously rosa was right there so he couldn't have thought that, right?

but you don't just shut off your body's response to that shit, especially when it comes to a trained agent. he hides his agent raven side from rosa, who is to say he won't hide this reaction from them? hes probably so relieved at all of that! that rosa isn't dead and that it was all for him.

or maybe i'm just reading too much into it and he's literally surprised. idk y'all tell me.

thank y'all for coming to my tedtalk. now ill go back to my study hole and work on some physics problems

[welcometotheocverse]

oooooh in any verse (but especially piece by piece) — how do you think Henry would feel about Kirsty? (especially with how she kind of forces jess into developing emotional intelligence lmao)

So I think in My Way they’re pretty close but that Piece comes with a bit of a hurdle like...Henry...isn't used to people outside of Jess caring about him right? So seeing Jess have his own kids would kick up a lot of insecurities like is Jess leaving him now? How would he fit in here? Are these new kids more important like Henry's entire world for the first 9 years of his life was Jess.

Jess was the only safety Henry knew for nine years. He was very much the cornerstone of his formative views on the world. And that...tends to have ramifications because welll...Formative years. Jess himself was a baby so he wasn’t always the most present or stable but it was all that Henry knew. To Henry, Jess is his family, his safe person. He’s the one he knows will protect him, and see to his needs and the only constant person to talk to him.  This is why it takes a while for him to come around to anyone outside of the two of them, this is why he hides around Jess and even Luke doesn’t get him to come downstairs alone for a good month. I do think that seeing Kirsty A) be friendly to him ( and that Kirsty is good with kids and has experience with kids so she’d probably approach him in a very ‘projects safety’ way) and B) that Kirsty hangs out so much with Jess and that  her calling out Jess on things he might not realize hurt Henry  ( not always telling him why he’s disappearing, the disappearing in general, his constant defiance of authority figures ( which makes Henry nervous because in his experience that always leads to bad) ) would make her a Safe Person and he would go like “Jess&Kirsty are safe” and then “Jess and Kirsty ( separately) are safe” and like of course he’d be a sweet baby angel throughout this whole thing bc Henry even when scared is set to “sweet baby angel” like he’d be nothing but nice to her ( albeit completely quiet and hidden behind Jess at the beginning and then slowly like....”speaks 2 words with Jess around” “Speaks full sentences with Jess around” “trots after Kirsty even when Jess isn’t around.” ) specially if she also gets Luke to shape up in re to like “im gonna yell at Jess about smoking and bludgeon a hole in the wall while the kids are sleeping!” ( luke...Luke no lol) 

So I do  think in Piece he starts off liking Kirsty fine and like   in My Way it would follow the same trajectory but when she gets pregnant ( and specially because it happens after Jess leaves Henry at Luke's ) they have a lot of "you're not being replaced/we're still a family all of us" to work through like his reaction to the pregnancy would be...pretty bad actually.

Like he wouldn’t be aware of it, or why because he’s legit a baby and ( like most traumatized ppl) all he is is reactions to bad memories and stimuli and trauma responses that he doesn’t realize he’s having but it would kick up a lot of “Jess is starting a family with someone else” and “when Liz finds someone to date we become secondary” and this would be one of the first times in his life if not the first that Jess is doing something without it being Jess&Henry and that....can trigger a lot of shit? From a kid with his specific background?

I think he’d eventually come around specially because Luke has Lulu to help him in “how to parent traumatized babychild without further hurting said babychild” and Kirsty  herself would by then ( I imagine? ) have some insight but he would definetely be somewhat resentful about Jess now having “his  own family” and probably revert to a lot his s2 behavior and this might also affect his relationship to Kitsty in that he might go back to not talking much to her ( or to Jess) and sorta feel “she’s taking Jess away and they’re both leaving me to make a family.” probably for at least until the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy. After the twins are born and they’ve had some talks about it/he’s had time to adjust though he would probably come around.

[unholyretributioncomes]

How I Would Bring Back Ben Solo

I keep seeing stuff about Ben Solo not being dead. Now I love the character, and I wish he had a better redemption arc than he was given, and was allowed to live so he could properly atone for his mistakes and work to fix them. But bringing him back has to be done even more carefully. So here is what I currently have for that story- including satisfying arcs for the characters who were stripped of everything that we loved about them. Note: this is a WIP. It is in no way finished, and the intended arcs I have for each character has not yet been written for fully fleshed out.

These arcs include Finn finding a purpose for himself outside of Rey and war. Rose getting some proper closure and maybe having a similar arc to Finn. Poe dealing with post-war stuff including prejudices and trauma. Chewie and Rey being a proper family.

1) Possible comic or animated series. A one movie or three might not be enough or would allow for too many essential cuts

2) While the focus would be on Ben Solo, have regular cuts to Rey and the others

3) Make sure it is clear that this isn't just him getting closer, it is also him atoning for anything he has done as Kylo Ren

4) The story: Ben Solo wakes up either on an Exegol looking area (where he "died" at the end of TROS) or some other dark, empty space that is fairly featureless and void of any other signs of life.

He begins looking around for Rey, and only barely being able to Force, is only able to tell that she is in fact alive and well.

Sensing something off about this place, he grabs the lightsaber that is with him (at first it seems to be Luke's but later on possibly is revealed to be Leia's either by similarity in look or some sort of veil that had been shielding it, though that is revealed later on) and proceeds to look for a way out.

Thus begins his journey.

Cut to Rey.

On a planet, possibly with the group, but is taking some time to herself to meditate and reflect. She then feels a familiar presence: Ben. She calls out to him, but receives no response, only able to feel him there. A member of the group arrives (Finn or Chewie) and asks her what is up, and in their talk, she is able to realize that Ben Solo is alive and somewhere out there in the Galaxy and she declares she is going to go find him.

Cut back to Ben.

Everything is looking exactly the same and he is feeling more lost by the minute. He pauses to take a break as it is clear he is either still exhausted from the fight or been walking for hours. He then feels her: Rey. He calls out, but also receives no response. He calls again and again (possibly only seeing a flickering, weak image of her) before he gives up and gives his voice a break. Loneliness sinks in.

Sliding to the ground, his mind starts to process what has happened. He thought he became one with the Force, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. That temptation to the dark is still there, but he is more stable in the light. He is completely alone. There aren’t even any bodies of dead Sith or the Knights of Ren. He begins to wonder if this is his punishment for the things he did while consumed by the dark.

A voice echoes through the emptiness, one he has not heard in person in years, but knows anywhere: his mother, encouraging him to get up. He leaps to his feet and looks around, but doesn’t see her. He hears her voice again, telling him to keep going, and that she is waiting for him.

Without a second thought, he begins running towards his mother’s voice, calling out to her, and while never receiving a direct reply, is continually encouraged by her voice.

Cut back to Rey.

She has shared her discovery with the group (Poe, Finn, Chewie, BB-8, R2, C3PO, and possibly Rose). Finn and Poe and understandably upset by this revelation and when Rey suggests they go after him, are adamantly against it, Poe even going so far as to say that wherever he is rotting away in both body and mind, that it is what he deserves.

Angered by this Rey begins defending him, saying that if Luke can turn Darth Vader to the light and back into Anakin, then why shouldn’t Kylo be allowed to become Ben again as well. Poe argues that while Luke managed that, Darth Vader died before anything could come of it so it wasn’t like it mattered for any other reason than a good story.

Rey bites back that if Ben is indeed alive, then unlike Vader and Anakin, he has the chance to work to atone for his sins and deserves the chance to right his wrongs.

Poe stands firm that whatever fate Kylo Ren is facing is likely the one he deserves.

Rey tells him that she is going to go out looking for him, with or without anyone’s help and nothing will stop her from doing so.

After some silence as Rey waits for reactions/replies, Chewie stands and proclaims he will go with her and they can take the Falcon. 3PO and R2 are instantly on board with this as well. Eyes turn to Finn, waiting to see what side he takes.

Finn, still attached to Rey as she was the first person outside of the First Order he spent more than a few hours with, struggles to agree as he does feel similarly to Poe and also feels that attachment to Poe. With some coaxing from BB-8 (Either having learned to speak Droid or having it translated by 3PO) he agrees to go.

Poe is angered by BB-8’s seeming betrayal and goes on a rant. But after some more coaxing he eventually agrees to go on the condition that he gets one free hit in if/when they find him.

Rey smiles and they begin preparations to go searching.

Cut back to Ben

His mother’s voice has since faded, and he has slowed to cautious steps as he continues on his journey. Surroundings still haven’t changed and he questions if he has been going in circles and having seen no other paths, begins debating if he should maybe start trying to find a way to climb up.

Sensing danger, he ignites the lightsaber and begins combat with whatever comes to attack him.

When the fight is over, a voice compliments Ben’s form in the fight. Ben turns and there is Luke standing there. Ben lashes out and tries to kill Luke despite clearly seeing him as a Force Ghost.

Luke asks him the source of his anger and Ben yells at him. That Luke tried to kill him for things he hadn’t done yet. That rather than sit him down and talk with him about it, tried to destroy something that had yet to actually become a threat. That he was never given the chance to choose.

Luke tries to apologize, but Ben ignores him, and with his saber still lit, begins to continue to walk. Ben doesn’t want to deal with Luke, ghost or otherwise.

Cut to Rey

Rey starts her journey by doing research. She talks with people who knew of the Jedi and other records to see if she can find where Ben might have turned up.

Poe helps with some of his more powerful Resistance contacts, though many are busy helping to rebuild the Republic, so getting a hold of them isn’t easy. Maz, however, is a godsend and shows up when she hears Rey is studying something specific.

She asks what is going on, and Rey and Chewie explain that Ben is alive. That Rey can feel him still out there, and unlike Luke or Leia, he isn’t a ghost. And that in trying to contact Luke, she met another ghost of a Jedi named Obi-wan Kenobi, who she had only ever heard about, and he confirmed that yes, Ben is alive.

Maz is certainly surprised, but joins the party to help find Solo’s wayward son, commenting on how much Ben is actually like Han and of course he would be too stubborn to die.

While this is being explained, Poe looks over to Finn who seems rather distant and not quite paying attention. Poe asks what’s up and Finn tries to brush it off.

Poe pries because Finn has been zoning more and more since the war ended. Finn relents and explains that he has been thinking about the past and about the future. He explains how all he had ever known was the strict regiment and warmongering of the First Order before Poe came along and after defecting, while he did finally get some affection, he mostly got the passion and determination of the Resistance, both busy fighting war. He has never known his life without war or the threat of war.

Poe listens and asks Finn what he wants to do. Finn says he doesn’t know. He knows there is really no chance that he will ever find his parents and very little chance that he will ever even know what planet he was taken from. And now that there is no more fighting, he doesn’t even really know who he is. Just that FN-2187 is gone and Finn is someone he has yet to really figure out.

Poe reminds him that everyone with him sees him as family, and that even if he can’t find his birth family, that he has one here. Finn assures him that he knows that, but that maybe having something to go on for his past that isn’t all about soldiering might help him figure out what he wants to do with the future.

Rose understands the feeling as she has been having similar problems, torn between trying to live a comfortable life, or do something that might be worthwhile, and that all the plans she had originally thought of had all involved her sister in some way and now without her, she isn’t sure she can go through with some of them.

Poe then explains that he will talk to some other of his contacts and see if they can’t find something for Finn, such as maybe a list of systems the First Order preferred to take their soldiers from. Finn gets a little excited and thanks them both.

Cut back to Ben

The area is quiet, Ben has stopped running, and a fog has settled over the area. He can see the walls around him, but cannot see forward and cannot see back. He has the saber ignited and is taking cautious steps, trying to sense everything he can in his surroundings. All around him are whispering voices. Voices that are very familiar to him. At first their whispers seem to be about nothing, and occasionally giggling, but then they seem to notice Ben.

They at first start whispering about him, making comments on how he has gotten older and maybe lamenting they wish they could have too. Then their comments turn bitter, and they start talking about negative aspects of him without talking to him.

Ben tries to interact with these voices, and the area suddenly gets very cold and the whispers harsh. They do start talking to him, angry at him, wind blowing around him as if someone is trying to push him this way and that. In their anger they ask if any of the good times, the good memories they shared meant nothing to him.

Ben asks them who they are and they are insulted that he has to ask.

The fog fades away and he is surrounded by the ghosts of other students at Luke’s Jedi school. They are the students that he killed. They all begin shouting at him, at first taking turns before their voices sync to fully cry out their anger at their deaths.

Ben, knowing he has no way to justify his actions towards these students, begins frantically apologizing and asking how he can prove his remorse, covering his ears as the voices drown out his apologies and over-taking everything else.

The saber has fallen from his hands, going out in the process, and he sinks to his knees as he feels suffocated by the shouting.

In an instant, everything goes silent. Ben hesitantly lowers his hands and raises his head to see the youngest student of the school before him, all the others standing behind them, just looking at them. The youngest asks him if he is truly sorry and if he really regrets it.

Ben says yes, explaining how wrong he was about the dark side. That he never should have done what he had done to the students, and that he wants to be better. He can’t take back what he has done, but if he could, he would in a heartbeat. That he never forgot their deaths, and despite his efforts during his dark times, could never shed the guilt of them.

The youngest asks if he truly means that, will he promise to be better. Will he promise to try and help people if they forgive him.

Ben, still on his knees, tears in his eyes, says yes. His voice is quiet, but his words weighted with all the sincerity and guilt and remorse that he has.

The ghosts smile at them and the youngest bends down and picks up his lightsaber before handing it to him. “Then keep going. We forgive you.”

With a shaking hand, Ben takes the lightsaber, looking at it before looking back at the ghosts as they all fade away leaving him alone. He takes a moment to process what has happened, what he just experienced before letting himself cry, the guilt of his actions digging into his chest, clearly causing him pain, but also feeling a great sense of relief and like a weight has been taken off of his shoulders. One of these emotions alone would be too much for anyone, but both of them together keeps him from even being able to stand.

 -unwritten section-

After searching for so long Rey finds the answers she had been looking for and heads with the group to go and try to find Ben.

 As Ben reaches the end of his journey and is about to enter the land of the living, he is stopped by one more battle. Before him are four figures dressed in black, all of whom he has seen before in some fashion. One is the grandfather he idolized: Darth Vader. One is the man who had twisted his mind for years: Snoke. One is Puppeteer behind all of pain the galaxy has suffered for easily the last half-century: Palpatine. And the last one is the one that both takes Ben by surprise, but also the one he had been preparing for: himself- or rather- Kylo Ren.

Kylo steps forward and begins talking, voice distorted by the cracked mask. “Did you think you would be free? Did you forget the power of the Dark Side? There is no escaping the Darkness! You belong to the Darkness and therefore- to us!”

Leia’s saber in hand, he ignites it and braces, as the four figures do the same. Knowing the power of the people before him, he is expecting this to be a losing fight, but he is still going to put his heart and soul into it.

“Nice to see we’re not too late.”

The slightly gravely voice catches Ben off guard and makes him turn. They have the telltale blue glow of those passed on, one in the Force. Appearing on either side of him, each facing a member of the Sith that are blocking his path, are his real grandfather- Anakin ready to face Vader. His mother, giving him a loving smile and placing an affectionate hand on his shoulder as her eyes harden in an all too familiar look when she is about to eviscerate someone, a look aimed at Snoke that visibly shakes the Sith. And either Luke or Padme who their weapon in hand and facing Palpatine, making a comment about not making the mistake of letting this man live to walk away again.

With these allies, the fight begins. Snoke falls first as no amount of power can fully brace this being for the extent of a mother’s wrath while she protects her child.

Palpatine falls next. Luke/Padme doesn’t dilly dally, doesn’t give him the chance to brag or monologue or charge up an attack. He is executed plain and simple.

Vader is next. Given that he is kind of fighting himself, Anakin does struggle as he knows all the moves and has to change his fighting style and strategy a little bit. The kill is quick, but comes after a bit of a fight as Anakin is laying his regrets and the darkness in them to rest with the end of Vader.

Finally Ben is left with Kylo. Blue clashes with red in quick and angry strikes on both ends. Kylo taunts Ben constantly about the dark side and how it took him over. About how he will never be free of it and no one will ever truly accept him. It is a very hard fight, but one he must fight alone. It ends when Ben swings and cuts part of the mask off, revealing his own face, which stuns Kylo for a moment, before Ben without hesitation runs him through declaring that it doesn’t matter if the rest of the galaxy forgives him, the people that matter to him do and most of all, he forgives himself.

Once Kylo falls, and his body disappears, Ben gets a small reunion with his family. Han shows up for this brief moment and after some hugs and praises about how proud they are of him, as well as promises to be better and make the galaxy better, he is ready to leave, though his eyes are wet and red.

He goes through the final portal/ door, and the first thing he registers is he can’t breathe.

 Above the lake/ ocean of the ancient site, Rey and the others are looking down, trying to find where Ben is.

Rey suddenly feels him, strong and sure as if he were next to them, and she points them in the right direction where a light can be seen under the water’s surface for the briefest moment.

Unable to really truly swim, neither Rey or Finn can go down. Rose is handed the controls and Poe and Chewie open the hatch of the Falcon and once ready to get pulled back up, jump into the water.

They find Ben, close to the surface, but still under it, and pull him out, before being raised to the Falcon where Rey immediately starts calling out to him, noticing he is very pale, and his whole body is cold, as if dead.

Poe raises his fist before slamming it down hard on Kylo’s chest making the man jolt at the sudden pain before coughing up water. Poe grins at Rey before looking at Ben. “Just so you know, that doesn’t count as my free shot.”

Ben looks confused as he is finally able to focus his vision, but before he can do anything, a big, wet, hairy being his holding him almost too tightly, making it difficult to breathe. Despite the suddenness of it, it is one that -while soggy- is instantly familiar and one he is quick to return and relish.

Chewie finally pulls away before smacking Ben upside the head, just barely hard enough to hurt before going into a long lecture that has Ben smiling fondly at the Wookie.

When he looks at Poe, confused, Poe holds up his hands. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea. Besides, it’s her you should be thanking.” He points at Rey and prompts Ben to look at her. “She’s the one that never lost faith in you.”

Que Rey and Ben reunion.

[legobiwan]

Master and Apprentice: An Overview of Themes

Okay, so as many of you may have surmised, I adored this book. There’s so much to talk about in it and the ramifications of some of the themes play all the way up to the Sequel Trilogy. 

To be honest, I’m not even sure where to start with everything I want to talk about, but I’m going start here with this basic outline of things I noticed and will dissemble from there over the next few days, weeks, whatever. 

Lineage

“You inherit your parents' trauma but you will never fully understand it.”

So I will preface this part by saying that I am a huge fan of Bojack Horseman and this theme comes up again and again and again in this show. (As does the difficulty, but possibility, of breaking that cycle.)

This book is heavy on the behaviors and prejudices and patterns that get passed on through generations, or in this case, lineages. Dooku’s preoccupation with prophecy touches Rael, which touches Qui-gon, which touches Obi-wan, and of course, ultimately plays a huge role in Anakin’s life. Not only that, but Dooku’s restrained, demanding manner seems to have  rubbed off on Qui-gon, who seemed to be constantly measuring up Obi-wan to an impossible metric and thinking it in his presence, which meant Obi-wan likely felt all of this and presto changeo we have a talented young Jedi who feels he is unworthy. This book really illustrates how Masters are as much parents as teachers, and how whatever issues the parent is dealing with gets passed down and processed, whether it be through rebellion, imitation, or a host of other reactions. Hell, the book mentions Yoda’s master (albeit not by name). I am *dying* to know who they were and what happened there. 

Performance Art

Okay, so one of the initial main culprits is a group of performers who end up being branded as terrorists. First of all, this made musician-me CACKLE, period. But beyond that, there is a running theme of a performative aspect to government, to ceremony (Fanry perfects this), even to the Jedi themselves with their rituals, with their idealistic Code versus reality. Sidious was perhaps the best performance artist of the entire GFFA. And prophecy, to a certain degree, requires performance, requires actors to ingest a script and accept it as truth, and finally meet its demands of life’s stage. Is it foretold because the events must happen or because the actors choose to make them happen?

Prophecy

Which leads me into the thorniest topic of this book. Dooku was obsessed with prophecies. Qui-gon became obsessed with prophecy, to the point of breaking a thousand laws to get Anakin to Coruscant. And then Obi-wan was so devoted to Qui-gon, despite everything, that he told himself he had to believe in the prophecy, for Qui-gon’s sake (back to family issues there.)

How many of these prophecies ended up being self-fulfilling because of the actors involved? (Namely, Qui-gon.) Even when Qui-gon realizes his mistake is trying to control the future instead of accepting it, he goes ahead years later to manipulate circumstances so Anakin can be a Jedi. That’s not accepting the future, he cheated at dice to change the future, to control it. And that action set off an avalanche of consequences I doubt Qui-gon prepared for. In short, Qui-gon is a very fallible character here and shows a fair amount of egotism in terms of his relationship with prophecy. 

I mean, the Force showed Qui-gon that he was “meant to misinterpret” his vision? I don’t even know where to start with the sheer audacity of that statement. Qui-gon doesn’t report his vision to the Council, because he thinks they won’t understand, thinks they’ll get mired in some minutiae of governance and not do anything substantial. And yes, the Council does dither, even Obi-wan notices it, but those controls are there for a reason and Qui-gon just runs roughshod over them, because he thinks he alone has the answers, that he alone can change the future. 

And it kind of comes back to this whole Lineage issue where Dooku had this attitude that he alone knew the truth. I mean, he defects to the Sith partially to rid the Republic of corruption, and look at his Padawans - Rael and Qui-gon, both iconoclasts, both skirting the edge of...something, and it’s almost laughable that Qui-gon gets so upset with Rael’s disregard of certain parts of the Code (the killing of his Padawan part, of course, but also the celibacy part) because Qui-gon lies and cheats and pulls cons across the galaxy and disregards swaths of the Code at will. And you have to wonder, is this because Dooku was too independent, and if Dooku was that independent, how did Yoda’s training of Dooku play into that? 

Then again, while family and upbringing play a huge part in a person’s actions and personality, they are not the only thing, they do not dictate the future. Nor do prophecies. And Qui-gon clings so much to these prophecies, just as Dooku did (and Dooku’s prophecy of choice, he who learns to conquer death will through his greatest student live again is just...it explains a lot as to why Dooku was so devoted to teaching, was so exacting on his students ((although I will never let go of the headcanon that Dooku actually enjoys teaching, because I feel that a personality like his needs someone to impart knowledge to)). 

Prophecy, more often than not, becomes self-fulfilling prophecy, which is an interesting paradox. Prophecies are read, believed to be true, and are enacted by the actions of the very people (beings) who read them in the first place. 

And thus they become prophecy. 

I mean, no wonder Yoda wanted to burn the “sacred texts” by the time The Last Jedi rolls around. Prophecy becomes a way to abnegate responsibility for one’s actions, to deny, whether it’s Dooku seeking to avoid death, Qui-gon proclaiming he is a vessel for the will of the Force, or even Obi-wan claiming Luke as the Chosen One in Twin Suns. (Although, I wonder about that last one, as Obi-wan is naturally skeptical of prophecy. I mean, the Jedi do have the Force and are granted visions, but then again, they make decisions. They choose to turn to the Dark Side, choose to bend to the will of a hazy future which claims no specific actors...and I feel like Obi-wan’s references to prophecy are more an expression of familial love, of tribute to Qui-gon rather than a true belief that Anakin was "the” Chosen One. Obi-wan believed in Anakin himself above all else, even his better judgment.)

The Jinn-Kenobi Express

So...what is going on with these two?

In many ways, this is more of a Qui-gon book than an Obi-wan book, although we get plenty of insight to Obi-wan’s character. And one of the things I really appreciate about Claudia Gray is the fact that she seems aware of the Jedi Apprentice series, the kind of dynamic that created, and weaves this story in a way that does justice to those interactions and the limited time we see Qui-gon and Obi-wan together on screen. 

And the thing is, Qui-gon is kind of a jerk to Obi-wan. From page two of this book, his is questioning Obi-wan, wondering why he hasn’t reached a certain point in his abilities yet (all while deliberately holding him back in areas like lightsaber combat, which is an astounding illustration of Qui-gon’s complete obliviousness to his own actions and ramifications of his actions). And, let’s be honest, Obi-wan is an empath - he wouldn’t be such a talented negotiator and diplomat if he weren’t (because, before anything else, you need to be able to read people, to know and feel their emotions in order to succeed at deals, treaties, and diplomacy). Obi-wan knew Qui-gon was questioning him, could feel it and this harkens back to those JA books where Qui-gon is kiiiind of a total douche, at times. And Obi-wan - rebellious, independent, self-esteem-lacking, so wanting someone’s approval Obi-wan...just falls right into this. It’s kind of an unhealthy dynamic, which resolves itself after Pijal, only to relapse all over again when Qui-gon finds Anakin and pulls his BS on Tatooine. 

Here’s the thing. Qui-gon is not a bad person. I don’t hate Qui-gon, he has good motivations, he wants to make things better. He cares about Obi-wan, seeks advice from his old Master (not knowing Dooku has fallen, my god), tries to free all the slaves he encounters, wants to buck every piece of Jedi and Republic law in order to make the galaxy right. And, you know, I get it. I really do. But there’s idealism and then there’s trying to do the right thing within the systems (no matter how terrible) we have created and inching forward to change because to do otherwise would be to fight yourself in a paper bag. 

Qui-gon is the living embodiment of the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

And Obi-wan knows this, knows Qui-gon is fallible, knows that his devotion to idealism, to prophecy is dangerous and yet he goes along with it anyway because Obi-wan’s greatest failing is his attachment. Obi-wan (the empath) cares too much and he can’t let go - not of Qui-gon, not of Satine, and certainly not of Anakin. 

"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.“ I mean, I’m not a Kylo Ren-stan by any means, but he’s not wrong. At least, not in a broad sense, not in the way that might have allowed Obi-wan to make some clearer-headed decisions about everything from his relationship with Qui-gon to Anakin to the Council. 

In Conclusion

Dooku cared about his students but possibly feared death and thus possibly made his students his vessels to achieve the goal of immortality, despite enjoying teaching.

Qui-gon cared about Obi-wan as much as he did the betterment of the galaxy but was terrible at expressing it and put too much faith in himself, the Force, and prophecy. 

Obi-wan cared almost too much about everyone but himself, replacing self-esteem with rules and the Code, devoting himself to the memory of Qui-gon and his wishes in his guilt over his survival of the encounter at Theed.

And this writer cares waaaaaay too much about these characters and will most definitely be writing more about this book because, to quote Obi-wan flying a ship in the middle of a ship: AAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHH

[bytheangell]

I got a few replies/tags/reblog comments on THIS POST ABOUT ALEC  that I really want to talk about. 

I really want to address this for a number of reasons, because besides these three comments I saw a lot of it in the tags, too, and it opens up a lot of important points!  So two things: About the show/characters:

Magnus losing the loft became about Alec losing the loft when Alec reacted with that expression of total devastation and I decided to take a few seconds to comment on it. It’s just one set of thoughts, on one particular moment, and one particular character’s pov.

Of course it isn’t all about Alec. I’m heartbroken for Magnus too. For him even more than Alec, because that loft means everything to him and Lorenzo knows that, it’s the whole reason he asked for it in the first place. He knew it’d be the thing that hurt Magnus the most to give up, materially at least. And for Magnus to be in a place where he’d even consider that trade knowing how much it means to both himself and Alec, hurts to think about.

Of course this is Magnus’ trauma. Of course the whole exchange of the loft for the magic, the focus on his heart-wrenching speech where he’s finally so brutally honest about he he felt without magic, that’s all Magnus’. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be explored from Alec’s POV, his own pain around the same event.

The show made it very clear how affected Magnus is by all of this. That was the point/focus of it. Meanwhile, Alec could only force a smile when Magnus asked him to and move on to the next thing he had to do. There is so much more behind that we didn’t see, and that’s why we’re here. That’s the beauty of fandom, and the joy of coming back to Tumblr or Twitter after an episode to see theories and ideas and people’s takes on different issues, and on things not already focused on in the show.

Which brings me to thing number two.

About the fandom/viewers: I don’t think looking at another angle of something takes away from the original meaning, nor is the intention rarely to invalidate it. Things have a ripple effect. It’s a big part of the show, actually. Luke turning himself in isn’t JUST going to effect him: it’s going to mean something to Clary, to Maia, to Maryse. And if people didn’t comment on those aspects and just sat around tumblr going ‘this is Luke’s trauma and only his so that’s all we’re going to talk about with it’ that’d be one super boring week between episodes. And if any time someone makes a post about how gutted Clary is going to be over Luke getting arrested all they get are replies going “how about we don’t make Luke’s thing about Clary” that’s exactly what we’re going to get. And after a while anyone who wants to talk, who wants to create posts and content on a show they love, is going to stop doing that. We’re already a cancelled show (as much as I’m still reserving realistically slight hopes over someone picking us up after 3B) and driving people away now who want to actively contribute new thoughts/ideas/povs to discussion? seems like a terrible move. 

I chose to write one short thing about Alec’s pov. I have a life. I have a job. I occasionally need sleep. I can’t sit here and write something after every episode from every single POV to make sure nothing is left out. I love Magnus. I love his character. 8 times out of ten what I focus on IS related to him and his life, actually. And I know this goes for so many others who make the same sorts of posts, get the same sorts of responses - and I know a lot of people who just avoid fandom now because it’s tiring, and that’s sad, because they’re great people who would have a ton of quality stuff to contribute if constant reactions like this didn’t put them off. 

I just really don’t like this trend I keep seeing of people shaming/guilting others who make posts or comments about things they don’t 100% agree with. Like what’s the point of trying to make me feel bad for feeling bad for Alec? To try and imply I don’t care about Magnus enough because I wrote a few words on another character?

Discourse is great!  Adding to a post like mine with “-and do you know what else hurts? Magnus losing every material thing he’s ever cared about just to get some second-rate back-up magic in his body” or “-and oh my god the trauma Magnus is experiencing over this, having the man who took his title systematically take everything else away from him, first his warlock connections, then his home--” or even “Can we also talk about how Magnus is feeling over all of this?!” those are wonderful! And I would kill to see more discussions like that started, but by adding to the conversation, not trying to take away other parts of it. 

Not by saying one post shouldn’t exist because these other posts should instead. 

[takaraphoenix]

Review: 3x15 - To the Night Children

Heidi... was annoying. Honestly, how are there so many older vampires in New York and literally not a single one of them thinks “Mh, been around for a couple decades/centuries. Know that challenging the Clave is not a good idea. Maybe I should remove this fledgling vampire from being in charge?”...? Like? How is this even a thing??

How are all of those more experienced vampires letting this girl play them like this...? I just... damn. That’s such a shallow world-building there.

Honestly love how Maia took care of that one. That was... a damn good scene and also clever. Not to mention, you literally can't charge Maia with anything. All she did was inject water into her own veins. When a vampire attacks her, then that's on them.

I really do like that we learn more about the Institute though! World building! I appreciate it! So they have a large cafeteria. Does that mean they have Shadowhunters who are solely cooks then? I'm genuinely curious about this. Are there more careers than just soldier and politician?

How. Is. Luke. Arrested?? They have been tailing him for a while now. And... they really think he managed to sneak off and slaughter everyone in the restaurant he owns??

There is literally no evidence on Luke doing this? This should not stick and Luke now playing the martyr on it feels and smells a lot like “Well. We have barely been using Luke all of last season and we kinda have no use for him so uh let's shelve him in prison I guess??”, because that's what this show does when it runs out of plotlines for a character. Just write them off. Urgh.

How are Alec and Isabelle so insanely unprofessional though? I mean, seriously, how can Isabelle not keep a poker-face and wear her opinion on Heidi on her sleeve like that? You play them, you don't just flat-out say every single thing you think during an interrogation? And Alec just the same, all the faces he kept making at Isabelle. It's like they have zero training in interrogation.

Someone explain Underhill to me though. He was friendly with Alec this whole time we've known him now? And suddenly he makes snide remarks behind Alec's back? Had they given that like to Raj, who has shown such characteristics before in the show, but this convenient “What actors aside from the main six do we have on scene today? Let's just slap this plot and these lines onto them so we don't have to pay anyone else for being there!” is a serious problem for this show.

Magnus' reaction to Underhill's comment on their relationship was so inappropriate though. Like Alec isn't allowed to have friends and talk to them about their relationship? Honey, have you forgotten that you yourself went on a drinking and dancing spree with Dot when your problems started and she nearly kissed you and you never told Alec about this? So, maybe be a little less judgmental that Alec talks about his personal relationship problems with a friend... regardless of how long he's known that friend. Like, “Underhill is attractive so it bothers me”, uhm “You dated Dot and she tried to kiss you as soon as you opened up to her... and that kinda bothers me” would be a really great comeback if Alec knew about this whole scene...

Jealousy can be cute. When someone is actively hitting on your partner and you get protective, that is cute. When your partner has friends and confides about personal problems in his friends and you act like he shouldn’t do that, then that is not the cute kind of jealousy at all. That is the alarmbells go off in my head kind of jealousy.

Okay, here's a really stupid thing: If I were Jace I would most definitely not just hug Aline and accept her words. Jonathan shapeshifted into Sebastian and played you all. Jonathan literally just shapeshifted into Jace to play them all. A face you know suddenly returns to the Institute without you having been notified about it before? Let's do some check-ups and do that weird stone-thingy that Clary had done to check Sebastian's identity. Actually, let's just... always do that, just to make sure. I would just at this point be way too paranoid to just hug people and share info with them??

Let's put the complete lack of security protocols and caution aside, I like Aline and I'm glad she's back. I mean, I'm generally glad to get more on the characters around the main characters. And a hot, angry sword lesbian is always a great addition to everything, really.

And she is also really very right. Because Clary didn't just beat her up, Clary completely lost control of herself. And y'all gotta be more weary about that. Losing control of your body is kind of a problem on this show and it usually gets female characters killed on this show!

So... a huge plotline this season... is that Isabelle investigates the Clave for torturing Downworlders, but... she still goes and arrests Raphael to hand him over to the Clave? Like, that's a thing that happened, yeah? Really? Because that was the moment where she should have just shouted “RUN” and let him escape this time, because seriously you are literally investigating that they're torturing Downworlders and Raph is a Downworlder. What the fuck.

Also, I need book-readers to reassure me that Jonathan is more than just an incestuously horny little bitch please? Because... honestly... I was kinda looking forward to villain!Jonathan. A layered villain though, due to his history. But... he doesn't... really... villain all that much? He just wants to bang his sister and does his best to get her and literally nothing else? It's a bit... uh... disappointing.

HOLY FUCKING BULLSHIT. Magnus and Alec literally had the conversation about moving in like not a month ago. And Magnus was actually being reasonable that it's way too soon to permanently live together. But of course was Magnus losing his loft literally only happening so they could further the ship, because every single bad thing that happens to Magnus really does only serve the purpose of Ma/ec. What the actual fuck.

Jace just makes me... tired at this point. Honestly, how are these writers getting paid to write? We fanfiction writers would do it better for free! This boy has been through nearly all the traumatic experiences possible at this point. We had him cry about it in the first episode, but then he got his girlfriend back and Suddenly Magically He Was Healed. No more crying, no more breakdowns, no further backlash from his mental illness. There... There is literally nothing I find more disgusting than when writers think that True Love can cure trauma and mental illness. That is not how either of those work, you absolute fuckers. And to then, additionally, use Jace as Clary’s emotional crutch because she has been through “so much”? Fuck you, dudes, just fuck you hard.

If you are too inexperienced a writer to properly deal with the emotional toil that trauma has on characters, then you should just not put them through said trauma. It’s just genuinely offensive at this point toward anyone who’s ever actually suffered in any form, because you’re acting like “Well, get yourself a hot girlfriend! It’ll make everything better *lol*” is an actual solution.

Why can’t you treat trauma with respect? And teach a responsible and respectful way of dealing with it? Instead of just using it for raw, pure shock-value and then just brushing it under the rug and having the characters continue on like nothing ever happened afterward?

The TL;DR of it all:

Thank the gods and Maia for ending the Heidi plotline

Luke Garroway deserves better, what the fuck

Jealousy can be cute. It most definitely is not cute when your boyfriend confides about personal problems to a friend. This was A Bad Ma/ec Episode

Aline is wonderful, I need more of her, please don’t just shelve her again when you don’t know what to do with her

Raphael Santiago deserves better, what the fuck

Jonathan, you little creep

Jace Herondale deserves better, stop putting him through trauma and then not dealing with it but making him deal with other people’s trauma, you asshats

[orbularborbular]

My Thoughts on The Last Jedi

Spoilers below the cut! Do not read this review if you have not seen The Last Jedi! You have been warned!

[And please, kindly remember that I'm just another idiot on the internet with an opinion. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind with this review…I'm just sharing my reaction, because none of my friends are online while I’m writing this and I need to mouth off to somebody.]

Okay, so – analysis time. The way I see it, there are two main narratives in The Last Jedi. I loved one of them, and I hated the other.

Narrative #1 deals with The Force™ . Naturally, it contains the classic Star Wars themes of tragedy, forgiveness, and redemption, but it adds depth and nuance to these ideas in a couple of ways. It explores the importance of human connection, and it underscores the power that each individual possesses to determine their own self identity, and with it, their fate. The writers made the inspired decision to take the struggle between Light and Dark and externalize it – make it into an actual, literal conversation between two people: Rey and Kylo Ren, with Luke acting as the tormented mediator. Mark Hamill just knocked it out of the fucking park with his performance too – what an amazing conclusion to Luke's story.

Narrative #1 acknowledges the flaws of Jedi doctrine and provides a simple, brilliant explanation for one the biggest questions left over from The Force Awakens: why did Ben Solo turn to the Dark side? The revelation that Luke drew his lightsaber on Ben in a moment of weakness, only to recoil in horror at his own impulse, casts Kylo Ren in an entirely different light. Ben truly believed that Luke meant to kill him – and what troubled teenage boy wouldn't develop emotional issues if he thought his uncle were trying to murder him in the dead of night, especially when he was already under the influence of an evil CGI freak? (On another note, can someone explain to me why Snoke was wearing like, a gold bathrobe? What the hell kind of aesthetic is that?) Luke's culpability, however minor, heightens the tension in the conversation between Rey and Kylo Ren, because it makes him a more sympathetic villain. Suddenly, his rage and hatred make sense. Luke's shame and self-imposed exile make sense. Everything makes sense. The relationship that emerges between the three characters is believable and emotionally satisfying, even if Kylo Ren does make the decision to be a punk bitch in the end. But man, that fight scene where he and Rey are fighting as a team? Top fucking notch.

Narrative #1 works because it establishes cause-and-effect, and because it gives each character a complete arc. Past trauma motivates all three of the central figures: Kylo Ren, Luke, and Rey each have to contend with their own personal demons and choose whether to rise above them, or succumb to them. Their parallel struggles give the movie a sense of cohesion and suspense. Their decisions matter, and those decisions aren't necessarily foregone conclusions, because all three characters have the power to influence one another. Luke chooses to accept his past mistakes and to reconnect with his old comrades; in doing so, he is finally able to achieve the absolution and peace that have eluded him for so long. Rey refuses to give in to her feelings of loneliness and abandonment; instead, she uses the empathy derived from those painful experiences to try and reach out to Ben Solo. Kylo Ren rejects Rey's attempt to connect with him because he is either unwilling or unable to deal with his own trauma. He stubbornly pulls away, and ends up more miserable and broken than ever.

I simply cannot gush enough about how much I loved this whole storyline. Writers take note: this is how you create compelling character drama. The stakes were personal and emotional, but they also had larger ramifications. The imagery and cinematography perfectly complemented what was going on in the narrative, too. Like that scene where Rey saw herself cascaded out, row upon row upon row? Holy crap was that an insightful visual metaphor for the concept of self-identity. And can we talk about the red salt on the snow during the final showdown? How it smeared when stepped in, like blood? That shit was amazing. Luke's confrontation with his nephew was the perfect conclusion to their relationship, and the best possible send-off for Luke. He went out on his own terms, as the ultimate Jedi master: cunning, heroic, and self-controlled, able to own up to his mistakes without being destroyed by them.

Now, on to the part of the film I hated. :(

Narrative #2 is The Little Guys vs. Big Evil™. The themes of this narrative are courage in the face of impossible odds, and the wisdom to know when to make sacrifices. Unfortunately, there are two major problems with this half of the plot that weaken the impact of these themes. The first problem is that there is ZERO world-building in these new movies. None. Zilch. In the original trilogy, the lack of backstory was not a problem because we were thrown directly into a reality where an oppressive autocratic regime was already in power. The audience could accept that these fuckers were genocidal and that a ragtag group of rebels was fighting them, because Episode IV was a blank slate. The conflict was straightforward enough that we could just run with it once it was introduced. But the new trilogy is NOT A BLANK SLATE. The film needed to explain how we got from the events of Return of the Jedi (where the Rebels had just won a major victory, the Empire was reduced to a shadow of its former self, and the threat of pan-galactic annihilation was no more), to “oh yeah, everything is a shitshow again”. What the hell happened during the intervening 30 years? How did the New Republic fail so catastrophically that the First Order was able become such a threat? How did the Imperial Remnant get its hands on that much firepower and manpower without like…anyone noticing, or stepping in during the nascent stages? Where the fuck did this Snoke guy come from, and why is his name so stupid? The movie fails to explain the chain of events that led to this new status quo. It doesn't even hint at it. We get no new information about the conflict at all; instead, we spend over an hour stalling while Finn and Rose do their thing.

Speaking of which... The second big issue with Narrative #2 is that it does not utilize its protagonists correctly. Poe gets some development, but Leia, Finn, and Rose Tico do not get character arcs. They do not change in any meaningful way as a result of what they go through. Leia in particular is static throughout the film. Sure, she spouts a lot of platitudes about hope, but we never get any real insight into what's going on in her head. Is she frustrated that she has to fight the exact same war she already fought in her youth? Does she feel guilty for failing to foresee and prevent the rise of the First Order? How has she been damaged by her personal losses, most notably the murder of her husband at the hands of her own son? The script just gives her nothing to work with. No pathos, no pain. She spends half of the movie in a coma, and the only time she gets to use her Force powers is when she's like...magically levitating through the vacuum of space (I call bullshit on that, by the way). Her only real moment of depth is her reunion with Luke. I think maybe the writers intended to put her character arc in the third movie, but uh...that's not gonna happen now, since Carrie Fisher drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra.

Finn, meanwhile, spends the entire movie on a wild goose chase. Sure, the casino planet was cool, but you could cut out that entire subplot and its absence would have no effect on the rest of the movie. The writing here frustrates me SO much because the character problem is SO EASY TO FIX. Here's how you make it work: from the get-go, the movie sets up an ideological conflict between Poe and Leia. Poe wants to blow shit up, while Leia favors a more cautious, big-picture approach. However, instead of following through on this conflict and forcing them to hash it out, the film fridges Leia and sets up purple-haired Laura Dern as Poe's foil. This decision baffles me. Leia is Poe's hero; he admires and respects her. Imagine how much more compelling it would've been if he had to make the gut-wrenching decision to pursue his own approach behind her back instead. Leia vs. Poe is a conflict with higher stakes. We care about both of these characters, and we can see both of their perspectives. Pitting the two against each other ideologically (but with no malicious intent), creates the opportunity for both of them to grow and change.

Here's how you fix Finn's subplot. Make his expertise on the First Order matter by allowing him to be the one who realizes how the flagship is tracking the Resistance through hyperspace. Have Finn reveal this information to Poe (it would make sense for him to approach Poe, because of all the people on board, Poe is the closest thing Finn has to a friend). The two of them decide that an infiltration job is in order. Poe calls Maz for guidance, and she recommends a slicer for the job. Because Poe is currently in conflict with Leia and the rest of the leadership, he sends Finn on a mission to retrieve the slicer in secret. Finn is thrown into a completely alien environment, and it proves to be a real learning experience for him. He sees the stark contrast between the ostentatious elite and the impoverished downtrodden, and his innate love and compassion begin to expand beyond just Rey (I still don’t understand how the First Order is responsible for the mistreatment of the children on casino planet, though. Isn’t the real oppressor like...late stage capitalism? lol).

Of course, he parks like an idiot, so he ends up getting thrown in jail before he can make contact with Maz's slicer. It's here that he meets Rose Tico for the first time. In this version, SHE is the chaotic neutral slicer with the longcoat and the air of charismatic unpredictability. Finn, desperate to escape, strikes a bargain with her. Initially, she only agrees to help him for the money, but as the film unfolds, we learn more about Rose. We discover that her sister died fighting the First Order some months or years before, leaving Rose jaded, aimless, and self-centered. Over the course of the third act, however, Rose sees something in Finn or in the Resistance that makes her reconsider her outlook. Perhaps Finn's fight with Phasma plays a role. She ultimately decides to honor her sister's legacy by taking up her mantle, and she joins the fight against the First Order. By condensing Rose Tico and the hobo-slicer dude into a single person, you create a character with a complete arc, and you create a subplot that matters. When Finn's attempt to infiltrate the enemy ship ultimately fails, it doesn't feel like a complete waste of time, because at least the Resistance gains a badass swaggering scoundrel of a slicer. A character that fucking cool should not be wasted.

A couple other quick fixes. You know the scene where purple-haired whatserface uses a hyper-speed jump to slice clean through Snoke's ship? It's one of the most visually arresting and memorable scenes in the film, but on an emotional level it's underwhelming because we literally just met the woman. Why not keep Admiral Ackbar alive a bit longer so he can be the one to make the iconic sacrifice? The audience already cares about him, so when he goes out in a blaze of glory, it packs a much greater emotional punch (plus, can we give an alien character a chance to shine for once? I'm so sick of all the humans). Back to Finn and Rose. For the love of God, please get rid of the awkward romance shoehorned in at the last minute. What you mean you “love” him, woman? You've known the dude for like two days! I mean, criminy. Rose Tico's character arc needs to be about coming to terms with her sister's death. Poe should be the one to save Finn by bashing his ship aside, because Poe is the one who's supposed to be learning when to sacrifice lives, and when to save them.

Anyway. As you may have guessed from this review, my feelings about this movie are super complicated. The humor was great, the visuals were atmospheric and creative, and the majority of the acting was fantastic. Every time Luke, Rey, or Kylo Ren were on screen, I was on the edge of my fucking seat. I was completely invested in their narrative and could not have been more satisfied with its conclusion. I was, however, sorely disappointed with the way the writers handled the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order. It could have been so, so much better. It deserved to be better, in a script this good. And honestly, maybe the reason I was so disappointed is because that's my favorite part of Star Wars: a ragtag bunch of miscreants scraping by on the strength of their camaraderie. The jump cut from Return of the Jedi to "everything is shit again" makes me feel like the initial Rebellion accomplished nothing. Like it was all for naught. I'm sure I could go digging for the full story in the supplemental materials and fill myself in, but like...it should've been in the movie. There's no reason why you can't devote five minutes to a little explanation.

Maaaaan. I get WAY too worked up about these things.

[abcnewsgathering-blog]

PEER SUPPORTERS LEARN HOW TO HELP COLLEAGUES AFFECTED BY TRAUMATIC NEWS EVENTS

(The ABC Peer Supporter and Trauma awareness workshop - Photo: Natasha Johnson)

When news teams are affected by covering a traumatic event, their colleagues have an important role to play in providing support. For more than a decade, the ABC has run a Peer Support program and trained 65 leaders around the country in how to help workmates deal with trauma and build resilience.

By Natasha Johnson

Over 40 years working as a journalist, Philip Williams has seen a lot of bad things. ABC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent has covered numerous wars and natural disasters, witnessed plenty of horror and grief, and been on high risk assignments where his safety was threatened. He is one of the ABC’s finest journalists, highly respected and deeply admired, the kind of reporter we all aspire to be.

(Chief Foreign Correspondent Philip Williams reporting under fire in Ukraine - Photo: ABC News)

When reporting from the scene of some terrible event, Phil Williams always seems to have it together, calm under pressure, conveying with authority and sensitivity the gravity of the story, the scale of the suffering. So it was a shock to see him being interviewed on screen, tearful, his voice breaking, stopping mid-answer to compose himself as he described how one of those awful stories traumatised him and triggered an explosion of misplaced anger at his 12 year old daughter.

 (Front: Canberra based camera operator Matt Roberts and Queensland journalist Kathy McLeish among the Peer Supporters attending the workshop - Photo: Natasha Johnson)

Phil Williams was speaking in a trauma awareness video shown during a training workshop for 18 new recruits to the ABC’s Peer Support Program. Phil is one of the program’s leaders. The story that rocked him was the 2004 Beslan school siege, in Russia, in which 300 people, mostly children, were brutally murdered by Chechen separatists.

(Philip Williams covering the Beslan school siege - Photo: ABC News)

PHIL WILLIAMS: “Beslan was for me so horrific because it had two elements. It involved children and I’m a father and there is a special significance where you are a parent. You really are appalled by any sense of cruelty to any children, it’s a universal reaction. And the other element of it was that there was personal danger. There was a lot of gunfire, mortar fire. We were scared, we were scared for our lives at certain points. That’s a heightened experience and that for me combined pure horror at what was happening and pure terror at a personal level.

It affected me at the time and there was a delayed reaction, but even up to a year later my family would tell me I was quite different. I was angry, I wasn’t my cheerful self. I was snappy with them, definitely changed. And I remember one particular incident….

…. One incident with my daughter, when I was sitting at the computer at home. She came up behind me, a 12 year old girl, and just playfully grabbed me from behind and said ‘boo’. And I just grabbed her hand and yelled at her and said “don’t ever do that again”. I really just screamed at her, completely out of character. She was shocked. She ran upstairs and was so frightened she just hid under the blankets in her bed. And I knew that I’d stepped over a line there, that this had really affected me more than I had thought.”

(ABC Trauma Awareness video)

Interviewed alongside Phil, was a senior journalist who sat through Rosie Batty’s heart-rending interview about the murder of her son Luke and was so upset by it she asked to be taken off the story the next day; an experienced camera operator who covered two horrific bus crashes close together and was haunted by the glimpse of a row of bodies under a tarpaulin; and a young news control operator who recorded uncensored international feeds of the MH17 disaster and suffered weekly nightmares about plane crashes.

What was striking about these interviews was that these were all highly competent and respected members of the news team. The message was clear - it can happen to the best of us.

And essentially that’s what the Peer Support Program is about: tapping into the experience of those who’ve been there to educate colleagues about the potential impact of trauma, how to deal with any impact in a constructive way and how to build resilience so they can keep doing their job.

(Managing Director of Dart Center Asia Pacific Cait McMahon speaking about trauma and resilience - Photo: Natasha Johnson)

Cait McMahon, from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, set up the Peer Support Program and has worked with the ABC for 12 years in developing it.

“It is important that news organisations understand that resilience research shows that social support is one of the most important factors in enhancing and maintaining resilience when experiencing the negative effects of traumatic exposure. The Peer Support Program is an organised form of social support,” says Cait McMahon.

“We also know that the majority of people don’t access counselling, and sometimes don’t necessarily need it. What is needed in the main is the opportunity to talk to someone who has ‘walked the walk and talks the talk’. Someone who understands what it’s like to cover things like car crashes, domestic violence, natural disasters and genocide. If counselling is needed, the peer supporter is skilled to suggest a referral to that next step.”

(Trauma and Resilience Manager Erin Noordeloos - Photo: Natasha Johnson)

The ABC’s Trauma and Resilience Manager Erin Noordeloos, in conjunction with Cait McMahon, conducted an extensive evaluation of all volunteers, who submitted a written application, with endorsement from a colleague, and were also interviewed. 

“The ABC is committed to investing in peer support across all divisions. It is an integral part of the ABC Trauma and Resilience Program,” says Erin Noordeloos. 

“Each Peer Support Leader demonstrates values of empathy, confidentiality, respect and self-determination. By ensuring that our peer support leaders are assessed against these criteria, as part of the recruitment process, demonstrates how seriously we take our duty of care as an organisation in supporting our colleagues. The workshop built on these values, providing access to tools and techniques to assist colleagues in a professional, and responsive manner. Peer support leaders are not counsellors or psychologists, but educated ‘listening ears’, who understand and can apply psychological first aid. The spread of staff, from operational roles, radio roles, regional areas, journalists and management areas is important. We now have over 65 peer support leaders across the country and will continue to build on this.”

ABC staff can access contact details for Peer Support Leaders on the intranet here.

(Peer supporters are drawn from across the country.)

Over two days of training, we learnt about the difference between trauma and stress, the range of ways people respond to trauma, how to communicate with and support a colleague affected by a traumatic story, the limits of that support, the range of professional counselling services available through the ABC and the critical importance of trust and confidentiality.

We were warned against trying to be a ‘fixer’ - just be a good listener. This point was driven home very effectively via a hilarious video ‘It’s not about the nail’ featuring a woman complaining about pressure and pain in her head, who gets angry with her partner when he keeps suggesting maybe she should just remove the nail sticking out of her forehead! All she wants him to do is listen! (This is worth watching if you’re a parent of a teenager who rolls their eyes every time you offer some ‘helpful advice’!)

(Peer supporters practice their listening skills - Photo: Natasha Johnson)

One of the biggest fears many staff have about reaching out for help is that doing so will hurt their career prospects, they’ll be regarded as not up to the job they love.  But Phil Williams and many others have shown otherwise. More than a decade since the Beslan school siege, Phil continues to travel the world, covering the big stories, often distressing ones, but now with a greater understanding of the toll they can take and how to bounce back.

PHIL WILLIAMS: “I think it’s really important that we get our senior people to acknowledge that bad things happen, that we are human and that we’re just as vulnerable as any other member of the community. We should take it seriously because otherwise we are sort of setting ourselves apart, we’re sort of saying actually being a journalist somehow magically makes you bullet proof and it doesn’t.”

(ABC Trauma Awareness video)

More stories about Trauma and Peer Support.

Click here to return to the Back Story home page and catch up on stories from the past four years on our archive page.

[thestarwarspost]

Our Star Wars: The Last Jedi Trailer Mega-Reactions.

New Post has been published on https://www.starwarspost.com/star-wars-last-jedi-trailer-mega-reactions/

Our Star Wars: The Last Jedi Trailer Mega-Reactions.

It’s not often when a big event arises that you feel compelled to walk away from the keyboard. With the theatrical trailer release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the heaviness that ensued soon after, walking away felt like a flight response. After watching the trailer several times, it felt as if a mortar shell had gone off, leaving my brain soaked with a sort of ringing in the ears you get from a concussive wave. Like Tom Hanks character on Omaha beach during the film “Saving Private Ryan.” – my mind stumbling, everything slighted muted, confusing and surreal.

Extraction of those feelings was by design of course. The cunning and brilliant machinations of Director Rian Johnson in this fabulous trailer for the next chapter of our saga. The theme for this trailer was conveyed loud and clear; the Resistance is in serious trouble. The second act of this trilogy will see the antagonists rise and strike back in a way to remove all hope. Events will get bad – then worse, and just when you think the tide will begin to turn, it will get disastrous still. Last nights trailer conveyed that with a fast-paced score with little to no high platitudes. There will be no fuzzy Star Wars Christmas feels in this trailer, and that’s the point.

There were surprises in this marketing wonder that even caught this spoiler hound out. Like Luke climbing out of the rubble of his old Academy to Rey facing Snoke at the end. We expected excellent cinematography, and we got it in spades, with one or two shots that left us breathless. The scene of Finn and Phasma facing off in the monstrous hangers of Snoke’s capital ship, my eyes still raw, like staring too long at an eclipse.

What I did miss, however, was the supporting cast of this endeavor. Rose, Vice Admiral Holdo, DJ and exotic places like Cantonica were absent. Perhaps we will see them in the International trailer that is bound to drop in the coming days. There will also be plenty to talk about in the coming days about what we just saw, from theories to screen capture breakdowns.

This was a phenomenal trailer that served its purpose for marketing this film. It was a momentous event while engaging the nervous tick to rewatch it over and over again. It was fear laid to score, and the feeling it left us with is nothing but pure dread. Like Luke said – this will not turn out the way we think it will.

I am also delighted to share this space with these remarkable individuals and their reactions to the trailer. The comments below were taken from some of the smartest minds in the Star Wars fandom, and it’s our pleasure here at the Star Wars Post to share them with you.

  Ben Rowley (Staff Writer – The Star Wars Post)

I had the same feeling watching the trailer for The Last Jedi as I did for The Force Awakens, there so much going on that its impossible to absorb everything after the first viewing, or even the fifth. Needless to say, after 50 viewings (give or take) I’ve finally gathered my thoughts. What immediately struck me is how plot-heavy the trailer is. At first glance, it seemed like Lucasfilm was giving away the farm. So many different story beats unfolding over the course of a single trailer? That’s not the Lucasfilm way. But there’s more to this trailer than first meets the eye. The trailer opens with an ominous Snoke voiceover juxtaposed with a brooding Kylo Ren, but is Snoke talking about Kylo, or is he referring to someone else? Luke Skywalker is talking about Kylo Ren when he says “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then.” Perhaps it’s a hint at the trauma that forced him to retreat to his Ahch-to hideaway. If the Force awakened in Episode VII, it’s been wholly unleashed in the trailer for Episode VIII. Between Rey causing the ground to shake and split, to Snoke levitating Rey in his throne room, Rian Johnson is adding new wrinkles to what we thought we knew about the force.

Of course, the moment everyone will be talking about is the very last scene, when Rey seemingly asks Kylo to “show me my place in all this.” However, I’m of the opinion that this is something she says to Luke early in the movie, while the shot of Kylo Ren holding out his hand comes much later. Misdirection is Lucasfilm’s calling card, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the scenes portrayed in the trailer play out differently on screen.

  Drew Walden (Staff Writer – The Star Wars Post)

The Last Jedi already has an enormous success on its hands. My three-year-old daughter stayed up late to watch the trailer with my wife while I went to secure tickets at my local theater. She stayed mesmerized until one moment where a grin created across her face. “That’s a porg! Did you see the porg?” Yes, she recognized Rey and Kylo Ren, but her favorite part of the trailer: the porg. The film’s not even out yet, but already an iconic creature, and what I hope is to be a regular guest on the Millennium Falcon.

I think that this trailer has a lot of misdirection. While it’s possible that the last shot of Kylo Ren extending his hand may actual follow Rey seeking to find her place in the universe, it could also be a cleverly crafted ruse. This editing trick could also be applied to the sequence where it looks like Kylo Ren is conflicted about shooting the ship that shelters his mother, Leia. If these are indeed cut out of sequential moments in the final film, this will be an episode of extreme consequence. Regardless, come December we will still be treated to a conflicted Rey, Kylo Ren the ace pilot, the Finn versus Phasma fight (that should have been in TFA), menacing Snoke, a bristling Luke full of warnings, and most importantly, a Porg co-pilot.

Finally, for those score aficionados out there, I would like to congratulate whoever produced the trailer for managing to fit in Jedi Steps, Rey’s Theme, Kylo’s Theme, and the Force Theme into about two minutes. Most impressive.

  Elizabeth Larsen (Staff Writer – Star Wars Post)

Congratulations to Rian Johnson, Lucasfilm, Disney, the marvelous trailer editors, marketing team– you’ve done it again. All the anticipation and suspense led to 2 minutes and 24 seconds of pure, beautiful cinematic bliss and hopefully reminded the world that Star Wars is back… again. There are a million things to dissect in this trailer, a hobby I will thoroughly relish over the next two months, but pure and without speculation, I want to acknowledge a few of my favorite TLJ trailer elements.

To me, music is always the emotional backbone of a trailer. The perfect soundtrack or score can maximize the minimal time and amplify the intensity of a scene. Like many star wars trailers before, this one perfectly captured the nostalgia of the great Star Wars hits while providing exciting new edits of Rey and Kylo’s theme. I would encourage anyone to just listen to the trailer– it’s a whole new experience.

However, without a doubt, the most exciting part of this trailer for me was seeing (and hearing) the most of Luke since Return of the Jedi. Luke was always my favorite, and I didn’t realize how much I missed him until this very moment. This isn’t the Luke from 30 years ago. It’s clear he isn’t imitating Yoda or Obi-Wan, Luke is a new Jedi– the Last Jedi. Even in this brief trailer, we see him burdened by guilt, regret, and fear. Luke says, “It didn’t scare me enough then… it does now,” and the audience understands there has been a character evolution, now hardened by loss and pain. This is an emotional range Mark Hamill hasn’t had the chance to play as Luke in any other film, and he looks exceptional.

My biggest takeaway from this trailer is that Rian Johnson’s emphasis on character. He took the shiny surface of The Force Awakens and shattered it. In the cracks and breaks, he is pushing these characters to their limits. Rey, Kylo, Luke, Poe, Leia– they are each presented at a crossroads, on the verge of a next step that could change the course of their life and the galaxy. I would argue at its core this trailer emphasized the emotional battles over the physical ones.

That’s it– I’m ready for December 14th and porgs now.

  Pete Morrison (Editor RebelsReport.com)

“This is not going to go the way you think.” Those are the words of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, spoken to an unknown figure in the new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Since the trailer debuted, I have watched it a few dozen times and while talking it out with folks have changed my mind as to what the story is repeatedly based on the cuts and misdirection it contains. So instead of focusing on speculation, I want to focus on appreciation.

In the trailer, we get loads of reaction shots, lots of action, and a some rather ominous dialogue. It is clear why we have heard so little rumblings of complaints from Lucasfilm because it appears that Rian Johnson has delivered a wonderfully crafted film. The sequence that captured me is the hanger duel between Finn and Captain Phasma and the moment that Finn’s reflection along with the Z6 riot control baton he is wielding appears in Phasma’s helmet is breathtaking, one of my favorite shots in the entire Saga. December 14th can’t get here soon enough.

  Magnus Anton Lekaj (Author, Blogger, Lover geekfurious.blogspot.com)

Based on Rian Johnson’s previous work, it is no surprise the trailer to “The Last Jedi” looks –brace yourselves- like a Rian Johnson movie. Have you been clamoring for something “different” in Star Wars? Did you think “The Force Awakens” was too “safe” and “Rogue One” felt fragmented, with poorly developed characters, and leaned too heavily on nostalgic beats in the third act? Well, you’re about to get the movie you claimed to want. Two-minutes of footage makes it clear Johnson has no intention of playing it safe with his opportunity to tell a story in the Star Wars saga. This is going to be an exciting, weird, dark, dramatic, fun, mind-blowing, action ride with long noir-like beats, and camera-movement & editing choices heretofore not seen in Star Wars. Dammit, I’m excited! Anyone busy hammering away at the keyboard about how Kathleen Kennedy isn’t allowing directors their vision can take a break for a few months –at least until she fires another of your favorite egotistical privileged white hetero males with maybe one mediocre (and/or insanely overrated) movie under their belt. And yet, the visuals displayed in the trailer are still very much Star Wars: lightsabers, space battles, laser blasts, melee combat, and Luke Skywalker! Plus the surviving characters from “The Force Awakens” are back to struggle and suffer for decisions made in the previous episode. Not to mention back-story! From my point of view… the trailer is gorgeous, thrilling, emotional, and I’m beyond excited to see this movie. Also, the theatrical poster looks fantastic. I have only seen things to give me total confidence in “The Last Jedi.” May the Rian Johnson be with us… always.

  Jeremy Conrad (Editor at ManaByte.com)

I wasn’t one of those who had issues with the first teaser for The Last Jedi. It served its purpose well and gave you just enough new footage to make you want to see more and ask questions as to where the movie would be going. The final trailer opens up, even more, questions, and some of them are unexpected. That last shot of the trailer is going to send one segment of Star Wars fandom into convulsions, but imagine if that’s how the movie ends? Rey and Kylo going off leaving Luke and the Resistance to fend for themselves? Or perhaps it’s the first step towards Ben Solo’s redemption? See, there are lots of questions to ponder.

I loved the look of the movie from the trailer; it looks different. And that’s what you want in a Star Wars movie. You want new ships, you want new worlds, and you want it to feel different than the film before it. The Empire Strikes Back accomplished that, and doing so doesn’t make The Last Jedi an Empire clone; it makes it a Star Wars movie that knows that each installment has to introduce new stuff.

We get the first dialog from Luke, actual lines that give hints to the story. We get to see Porgs, the new Walkers, new ships, new planets. It’s a great Star Wars trailer. We only have two months to go, and this is going to see regular plays until December.

  Julia Silver (writer @sithglitter and @vaapadthinktank, occasional podcast guest)

For this reaction, I am going to take the trailer at face value. I’m going to assume that this trailer represents what we are meant to see overall in The Last Jedi. That is, even though I know that scenes are spliced and then edited together, they are selected together to make a point. When we see Rey speaking, or Luke, or Kylo Ren, or Snoke, they may be talking about who we see on screen or someone else entirely. This mild deception is a given. However, first trailers are meant to convey broad themes of a movie, and introduce us to central problems our heroes will face.]

The theme of The Last Jedi is: Destiny is a lie. That seems to be the tone of Luke Skywalker’s life. The story of Luke Skywalker and his lessons learned are going to loom large thematically in this Star Wars installment. Indeed, his figure looms over the new TLJ poster massively and ominously. Now, if we’re going to zoom out and go philosophically broad with this, “Destiny is a lie” is a tone or lesson of almost everyone’s life at some point. The concept of a personal “destiny” is a social construct meant to fill the gaps in one’s ego, to make one feel part of a larger whole, and to help one justify their decisions. It is helpful to feel as if you’re fulfilling some duty you are “supposed to” to get along, but in a heroic journey, Luke, and Anakin before him, already know: “This is not going to go… the way you think!”

[see also: every Greek tragedy]

It is through use of the concept of “destiny” that Sheev Palpatine can manipulate Anakin Skywalker and his fragile, hurting ego. It is through “destiny” that the Jedi are blinded, and destroyed through their attachment to a prophesied “Chosen One.” It is because of “destiny” that Yoda and Obi-Wan believe that training Luke Skywalker is a good idea, despite all of the signs against that. It is because of “destiny” that Luke faces Darth Vader, a machine running on only his mutated “destiny” by then, and realizes that destiny shatters someone who chooses to shoulder it.

The Last Jedi will depict how Rey and her foil, Kylo Ren, like so many of them, are each obsessed with their destinies as supernaturally powerful beings. The movie will also be about how their mentors, Luke Skywalker and Supreme Leader Snoke respectively, choose how to care for and shape these powerful people according to their perspectives on destiny.

It appears to me that Luke rejects the concept of destiny, and actively runs from it because he knows it is a tool of manipulation. He would rather a powerful being find their way than play god with their “raw” emotions and egos. Snoke, on the other hand, continues to spout “destiny” rhetoric throughout the trailer as he did in The Force Awakens… and likely for no good cause. As for Rey and Kylo Ren? Both believe they have unique destinies, but Kylo Ren has been carving out what he considers to be his own. His past literally and figuratively as part of the process, while Rey is desperate, almost in a panic (“I need help…”, “I need someone…”), searching for clarity on the concept. Both of our two lead characters here are ripe for an authentic rude “awakening” in The Last Jedi. And as the events of the movie progress, perhaps in being truly awakened to the nature of destiny and self-determination, Ben Solo and Rey may turn to each other for partnership and guidance on how to become whole, fulfilled powerful beings, destiny be damned!

  Kevin Olsen (Writer Contributor Star Wars Post)

What an absolutely splendid trailer. The footage conveys a feeling that anything can happen to these characters. It’s dark and brooding with a sense of actual stakes. People could die, alliances may be formed or dissolved. The color Red is all the place, and I believe it holds a special significance. The action is intense and epic. I like that it doesn’t come across to spoilerly but yet sets the table for an adventure that you don’t want to miss. It was emotional to see Carrie Fischer, but I’m so glad that we have her for one more episode. The battle between Finn and Phasma looks like it could steal the show as everyone wants to take down an evil boss at one point in life. Are they teasing a Rey to the dark side turn? Or a Kylo and Rey relationship? We don’t know, and that’s just the way I want it as we slowly approach December 15th 2017…until then we only have to breathe.

[briannaslist]

This Guilty Blood

A Recap

And we’re back – pretty much right where we left off too. Jace is on Valentine’s boat, surrounded by a bunch of unconscious people who drank from the Mortal Cup. He’s looking on with angst when Clary runs up to him. She tells him that she took a portal in and Jace does not question it. She tries to get him to leave with her, but before they can leave, Valentine shows up with some minions in tow. So Jace fights Valentine and kills him. This scenario happens twice in like two minutes. And both times they play this heavy dubstep/EDM/club music. And both times Clary has like, no reaction to what is actually happening. Like you would think that fighting and killing the bad guy would elicit some kind of excitement or shock. I mean, if he truly killed him, then the main source of your problem is finally gone. Just basically a flat surprise. It’s like if the 6th Harry Potter opened with Harry randomly killing Voldemort and then everyone else is just standing there unfazed.

In other words, it’s no surprise when it’s revealed that that isn’t Clary, it’s Valentine in disguise. And the “Valentines” that Jace killed were pawns in Valentine disguise. Which – obviously. Jace, how was Clary going to take a portal to place that she does not know about? How did this guy, who grew up in the Shadowhunter world, not consider that the evil manipulative liar might use a rune to disguise himself as someone close to him? Our valiant hero is an idiot.

The Institute is in chaos – or at least that’s what the episode description says. It seems like they’re the same level of busy that they’re usually in. Since Alec can’t sense Jace, Isabelle figures he’s over water. This is not good enough for Alec so he yells out some orders to everyone in the room and Lydia comes over to get Alec to pump the brakes because she is still technically in charge. Izzy suggests that Alec take a break and Lydia seconds this and dismisses him. Which makes this angry ball of angst even more upset, causing him to also lash out at Magnus, who hasn’t even done shit.

Clary goes to talk to Jocelyn, happy to have her there, but also kinda pissed because of the whole hiding a major part of her life from her. Part of that includes Clary criticizing her for marrying “a psychopath”. Which her mom points out that he wasn’t always like that – and it doesn’t make sense to even bring it up because Clary knows that. She was there for that huge expository episode in season one where it was basically half-flashback where they explain how he was way before the mess with the Circle. But Jocelyn promises “no more lies” which is usually foreshadowing for more lies, often escalated from the ones told before. So Clary decides to give her mom the box with the baby Jonathan stuff; Clary tells her about how she used to see her take the box out at night and cry over it. Clary gives her what she believes is good news – Jonathan (Jace) is alive.

But her mom says that doesn’t make sense because she saw “them burn”. They get interrupted by Luke coming in to check on them. Luke says he didn’t believe Jonathan being alive at first either. No further expansion on what actually convinced him that it was true. Then Simon comes in, surprising Jocelyn, because last she saw Simon, he was a human. He smiles and she sees his fangs. So cool, Jocelyn is all up to speed.

Alec tries to apologize to Magnus for being snappy earlier (that’s probably just something that will have to be one of those accepted flaws because he’s like that all the time). However, he also wants Magnus to help him track Jace. And Magnus is like, “Oooh, I want to help, but remember that last time where we did that and you almost died?” And Alec goes right back to snappish and is like, “Why can’t you do this one thing?” As if Magnus has not been at the beck-and-call of this boy and his annoying friends since like the 3rd episode.

A little later –  I’m assuming because Alec has changed his clothes while everyone is dressed the same – Maryse gives a speech saying that the Clave is replacing Lydia with Victor Aldertree. Who may very well be the most irritating and infuriating character introduced on the whole damn show. Aldertree wants the search for Jace as the top priority and he wants to interview people; he also puts the Institute on temporary lockdown.

Clary asks who would be out there looking for Jace if they’re on lockdown. But like, he just said that it was top priority to find Jace and that the lockdown was temporary so…everyone? Walking aimlessly around the streets of New York isn’t actually going to accomplish anything.  

Although, it would probably be good to find him soon since he’s being beaten by Valentine’s men. Valentine comes in and admires his resilience so he activates Jace’s healing rune and has Jace moved. Then later on he has Jace come into the kitchen where he’s cooking some spaghetti and he tries to use that as an opening to reminisce on some childhood memory that Jace does not actually have of him. Jace just needs this stupidity to stop (as do I) so he asks him why he faked his death and pretended to be Michael Wayland. And Valentine is like, “blah blah protection, I love you, your mom left you to die cause you’re different because I experimented on you with demon blood in the womb.”

Meanwhile, Clary gets interviewed and she says that Jace was trying to save everyone by warning them about Valentine. So Aldertree is like, “Oh so he knew ahead of time and didn’t stop Valentine.” It’s actually really stupid, but okay, whatever, let’s go with that.

And Alec is over here screwing up his relationship that has barely even gotten off the ground, by stopping Magnus on his way out (thought they were on a lockdown?). Now Magnus has clearly had enough of everyone and obviously not in the mood for questions like, “You’re not gonna help?” And Magnus just snaps and lets Alec have it and he says “You didn’t do anything for me, you did that all for you.” Alec is pissed that he’s bringing it up at all but they get interrupted by an alarm going off. So Magnus leaves.

Now, everyone is converging into the main room or whatever to see what the alarm is about, although it seems dumb that the announcement would be in one place in this big, high-tech place. It should project to all the rooms. And it should be projecting above, not below, eye-level. And unfortunately the non-urgency sound of the alarm coupled with the weird picture of Jace makes the whole “Wanted: Dead or Alive” announcement look really funny. They essentially ordered a man-hunt, but it’s impossible to take seriously.

The not so great part is that Aldertree blames this decision on what Clary said in the interview. Then he kicks out the Downworlders still at the Institute (really just Simon and Luke) and continues with the whole, “Jace is a traitor because he didn’t kill Valentine.” Sorry, are they scapegoating here? Is that what’s happening? Because that doesn’t make sense. The at most 20-year-old guy, who was alone for all encounters, never killed the seasoned villain who has an entire organization of people willing to die for him. And that makes him a traitor. I feel like we’re just trying to find someone to blame and refocus everyone’s attention so they don’t think too hard about how inept the Clave is. Clary’s only response is to be as stupid as Aldertree and says that they’re not gonna help him hunt down Jace. As if the dude in charge of a building full of people needs the help of three very young adults who obviously don’t like him. Why the hell would he ever in his life want their help? And he says as much and lifts the lockdown for everyone but Clary and Jocelyn.

Luke takes Simon to the Jade Wolf and says he can stay there as long as he wants. Then they talk about the fact that Simon is clearly into Clary and Luke’s advice is to give it a try and be bold. Listen, when your crush just experienced a trauma and is currently overwhelmed by guilt, stress, and complicated romantic feelings for someone else, that’s when you make your move. You heard it here first. Luke gets a phone call, so he walks out, leaving Simon…in the middle of all these werewolves…who, in case we forgot, do not like vampires. They have to honor Simon staying there because of Luke, but they don’t want him around them. So they lock him in one of the storage trailers outside. Which initially seems mean, but actually feels kinda helpful since the place is spacious and has lots of things and no windows so he doesn’t have to deal with the sun – it could be much worse.

On the Boat of Evil, Valentine’s new Shadowhunters are training. Jace decides to bring up the experimentation in the womb thing again, because seriously, what the hell. Valentine goes back with his usual thing of the evil downworlders and their evil urges needing to be combatted. So he decided to fight fire with fire, hence the experimentation. Jace looks down at the water and Valentine demonstrates that there’s a killer force field so maybe no jumping off the ship.

Isabelle takes Clary to “train”. But really it was a good way to get Clary close enough to talk while Aldertree can smirk at them. She could have just talked to Clary in her room, but I guess we couldn’t make the excuse of fanservice with their outfits as easily they went that route. For the record, they do look fantastic. Izzy tells her that Aldertree threatened to de-rune her if she looked for Jace, but she suggests that Clary “knows her enemy by becoming her enemy.” And their two-minute training session is over, while the music weirdly fades out. Seriously, whoever is in charge of this music, stop.

Clary takes Izzy’s advice in the literal way and uses a rune to disguise herself as Aldertree. I don’t understand how these people who have been Shadowhunters their whole lives have managed to not consider this. Someone should have been posted at the exit to check for this kind of thing. Why do people keep getting fooled with this? Clary went to ask Luke if the police knew anything relating to this Jace disappearance and he says he’ll check. Though I don’t see what they could possibly know; if he’s cloaked from other Shadowhunters then he certainly isn’t on the radar of humans. Luke points out where Simon is and when Clary leaves to go see him, he calls Jocelyn.

Since the lockdown is lifted, Alec decides to head out and go see Magnus. But Maryse follows him outside and asks him why he left. Alec tells her that he wants to try to find his brother and she says that Jace isn’t his brother and that they never should have brought him in. Alec is basically like, “Wow, the fuck is wrong with you, you raised him.” And she says that life is full of hard choices. He tells her not to fool herself – she’s saving her own ass. Can we get his dad back instead?

A little later, Jocelyn goes to see Clary and Simon. She says she wants to help find Jace and has Clary give her Jace’s gloves, along with her phone and stele. Then she runs out and locks them in. Ha, hey, the turnaround on that whole “I won’t lie again” thing was really quick. Simon tries to knock the door down by using his super speed. He does get a dent in it, but Clary tells him to stop. So instead they reminisce about getting drunk in 10th grade and Simon says how crazy things have been the past few weeks. I’m sorry weeks? It is so strange watching certain shows over an extended period of time when so much happens. Because it really seems longer – especially with the way they framed this Clary/Jace romance in the beginning. Anyway, Simon figures that’s as good a time as any to tell Clary he’s in love with her, but of course the door falls off, interrupting his declaration.

Let’s go to a couple that I actually like: Alec sees Magnus practicing some kind of magic (while shirtless, which is another kind of magic) on his balcony. Alec is trying to apologize, but he’s distracted by Magnus. Because his back is turned and he’s still doing the magic, not because of the shirtless thing (though it could be a factor). He tells Magnus that he was right about him calling off the wedding for himself and that the whole thing is new for him, but he didn’t mean to take it out on him. Magnus forgives him easily and asks that Alec doesn’t push him away when there are challenges. And he agrees to help Alec track Jace; luckily the risk of that is avoided because Jace and Valentine portal onto a street and Alec can sense Jace’s presence.

The problem is that everyone can sense his presence. So Maryse and Aldertree pinpoint exactly where he is. Jocelyn can sense him too because she’s using a tracking rune. And Simon and Clary are using his phone to track Clary’s mom. Alec and Izzy go to Aldertree to say they won’t “let” Aldertree send in his people to get Jace. But what was the point because they never actually did anything? Like they didn’t try to physically stop anyone, they weren’t delaying anyone, they had no plan. They just get immediately detained.

Valentine and Jace are in front of a vampire den. Valentine is trying to use the situation to prove that Downworlders are bad. This whole part of the storyline is already wearing thin – just let convincing him go. Anyway, Jace hears a scream and goes running inside to rescue the people. And he does get them out, but now he’s surrounded by vampires while in their domain. But wait – what about the humans? Do they have people who come in and erase their memories? These people are going to be traumatized and driven into further turmoil because they’ll think they’ve gone crazy.

Anyway, Jace has to fight his way out, all with the loud dubstep soundtrack that I cannot deal with. The music reminds me so much of those fight scenes in Teen Wolf. Except it worked better than it does here. Somehow it feels like the music doesn’t fit. It’s like a completely different tone. Jace eventually ends up tackled through a window, but manages to get the upper hand on vampire leader Maria. So she surrenders to authority of the Clave and taunts Jace about being a rule follower who legally can’t kill her. So of course Valentine is egging Jace on and Jace is conflicted. But the decision is made for him when Maria lunges at his neck. And it’s worth mentioning that Jace has been holding his weapon pointed towards her this entire time. So when he “killed” her, it seems unclear. Also, she was going in for the kill, so that’s justified yeah?

The problem is that everyone who sees this comes at the wrong time. So Clary and Simon see this happen while, across the street, Jocelyn uses a crossbow aimed right at Jace. So…how did she get across the street without anyone seeing? Did she really take the long way around so she could end up in that same spot? Because logically she was coming from the same direction as Clary and Simon. Also, no Institute members are present. Valentine decides to use this flying arrow to advantage and jumps in front of Jace to save him. Jocelyn loads up another arrow as Clary is running towards her, yelling for her to stop. And then, here’s the really bizarre thing, Jace grabs Valentine and helps him through the portal. And Clary is yelling at her mom like, “What did you just do?!” And the episode just ends.