#and then luke sort of vaguely remembers that obi-wan is in love with his dad later

[tennessoui]

wip wednesday (early cause im offline tmrw)

When the dust settles, Obi-Wan is surprised to find himself still standing.

It takes all of him, he thinks, the end of the war. It takes everything he has.

He used to wonder, in a distant, nebulous way, what it would feel like in the aftermath. How his life would return to the routines he held before Geonosis, if the cadence of Temple life would feel strange and unfamiliar to him after so long spent in the trenches. If he would miss the sound of his men behind and around him, the steady stream of words and laughter and presence of others, at all times, surrounding him.

It’s only when the dust settles, when the first grains of sand whip through the arid desert air to sting his eyes, that he realizes that every time he ever allowed himself to think about the end of the war, he’d always assumed that they would win. He had never truly thought they would be defeated. That the Jedi Order, the Temple itself, so strongly entrenched in the galaxy and in Coruscant and in Obi-Wan’s world view, were capable of falling.

He had cautioned others against the same assumptions the moment he heard them. He had warned his own padawan to not look too far into the future, to not plan too much for the war’s end. He had told many people—clones, civilians, holonet reporters, other Jedi—that it was dangerous to think of the war as something they would inevitably win. Nothing was inevitable, especially not victory.

But he realizes now, only now, only as he traverses the desert on the back of a stolen eopie, wearing robes still smelling so strongly of volcanic sulfur that his eyes are stinging with reactionary tears, that he’d thought. He’d always thought. 

He’d never really considered…this.

This aftermath, where he is still standing on shaking legs and everything that he has ever cared for in the world has become ash, has become the dust settling around him.

Everything he has ever known and loved and fought for has slipped through his fingers. When the dust settles, when he looks down at his hands, he expects to find them empty.

Instead, there is a baby in his arms.

And he knows—he knows intimately how much damage these hands are capable of. What hurt these hands can inflict even on those he loves. Loved. 

He knows, as the homestead rises up in the fading light of the two suns, that these hands should not cradle this baby. Not the son of the man he has murdered. Not his brother’s son. Not his padawan’s. Not Anakin’s.

He knows the babe is safest here on this farm in the care of this couple. He knows he must leave the child with them, to raise and love a thousand times better than he is capable of. He has tried before. He has failed one Skywalker already.

He knows. 

And he can’t. He cannot let him go.

While the Galactic empire rises on one side of the galaxy, the dust settles on the other and Obi-Wan Kenobi looks down at the babe in his hands and realizes that he cannot let him go.

Not another Skywalker.

[frunbuns]

Of Fathers and Grandfathers

Read on Ao3

The whole temple seems to be in a good mood today. The force practically sings with it. Just the happiness of it all. Obi-Wan can’t remember the last time the temple felt this light and bright. The Coruscant sun shines impossibly bright today, casting everything in a warm glow. Younglings giggling as they run past him in the halls, small gifts clutched in their arms - either for their masters or their fathers.

Obi-Wan smiles at them as they pass him, small waves and a hurried, “good morning, master.” before they disappear out of his sight.

It’s on days like these that he misses Qui-Gon. The two of them had a somewhat complicated relationship at times - with Qui-Gon refusing to take Obi-Wan on at first, Obi-Wan leaving the order, Qui-Gon pushing Obi-Wan to the side to train Anakin - but he had loved him regardless. He hopes that Qui-Gon had loved him too.

Obi-Wan wonders what Qui-Gon would say if he saw him today. Forty-two standard years old, jedi master, padawan and grand-padawan under his belt. Father and grandfather too, he muses, Anakin’s voice echoing in the back of his head.

“Obi-Wan!” a voice echoes behind him.

Obi-Wan smiles as he stops walking. Slowly, he turns around and watches his former padawan come sprinting up to him. The younger jedi slows to a stop in front of him and before Obi-Wan can open his mouth and ask him what it is he wraps his arms around his neck. He chuckles dumbfounded for a moment before he wraps his arms securely around Anakin.

“Happy father’s day, Obi-Wan,” he mutters into the crook of his neck.

Obi-Wan plants his left hand in Anakin’s soft curls, enjoying the pressure of his padawan’s body so firmly against his. It’s as if nothing has changed since he was a little boy. He still fits as snugly into his embrace as he did when he was a child. Even if he’s grown to be taller than him. It’s almost hard to believe that the little boy from Tatooine - his little boy - has grown into a jedi knight. A full grown man. A father even.

Obi-Wan’s heart swells with love and pride at the thought of it. He truly has become a far better jedi than Obi-Wan could even hope to be. If Anakin notices that he holds him a bit tighter after that he doesn’t mention it. “Thank you, padawan.”

Another group of younglings run past them, the pitter patter of their shoes echoing down the corridor. They barely pay a glance at the two of them as they pass, much too busy with their own things at the moment.

“Not that I don’t enjoy hugging you, but is there a reason you sought me out?”

Anakin untangles himself from Obi-Wan’s arms and steps back, a broad smile on his face. “Oh yeah. You haven’t had breakfast yet, right?”

Obi-Wan shakes his head. “I have not,” he says, raising a brow at the taller man.

“Good,” Anakin says then, grabbing a hold of his arm. “Come with me.”

Obi-Wan nearly stumbles over his feet as Anakin drags him down the corridor. They turn a corner so abruptly that Obi-Wan nearly slams into another knight. He hurriedly apologizes before he manages to match Anakin’s walking speed.

“What’s this about?” he asks his former padawan, his voice betraying his bewilderment at Anakin. “Surely whatever it is it’s so urgent we have to run down people in the temple to get there.”

Anakin flashes him a toothy grin, gripping his arm tighter. “It’s a surprise.”

“Your surprises never bode well,” Obi-Wan says. “Certainly not for me. Do you even remember the time you surprised me with new plants and when I got to our quarters it was filled with soil?”

“You said you were thankful!”

“I was - still am - but the mess took ages to clean up. Honestly Anakin, why did you think replanting them in our living room was a good idea?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I promise this surprise is a good one.”

“It better be. I’d rather not be left to clean up one of your messes again.”

Anakin rolls his eyes, but the corners of his mouth quirk up into a smile. “Are you done scolding me now?”

Obi-Wan sighs. “I suppose I am.”

“Good. Because we’re here.”

They stop before the entrance to the temple gardens. The sun hangs high in the sky. Birds chirp from the treetops. Children laugh as they play. It’s truly a lovely day, something Anakin would be able to appreciate if he had the mind to slow down every now and again. Anakin stands there for a moment, scouting the area out with narrowed eyes before his face lights up with recognition and they’re walking again.

Obi-Wan is left to stumble after him, just barely able to comprehend his surroundings as Anakin drags him through the garden. Their fellow jedi casting them amused glances as they pass them, all too used to his and Anakin’s antics at this point.

They come to a sudden stop by a picnic table farther in the garden, Obi-Wan nearly crashing into Anakin’s back. When Obi-Wan sees who’s sitting at the table though, his face breaks into a smile.

“Hello.”

“Grandpa Obi-Wan!” Luke and Leia cheer in unison. Obi-Wan smiles at them, long since given up on trying to get them to call him grandpa. It was a lost cause at this point. Once the other jedi at the temple had caught on they had quickly taken to calling him that too, to tease him. Quinlan seemed especially fond of referring to him as “grandpa” or “old man” despite being about the same age as him.

It’s not that he minds the twins calling him that. There’s something gratifying with being able to call them his grandchildren. Even at only forty-two standard years old. They’re a family of sorts. With him, and Anakin, and Ahsoka, and Padmé, and the twins.

Padmé smiles up at him, adjusting her hold on Leia in her lap. “Please sit down, Obi-Wan. We’ve been waiting for you.”

The moment Obi-Wan sits down at the picnic table Luke scrambles into his lap with all the might of his four year old body. Anakin sits down next to him, ruffling the small boy’s hair. Luke giggles as he tries to wriggle away from his father’s hand, nestling into Obi-Wan’s tunic.

“We hope you’re up for breakfast,” Padmé says as she places a plate down in front of him.

“How could I say no?” Obi-Wan responds, his trademark smile on his face.

He wraps his left arm around the toddler before he leans over the table to load his plate with food. Padmé pours him some tea as Anakin helps himself to some food as well.

“I’m starving,” he says as he stuffs his mouth.

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan scolds him. “Manners!”

Padmé shoots him a dirty look as Obi-Wan half-heartedly glares at him. Anakin looks down at his lap bashfully before he picks up the fork and knife and starts eating with them.

“Hello!” Rings a voice not too far away. “Sorry I’m late.” Ahsoka sits down next to Padmé and starts helping herself to food as well. “I was just giving my gift to Master Plo.”

“I’m sure he loved it,” Obi-Wan tells her.

She beams at him. “He did! He also asked me to wish you a happy father’s day.” She looks between him and Anakin. “Both of you.”

Anakin practically jumps next to him then. “Oh! Oh! Ahsoka! Do you have the gift?”

Ahsoka’s face lights up as she nods. She reaches under the table and produces a small, wrapped square and hands it to Obi-Wan over the table. Obi-Wan takes it and studies it with a smile.

“Happy father’s day, Obi-Wan!” Ahsoka exclaims. “Open it!”

Obi-Wan looks down at the box in his hand. “You really didn’t have to—”

“just open it, old man!” Anakin bellows at him.

Obi-Wan rolls his eyes and starts unwrapping it. Luke reaches his tiny hands and rips a few pieces of wrapping paper himself. Under the wrapping paper is a neutral, brown cardboard box. The jedi master looks at it curiously before he opens it, flipping the flap over and pulling out a white mug. He turns it over in his hand, trying to get Luke’s curious fingers away from it.

“GALAXY’S BEST DAD” in bold, black letters stares back at him. It takes a moment before it hits him. His mouth falls open in a quiet, soft, “Oh…”

Anakin and Ahsoka look at him curiously. Their force signatures buzzing with anticipation. Like small younglings, the both of them. “Do you like it?” Anakin asks.

“I…” Obi-Wan swallows thickly, finding his voice tight in his throat. He looks up at them with a soft expression on his face. “Thank you,” he whispers, looking back at the mug in his hand.

It’s such a small, silly thing. Shops on every planet probably have these stocked in plentitude. He’s seen mugs like these before. Laughed at them even. But now, holding one in his hand - that Anakin and Ahsoka bought specifically for him - it feels different.

Luke snatches the mug out of his hand, holding it in his small hands as he studies it intently. He coos at it as he turns it over.

“Careful, little one,” Obi-Wan tells him, quickly placing his hand under in case he drops it.

“Hey, Luke!” Padmé exclaims, digging around in a bag next to her on the ground. Luke, easily distracted by his mother, lets Obi-Wan pry the mug out of his hands. He places it on the table far away from small fingers and Padmé gives Luke some stuffed animal she’s fished out for him. “There you go.”

Obi-Wan mutters a quiet ‘thank you’ as he adjusts his grip on Luke who has managed to almost squirm himself off his thigh. She smiles at him before rummaging through the bag again. She hands Leia two flimsies and then places her on the ground. She whispers something in Leia’s ear and the little girl nods before she runs around the table and up to Obi-Wan, handing him the two flimsies.

Obi-Wan raises his brows and puts on a great show of curiosity. “What’s this, love?” he asks her.

Leia giggles and grips the fabric of his pants.

On the flimsies there are vaguely human-shaped doodles of what is unmistakably supposed to be him and them. The one signed Luke is bug, wobbly letters he’s they’re both holding lightsabers, both of them blue, on a green planet that reminds him of Naboo. The one signed Leia, in slightly neater writing, they’re standing in what he assumes is the temple. Something in his chest aches as he looks at them, Luke helpfully pointing out details of his drawing and explaining them. To which Obi-Wanresponds with an interested hum of approval.

By the time Anakin became his padawan he was past the age of giving drawing to people. It also didn’t help that he had grown up as a slave and just didn’t get to do a lot of normal childhood things. Instead Obi-Wan spent time picking up droid parts from their living quarters. He would occasionally find a doodle here and there, usually some droid design he had thought of and then forgotten.

With the twins around he often finds himself wishing Anakin had a better childhood, but if there was one thing he had learned it was that dwelling on the past never helps.

Their breakfast continues after this, filled with pleasant chatter and laughter. Anakin continues scarfing down the food as if he hasn’t eaten in days, with Obi-Wan halfheartedly scolding him for his lack of table manners. In reality he doesn’t really care. It’s not every day he gets to enjoy time with his family like this, all of them together. The war, even if it’s long over by this point, still requires cleanup. This is only a moment of respite before he’s undoubtedly put back on duty.

He just wished Anakin and Ahsoka’s padawan years weren’t tainted by war, but he supposes his were as well.

He won’t let Luke and Leia’s childhood be taken away by war and suffering. It’s the least he could do for them.

“Come on, let’s take a picture,” Padmé says. “All of you. You too Ahsoka.”

Padmé tutters around, barking order on where to stand. It takes some time before she is pleased, but it ends with Ahsoka in the middle, Obi-Wan and Anakin with a toddler on their hips each. At one point Ahsoka tries to tickle Leia and she shrieks so loudly Obi-Wan nearly loses his grip on her. The picture does get taken, after a while though. Padmé seems pleased at last.

She then says something about having to go to work and taking the twins with her. And then it’s just the three jedi left.

Anakin turns to Obi-Wan then. He looks down at the ground for a moment, fiddling with his hands. Obi-Wan raises an amused brow at him, crossing his arms over his chest. Ahsoka watches the two of them expectantly.

“Is there anything you wish to say, Anakin?”

Anakin glances up at him for a moment. “I know we haven’t exactly got to celebrate much these past years, or any years for that matter.”

“I assure you I really don’t mind—”

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want you to know that you do mean a lot to me,” he says, disregarding Obi-Wan’s comment entirely. “You’ve made me the person I am today and I am eternally grateful for everything you’ve sacrificed for mine - and Ahsoka’s sake. I know it’s not at all what you expected. After Qui-Gon died on Naboo I know you were having a really hard time and I appreciate it all. I’ve never really said it before so I thought it was time. I guess having kids has just made me understand you more. And the mind-healer I’ve been seeing said I should tell you too, so there’s that.”

“I’m grateful to have you as my grand-master. You’ve been an excellent teacher and father. I can’t imagine being anyone else’s grand-padawan,” Ahsoka adds.

Obi-Wan’s face softens. His eyes sting with emotion as he looks the two of them over, suddenly very aware of the tightness of his throat and the ache in his chest.

“Oh,” he says, voice breaking pitifully. “What have I done to deserve such good padawans?” he asks, fully aware of the tears soaking into his beard. He pulls them both into a hug, holding them against his body. “I’d do anything for you, you understand. I’d walk to the ends of the galaxy if it meant you would be happy and well. I’d do it all over again if I had to. All of it. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

He feels Anakin nod into his shoulder. “I know,” he mumbles, muffled by the fabric of his tunic.

Something about the statement does something to him. Just the simple ‘I know’ alone. Just Anakin understanding him so - so wholly and fully. The other half to his whole, for gods know how long.

“If Qui-Gon could see you now he’d be so proud of you, I know it.”

And maybe it’s the fact that Obi-Wan always craved Qui-Gon’s validation. That he never really stopped wanting it, even after he became one with the force. Or maybe it’s something else entirely. Something that’s been building up in him for a long time now. Or maybe it’s a combination of all of it, but the damn seems to break.

If it had been any other situation, with any other people, he would have been embarrassed by the noise he makes then. He closes his eyes, lashes wet with tears, and weeps, soaking Anakin’s tunic in salty tears. Pitiful sobs muffled by the soft fabric. Ahsoka seems to hug him tighter as his body wracks with sobs. It’s truly a pitiful and humiliating sight, but he feels safe in Anakin and Ahsoka’s arms. Safe and loved.

“I miss him.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

They stand there for what feels like an eternity. Just the tree of them. Holding him in their arms, like steady pillars keeping him upright. Anakin rubs a comforting hand on his back as he lets his master just unapologetically cry into his shoulder. By the time Obi-Wan’s sobs subside into sniffles and small gasps he feels lighter than he has in a long time. And even then they don’t let him go. Remaining a steadfast pillar for him to lean on.

This is what love is, he thinks. This right here. And he’s neck deep in it. Practically swimming in it.

[esandcasg]

Star Wars – The Force Awakens revisited – A Big A Review

It’s on Netflix. I’d just finished a Cost Benefit Analysis (my first proper one at work) and thought I’d whack this on and put down my thoughts, especially given recent (and less recent) discussions about The Last Jedi.

Speaking of which, another prompt for this was that in our post-viewing debrief of the Star Wars sequel, my brother said to me ‘Come on, if Han Solo hadn’t have died it would have been a good film’. My bias towards Harrison Ford is well known; so was my general view of TFA clouded by the smuggler’s death?

It should be said at this point I’ve not seen the film from start to finish since I saw it at the cinema, making it the only Star Wars film (well, TLJ is the same actually) that I’ve only seen once. I watched the prequels a number of times – though I think with less frequency as the trilogy progressed – and have obviously seen the original trilogy ad infinitum.

Anyway – let’s not digress too much before we’ve even got to the bones of the piece. I’m intended this to be a general commentary on the film itself before diverging into a general mulling over the direction of the newer Star Wars films in general.

TFA starts with a focus on new characters – Poe, Finn and Rey. There are a few others dotted about – Lor Van Sekka (I have undoubtedly got that name wrong, but the character played by the bad guy from Minority Report), BB8 and, of course, Kylo Ren, Hux and Cappy Phasma. The feel of the film is immediately Star Wars. There’s an earnestness about Poe that tonally fits and I actually like the brutality of the Stormtroopers here; it harks back to A New Hope, when Obi Wan and Luke come across the slaughtered Jawas. Stormtroopers developed into figures of fun throughout the Original Trilogy and this sort of had them back as actually nasty pieces of work.

That said, this idea of brutality is undermined by two First Order figures – Hux and Phasma. Kylo Ren is supposed to be this vaguely immature, hot-headed bad guy. He has moments of rage and uncontrolled reactions to things, but he’s not supposed to be in charge. Unfortunately, both Hux and Phasma seemed to be being portrayed almost tongue in cheek. Hux is pulling ‘I’m a bad guy’ faces throughout, and Phasma’s voice is too much like someone who has spent their entire career in rep, giving overblown performances, and are suddenly given a spot on TV and are unable to play it down. Look at the Imperial officers in the Original Trilogy. There’s one sneery guy who gets throttled by Vader in A New Hope, but the rest of them – Tarkin and Piett particularly – are just fairly normal, cold, straightforward people. They are almost business-like in their manner, whereas Hux and Phasma are almost cartoony (both would be worse in TLJ). I wonder whether casting familiar-ish names in both roles made that likelier.

So you’ve got, in the First Order, a childish main bad guy (necessarily so) and two cartoony sub-villains. There’s a problem right off the bat. And that only gets compounded when we meet…

Rey.

I have a problem both with the characterization of Rey and the performance. Let’s start with the performance. It’s too on the nose. It’s not helped by all the exposition she has to do (more on this anon) but there’s something sort of stilted about the way the lines are delivered. It’s almost too earnest (despite my comment about this earlier on). It’s… it’s the sort of performance I would give; too affected, lacking subtlety unless she has people to bounce off. Ridley is good in later scenes when she has to be upset but the sort of earlier, day to day stuff seems pretty bad – it’s the same when she’s being enthusiastic with Han Solo on the way to Maz’s place.

The characterization doesn’t help. Rey is both wistfully looking for a way out (seeing the ship leaving Jakku) and yet determined to stay. She’s both self-reliant and desperate to be liked. And yet the performance isn’t conflicted AT ALL to start off with.

Anyway. So I have an issue with the first order, and Rey is a little jarring. But otherwise I think the story works and I’m enjoying it. I enjoy it even more when Han Solo and Chewbacca come in.

I remember watching Six Days, Seven Nights with my older brother at the cinema and there’s a scene where Ford’s character, Quinn, is drunk at a bar. My brother leant his head close to mine at this point and said “He’s acting now”. He didn’t mean it as an insult or a compliment but as a comment. A couple of years later I read an interview with Ford where he bemoaned the lack of opportunity he’s had in some respect in terms of the roles he’s offered. Referencing The Mosquito Coast (which is a great film, and he gives a great performance in it) which performing poorly at the box office, Ford said something to the effect that as soon as he tries something outside the parameters of his usual Ordinary Guy put in Extraordinary Situation role, people say “He’s acting now”. As my brother had.

I suspect that given the type of roles Ford has enjoyed success in, there’s been an element of maybe not considering him that good an actor. We could argue this point back and forth, but I think one of the reasons this manifests is he has – undeniably – screen presence. There is a complete ease at being on camera, being on a film set, that I don’t think is that natural anymore for a lot of actors. Actors from an older generation had it – Streep, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson – but maybe younger actors don’t in the same respect. Perhaps that’s because back in the day you used to go and see a film because a certain actor was in it. I’m not so sure that’s the case anymore.

Anyway, my point in all of this was that there’s a sense of ease in the way Han Solo and Chewbacca come into the film. The familiarity helps (you’ve seen these characters loads before) and the relationship between the two helps as well.

Unfortunately, the arrival of Solo and Chewbacca triggers two things which will eventually begin to make the film less enjoyable.

The first is exposition. All the dialogue starts being weighed down by it. What happened to Luke. What happened to Kylo Ren. What happened between Han and Leia. What happened to R2D2. On and on and on. It doesn’t really let up. And it makes the dialogue a lot more boring. The exchanges between Han and Leia are particularly bad in this respect. Same for the exchange between Han and Kylo Ren. It’s all just exposition.

I understand the need for explaining some things but Abrams and Larry Kasdan should have had more faith in people sticking with the films because they’re Star Wars. You didn’t need to explain that Kylo Ren was Han and Leia’s son until the last confrontation. You don’t need to have both Han and Leia talk about what happened to Kylo Ren on a number of different occasions.

The second bad thing is fanboyism. The maguffin of the film is Luke, so there’s a certain amount of wistfulness baked in, but as soon as Han comes in, everything becomes about worshipping the original trilogy. Rey and Finn are amazed to meet Han. Kylo Ren is a Vader fan boy. They compare the planet to the Death Star. Everyone wants to find Luke.

The film starts on its own two feet but seems to become less and less secure of itself and more and more reverential to the past as time goes on. Why? There’s really no need. You are going to have a certain amount of Star Wars fans regardless. You don’t need to constantly revere the past. In fact it’s more interesting not too, I would argue. This may seem an odd reference, but I like how Ghostbusters 2 starts, with Ray and Winston as children’s entertainers. How in a fictional world heroes can be forgotten as the world moves on (in that case, New York). I think that’s partly why I liked TFA to start off with. You’ve got Luke, Han and Leia who have, to some extent all fallen on hard times, and a world that has sort of moved on.

Except it hasn’t, really, because of the fact that everything still revolves around the three of them, and becomes more about them as the film goes on.

That then brings me to the ending of the film. There are some glaring errors here; Han’s death, the tone of the subsequent remainder of the film and the appearance of Luke.

Let’s start with Han’s death. It’s pointless, and here’s why. The only reason that Han should die at that point is either to save his friends or to allow Kylo Ren to become something else.

Does his death save his friends? No. At that point there’s something of a bond beginning between Rey/Finn and Han but not worth talking about. But Kylo Ren isn’t getting in their way. Han could plant the bombs and leave quite happily but is compelled to confront his son, presumably because a) he’s his Dad and hasn’t written him off and b) Leia told him to. Neither are about saving his mates.

So then we’re down to character development for Kylo Ren. The obvious thing is that the patricide allows Ren to choose the dark side. Except there are a couple of problems here. Firstly, where’s the conflict? It’s not as if up until this point he’s been struggling with the choice between the two. There is one real point where this is referenced and that’s the bit where he’s talking to Vader’s mask. There’s nothing else in the film that shows his struggle. There’s stuff that shows he’s immature or incompetent but nothing to say he’s struggling between the light and the dark

So suddenly there’s a need as far as the writers go to make him choose the dark side?  

Fine, so let’s go with that. Except that there’s no difference in his character in The Last Jedi! None! He’s still a whiney, impulsive, slightly incompetent bad guy. So you’ve gained nothing and have lost a character that a) all the fans loved and b) could have actually bought more time for the new characters to establish themselves without the films having to live or die based on who they are.

Ren should have had a scene early on in TFA that shows he is still struggling. His first appearance needs to show his struggle, when he kills that guy. Maybe afterwards you see him take off the mask and look down at the lightsaber in disgust? Something that says this guy isn’t quite dark side yet. The problem is that the writers wanted him to be a bad guy from the off, to be scary from the off. And then almost reverse-engineer this struggle.

Ok, to point no. 2. The tone of the rest of the film.

Han’s death should have been an opportunity for Rey/Finn and, especially, Chewie to lose it. To absolutely lose it. Rey sort of does but sort of doesn’t, and it’s hinted at in her fight with Ren but that should have shown her almost being pulled to the dark side in her rage, and she should have been prevented from killing him by something else. Maybe that earthquake. I know that sort of happens anyway, but there’s no real rage in her performance. There’s no real sense that she would have killed him if she could. Then there’s the obvious Chewie/Leia non-hug, and how there almost seems to have been no impact on anyone that Han had died. And you have Rey going to see Luke, Luke not saying anything, R2D2 and Chewie not leaving the falcon – all this has been done to death. The tone is confused. They’ve blown up the new death star – good. But Han died in the process – bad. I know Obi Wan Kenobi dies in A New Hope but there’s a crucial difference, or a crucial set of differences. 1) He does so knowingly. 2) His voice appears later on so he’s still there. 3) Luke et al get a chance to get revenge. Han’s death, however, mars any achievement of blowing up the death star. It makes it unfulfilling as an achievement. For me, anyway.

And then Luke at the end. For a film to gradually get more and more about one character, to build up this character’s appearance, to have him do and say nothing is a really, really crappy payoff. There’s way too big a build up for nothing to happen. And the ending isn’t even interesting, because we know she’s going to see Luke. We know it’s going to happen. What would have been more interesting is that when they landed they say the broken X Wing, Rey and Chewie and R2D2 go up to the temple except it’s been destroyed. It’s in ruins. And then from out of the shadows comes a darkly-dressed Luke who pulls the lightsaber from Rey’s hand and ignites it. End film.

It starts really well, as a Star Wars film. The universe is true to what has come beforehand and I like the ruined nature of the place. The war was over but it took a toll on the world, and the peace allowed the first order to rise. That’s all cool. And say Luke has disappeared, and Han has fucked off somewhere, and Leia is holding it together. And have the new characters basically have to reunite them in some way, that shows the new characters to be taking the lead. And then gradually have the old dudes fade into the background as the films go on. I think that could be a plausible way of developing a new franchise.

Unfortunately they seem to have flipped between extremes – JJ Abrams almost too in love with the past. Rian Johnson then feeling that it needs to be jettisoned (along with most Star Wars traits). And so we’re left with Abrams again to try and tie up what has become a mess. There’s no single vision (for better or worse) and no real momentum going from one film to the next.

I’ll still watch the next one, as I’ve watched them all so far, but my appetite is diminishing to the point I’m questioning how much I liked Star Wars in the first instance.