#he never properly delved deeper into already existing plot points and characters

[bibibbon]

I don't know if I'm alone in the opinion of most series that are long running having bad or mediocre endings.

MHA is going to join the long growing list of series that fans had hope for but were let down with.

Sucks too, because people get invested in series that they think will be worth sticking for to the very end.

Well it depends on what someone's definition of a long series is to be honest but you do have a point. A long series will have more plot points and more plots and arcs that it will need to try and neatly tie up resulting in a satisfactory ending. Also the longer the series the more time we have with characters that we get attached to and the more people are attached the higher the emotions and stakes to have a somewhat decently written ending.

I believe that MHA has branched out too far, too wide when it came to the plot but it actually never dived deeper into already existing material which is why almost everything in MHA feels underdeveloped, underwhelming and overall lacking.

Iam not saying that long series can't be good and well written it's just that it's incredibly difficult to do so when compared with shorter series or stories.

[haddocknumber3]

Defense of The Hidden World.

This is my first time posting here in ages but I’ve been working on an essay in defense of HTTYD 3. Some of the possible responses I’ve seen against arguments defending the movie will be answered throughout. (warning this is long, like, ridiculously long so if you don’t read this then I completely understand. I just wanted a place to formulate and explain my opinion. 

Hiccup and Toothless’ relationship proved that a genuine, unflinchingly honest and unconditional love could exist between humans and dragons. It proved to the world that co-existence was possible, but maybe not yet. However the main thing that I found to be so profound about THW was that even though they loved each other, they were both willing to explore their own identities separate from each other. Once Toothless found the Lightfury, he re-discovered what it meant to be a dragon. Not a domesticated dragon but a pure, natural dragon. He found that he had instincts that he never knew he had. For instance, he tries to do a mating dance by himself as well as the simple fact that he was so in love with the Light Fury. So when he wanted to mate with the light fury he turned to Hiccup for advice (third date scene) because not only did he not know what to do, but he had seen Hiccup getting closer with Astrid over the years and now that he finally found someone else, he wanted advice on how to handle it. That just shows the love between them. Yes, Hiccup made mistakes in the movie in terms of how he handled Toothless getting with the Lightfury. He was anxious and felt as if he needed to be there to protect him so he desperately tried to halt Grimmel and the armada’s advance without Toothless because he knew he had to do something. However he failed at this and caused Ruffnut to be captured. This causes him to feel like he can’t lead properly without Toothless. He has always doubted whether he’s worthy, but this time he genuinely feels as if he doesn’t know who he is without Toothless. This is confirmed when Astrid and Valka have that brief conversation after Hiccup storms off (after they’ve returned from Grimmel’s tower) and they say:

“He thinks he has to lead alone, well, because his father had to. He doesn’t realize the strength you have together. Do you still believe in him?” - Valka

“Of course, I wish he did. But he thinks he’s nothing without Toothless.” - Astrid

“Then help him realize the truth” - Valka

This comes to a head when Grimmel had just captured Toothless, the Lightfury, and all of Berk’s dragons and he has flown off. Hiccup and Astrid have that conversation on the cliff and while the entire conversation is so so so damn important and powerful, there is one quote that sums it up:

“You are the bravest, most stubborn, determined, knucklehead I know. Toothless didn’t give you that Hiccup. He just-” - Astrid

“-made it easier” - Hiccup

All of this works so magnificently because the film has been able to show that both Hiccup and Toothless now have different goals in life. It’s just so beautiful how the film allows both characters to explore and accept their own identities without having any grievances towards each other in the process. Even though Hiccup is anxious about Toothless leaving him, it doesn’t mean he resents him for it. He is just concerned for his best friend’s safety out in the wild.

When that final scene of them saying goodbye comes along, it’s so impactful because they both realize that while obviously they could just all stay as they are and nothing would change, that wouldn’t be the right thing to do at this point. While Hiccup (and the audience) want to see the message at the end of HTTYD 2 fulfilled where the world could be changed into a dragon-human paradise, it isn’t realistic, no matter how much we believe it could happen. 

“Doesn’t this go against the themes of the franchise?” 

In a way, yes. But also it was the only real CONCLUSION the characters could have come to. I mean, what else was there to learn about the world other than the fact that trying to create a dragon/human paradise isn’t sustainable forever. They were able to create one on Berk but that didn’t last. People will always continue to try and disrupt this way of life. Evil people like Grimmel will always be around to exploit dragon-kind for their own nefarious goals. 

“But isn’t that the point? To always fight and stand up for the dragons and not give up by sending them away to some other place?” 

Well your not wrong, but isn’t allowing them to live in a paradise where they will never be harmed by other humans ever again worth it? Isn’t it worth it to find peace without the need for war? Isn’t that what a chief is supposed to do? 

“A chief protects his own” That’s the point. It IS a sacrifice. Because even though the Berkians may consider the dragons as their own, they aren’t. They are still independent dragons. (I give an example of this later on in the form of a deleted scene) It’s a sacrifice of the idealistic views that the second movie explored. Even that movie proved that consequences would come from actively trying to change the entire world’s view. However it shouldn’t (and didn’t) dissuade the Berkians from trying to continue to live in peace with their dragons. 

Also I just want to bring up the fact that some people have drawn parallels between this movie and certain aspects of real life. I understand, but that isn’t the story that is being told. The metaphors did get pretty muddled sadly but I can assure you that isn’t the intent behind the movie. So if you have any ill will towards the movie because of that then I’m sorry that was the message that you took away from it. Just know that wasn’t the intention and wasn’t the story being told. 

Hiccup, who had now become chief, actively tried to save the dragons that were in captivity or being harmed by the hunters and warlords of the world. Instead of trying to change their minds (and Grimmel’s mind) like he tried to do with Drago in HTTYD 2, he actively tries to sabotage their activities of caging and using dragons and bringing them back to Berk so they could be safe. However, by the opening of the third movie, it is clear that Berk has become overcrowded. 

“But couldn’t they have spread out?” 

Well, a deleted scene confirms they did by referencing their “nest in the north” so it’s clear that they had spread out. But Berk was their main settlement and they couldn’t maintain dozens of other settlements full of dragons 24/7. 

Wait but couldn’t they have asked other friendly civilizations like the Berserkers or the Wingmadens to look after them and follow in Berk’s example? 

Yeah of course, but eventually they would run into the same problem as Berk did at the beginning of the third movie. If they kept bring back dragons to Berk or any other dragon friendly civilization, then eventually they would get overcrowded. It may take a while but the possibility of it happening is pretty large. 

“Nah doesn’t make sense. That wouldn’t happen because they would all just defend their islands/civilizations against their enemies like they have done for the entire TV series.”

...Once again, it’s not sustainable. That’s why the Hidden World exists. It’s a place where the dragons can live totally out of reach and where they can be safe.

“Oh but the whole idea of the Hidden World is contrived bullshit just made up to move the plot along.” 

Couldn’t Frodo and the Fellowship just use the eagles to fly all the way to Mount Doom so he could drop the ring in and call it a day? What’s the reason there? So the plot could happen? Hmmm. But in all seriousness though I don’t have anything against LOTR and in fact it’s one of my favorite series besides HTTYD. Also they couldn’t have used the eagles because on the way the Black Riders who were on the dragons would have taken them out. Also they could have been shot down- oKAY back to the Hidden World. The idea of the Hidden World is kind of contrived but at the same time it is using the lack of an established explanation of where the dragons actually came from and utilizing it. 

“But they would have just been on the surface the whole time?” 

As I said, there is a lack of an explanation. So why not? why not delve deeper into the lore of the dragons. The idea of Hiccup discovering the ancestral home of all dragons is awesome! It doesn’t conflict with anything previously established in terms of where they came from because there is no explanation.

“What about Vanaheim, the eternal resting place of all dragons from RTTE?”

Good point, but that doesn’t mean that the dragons couldn’t have lived and evolved underground and then come up to the surface and gone to Vanaheim. I mean, obviously not every dragon was in the Hidden World so it would have been easier for them to just travel there but I don’t see this as a massive issue though.

“Why does Hiccup say “The world believes the dragons are gone” in the epilogue if just Berk’s dragons left.” 

This is a really solid point so I’ll do my best with this one but at the same time, it is a really good point. I imagine that by the time the third movie comes around, Berk had become such a safe haven for dragons that you could say most of the world’s dragons resided on Berk. But this is kind of flimsy too and doesn’t exactly make sense. The way I see it, this is a valid “plot hole” but at the same time I don’t really care? I don’t know for me it was just an emotional way of putting the ending of the film into words. I don’t have a valid explanation for it but whenever I watch the film I just roll with it because I’m already wrapped up in the emotion of it all that I just don’t care, and to be honest I’m glad I don’t. That’s just me though. If you have an issue with this then I totally understand because dragons like the Buffalord or the Eruptadon can’t exactly leave their islands sooooo yea...

“The Hidden World conflicts with established lore of the whole series.”

I’m pretty sure this is referring to Grimmel killing all the Nightfuries and Stoick not telling Hiccup about it. To be honest this is the plot hole that I’ve tried to patch up but can’t find a reasonable explanation for. However, it’s one of those tiny discrepancies for me that doesn’t hurt or hinder my enjoyment or engagement with the trilogy.

“Why was the armada defeated so quickly? As Valka said, there were probably over 100 ships. How did the Dragon Riders defeat an entire fleet of ships so quickly?”

Well, most of the ships were on fire by the end of the final battle and all of the dragons had been freed by that point. Also, Astrid managed to reach the wheel of the main barge and lock it into position so it would crash into the ships beside it and take multiple of them out. So we can infer that not only are all of the dragons free, but also pretty much all of the ships have been set alight and are now in the process of burning down and sinking. 

“What about the Warlords?”

Ragnar the rock (the big guy) gets chased off and supposedly eaten by the Hobgobblers and the other two get trapped in a cage that slides down the front deck of their ship (because Astrid caused the ship to crash into the other ones) and traps them in it. So basically all 3 warlords are incapacitated or dead.

Ok back to the main point from a few paragraphs back lol: Berk was overcrowded and they needed a solution. Hiccup knew that something had to be done so when he was standing in the same quiet spot where his father told him a mystical tale of a hidden dragon world, it causes him to think about whether it was real or not. Could that be the solution? They would be able to stay with the dragons in the hidden world because they were dragon loving people (that’s Hiccup’s logic.) However, when Grimmel arrives and berates him about his view of dragons and Berk’s way of life. Hiccup stands up to him because he has defended Berk’s way of life from far worse than a mere lone dragon hunter. But after Hiccup experiences the terror and destruction that this one hunter could cause on his home, he now fully realizes that they need to leave Berk because they are not only overcrowded but now they have a ruthless hunter ready to return at any point and cause more destruction upon Berk; possibly even killing many of his people including himself and definitely Toothless. It’s a long shot but he decides that if Berk wants to live in peace with their dragons then they need to disappear into the hidden world where the warlords and their armada along with Grimmel can’t ever find them again. They will be safe forever. It will be a human/dragon paradise that will be untouched.

Another question that comes up is:

“Well why can’t they stand and fight. That should be the message. That their ideological views would not waver because some more people threaten their home with war.” 

That’s a fair judgement to be honest, however, as Hiccup learnt in the second film from his father: “Berk is what you need to worry about, a chief protects his own” - Stoick. 

In a deleted scene from the third movie, it has this exchange between Hiccup and Valka:

“I know, I know, he has to win her over but I’m telling you, once she (the Lightfury) moves in it’ll all be perfect” - Hiccup

“Eret and I returned from the scout, Berk was burned to the ground” - Valka

“At least everyone’s safe” - Hiccup

“For now” - Valka

“No one can find us here” - Hiccup

“That’s what I used to believe, Hiccup, but they’ve found our nest in the far north too. Greedy humans, will always find a way” - Valka

“I don’t believe that” - Hiccup

“I...I know it might be hard for you to accept, but the dream that you and I yearn for, you know, this untouchable dragon utopia, I fear it just doesn’t exist. I mean, maybe in the end the dragons are safer in the wild.” - Valka

“What, with crazy people like Grimmel around?” - Hiccup

“The more dragons we bring back, the bigger of a target we all become” - Valka

“But they’re safer with us. We protect them” - Hiccup

“And we’ll continue to do so, but I fear for their safety in these large numbers. Tame dragons are more vulnerable to humans. Their trust in us becomes their weakness. In the wild, they’re better adapted to protect themselves” - Valka

“A chief protects his own, that’s what Dad always said” - Hiccup

“And he was right. But as much as we love our dragons Hiccup, they are not our own. There’s a fine line between being a protector and a captor. I only ask that you think about it” - Valka

The fact that this is a deleted scene is really frustrating because it put the themes that the movie is trying to explore into proper dialogue. Valka understands that moving around with this massive amount of dragons isn’t safe for anyone. If they were to be released into the wild then they could have a better chance at surviving. Even though the dragons will still be at danger in the wild, that’s the point of the hidden world. The dragons can live there together in complete and total safety.

Once Hiccup and Astrid discover the Hidden World and find that Toothless has settled in with the Lightfury and is safe and comfortable, he then realizes that it wouldn’t be fair to try and bring him back to New Berk. He’s found a home away from the troubles of the world. He doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. He can have a family in the peace and safety of the Hidden World as well as being surrounded by his own kind. On top of this realization, Hiccup and Astrid get attacked by a wild dragon and have to try and flee. When Toothless sees this he flies to protect his friend and take them back to New Berk where THEY will be safe, not him. As a result of this, Hiccup not only comes to the conclusion that humans aren’t meant for the Hidden World, but he finally understands what Valka was trying to tell him earlier (in that deleted scene.) The dragons WOULD be safer there. I mean, sure. They could stay up there at New Berk and they could continue to live life as they always have. But then what? What happens when another Grimmel comes around and manages to inflict worse upon Berk’s population. When will Hiccup be able to solve the entire world. The answer is, he can’t. But he can allow for the dragons to live in the Hidden World. He can give them a life where they can never be harmed again. Isn’t this better?

A statement that may come from this is that:

“Oh but that means Grimmel won. The villain literally won. What the fuck, this is so disgusting and disappointing. How can anyone like this?”

Those people are free the feel that way. However, he didn’t win. Not entirely. Yes, he completely opposed co-existence to the point where he would gladly kill any dragon to prove that point. He wants the world to continue killing dragons because that is a fundamental aspect of who he is. It proves to him that he is right. He is the self-proclaimed Nightfury Killer. But this still doesn’t mean that he wins in the end. Yes, dragons and humans do have to separate. But Grimmel’s ultimate goal was to kill all of the dragons. Wipe them off the face of the earth. From a certain perspective, he achieves this because dragons do have to live in the Hidden World away from humans, but that doesn’t mean he won. They are all still alive aren’t they? He failed in his mission to kill them. He failed in killing Toothless. He failed at his one purpose in life. So no, he didn’t win in the end. There is a difference between a villain totally and completely winning against the heroes like Thanos did at the end of Infinity War, and this, where Grimmel not only died as a result of his flawed and evil ideals but did not get to carry out the goal that made him who he is. The dragons leaving was a choice made by Hiccup. It was a sacrifice made out of love. If Grimmel was to win, then he would have had to kill Toothless and either see all the dragons locked away in cages for the rest of their lives or for them to be killed too. I could go on and on about this point in particular but I’ll stop here.

Once the final battle begins, Hiccup isn’t fighting to free the dragons so they can continue to live on in a peaceful dragon utopia like they did in HTTYD 2, he is fighting for their survival. So by the end of the battle when Grimmel is holding onto Hiccup, who is holding onto the Lightfury, he knows that the only option to save Toothless from falling to his doom is to take the harness off the Lightfury, releasing her from the power of the Death gripper venom and let go, causing Hiccup along with Grimmel, to fall to their deaths. This is the ultimate act of love. This is what the whole trilogy has been building to because for years Hiccup has remained adamant that Toothless and him belonged together. Hiccup would always be there to protect Toothless and Toothless would always be there to protect Hiccup. But after all this time of Hiccup learning that Toothless will be safe with the Lightfury in the Hidden World, he has the courage to let go and sacrifice himself for his best friend. 

After the Lightfury has saved him and all of Berk reunite with their dragons. Hiccup and Toothless both realize that after all this time of the two co-depending on each other, it’s time for them to fulfil their own destinies of being the leader of their respective tribes. 

“I was so busy fighting for a world that I wanted, I didn’t think about what you needed.” - Hiccup.

This quote clearly demonstrates Hiccup’s deeper understanding of the implications that come with his evolving emotional maturity. For him to fully grow up and become to true leader of Berk, he needs to learn to let go of his best friend. He needs to grow up. Some may call this contrived and/or unnecessary however I don’t see it that way in the slightest. The Hidden World is, as Hiccup puts it earlier in the film “a secret land at the edge of the world where dragons lived totally out of reach.” So when the dragons have the option of living in a place where they are totally safe from the outside world, then why wouldn’t they take that. (I’m honestly repeating myself at this point but I don’t care.) For Hiccup to fully be able to step into the role as the wise and selfless chief that he was always destined to become, he needed to learn the valuable lesson of letting go. If he didn’t, then he would never be able to see things from a new, better and wiser perspective. He would never be able to grow as an individual, thus possibly impacting how he rules Berk and how he deals with situations that come with being chief. He has always relied on Toothless for his strength as a person, friend, and leader, but by the end of the Hidden World, he realizes that his true strength lies within himself and Astrid. Here’s a conversation from HTTYD 2 to support this:

(Between Astrid and Hiccup towards the beginning)

“I’m not like you Astrid, you know exactly who you are, you always have but...I’m still looking. I know that I’m not my father, and I never met my mother so...what does that make me?” - Hiccup

“What your searching for, isn’t out there Hiccup. It’s in here.*points to his chest* Maybe you just don’t see it yet” - Astrid

By allowing themselves to fulfil their own personal destinies of discovering their own identities along with finding their own loved ones, they are able to say goodbye to each other and live ‘together from afar.’ The dragons will be safe, and Berk will be safe. But, even though the world believes the dragons are gone, the Berkians know otherwise. And they’ll guard the secret until the time comes when dragons can return in peace...

Also the track titled ‘Once there were Dragons’ is a fucking astonishing piece of music that every human on the being on the planet needs to listen to. Anyway thank you so much for reading this if you did. I’ve been struggling with how to present my thoughts and feelings towards this epic conclusion but I’ve been a little afraid to. I tried to on reddit but when people offered extensive constructive criticism towards the points I made, I didn’t exactly take it too well. Maybe that’s because I was getting over a hangover when I read most of it but that doesn't matter because I still didn’t handle it well. But I’ve learnt from that and chosen to take that criticism on board and now that I’ve been able to formulate my opinion the best I can, I’ve used those points they made and tried to analyze them too instead of just ignoring and flat out hand-waiving them. Anyway, if you disagree with anything I’ve said here then that’s totally cool and I’d be happy to listen to your opinions. Still thanks for reading. 

[jesterlady]

Rise of Skywalker review

After Watching Episode IX for the second time, I feel like it’s finally time to make my feelings known regarding the sequel trilogy and to vent some of the negativity by getting it down in somewhat rational fashion.

If any one recalls the 6k I wrote on Avengers Endgame, you’ll know what to expect.

Now it’s been a while since I saw either Ep VII or VIII, so my memory is likely rusty on details.

 My feelings on this trilogy in general have been extremely negative.  It’s interesting, but after I saw Force Awakens, I actually had a very positive reaction at first.  It felt like a Star Wars movie (following the New Hope formula).  But after a while, even before Last Jedi came, I realized that I actually was disappointed, not necessarily in the movie as a movie or the new characters, but the direction the whole trilogy was likely to go.

 I must confess a great deal of this feeling probably arose from watching Clone Wars and Rebels in the meantime and becoming very caught up in those time periods and what they represent for Star Wars.  And that’s just it���the sequel trilogy takes what came before, what those people bled and died for, and basically said it didn’t matter.  They didn’t actually save the galaxy.  The victory at Endor has become incredibly cheapened by the First Order’s existence…and it doesn’t even matter that apparently it was Palpatine all along so it’s suddenly very connected in a haphazard fashion.

 They could have told a much more interesting story about the struggles of rebuilding a galaxy. They could have had the same characters, they could have had the same arcs (terrible ones mostly), and the galaxy could still be in danger.  But starting off with a brand new evil empire like destroying the old one didn’t even matter, not even letting Han and Leia stay together…like, that’s just creating drama for the sake of drama.  We have to destroy everything that was built before, because we’re really unoriginal and don’t know how to create new stories or build on top of a good foundation.

 Say what you like about the prequels (I am a fan in general) they had a very cohesive story, building toward a single point.  The sequels…did not.

 Now, we must all acknowledge the elephant in the room.  That of the atrocious planning and divided directional control that went into making these movies.  I don’t know what Disney was thinking!  The MCU for all its faults is a cohesive whole.  With a franchise infinitely more popular and lucrative and with a fraction less of the movies, you couldn’t pull off having a story that makes sense?

 And I’ll just say that even if JJ didn’t like what Rian did with TLJ, basically completely doing a 180 and trying to go the other direction, was selfish.  It destroyed further rather than fixed the problem.  I don’t have anything else to say, other than the lack of unity is probably the ultimate problem after the initial direction in the first place.  I didn’t really approve of TLJ.  The Rey/Ben parts…sure, but the slowest chase scene known to man and completely superfluous side ventures to a gambling planet were utter drivel.  So it’s not that I’m a Rian vs JJ person.  I think the lack of unity and that they both screwed with each other’s narratives is the problem.

 Anyway, we’re here to talk about TROS.  (And how about that, coming up with a title that is super confusing since we already have Revenge of the Sith.  I guess that’s ROTS…but come on!

 So…this will be fairly chronological but as I get deeper into character arcs and plot points, it will delve all over the place.

 The intro of a Star Wars movie is usually fairly jarring.  We’re dropped into the middle of a situation and all we know is three paragraphs long, to tell us what’s going on and what happened.  But this felt even more jarring than usual.

 Suddenly knowing Palps is alive in the credit titles is so off course.  Knowing he was alive at the end of TLJ would have been preferable, leaving us time to stew over how he was still alive and giving them time to come up with something more coherent than the absolute zero explanation we were given.  The return of an essential character/villain like that deserves way more gravitas and planning than the shock value we were presented with.  The idea of him being alive is not so shocking to those familiar with the EU, but that was explained and explained well, whereas how long he’s been planning this, Snoke, the ships, how…it’s all completely ignored and I guess we can come up with explanations on our own.  So…is Snoke his clone?  Or a part of him?  How many Snokes were there?  There are so many questions regarding their relationship…how it relates to Kylo/Ben, how it relates to Rey, how it relates to their bond, but I’ll get more into that later.  And more on those ships.

 Pretty sure a blow no one can be faulted with is Carrie’s death.  If she had been alive, I have to believe so many things would have been better.  She uttered the only sensible line in the movie…never underestimate a droid. Something everyone else went on to ignore even though droids made the whole movie possible.  Ugh.  I do think it’s funny that since TFA we’ve all been told to call her the General now…no more princess cause princesses are apparently weak, but she was suddenly a princess again this movie.

 The Jedi texts, I’d like to know more about that.  Very plot device-y really, if you think about it.  All this info about new and improved powers and places and things and considering how much lore we know as an audience who actually have been exposed to when the Jedi were still around, opposed to Luke onward…it’s just an excuse for story. Same thing with the Sith wayfinders and that dagger.  I guess you could make the argument for Palps having them made after ROTJ, but…that makes no sense.  But it’s the only thing that makes sense since how could anyone make a dagger the exact shape of a crashed Death Star before it crashed?  But the Jedi texts…super old texts…reference the wayfinders. And it was already in the vault of the crashed DS.  All I’m saying is that doesn’t make a lot of logical sense and someone needs to explain it to me.  And to stop making mysterious keys and clues to things.  It makes sense the Sith loyalist would have it since he needed to go back to Exegol to deliver Rey, (though he had clearly already left Jakku and killed her parents, so was he just going back to say, oops, I messed up? Palps clearly got the message somehow) but maybe it would have been better for them to keep all the Oracle stuff in and explained all this stuff properly.  Like I’m confused about Palpatine’s plan and he’s usually the master of strategy.

 Okay…Poe is so unlikable in this movie.  And he really doesn’t have an arc.  Maybe a little one, struggling with the burden of leadership.  But he mostly seems to be there to argue with people and be rude to Threepio.  This is a waste of a good character.  He was barely in TFA, he was a total mess in TLJ, and here he’s just a jerk.  I got nothing good to say for him.  Which is a shame because he could have been awesome.

 We will talk about Rose and her complete lack of presence.  Up front, I never cared for Rose in TLJ…didn’t see the point of her. She brought nothing to the story in my opinion and whether she was supposed to be a love interest for Finn or to symbolize hope or just be representative of WOC, I don’t know.  But her being shifted to the sidelines of this story is a blatant statement of disrespect.  The actress has been very publicly discriminated against online and instead of taking care of her, the director and studio pretty much stated they agreed with that by what they did with her character.  Aside from that…makes zero sense for someone who was so built up and had such a big part in TLJ to be so downplayed and have her story just stop in the middle.  It’s bad storytelling.  Especially while you’re bringing in a troop of new female characters to do…what? Basically things Rose could have accomplished and would have made more sense doing.  

 Along the lines of pointless things…what is the point of the Knights of Ren?  They were so built up…such an ooh, scary prospect and they play zero role in this.  They have no point.  They have no purpose.  We know nothing about them unless we hunt for backstory in comics and things like that. But you shouldn’t have to do that to understand the point of someone in a movie.  I’d also just like to point out, if they’re really Force sensitives who were Jedis in training…maybe?  Then they should be a lot harder to defeat and why don’t they have light sabers? And…why are they the Knights of Ren if there isn’t at least a discussion about what their leader is doing when he comes to Exegol.  Like they’re just trying to kill him from the second he enters.  I’d be like…hi, boss, so why aren’t we killing the girl…or something like that.  And if they’re the Knights of Ren, his…family for lack of a better term, people who trained with him since boys, I’d like to think he at least would have some compunction of striking them down…would try to reason with them first.  They might still be brainwashed like he was, but he would know that better than anyone.  I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s my knee jerk reaction. A waste of possibilities.

 Want to talk about another waste?  Hux! Never liked him and his Hitler youth attitude, but really he was not important in this trilogy, like at all. DG is too good an actor to not have his talents used better.  He, Phasma, and Kylo were built up as this villain trilogy to stand against the Rey, Poe, Finn good guy trilogy, and basically none of them got any kind of development other than Kylo.  I knew Hux was the spy and I believe it is funny that he is the spy solely because he hates Kylo so much, but other than that…he was a waste of space.   Better to have him finally rise and become the commander he’d always wanted to be instead of Pryde suddenly being there and being all evil and competent for some reason.  Having him be significant for having followed Palpatine before would only actually be significant if we had seen him serve Palpatine before.  It’s just another instance of this brand new character suddenly taking the place of an established one for no reason.

 We can talk about Finn now.  Finn, who also suffered from lack of actual character arc and purpose in the movie other than running after everyone and being worried about them.  The whole Force sensitive thing is old news…we all knew about it a long time ago.  And this way of revealing it…such poor methods!  As far as I know the only reason you’d start thrashing around and declaring you never told someone something is because it is going to be a declaration of love or like a super big confession of guilt.  I mean, that’s what they wanted us to think by keeping it in suspense for so much of the movie and it’s just…not that big of a deal. Like it’s not a surprise, it’s not a death confession topic.  It was just stupid.  

 As for the idea that he only left the First Order because of the Force, well, that just implies that only Force sensitive people know right from wrong and can make moral decisions…it’s just not a good message.  Now whether Jannah’s whole platoon is Force sensitive is not clear, but it’s strongly implied.  And the fact that it’s what he wants to have told Rey is also not clear.  Like you have to figure that out (possibly with online help), it’s not inherent in the narrative.  Also…could have been told to Rose, Jannah not needed.  In fact, this whole storyline would have actually made much more sense and been better if it’s something Finn had been dealing with in TLJ and perhaps came with an army of defectors or been out convincing people this whole time.  Potential storyline wasted.  Plus…for someone who’s an ex Stormtrooper, watching Finn run down hallways and strike down troopers is pretty insensitive and OOC if you ask me.  Just a super bad way to take the character.  And he really didn’t do that much else other than be the main person who does the thing that destroys the thing so everyone else can do the main thing they’re there to do.

 Wow, and can we talk about Threepio’s treatment in general and in this trilogy in particular? I will be the first to admit that Han and Leia especially weren’t all that great to him all the time.  But it was how they would have treated anyone, I think.  Poe particularly just laid into him all the time for no reason, even after he sacrificed himself for them.  Like…just really made me mad at Poe and really mad at everyone the whole movie. It appears that Threepio, one of the two original droids of the whole franchise, gets the least respect out of any of them.  With all the fanservice going on, you’d think he’d be treated better.  I love the HISHE part where he talks about taking a last look at his friends and it certainly ain’t none of this trio!  You want to talk about underestimating a droid!  I know he’s not everybody’s favorite and I’m probably biased, but if we’re ranking droids in the SW universe, which we all do, Threepio’s not at the top for me either.  That spot belongs to Chopper.  But I’m still going to accord Threepio the respect and dignity he deserves for seniority if nothing else.  Because he tries so hard and no one ever thanks him for it.  I like BB8 and all, but he goes under Threepio and R2 both in ranking!  And let’s not forget if not for a droid’s knowledge of Exegeol (so convenient) and the way to get there, you resistance jerks are all toast, so respect!

 Zorii, Zorii, Zorii, frankly another superfluous new character.  But I liked her best out of all of them.  I can see that little something something with her and Poe and I think it would be cool for it to flourish now that the war’s over and they can put the really convenient past and betrayal behind them.  Poe being a spice runner isn’t bad but isn’t good either. It’s just convenient, because they suddenly needed black market stuff.  Also…like how’d she survive?  Really. Because it’s such a big deal for her to have gotten that thingamajig and it’s not like people have warning when the bad guys blow up your planet.  There is no evacuation time.

 I’ve mentioned her a bit so Jannah, again, other than it’s cool there are more women in the galaxy, just took up screen time for other characters to develop.  Were they trying to insinuate she could be Lando’s daughter, because that makes zero sense!  And why all of a sudden he’s champion of finding the lost families of the galaxy is super weird.  Also, it was cool to see him flying the Falcon and all, but did he really add anything other than gravitas from the original trilogy?  I’m usually a huge fan of fanservice, but I didn’t really feel like a fan being serviced.  I felt like someone constantly having nice things thrown at me so I won’t notice the murder being done in the other room.  A nice shot of Wedge, too.

 So many extra resistance people always there.  Like I love Dom, but why was he there?

 But talking of other people really who the heck is Maz?  I mean she just shows up out of nowhere and knows everything about the Force and the Jedi and people’s pasts and what their decisions are and we don’t have a clue why.  Like who is she?  How does she know these things?  Where does she even come from?  Like why does she talk about Leia trying to reach Ben and why does she smile when Leia dies, what does she know that we don’t and why?

 I guess now for the really hard stuff.  Rey and Ben.

 They were the only ones who really got developed and even then, I think Ben got robbed out of his ending.

 So Rey’s heritage. Being a Palpatine, very disappointing. If there’s one good thing I liked about TLJ it was the idea that you didn’t have to be part of some great bloodline to be special in the Force.  The Force doesn’t care who your parents are.  Most of the great Force users we know have literally nothing to do with who their parents are.  If anything, it has more to do with their lineage of training.  So JJ basically saying screw that idea and forcing Rey into that was very disappointing. And apparently electricity is very genetic…Dooku aside, of course!  It also implies the Dark side in her is because of the Palpatine heritage.  But the Dark Side of the Force exists for a reason, for balance, and provides something important to the galaxy.  It’s already proven even the Lightest of users and bloodlines have that pull.  

 Rey has been alone and searching for family this whole time.  Having someone to belong to was important to her.  But…the message of her finding a family and joining one, I think is a lot more important than her finding out her past and heritage.  Just being Rey at the end instead of having to say she was Rey Skywalker or Rey Solo would have made more sense!  Of course…I also think Solo makes more sense for her anyway given her connection with Han, her training with Leia, and her bond with Ben. She did train under Luke as well, granted, but she had more Solo connection than Skywalker.  They just wanted the cool name.  But also doesn’t make sense since Palps calls Ben the last Skywalker in the movie as well.  But whatever, I don’t really care.

 Let’s talk about this whole dyad in the Force thing and the grand plan.  Because I can’t logically reason it out myself.

 So Palps apparently has a plan to bring Rey to him as a girl so he can have her kill him and his spirit can go into her body and he can reign through her because his old body is like super fried and the clone thing ain’t working so hot.  Doesn’t happen, but he’s also working on his other plans to corrupt Ben and bring him to the Dark side, under the influence of Snoke, to do what?  Like what is his plan there apart from just general evil and revenge and nasty stuff? But all along there’s apparently been this Dark prophecy against Ben (and we all know Palps is the manipulator of the Dark).  Luke said Leia gave up her Jedi training because she sensed that at the end of that journey was her son’s death.  You’d think then they’d honor that sacrifice by not killing him, but whatever.

 Palps created or controlled or was at the back of Snoke (however he was at the back of Snoke) and so he’s pulling the strings during TLJ.  He knows everything Snoke knows.  So if Snoke created the bond between Rey and Ben, then he’d be very aware of that.  So how does the whole dyad thing work?  Because it’s made very clear Palps doesn’t know about the dyad, otherwise he likely wouldn’t have tried to do the dark ritual/strike me down plan first when it would have been so much easier to get them both together to drain them.

 So…have they always been a dyad from birth?  Was the dyad created separate from the bond when Snoke created the bond?  A Light balance to the Dark bond?  Regardless of how, clearly they are one soul and connected more powerfully than anyone else in generations.

 But Palps and his plan…he tells Ben to kill Rey.  What was he actually trying to do since it’s clear he didn’t want Rey dead?

 My only thought is that he thought Rey would actually kill Ben and thus give in to her Dark side and be more ready to be Empress…

 But Leia’s sacrifice and all of that still confuses me.  Palps said that Leia interfered with his plans.  

 Now in that fight Rey was the instigator, was the one trying to wreak damage (freaked out by her vision and revelations, I’m sure) and Ben was the one winning that fight. Like he was going to win until Leia stopped him.  But was he going to kill her?  Because I think it’s pretty clear that Ben has never wanted to kill Rey even if he was trying at first before the bond really started.  Either way, Leia stops him from doing something and Rey stabs him instead. Then Leia dies and snaps Rey out of it. Was it the reaching out to Ben or the death that Palps was talking about interfering with his plans?  Because again…he didn’t want Rey dead at that point.

 I don’t know. Having a fleet full of ships hidden for how long, when did those weapons go into place, who’s manning the ships? Because apparently there’s the regular First Order fleet still out there conveniently being taken down by the rest of the galaxy after this fleet burns, so have these recruits just been sitting out there, chilling at Exegol for years, waiting for this order and attack? Total side tangent and question really, but it all makes no sense.

 Leia’s death…so much speculation on why her body didn’t vanish until Ben died.  There has to be something significant there and I’d really love to know if it’s a future plan or if it was part of the original end of the movie since clearly it was changed.  Maz smiles, remember.  Also…is she somehow giving her life for Ben’s to bring him back?  She’s clearly a Force Ghost at the end of the movie.

 Okay…so Han memory.  I did like that and I did like that Ben could get absolution from his dad and have that be the final thing that turns him from Kylo to Ben.  I wasn’t sure I could forgive Ben ever after TFA.  I cried so much and I was so mad.  That’s Han Solo, y’all.  HAN FRIKKING SOLO.  I mean how do you even kill Han Solo?

 Granted, I think we were all robbed of a story where Han and Leia are a united front raising their kid and trying to protect him from danger, but that’s just me.  I mean we could have had The Mummy 2 in space, guys. ROBBED!  Someone write that AU, please.

 And can we just talk about Adam Driver’s acting for a moment?  I mean, the boy is phenomenal.  He goes from being one person to being a completely different one effortlessly.  From the moment he throws the light saber in the sea, his mannerisms and physicality is so different.  It’s amazing. Kudos to him.  Absolutely.  Oscar worthy! He does it without having any lines whatsoever apart from ‘ow.’  And I like Ben Solo and I’m sad we didn’t get to see more of him.  He’s so Han’s boy, so Han’s boy.  Love that!  He’s an awesome character in his good boy sweater.  (Love the sweater and while we’re on the subject, could him and Chris Evans have a sweater off with the good boy sweater and the white knit sweater please?)

 Hey, Luke got to raise a X Wing finally.  That’s the kind of fan service I’m talking about.

 One of my favorite parts of the movie actually was the whole Jedi from the past bit.  Mostly because I saw my boy Kanan getting his recognition and rightful spot as one of the great Jedi, up there with Obi Wan and Anakin and Ahsoka!  I also loved Ahsoka being there and the other Clone Wars greats.  Really cool.  I do kind of wish they had included Ezra, too, but that’s just me loving on my Space Blueberry!  And wishing James Arnold Taylor who put so much into Obi Wan could have at least done Plo Koon since Ewan took his place as Obi Wan.  Either way, that was the only homage and respect paid to the other two trilogies and the Star Wars legend in general.  The only acknowledgement of how much sacrifice and history went into this franchise before now.

 Now…can Rey kill Palps now and not have his spirit go into her because he’d already made himself revitalized with their dyad energy or was it because no ritual had been done?  Just wondering.  Or was it a loophole since all she did was defend herself and his own lightning killed him?

 There’s a lot about energy and healing and the Force in this and so you can speculate all over the place about what the rules are.  (You’d think in the Clone Wars healing each other would have been a thing!) And since we’ve never deal with a dyad before, we don’t know how it works.  But it really kind of feels like even with how drained both of them were after Palps took their bond…it either should have been returned to them when he died or their combined energy should have been able to keep both of them alive. Or something.  Two in one means connection and honestly, I feel like both of them should have died or both of them should have lived.

 I know a lot of people think it was the perfect end for Ben because he redeemed himself (like Anakin) and there would have been no place for him in the galaxy after all the evil Kylo had done.  (Much less if you read the comics!)  But I’m a sucker for a redemption story and I think the hardest punishment always is to face your past and work through what you’ve done instead of taking the easy way out of death (not having to actually atone).  I think it’s a beautiful potential for forgiveness and grace and realizing none of us can really save ourselves.

 And whatever you think of Kylo/Ben or his ending, it’s clear something was changed at the last minute.  There’s a whole lot of editing done on that last scene when he revives her and they kiss and on Tattoine.  There are apparently screen tests people swear they saw where he didn’t die.  I won’t go into the scene analysis some Reylos have, but jaw moving and talking on Rey shots that were cut, it looking more natural for her to have been pulling him back up rather than him falling down, it looks like his hand is the one in the burying lightsaber scene…  He was obviously supposed to live at some point and why they changed their minds, I don’t know.  He is one of the most popular characters and they lost a cash cow when they killed him off.  Silly idiots.

 As far as Rey goes, I also think that’s terribly unfair, to give her the connection she’s been yearning for her whole life and instead of giving her a future, you stick her back on a sand infested planet, sliding down in a parallel to TFA, and burying the past sabers, and being alone.  I know she’s still got friends and stuff but I think she won’t know her new place in all of this and she’s going to feel very lonely.  

 Also, where did the yellow saber come from?  Did she cleanse Ben’s saber?  Did she find a new kyber crystal of her own?  Come on now…don’t be mysterious and weird.  Normally I can take mysteries being unsolved if great care is taken to resolve relationships and characters and this trilogy and story did neither, so no love from me.

 As for shipping them.  I didn’t really through the first two movies.  I was curious to see what would happen, but I could have gone either way. I did ship them after this one.  I do love two broken people finding solace in each other.  And I think there is such potential there for these characters and as a relationship that could have been done so much better and wasn’t and that’s what is the saddest thing of all.

 I really have an urge to write an AU…Luke Skywalkers’ Academy for Sensitive Younglings (title patent pending) and rewrite the whole stupid thing.  I fear I have neither the time nor inspiration for that. But I would dearly love to see awkward teenage versions of these characters growing up and learning and being stupid and given a chance to become the best versions of themselves. My vision of the future.

 Probably in another 30 years there will be a fully formed, all ready to go evil Empire that no one has done anything to stop anyway…

 So there we go. I probably have more to say but that’s all I got and that’s with taking notes!