#<- that's the spoiler tag. nailed ot

[blacklist-notary]

#109: General Ludd

Synopsis: This episode is kind of hard to describe from my perspective. The Blacklister of the week is General Ludd, a weird mish-mash amalgamation of Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street, who begin carrying out anti-capitalist terrorist attacks amidst the ongoing civil unrest of the Occupy movement. Occupy is never explicitly named, but a sign displaying the movement's name is shown on screen for long enough that a viewer can catch it.

This episode also features Elizabeth Keen's father, a man named Sam. He calls early in the episode to tell Liz he's getting some tests done, but he's in worse shape than he lets on. Liz is caught up in the General Ludd case and can't leave until they catch the mastermind, so Tom goes ahead of her to visit him in hospital - and he might not be the only person making a visit.

Thoughts: Oh brother, do I have some thoughts.

The storyline with Liz's dad keeps this episode relevant for anyone who's interested in watching The Blacklist. The General Ludd storyline, however, has aged pretty gracelessly. And I'm gonna get into politics for this one, so my apologies, but with this episode I'm gonna get into copaganda and the conservative bent that shows about law enforcement often have.

The Blacklist is basically two different shows smooshed together. You have the cop procedural side of things, where Elizabeth, Ressler and Malik skid up to an action setpiece in a black SUV and run around with their pistols - Ressler gets to punch a guy or break down a door, Liz shows her hardening resolve as she becomes acclimated to the hardball tactics she needs to use as an FBI field agent, and Malik uses any and all tactics available to squeeze info out of her perp. Then you have the criminal side, where Raymond Reddington resides along with the villain of the week. Reddington is very much a man behaving badly, crossing lines the FBI won't cross, and his criminal enterprises are often freely flaunted for flair, humor and drama.

As much as Reddington will undermine the FBI and get his hands dirty for his own nebulous ends, and for as delicious as the resulting drama is to watch, the "cop" part of this show - or the "fed" part, more accurately - hems close to some of the more defining hallmarks of copaganda. Malik tortures her perps for info because she's with the CIA, and her actions are framed as just because of how high the stakes are - civil liberties are as valuable as dogshit when the feds Need A Name. Stuff like that.

A show about feds who act above the law because the ends justify the means, making an episode about Anonymous/Occupy anti-capitalist terrorists, feels off. The real-life Occupy movement was quashed violently through police raids and the forcible dismantling of encampments, and I feel like the narrative of this episode - alongside other topical depictions of the Occupy movement in other contemporary TV shows and the way that the movement was spun by the news media - was a means of manufacturing consent from the public to shut that movement down before it became more "radical", like the group in this episode is.

And like I like this show a lot, and I love the characters - including Ressler eventually, who's probably the most insufferable fed of them all up to this point - but as a show that subscribes heavily at times to the "would you hit a Christian baby for a World Series-winning home run if the pitcher threw one at you" school of exaggerating harm to weasel the most optimal agreement out of a captive audience, I don't think this episode's premise of "AnonymOccupy terrorists bomb planes and burn money with the goal of bankrupting America" is made in good faith.

In total, I think the plotline has aged like dogshit in the sun, and I'm critical of this episode's intentions despite enjoying the show itself.

And look, one more quick dig before I get into the actual meat of the episode - but there's one thing that Reddington says that was a serious eye-roller. His thing about liking capitalism is whatever - of course he likes money. It's consistent with his character. He makes scores of the stuff through his criminal enterprises and one of his most defining characteristics is how much he enjoys the finer things in life.

The thing that gets me is his quip about how an actual Luddite wouldn't be taking a plane to escape, they'd dismantle the plane instead.

It's just like - the whole thing about Ludd is that he led a group of workers in dismantling and destroying a series of factory machines that automated the jobs of those workers, so that the fatcats who ran the factories - who were already taking a lion's share of the profit from the work being done - wouldn't be able to hoard even more money while leaving the redundant workers destitute. My understanding of the Luddite movement, at least what it started as, was a worker's movement against automation.

Airplanes don't automate a job that a human can do. People can't fly. Maybe it's a quip at the expense of how General Ludd starts the episode by bombing planes, but this particular line felt like kind of a lame platitude being dressed up as pointed critique by virtue of having the snappiest character with the most well-versed sense of conversation and vocabulary throw it back in the face of this week's disposable perp.

So with that out of the way - let me talk about the heart of the episode: the plotline with Liz's dad, Sam. The rest of this post will be talking about spoilers from prior episodes, as well as the most salacious details of this episode's fed-less storyline. And for the sake of disclosure, I'll be bending my policy on future episode details too - though I'll be careful not to give too much away.

---

I was originally going to use my first Read More break on the Anslo Garrick post, but this post is already pretty long and this aspect of the episode is very juicy.

For starters, we learn that Liz was adopted - first from Reddington, who is STRONGLY IMPLIED to have been involved in Liz's adoption by Sam, and then from Tom as he speaks to Reddington. Then we learn that Sam and Reddington know each other very well; on top of last episode's house-bombing, this episode is some of James Spader's most emotional acting.

This is just rampant nerd speculation, but I feel like the reason we're getting more of a glimpse into Reddington's emotional state is because we're nearing the end of this filming block for season one. I know absolute donkey dick about filming blocks for any TV shows, let alone The Blacklist, and I haven't done any research - but here's my theory about Red's storyline in these last couple of episodes.

I think The Blacklist had a short run of episodes to see if it could pull ratings. The pilot was good, so they commissioned a season comprised of one filming block - if the resulting episodes were good, and if they were well-received, season one would receive a second filming block where they could film another eleven or twelve episodes of the show to round out the season.

I think that by this episode, the show had been picked up for that second filming block. There's a shot late in this episode that screams "reshoot", and given that we're ramping up to the mid-season finale - which, had the show not done well, might have been written as a series finale considering how violent and threatening it is - it makes sense to give Spader a bit more emotional weight to chew on.

He's had a lot to chew on given his contentious relationship with Elizabeth Keen, but we're seeing him touch on the past he had before defecting from the US in the prior episode, and we're seeing him have one of his more emotional outbursts in the midst of suffocating Liz's adoptive father - a dear friend of his. So with the show hanging on the line, give James Spader something a bit more vulnerable than the unknowable enigma he's been so far. If the show gets cancelled, it's some great character work for the viewers to enjoy before the show disappears forever. If the show gets renewed, then we're building something complex behind the Reddington character.

There's such a tenderness to the way that Red treats Sam, even after he's suffocated him. There's a deep sadness, and a well of gratitude for the man's devotion to raising Elizabeth. Reddington suffocating Sam is partially due to the dying man's desire to come clean to Liz about her parentage and the circumstances of her adoption, but I think they hash out an agreement with Sam's last phone call to Liz, and I think Reddington killing Sam is just as much a mercy kill as it is a way to protect his secrets.

And with Tom's conversation with Reddington, I like how deep you can read into their conversation based on whether you think Tom is a fraud or not. They work hard to make the dialogue sound equally free-flowing as a conversation between two strangers, and laden with context between two deeply repressed, entrenched individuals if you want to read into it that deeply. After all, despite Liz bringing Tom in to be interrogated - the money, passports and gun still existed, and you can't say for sure where they came from. It's pretty tense all things considered.

The funeral scene they have at the end is really good, and the scene with Red and Liz on the swings was very touching. He's obfuscating what he knows about the $100 bill schematic, and he's actively keeping his connection with Sam hidden from Elizabeth, but Liz telling Red stories about her adoptive father is helping Reddington grieve the loss of his friend as much as it's helping Liz mourn the loss of her father. It's a very solid scene.

[daddysfangirls-marvel]

Aftermath

 (Endgame spoiler)

Summary: Half was gone in the snap and then five years later they were back. Those who they left behind now have to explain and deal with the repercussions.

warning: Panic attack, sadness, mention of death, a bit of fluff but mostly sadness

Note: This has kind of been a theory I’ve been thinking about and wondering about. Like this is something someone should look into because like this is a bit plot hole or plot point no one has discussed, at least from what I've seen. I decided ot make a story about it I hope it is good.

She woke up gasping for air and clawing at her chest a thin sheet of sweat covering her body. She couldn’t breathe a deep ack in her chest, she couldn’t hear the blood rushing to her ears, she could barely move a deep tingle within her weak body.

“(Y/n)” she heard someone call her name in the distance but she doesn’t acknowledge them. Falling out of her bed she stumbles through her apartment leaning on the front door she takes her keys out of the bowl by the door she falls out into the hall crawling to her neighbors across the hall.

“sweetheart”  Through all of this she is still gasping for air she is still in pain. With shaky hands, she looks for the key to the door. She feels an arm wrap around her waist and brings her to her feet. “ Hold on a minute baby” she shakes her head as she continues desperately looking for that one key.

Suddenly the door swings open. She drops the keys as she sees the woman standing in front of her she let out a sob as she collapses in the woman’s arms. She clings to the woman desperately sinking her nails into her skin but she doesn’t seem to mind her hold on her is just as desperate.

“It’s okay I’ve got you honey bunny” she whispers in her ears as she rubs her back.

“W-where where-”

“I know, I know let's go” she leads her through the apartment to a room.

“Sorry May I know you go to work early in the morning”

“It’s okay I’ve got her now. You can stay and take the couch tonight” 

“I- I need- I need-”

“I know baby I know”

Going to a room down the hall she gentle kicks the door open leading her to the bed. She gasps seeing the lump in the bed Pulling back the covers she helps her into the bed. The lump turns around revealing itself opening his eyes he sighs and opens his arms “ (y/n)”

“P-P-Peter, Peter you were g-g...where were you? where were you?” Cuddling into his arms as she began to sob. May climbed in with them spooning her. Peter kissed her forehead and May rubs her back. (Y/n) continued to sob until she passed out. 

A few hours later (Y/n) woke up again but this time it was calmer and gentle not startling. The first thing she sees is him sleeping calmly and peacefully he was here. She ran her fingers through his hair he hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t wake. He was here.

Tears started to gather in her eyes again. He was here. He was back, alive, well, and here. Five years and here he was back like he never left like nothing changed but everything changed.

They were twins when he left sibling. Same age born on the same day in the same grade born 15 minutes apart leaving him the oldest. But that wasn’t the case anymore. Not since that day.

-

Peter was gone. No one could find him. He was supposed to be on a field trip, (y/n) was also supposed to be on the field trip but wasn’t feeling well so she opted to stay home with Aunt May, He wasn’t on the bus with the other kids and he wasn’t answering his phone.

“AUNT MAY” (Y/n) screamed calling on her aunt from the kitchen “ I found him”

“where?” she came rushing into the living room to see her nephew aka Spiderman on TV on a ... spaceship?

“space” a loud thud was heard behind the couch “ Aunt May? AUNT MAY” Looking behind the couch she found her Aunt passed out. With little strength she had she dragged her Aunt on to the couch. It was about 10 minutes before she woke up again they both realized there was nothing they could do so they took a seat and simply watched as the drama unfolded on tv. The drama went on for several hours before It happened.

She was sitting on the couch holding her aunt's hand when she suddenly didn’t feel her hand anymore. She turned just in time to see her aunt fall into a pile off the dust on the couch.

“AAHHHHHHHHH”

-

It took her three days to figure out it had happened to half the world. She spent four weeks locked up in the apartment until she got some sense and grew some balls. Packing a bag she took a four days journey to the Avenger’s compound by foot. Once she had arrived, it had been 27 days since the incidents. She found Mr. Stark and explained what happened to her Aunt he then revealed that the same thing happened to Peter in space. Realizing she had no one left (y/n) collapsed she sobbed again until she passed out. She spent the next three days crying none stop.

(Y/n) didn’t have anyone after the snap so Pepper and Tony took her in and took care of her as their own daughter (Basically making her morgen’s older sister), within a year she started calling them mom and dad. 

That same year she met a man named Wade Wilson, he was .... interesting, they hit it off pretty quickly. They were friends for about two years before they started a relationship that was now on its third year.

 In a matter of five years (y/n) grieved and moved on making a new life with a new family. She didn’t truly move on she just found new ways to cope with the missing pieces.

Now the missing pieces were back and she was realizing how much she truly missed them and how much pain she was in without them and how much she had grown without them. She made missed so much of her life they had missed so many important things. But it was a trade, an exchange of sorts she got two important people for the price of one. Tony. Her father.

“you should sleep” he whispered tiptoeing into the room as she sat up moving to the foot of the bed putting her head in her hands “ you need it, babe”. He could already see her heading into another panic attack her breathing picking up to panting and eyes becoming glassy.

“I-I need- I need-” kneeling in front of her gives her phone she nods in thanks. Going through her phone she finds a saved video on her phone.

“Hey Kid” It’s Tony, “ So I know you’re probably busy but I want you to know what’s going on right now. I think- I think I found a way to fix everything and I’d be damn not to try it. It involves -what for it- time travel, boom. It’s going to be awesome it is going to be epic and I’m going to tell you all about it on Sunday Dinner.I’ll see you then honeybunny. Loads of love. Oh, and hey, send Morgan 3000 for me.” It ended with a wink.

The video ended and she pressed repeat. She played it again and again and again until it finally died. Silent tears streaming down her face 

“I have nightmares. Me and him we’re doing the things we use to do homework, projects, building Legos. Then suddenly he isn't there anymore just a pile of dust or even worse he fades away in my arms.”

“He’s here now and everything is okay” 

“But it’s not okay. He’s my twin brother yet he’s 18 and I’m 23. All my past friends are in high school while over here looking for a house and continuing my career. I’m an adult there was no high school graduation or college because everyone was dead. I was supposed to do all that with him. Now he’s doing it alone. We’re twins yet we are at two different points in our lives”

“That’s okay because now you have alcohol and me”

(y/n) Chuckles leaning forward she traces the scars on his face “ I guess you’re right. You’re one good thing that came out of this”

“you know...your aunt has microwave burritos I made six do you want one.” 

She smiles gently kissing his chap lips she turns around and crawls back into bed under the sheets between her brother and her Aunt “good night Wade”.

“I’ll save you one, good night”

“(y/n)?”

“Yes Peter”

“Your boyfriend is weird”

“I know Peter, good night”

“night” 

Permanent tags

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[shadowsong26x]

TLJ Reaction Post!

Putting everything behind a cut just in case, to avoid spoilers. Also, any TLJ-related posts I either write or reblog will be tagged as listed here.

Feel free to reply/reblog/ask/whatever if you want to discuss!

So, that was an experience.

First, quick reaction--while I was watching it, it was overall engaging/good. I had some issues even in the moment, but most of what I’m going to write up here was of the fridge logic variety?

Things I liked:

- Leia getting a STRAIGHT-UP ACTUAL JEDI MOMENT. Yes, I am talking about her flying through space like Mary Poppins and yes it was ridiculous but again it was a Jedi Moment sooooooooo there it is.

- All of the combat scenes/lightsaber duels in particular were really well put together. The throne room duel (which I’ll talk about that whole scene in some detail later), Finn vs. Phasma, Astral Projection Luke vs Kylo Ren (side note: I had seen a poster or clip or something before this, and I was Very Annoyed that Luke’s lightsaber was blue pretty much for the same reason I get irrationally irritated when Padme is tagged/drawn in the Gothic Peacock dress and the fact that elbows don’t grow back oh my god--minor continuity details that make a difference but don’t really matter in the long run; but the fact that Luke chose to project himself with the Heirloom Lightsaber(tm) that blew up ten minutes ago made that make sense and was delightful in hindsight) the space combat--the red dust on Crait, though, so cool the way it did visual things.

- Pretty much everything to do with Finn and Rose’s plotline (except I was sad that there was no Lando cameo at Canto Bight)

- Most of the stuff with Amilyn I liked a lot too. Especially her flipping badass Last Stand. (I also liked the fact that the bulk of high command was women, and they made a point of showing off all the lady piliots)

- Luke and Leia’s reunion moment made me bawl in a very good way. (Side note: I’m pretty sure she knew all along he was Astral Projection Luke. In part because how else could he have gotten there, in part because, as my friend who I went to see it with pointed out, he projected himself exactly as he would have been the last time she saw him. Also the much shorter and darker hair which I feel is very impractical to manage in an X-wing cockpit)

- That little kid on Canto Bight. Oh, that little kid on Canto Bight, who reminded me so much of TPM!Anakin I can’t even. (There’s a whole potential Thing here, that my friend pointed out to me, re: Light/Dark/Balance a la Daughter/Son/Father from Mortis where we might be going for Kylo as Dark, Rey as Balance, Tiny as Light? I’m not sure if I actually want the story to go there or not but it’s at least interesting as a vague concept!)

- I love Poe. Just...Poe was delightful in this film, as he figures out exactly how Being In Command works, his relationship with Leia, his back-and-forth with Amilyn...

- I liked that the bridge/whatever between Rey and Kylo was clearly set up to parallel Luke and Leia, rather than anything romantic--to the point where Luke and Leia had a Twin Moment that then immediately cut to one of the shared dreams and that can’t have been an accident.

- There was a lot of really great dialogue in this film. Just in general. “Do you think you got him.” “I don’t think they like me very much.”/”I can’t imagine why.” “What are you looking at me for? Follow him!” Leia and Amilyn’s goodbye (which, side note--I read the Leia novel, and I definitely thought she and Amilyn had more chemistry than she and Kier did, also there’s a...something percolating in the back of my brain about Kier and Lando and the similar choices they made when their people were in danger and they felt their backs were against the wall, and what that might mean in terms of added context for Leia’s choices/actions in ESB, but that is a topic for a different post)

- While this was not the Force Ghost(s) I was looking for, I enjoyed Yoda’s appearance a whole heck of a lot.

- Rey and Poe finally actually met! And it was a very nice meeting!

- The fact that, once again, the last intelligible dialogue in the film went to Leia (because Tiny was speaking in another language)

Things I am neutral about but I feel bear mentioning:

- The reveal(?) about Rey’s parentage--I’m not sure whether or not Kylo Ren was lying, but I’m honestly okay with it either way. I mean, I’ve been on team Rey Kenobi, so to speak, from the beginning [partly because I think it makes a more interesting narrative than Rey Skywalker; partly because Obi-Wan’s line of descent, if he has one (and, whether it comes from Korkie and Satine or not, I think it could be credibly written that he does)...it makes much more sense that it would be lost the way Rey’s backstory establishes than either of Luke or Leia’s children being lost. And the potential alternatives (i.e., Shmi having had a child before Anakin and they were sold separately or something, or Anakin’s DNA being used to sire another child because Reasons, would require a lot more setup than we’ve got); also I kind of like the idea of Finn Skywalker though that ship has probably sailed]. Where was I...anyway, while I prefer that story, I don’t actually dislike any of the potential theories (except the reincarnation one). And Rey Nobody (I think is what it was called?) has its own appeal, definitely. So...I guess my reaction to that is a nonreaction? Especially since I can’t make up my mind whether or not it’s true...

- I wasn’t super invested in any shipping in this trilogy, but honestly as far as I’m concerned we now have a third possible endgame pairing for Finn and I like all three. (I’d rather not discuss this particular point in overmuch detail, because as I said I’m not super invested in any ST ships and I know a lot of people are and I’d rather not get argued at on the subject).

- I have no idea how I feel about the Heirloom Lightsaber(tm) being destroyed? But the crystal seemed to be intact sooooooo we’ll see.

- Snoke’s ridiculous golden bathrobe???????

Things I liked less:

- I’m not thrilled with how Luke was written. Like...I can make it make sense. I can draw the roadmap in my brain of how we got from the Luke I know and love to the Luke we saw in this movie (including in the flashback) but it takes a lot of backhacking, so to speak. Honestly, if I ever get this far in a canon-aligned fic timeline, I would definitely go in a different direction (frex, if Masks ever comes back off hiatus and I get to Martyrs, which is the third part of that AU and is set in this timeframe, it would no longer be an In Spite Of A Nail AU from here).

(This sort of ties into...look, if I was going to assign a cardinal narrative sin to each of the trilogies (looking only at how the story is structured here), the PT has pacing issues, the OT was made up as it went along and it shows in several points; but the ST? The ST relies way too much on It’s All There In The Manual. I’ve read some of the Manual, but not all of it, because I mostly hang out in the PT corner of the fandom, but it was an issue in TFA and it was an issue again in TLJ. Amilyn and Leia, I think, suffered from this the most, but Luke’s headspace probably did, too.)

- I’m not super thrilled with the fact that we got introduced to a lot of interesting new characters, and almost all of them just...died. And I kept looking for familiar faces from TFA in the background of the Resistance and...yeah, they weren’t there.

- This is...this is maybe not going to come off as super articulate when I try to explain myself, but it actually bothers me a lot. And that’s that...there’s...there’s no...

Look. To me, above all things, Star Wars is about Redemption. It is about finding the spark of light in the darkness, and fanning it into a flame. And I say this even as someone who primarily hangs out in the PT part of fandom, which is in some ways structured as the opposite (i.e., find the speck of darkness in the light and feed it until it consumes all). Because it’s still there at the end. We still have that spark--in the twins, and in their guardians--and we are nurturing it until it is ready to burst into a proper flame and it also set up Anakin’s motivations in a way that led to/added to the credibility/impact of the eventual redemption arc. (Like I said, I’m not sure I can articulate this well, but it’s a Thing, okay?) And, yes, I get that the ST is coming at this find-the-light-in-the-dark theme from a different angle which is fine, I guess, I just...I just...

There is no antagonist (who has been at all developed) who is redeemable at this point.

Like--I didn’t really care about Kylo Ren as Kylo Ren. I cared about his (potential and now thwarted) redemption arc because see above about how that’s what Star Wars is to me. And where we left off at the end of TFA, he could still credibly be redeemed. And now, even without all the explicit ROTJ parallels (up to and including straight-up quoted dialogue), that door is closed. A redemption arc for him from here would not be credible.

And no one else in the First Order is developed enough for it, except maybe Hux, who also has credibility issues (to draw a comparison, that would be like trying to write a redemption arc for Tarkin, aka essentially impossible without an AU breakpoint when he was like twelve or younger at which point it’s not a redemption arc it’s a completely different story.) Phasma (assuming she isn’t actually dead, which I think she’s not but ehhh she might be) isn’t developed enough. No one else in the First Order who’s still alive has an on-screen not-All-There-In-The-Manual name, so it wouldn’t have the necessary emotional/narrative payoff.

And that’s...that’s...I don’t like it. I really don’t like it. I mean...it actually weirdly bothers me less than I thought it would, when I was trying to talk about this a year or so ago? I have no idea why, because like I thought that would be something that would make me completely break away at least from the ST era/corner of the fandom. And yet it’s not. But it’s still...Star Wars has always sold itself as straight up Good Vs Evil, but has had that...coming home. Or something? Like I said, not sure I’m too articulate about it. But I don’t like that this happened the way it did.

And also, just...like, think about what it would have been if they had just gone ahead and played the ROTJ aspects straight. If Ben Solo had come home, the way Anakin Skywalker did--without dying. We would get the story we never got with Vaderkin, of clawing his way back and atoning and making amends. We barely even got it with Ventress (side note: there’s a Thing in the back of my head that I’m not sure I can get out in any articulate way about the parallels between Anakin and Ventress because man.) (Also I think there might be a plot like this in Rebels, but I haven’t seen it yet so IDK for sure.)

Sigh. I don’t know. I think we’re going to get an interesting story about the way things did go, which may be part of why I’m less upset than I thought I would be. But I am upset.

(Side note: I do think that Snoke’s death was really well-put-together/well-played. I genuinely didn’t see it coming until the Heirloom Lightsaber started turning. Like...I pretty much figured that it wasn’t going to go how either Rey or Kylo saw it, because (even before Snoke said he made the bridge between them) I pretty much figured they’d both seen what they wanted to see/their ideal ending for the confrontation, so I knew it would be some kind of third option, but I did not expect the one we got and the way it was presented/approached was extremely effective; I just have serious, serious issues with where it went from there).

- I wish there had been more Leia. And Maz. And Phasma.

- I wish it had done more to expand on/develop the relationships/answer the questions/etc. established by TFA. In some ways, it feels more like “this is a series of events that happened in the wake of that,” rather than a continuation? This was mostly a problem with Poe’s storyline--Rey’s did okay at that, though if the backstory reveal was true it was a little disappointingly presented and if it’s not it didn’t resolve enough; and Finn’s did reasonably well. (Also, there were supposed to be Knights of Ren???? Were these the students that Kylo Ren left with after burning Luke’s Temple? What happened to them? Were those the people he and Rey killed in the throne room?????)

- On a much pettier note--what the fuck even was up with the timeline???? HOW SHORT ARE THE DAYS ON AHCH-TO? WHAT ABOUT FREAKING TRAVEL TIME--FTL TRAVEL IN THIS UNIVERSE IS NOT INSTANTANEOUS AND THAT IS EXPLICITLY REFERENCED IN THIS VERY FILM. Congratulations, Star Wars, you now have a film with a timeline that makes even less sense than ESB. [ROTS doesn’t, either, although that one’s more a question of ‘exactly how long is it between the Invisible Hand and Utapau because I don’t buy the ‘less than two weeks’ from the novel, but beyond that it could be anywhere from like a month to like three or four...but that makes sense, it’s just unclear.)

And, because I like to end on a positive note--there’s a lot I do genuinely enjoy/like/even love about this movie. Is it my favorite? Probably not; I don’t know exactly where I’d rank it, but probably in the Bottom Tier (I have sort of three tiers in terms of ‘Which Of These Puppies Licking My Face Am I Most Likely To Take Home If I Can Only Have One’ and they fluctuate a fair amount other than ESB, AOTC, and ROTS are consistently in the top tier). But there’s enough about it that I liked that I’m going to see it again, and while the things I disliked were for the most part serious issues, they weren’t enough to make me want to avoid the film itself. I’m hoping the next movie answers some more things, I’m hoping Phasma and Baby Canto Bight Jedi come back, I’m looking forward to Force Ghost Luke (and maybe the others fingers crossed).