#(also i looooove playing EH in this there are some great EH lines in it)

[supercantaloupe]

also the difference in orchestration vs the original vs later (movie) add ins is really interesting to me. we're subbing in something good in place of an ordinary couple in act ii and it has FOUR instrument changes between EH and oboe within the one number (a whopping 89 measures). only Once in the entire rest of the score (all original to the stage show. we didn't get the rights to i have confidence lol) is there an instrument change mid-number (it's during the dance in sixteen going on seventeen)

[tired0artist]

not enough (part five) the end

>part one< >part two<

>part three< >part four<

paring: female!V x Johnny Silverhand

warnings: domestic shit, fluff, a tiny bit of angst, misunderstanding, Johnny loves his girl, and she loves him, jealousy

————<•>————

Warmth surrounded V’s body as she slept peacefully. Her body completely surrounded by another one, arms around her waist tight yet gentle as if they were holding the most precious thing in the world.

The blissful moment was stopped by loud cries just outside of the bedroom door.

V sighed and snuggled her head in the pillow, mumbling.

“Johnny... your cat wants to come in...”

Johnny groaned and hid his face in V’s hair, while saying in a deep morning voice.

“Yesterday he was yours, when he scratched me and snuggled with you...”

“But you made me take him in”

“You searched the whole city for food to give him”

V kicked him under the covers “Just get up and let him in before he scratches the door”

“You go” Johnny said stubbornly.

“Johnny” she whined.

The man sighed “Okay but what do I get in return?”

“The love of your life, being veryyyy happy” V said, with a smile.

Johnny pinched her side, making her jump a bit “Low blow princess”

“Okay fine. I will wear that skirt you got me...”

“Hmmm... something extra to it?”

V opened her tired eyed and looked at the smirking bastard “I will let you fuck me in it. Will that cut it, for you?”

Johnny grinned and kissed her sweetly, before getting up to let the cat in.

The merc rolled her eyes and snuggled deeper in the sheets, hoping to get another hour of sleep. Nibbles jumped into the bed and squeezed his way under the cover to snuggle into V’s chest.

She opened her eyes and smiled at the little thing.

“Hey, there baby” she cooed as the cat purred as he fell back asleep.

Johnny snorted as he got back in the bed and wrapped his arms around her once again.

“Now it’s ‘hey there baby’ and few moments ago he suddenly was my cat”

V smiled and turned a bit to kiss him on his cheek “Did I mention that I love your grumpy ass?”

“Yeah, you did. Especially in my leather pants” Johnny said with a smirk.

V shook her head and put her head back on the pillow, enjoying the warmth that Johnny provided along with Nibbles.

Two hours later V woke up in the bed alone. Both her man and her cat gone.

She stretched and made her way sleepily to the kitchen, already smiling at Johnny’s voice.

“Off of the counter buddy or she’ll nag both of us”

V silently came around the corner where she saw Johnny making coffee. His long hair pulled in a messy bun, wearing his black pyjama pants and red t-shirt.

Slowly she made her way to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, tucking her head under his arm to look up at him, saying.

“Busted”

He laughed and pointed at the cat “He doesn’t listen, not my fault”

V looked at the cat who simply meowed at her and walked closer to paw at her. She turned a bit to look at his food bowl.

“Johnny?”

“Hmm?”

“Why does our cat have a bowl full of cereal?”

Johnny looked at the food bowl in question simply shrugging “We’re out of cat food. Figured that he wouldn’t mind”

V looked up at the love of her life and bursted out laughing.

“What?” he asked in confusion “Food is food, V”

She kissed his cheek with a shake of her head “Oh you’re lucky that I love you, you gonk”

With that she pulled away and picked up their cat, putting him on the ground. Then she made her way to their fridge to make breakfast.

“After you drink your coffee you need to go out and buy him food. Our cat can’t survive on cereal, especially since we’re going out tonight”

Johnny grumbled under his breath as he drinked his black coffee while making a cup of latte for V.

“What was that Robert?” she asked, trying to act strictly.

He glared at her and said “Oh nothing, Violette”

“Dick”

“Cunt”

Meow.

They looked down at their cat who was staring at his owners.

Both lovers started laughing as Johnny said.

“Well said buddy”

V smiled at them, her chest full of warmth.

It was evening as V stood in front of the bar, cursing under her breath as she tried to pull her red leather skirt a bit down.

Whistling caught her attention and as she raised her head up she saw smirking Judy and Panam walking towards her.

“Not. A. Word—“

“Damn you look like a rockstar” Judy said with a mischievous smirk.

“Or rather a rockstar’s chick” Panam corrected with a grin.

V glared at them, her cheeks dusted with a bit of a blush. She was wearing a short red leather skirt, black and red SAMURAI t-shirt from that 2020 tour, fishnets and combat boots. Her black hair was left unchanged and a bit messy and her usually purple painted lips were now dark red.

“Fuck off”

The girls laughed and looked at each other asking.

“Johnny?”

V nodded still blushing “Johnny...”

They laughed again as V crossed her arms with a pout. It was no secret that she preferred wearing pants some turtle neck and a jacket. But Johnny, always insisted on her wearing something more ‘sexy’ from time to time.

Even when he was inside her head, he would nag her about only wearing one thing.

“Okay, if the comedian squad would like to join me. It would be fucking great”

Soon V and the girls were sitting in a large booth, drinking their drinks.

“—and Saul even agreed with me! It’s still so weird leading the family with him...”

V smiled saying “Well I’m not surprised he agreed it was a pretty good plan, Panam. Also I get the feeling, Rogue started nagging me to take over as a fixer and the owner of Afterli—“

“Holy shit, V! You never told us that!” Judy said in shock as she shared a look with Panam.

“I didn’t?” V asked out loud with a frown.

“Em no? The fuck V! That’s big!” Panam said, but as she saw V looking away she frowned asking “Aren’t you happy?”

V shuffled in her seat “I don’t know... I mean. I want to say yes and all, but Johnny and I... we still haven’t decided on what we want to do”

“You should follow your gut, V. It served you well so far” said Judy while taking a drink of her fruit and tequila drink.

“I agree. I mean that’s what I do with Saul all this time. And look I’m doing fucking great” added Panam while waving to a waitress to bring her another beer.

V smiled and nodded “Yeah. Yeah maybe you’re right”

The girls smiled at her just as V felt someone’s hand touch her hip. She turned, her hand already moving to punch whoever touched her, only for it to be stopped by a familiar metal arm.

Johnny grinned and brought her fist closer to his lips to kiss it, saying “I love the way you greet me sweetheart”

V rolled her eyes and looked behind her boyfriend where Kerry, Danny and Nancy stood. She smiled at the group saying.

“Hi!”

Johnny was quickly pushed away by the group as they all hugged and greeted the young merc, along with her friends.

“So you sure you don’t want to play with us?” Nancy asked with a grin.

“No, no, no I’m not good with the guitar or singing—“

“Bullshit. V has some talent, heard her humming few times and sing while drunk. She’s good” Judy said with a smile as V blushed.

“Huh I think that I only heard you humm once, when I was in the coma... but it’s a bit fussy” Johnny said with a frown.

Kerry grinned “Someone’s hidding their talent, honey?”

V’s face was ok fire as she crossed her arms “No. I’m good at breaking arms so if you wanna continue?”

The group quickly scattered with only Johnny left as he laughed and kissed her, slowly but deeply. As he pulled away he whispered “You’ll have to sing to me someday, sweetheart”

With that he walked away while calling over his shoulder “Love your ass in this skirt by the way!”

V rolled her eyes and turned back to her friends, ordering a drink as the girls laughed at her flustered expression.

During the night, the SAMURAI was playing in the bar. V smiled as she saw Johnny enjoying being back on the stage once again, along with his friends. He and Kerry worked everything out during the time that Johnny was back. Now SAMURAI was playing at least once a month in some bars, V was always there. Sometimes alone and sometimes with her friends.

Johnny always asked for her to find a place to sit where he could see her. He said that he felt better knowing that she was right there in the line of his sight. So tonight he definitely saw two guys come over to their booth.

“Hey there, beautiful” one of them said, leaning closer to V.

“Fuck off” she said rolling her eyes.

“Oh come on, pretty girl” the other one said.

Panam looked ready to stand up, but V signaled her to stay seated as she herself stood up to the two far taller men. One of them noticed her t-shirt and said.

“Oh you like SAMURAI? Well it’s your lucky day, beautiful. Cause we know the whole band” said the first one, with a grin.

The music was loud enough that both men didn’t hear both Judy and Panam snort, trying to stifle their laughter.

V raised her brow, deep inside kinda pitying the guys for how unluckily they chose the lie.

“Yeah! We’re even going to the after party with them! Back at Eurodyne’s apartment!” said the other guy.

She smiled wickedly and said in a dumbest tone she could manage “Oh really! Oh I looooove Kerry! He’s the best!”

The girls were almost shaking with laughter as V played her part.

“So eh.. you coming?” the guy asked as his friend smiled.

“Yeah sure, let’s go outside” V said with a smirk.

To no surprise. Once the guys grabbed V’s arms in a not so friendly manner and led her outside, into an alleyway.

“Now shut up. You’re going to with us”

V snorted “Yeah that’s a good one”

With that V pushed them away, kicking the closest guy in his knee, causing to snap back. Then she turned and punched the other and bigger guy, but he managed to duck. V picked up a pipe from the ground and hit the guy on the ground who was probably looking for his gun. As she did that, the other guy grabbed her around the waist.

“Fucking bitch! You’re coming with me!”

“Fuck off!” she screamed, hitting him on the nose with the back of her head.

The guy let go of her and she turned to pick up her pipe, when a gun shoot was heard.

V flinched as a body behind her fell on the ground with a loud thud. She looked up to see Johnny standing in the alleyway, his gun in his hand.

“Johnny—“ she started just as he shot the guy on the ground, who was unconscious right between the eyes.

Then he was walking towards her, his expression unreadable. When she was in the arm’s reach, he pulled her closer and hugged tightly.

She rubbed his back as he was trembling slightly. He would say that it was from the cold, but V knew what triggered him.

“Hey... hey I’m okay. No one’s taking me”

After a moment Johnny pulled away and touched her cheek saying “Don’t you ever do something like this again”

V bit her lip and nodded “Okay, okay I’m sorry. I just knew that they wouldn’t leave us alone and didn’t want to make a fuss in the bar”

“I don’t care about that. Just watching them grab you like that and take out of the bar—“

“Shh... I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t think, okay? I’m right here” V said, feeling bad that she cause Johnny to in a way, relive his trauma.

They stood there for a while just holding each other, before V pulled him back inside the bar. On their way there Johnny kicked one of the corpses.

“Fucking dogs”

V only rubbed his back and kissed his cheek. Once inside she and Johnny joined their friends at the booth.

No one seemed too worried, probably knowing that V could handle herself. Especially since Johnny went out to look for her.

Kerry smiled at them warmly and asked about what happened. V told him about the guys and he simply shook his head with a snort.

“So I’m guessing they weren’t your chooms?” V asked with a smirk, trying to lighten up the mood.

Kerry laughed and shook his head “Nah, maybe there’s some other Eurodyne in the town”

V laughed and looked up at Johnny who was still stiffly holding her hand, squeezing it every once in a while. As if he was making sure that she was right there with him. She pinched his side, bringing his eyes to hers as she said.

“Relax, I’m fine. We’re fine”

He nodded and kissed her hair, whispering “I love you”

“And I you” V whispered with a smile.

The rest of the night the band and V’s friends spent drinking at the bar. The odd bunch of people were all surprisingly getting along.

Nancy was really interested in Panam and her clan, already asking the nomad if she could maybe do an article on them. Danny and Judy seemed to only talk about the braindances and new technologies on the market. While Kerry, Johnny and V were talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

But the topic mostly surrounded Johnny and how he was when Kerry first met him.

“—and there was Johnny. Jumping out of the window of some new chick and running to my car, screaming for me to drive”

V snorted and Johnny shrugged his shoulders, his hand still holding his girlfriend’s hand.

“She never told me that she had a husband”

Kerry snorted “And you didn’t ask. You’re lucky the guy didn’t shoot your balls off”

V laughed and looked up at the man beside her.

“You really were impossible”

Johnny looked down at her and smirked “Sweetheart you had me inside your brain. It shouldn’t be a revelation for you”

“True” V said with a grin.

“Okay chooms, it’s time to start the party” said Johnny as he waved the waitress over, ordering a shit ton of alcohol.

It was around four in the morning, as the women all went to have a smoke in front of the bar, leaving Johnny and Kerry all alone.

“You’re not drunk” said Kerry, as he took a sip of his drink.

Johnny shrugged “I’m tipsy and someone needs to take us to our apartment. Seeing how V was barely walking, means that it’ll be me”

Kerry smiled at his friend saying “You changed, Johnny. And not because someone made you. You changed on your own. Never thought that I would live long enough to see it”

Johnny looked down at his own drink, saying “I honestly felt tempted to drink some more tonight. I didn’t want to remember how I got home and wake up with my head about to explode...”

“But?” Kerry asked, already knowing what his friend will say.

“But then I remembered V. And the thought of going home with her, drunk off of my ass in this fucked up city. Stopped being appealing” Johnny said, as his fists clenched “You know that when Alt was taken... I was both drunk and high. I couldn’t protect her and she paid the price for my stupidity. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, if V suffered because I choose ‘fun’ over her”

Kerry put down his drink and reached across the table to put his hand on Johnny’s shoulder “Johnny. What happened to Alt, will never happen to V okay? She’s the best mercenary in this city, has every fixer here backing her up and Johnny fucking Silverhand is by her side at all times. So she’s safer than most people are”

Johnny smiled and nodded, but the weight didn’t exactly leave his shoulders. Before he could thank Kerry, Judy came up to them.

“V’s calling you”

Immediately Johnny was on his feet, grabbing her and his jackets and leaving the bar. There he saw Panam, Danny and Nancy crouching next to sobbing V.

He kneeled in front to her asking “V? Hey, what’s going on sweetheart?”

V’s head snapped up right away as she jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck, saying.

“Johnny!! I thought that you left...”

Her words confused him as he said “V, I was inside with Kerry. You went out to smoke remember?”

She shook her head mumbling “I only smoke so that you would come out and talk to me...”

Johnny was a silent for a few seconds, before smiling at her “You could just ask, I would come along”

V mumbled something drunkenly and gripped his jacket harder, not letting go as tears were still streaming down her flushed cheeks.

Johnny sighed and looked up at Nancy who seemed to be the most sober “Call us a cab, will ya? I’ll take her home, she needs to sleep it off”

“Yeah I thought so.. I already called. It should be here any minute”

“Thanks”

The women nodded and headed back inside the bar with a short goodbye.

Johnny picked up V as she started calming down a bit, exhaustion taking a toll on her.

The ride home was mostly peaceful as V fell asleep on his chest in the cab. He then carried her up to their new apartment and put her in their bed.

After dressing her into her favourite pyjamas, wiping off her makeup and checking all the windows and doors, Johnny laid down with her.

The move of the mattress woke her up a bit, as she mumbled “Johnny?”

He hugged her closely and kissed her head, whispering “I’m right here, go back to sleep”

She snuggled into him and once again fell asleep, with his following soon after.

Next morning was tough for V as she groaned and pulled her pillow over her head.

“Rough morning, sweetheart?” Johnny asked with a smirk from where he was leaning against the door frame.

V raised the pillow a big and glared at him “Don’t you know it, bastard”

He laughed and went to sit by her side, rubbing her back slightly “If you’re gonna puke. I would rather you do it in the bathroom and not in our bed”

She flipped him off saying “You can bite my ass!”

And to no one’s surprise.

He did just that.

V jumped and threw her pillow at him “The fuck Johnny?!”

Johnny laughed and watched as she was rubbing her ass cheek.

“I did what you suggested, sweetheart”

She glared “Dick”

“Cunt��� he said still smirking.

They stared at each other for a while, before Johnny finally stood up saying “I’ll go make you some breakfast, you have painkillers on the nightstand”

“Thanks” she mumbled already moving to get some.

By late noon V was feeling a bit better and finally got out of the bed. She was cleaning the kitchen a bit, when Johnny came in the kitchen handing her, her jacket.

“Get ready, we’re going out”

V took the jacket asking “Where?”

“You’ll see. I want to talk to you about something. So move your ass, so we can delta out of here” he said while going to sit in the living area.

Feeling confused as hell, V made her way to their bedroom and got dressed. She was just pulling her hair into a messy bun, as she walked out.

“Ready?” Johnny asked, getting up from their red leather couch.

“Yeah but—“

“No questions. Now let’s go” he said, taking her hand and walking out of the apartment.

Around 20 minutes later they pulled up at the familiar hotel. V got out and looked at Johnny in confusion.

“Pistis Sophia” she stated.

Johnny nodded and reached out to take her hand, leading them to the familiar balcony near the also familiar room.

Once there, he let go of her hand and leaned against the railing. Looking at the sun reflecting in the water.

“You know... I think that’s the place where I realised that I love you” he said, still admiring the view.

V smiled and also leaned on the railing, their arms touching “Mine was at your supposed grave, when you asked for a second chance... you smiled at me a bit awkwardly as if half thinking that I would tell you to piss off”

Johnny smiled, reaching over to take V’s hand in his metal one.

“So I fell first huh? That’s new”

V laughed saying “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not exactly sure when I started loving you, I just know when I realised that I had these feelings”

They stayed silent for a little while, just looking at the sea as they hands stayed joined.

“Rogue offered to pass down the Afterlife to me. Along with being a fixer” V suddenly said, not wanting to hold it inside any longer.

Johnny looked at her with a small smile “I know”

V furrowed her brows asking “You know?”

“Yeah. She actually asked for my opinion on this”

“And what did you say?”

“That there’s no one else who could do it as good as you. Also told her to get out of her ass and ask you herself” Johnny said with a grin.

V laughed a bit, before asking “Do you really think that I should do it?”

“The question is, sweetheart. Do you want to do it?”

She looked down saying “I don’t know... we still didn’t exactly figure out what we want to do next and—“

“V” said Johnny as he touched her chin, making her look in the eyes “I want you to do what you want to do. Don’t look at me, just follow your heart”

V smiled and took his hand “I love you, Johnny. And I want to take Rogue’s offer, but I want you to be happy as well”

“I lived my life V. I did what I wanted, acted how I wanted and worked where I wanted. Now it’s time for you to do the same”

“But what do you want?” she asked, feeling unsure of the whole thing.

Johnny smiled and kissed her hair “I just want you. Our small apartment. Our ugly cat and to just wake up with you in my arms”

V smiled asking “So what? The great Johnny Silverhand going to retirement?”

He shrugged “Why not. I could do some merc work every now and then, if we’ll be tight on the money. Help you out at Afterlife and still play once a month with Kerry and the girls. But yeah, retirement sounds nice”

“Are you sure though? I don’t want you holding back because of me, Johnny”

“I’m sure, sweetheart. I just want to be with you” Johnny said, kissing V gently and slowly as the sun shined on them.

When they pulled away Johnny grinned at her saying “And to prove that, I want to ask you something”

V watched as he pulled away and pulled out something from his pocket. Then he opened his palm to show her two silver rings. She gasped and looked into his dark eyes.

“I know that, I didn’t propose to you first but who really gives a shit about sentimental crap like that. So, Violette Bakker. Would you like to marry me, right here in this dirty hotel?” he asked with a smirk, but his eyes were shining with warmth and love.

V teared up a bit, but still grinned saying “Well, Robert John Linden. I would love to marry you, even on the junkyard where they dumbed me”

He smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her passionately, few tears escaping from V’s eyes.

When they pulled away, V took the bigger ring and tried to slit it on Johnny’s left hand. But the metal fingers weren’t exactly made for wearing rings.

“Oh... didn’t really think about that” Johnny said, frowning slightly.

V pulled the ring away and instead reached for Johnny’s dog tags. She pulled them off of his neck.

“What are you—?” Johnny started, but cut himself off as he watched V getting his ring on the chain, where it joined the tags.

She smiled at him and put them back on his neck, before doing the same thing to her own dog tags and ring.

“Now we can wear them the same way” she said with a sweet smile.

Johnny touched the ring that was hanging around his neck and smiled too, saying.

“I love you”

V also touched her own ring, saying “I love you too”

The pair stood there looking at each other, in the place that really started what they had now. Some might say that it was just an old dirty hotel. A place that didn’t hold any meaning.

But to Johnny and V?

That place meant everything to the start of their story and to the very end of it.

•the end•

•thank you for reading and following me! I have an rock fan V au on my mind so tell me if you would like to see me write about it.

Tag list (if you wanna be tagged leave a comment): @dartheldur @signwriting @missweatherwax @commanding-officer @lovinghunty @the-bottom-of-the-abyss @sillysallysings @iamshisan @mayhemhouse



[lightandwinged]

Alright, it’s review time, and it’s going to be spoilery and rambly because I’m still parsing my thoughts on everything SO. 

Sans spoilers: a solid and fitting conclusion, if a bit faster paced than I would’ve liked, but it adhered to the overarching themes of the Skywalker saga probably better than anything in the new trilogy has before, and I don’t know how, considering everything (namely that Space Mom is gone), they could have or would have done things differently. Not my absolute favorite (that will forever be RotJ), but still very good.

Spoilers below, be ye warned.

I found it utterly hilarious that the plot started with Kyle Ron finding the Macguffin and chillin out with Papa Palpatine while the Good Guys had to go on this entire huge quest to FIND the Macguffin to begin with, and the only reason he didn’t just fuck off and finish some dastardly plan while they were scurrying about and trying to find the Pyramid Of Doom was because he’s got a lot to work out in his feelings about Rey. Like shit, no wonder Papa Palpatine decided to just stick with his own bloodline for galactic domination, Skywalkers are useless.

(except Leia, who is awesome)

The inclusion of Carrie Fisher in this film was VERY well done, but it also hurt a lot because you could tell that her scenes were cobbled together from old material and not made of anything new. It was good and necessary, but it also just hurt, like a constant reminder that she’s gone and nobody could replace her ever. And I’ll get more to that in a minute.

The Macguffin questing honestly felt a lot like the first half of RotJ, where we have to go rescue Han right quick because Harrison Ford was pretty sure he didn’t want to Star Wars anymore, so here’s a sidequest for half the movie, with the only difference here being that the questline had to do with the actual Plot. I’ve been following the Star Wars leaks subreddit for a while (don’t read the comments, it’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy and bitterness), and I know that at one point, it was supposed to be this race between Team Dark Side and Team Light Side to get the Pyramid of Destiny and then they’d find out that oh shit, Sheev’s here, but that was scrapped... and I kind of wish it hadn’t been? It would’ve made the first half of frolicking through this planet... no this planet... no, no, it’s on this planet... feel a lot less distracting. 

The dynamic between Finn, Poe, and Rey was fantastic, because those three actors just have amazing chemistry on so many levels. They immediately fell into the dynamic of “we’re a polyamorous triad who’ve been living together for a while, and we really love each other, but we’re also a LITTLE BIT STRESSED RIGHT NOW OK” and that’s fair. I was glad to see all of it, and I just wish that we’d had more of it in both TFA and TLJ. It reminded me a LOT of how the best parts of the OT were always when Luke, Han, and Leia were together. 

And now I’m going to take a sulk break to think about what we could’ve had with that amazing dynamic.

I’m back. 

The new characters were some of the weaker parts of the film, I felt, save for Lando (because Billy Deeeeeeee). Dominic Monaghan, whom I love, could’ve had his role taken entirely by Rose, or Billie Lourde, and nobody would’ve noticed. And I don’t mind the addition of extra women to the cast, but Zorii and Jannah felt like they were just there to be like “Poe fucks women! Finn might too!” And... yanno, cool? But the OT3 stands. 

And then General Pryde, aptly named, should’ve been a bigger part in all three films because it was like... here’s this yahoo out of nowhere who’s apparently a really big Sheev fan and just... like... what? I mean, I’m a huge Sheev fan, too, but I wish he’d been more of a Piett, where we could’ve seen him worming his way up the ranks, which would’ve made his downfall more satisfying. Instead, it was just kind of like... eh? Cool, I guess? With Piett, you felt like “yeah, we’ve seen this guy fucking things up for our heroes for two entire movies now, and here he is, getting destroyed because of his pride, hahaha!” but with Pryde, it was like “wait, who are you? Oh you’re dead now? Okay, cool, I guess?”

And in conjunction with THAT, Hux was just wasted in this film. I fully accept the idea that he rose through the ranks because of nepotism or something, and I also fully accept that he’s an absolutely useless twink who can’t do anything without having Phasma top him weekly (she used to top both him and Ren, which is why they’re such disasters in this movie), but man, couldn’t we have like... taken him with us? Imagine the comedy potential as he’s brought back as a prisoner and Domhnall Gleeson gets even more screen time with Oscar Isaac. I don’t mind that he died a worthless death because he was basically a useless wretch, but I do feel like if the movie had given itself more breathing room, he could’ve been a lot of fun.

RELATED, the pacing. So in the beginning of the movie, the idea of a light skip (basically, just sort of using the hyperdrive without planning or anything) is brought up, and everyone involved in this action bounces from world to world to world in rapid fire fashion to get rid of a bunch of TIE fighters following them, and that’s roughly the pace of this film. There are a few moments of quiet and contemplation, but they’re so rare that they seem to last a lot longer than they actually do, and I think it’s mostly because this movie really feels like a Lord of the Rings style epic packed into a MCU time frame. And I’m not complaining about the time, because by the time the credits rolled, I had to pee so fucking badly, but I feel like also if we’d trimmed out a couple of things (like maybe we can get rid of Kijimi, I think it is? The snow planet? or just merge Kijimi and Pasaana?), we’d have had more time to breathe and that would’ve helped the pacing a lot. 

The slow moments in the film belonged almost exclusively to Rey and Kyle Ron, and honestly, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver both deserve some sort of award recognition for their acting, the latter particularly. Without going into wild details about the plot, Kyle Ron does change his mind and go back to being Ben Solo, and god bless you so much Adam Driver because the change is instantaneous and delightful. If we’d seen significantly more Ben Solo than Kyle Ron, I’d totally be on board with the r.3y.10.z because this child omg. As it stands, the kiiiiissssss made me do like

in real life. It felt... mm, unearned, we’ll say. Maybe as a moment of “oh fuck that was intense and now we’re both alive” I could’ve bought it, but it wasn’t that, it was supposed to be this “my looooove” moment and just... sorry, but no. 

BUT that said, while I think his death was the only way this series could’ve ended for him because a redemption arc would’ve required a LOT more time and energy, and that just... wasn’t going to happen. The time to have him make the turn if we were going to see a redemption arc was during TLJ, and since he didn’t make that change, we don’t get a Zuko arc. And that’s FINE because that’s a lot of work for a three movie series. And I don’t want a TV series devoted to Ben Solo learning to not be a dick to people. That’s exhausting. 

But I do wish we’d gotten more time with him. The brief time we had, the bit of Han Solo snark that came out (”ow”), that was all delightful and made me understand what people see in the character (who I hate because he’s a great character to hate). 

(omg while I was writing this, someone was saying that they were in a theater with someone talking about how the movie should’ve ended with Kyle Ron giving Rey a Force baby, and Y’ALL THERE IS NOT ENOUGH NOPE IN THE WORLD)

Anyway, bullets now, for the times I cried:

Literally everything with Leia, but especially that her last word was “Ben” and her using every last bit of her energy to save her son because I GET THAT FEEL, and honestly, the only reason she wasn’t there raining death and destruction on Sheev by herself for grooming her baby was because Carrie Fisher died. But anyway, from the moment she dropped her headset on, I was a blubbering mess.

And then Han, just a memory, but looking more at peace than he ever has. He convinces his son to come home, and Ben now says, “Dad?” and Han just says, “I know,” and FUFUUFUFALSKJDLAKSJDF: SOBBING

And then CHEWIE reacting to Leia’s death just... UGH. I am destroyed utterly, still. 

Luke finally managing to Force lift the X-Wing out of the water made me cry as well, weirdly enough. 

And then whatever emotion I felt when Rey heard all the Jedi, and it was LITERALLY EVERYONE WHO HAS PLAYED A JEDI EVER COMING IN AND SAYING A LINE like not just the familiar ones but the ones you wouldn’t know unless you’d watched all the TV series and extra material... it was so much more than tears. I couldn’t cry because it wouldn’t have been enough to encompass everything that made me feel. Very sincerely well done. 

All-in-all, yeah, it was really good. I don’t get what everyone is so fussed over with it... it ties up the themes of the entire nine-movie arc pretty neatly and does basically the best it can with what it has. 

But a bigger point in its favor, for me, was seeing Sam’s reaction to it: jumping up and down in his seat, gasping, grabbing my hand, whispering, “Mommy, they’re going to be okay, right?” and then cheering at the end. Star Wars, as a thing, isn’t for just one person or one group of people, but I consider how people who were kids when the PT came out say without a hint of irony that it’s not that bad, because to them, that’s what Star Wars is and always has been. The joy of it isn’t just the OT but those three movies that were “meh” to those of us who cut our teeth on the OT only. And in a similar vein, the ST is full of that joy for kids now. Like holy moley, Sam and his best friend geeking out over seeing each other in Star Wars costumes at Halloween was just worth everything.

So in the end, like I concluded at the end of TLJ, the message here is that it’s for them. And also that there’s always hope, that ultimately, even when it seems the odds are against light, there’s more of us than there are of them.