#rey and kylo finding themselves ruling the galaxy together for better or worse

[annmariethrush]

Rooting for characters to be good for good’s sake is boring. I’m real so I have to be good for good’s sake which is okay, but fuck if I need my characters in made up realities that don’t exist to be good even when the world is bad to them or they have the opportunity to be more interesting as monsters or tyrants or just straight up assholes. Ship people who are toxic. Fuck monsters. Kill people. Have fun. It’s fiction, that’s the point. Do what you have to do to be a good person in the real world who doesn’t do shitty things to other people or support people who do shitty things.

[lj-writes]

What is, in your opinion, the biggest battle (Republic v. Mandalore, Republic v. Separatist, Rebellion v. Empire, Resistance V. First Order) in the entire Star Wars franchise, and how would you try to top all of them in your version of IX?

What an excellent question, and it really helped me focus my Episode IX feels. I’d say the Battle of Endor from RotJ was the biggest with significant resources thrown in on both sides with a ground battle element, though the Battles of Scarif and Yavin were IMO better written with higher emotional stakes.

My Episode IX could roll all those elements together and bring the trio of trilogies full circle to… the Second Battle of Tatooine! The existence and plans of the Galactic Union have been revealed, and while it has failed to take Coruscant the worlds loyal to the Union have declared their allegiance. The Republic is split in two and turning on itself, while Mandalore faces an impossible dilemma: Must it fight its own stolen children? See also my alternate Episodes VII (link) and VIII (link).

The action would be divided into three parts: space battle over Tatooine, ground battle on Tatooine, and an uprising plot with Finn turning the Union’s Crusaders. The newly reinstated Chancellor Leia Organa together with Admiral Ackbar leads the Republic forces to Tatooine and Geonosis space, where the Galactic Union had been hiding a large part of its fleet and personnel now ready to deploy and take Naboo, Takodana, Jakku, Hosnia and more.

Leia implores Boba Fett for help, but the Mandalorians have their own problems. The part of the Republic now loyal to the Union is continuing the assault against the Mandalorians, tying them down.  The Mandalorians are also hesitant to fight the main body of the Galactic Union and the Crusaders who were revealed to be Mandalorians stolen as children. Unable to count on Mandalorian help Leia nevertheless continues to Tatooine, Lando’s fleet from Bespin joining hers. Poe and Black Squadron have scouted the area and report back that the Union fleet are close to deploying. Luke has already been on his home planet a while, brokering a peace treaty between the Republic and the various factions on Tatooine with the help of C3PO (link).

Rey is on a separate mission looking for Finn. Finn himself, imprisoned and being reconditioned, tries desperately to hang onto his sense of self. Rey senses his pain and resolve, and dives into a dangerous defunct hyperspace route in search of him. She makes it through a hyperspace storm that she barely steers the Falcon through before finding herself in a regular hyperspace route alongside the Union flagship. They drop into normal space and so does she, and is tractored on board. Taken prisoner and facing Kylo Ren with the Knights of Ren arrayed around him, she finds Finn–standing guard next to Kylo, staring straight ahead, not seeming to hear her pleas. Ren offers her a place in the Union and she refuses. Ren then orders Finn to fight Rey, and during the fight reveals to her that Finn’s father killed her parents. Rey realizes he’s telling the truth and fights back in hate and rage until she realizes she is falling to the Dark Side and, remembering her love for Finn, throws down her saber.

Ren orders Finn to kill Rey and he marches forward, seemingly about to strike her down before he turns his attack on Phasma. He had been repeating a phrase drilled into him, a Mandalorian motto that the Union had stolen and twisted around, and held onto it while he was being reconditioned. Now, with the revelation of his heritage by Ren, his memories rush back and he remembers his fathers, his sense of belonging, Mandalore in whose ways he had been brought up all along though in a way that was twisted to serve his kidnappers. He rallies the Crusaders, reminding them that they are Mandalorians even though they were stolen and bred as weapons. They are not weapons, however, they are warriors. Some of the Crusaders rally to him, others turn on them, and there is enough confusion for Finn and Rey to escape with the freed Mandalorians and damage the flagship in the process.

Back on Tatooine the Tatooine Alliance of Hutts, Jawas, Tuskens, and farmers attack the Union ships and supplies, destroying a significant number of ships before they can launch. Luke is in the thick of the fray, with C3PO complaining about how disorderly everything is and also directing a droids for espionage and sabotage.

In the space above Tatooine Leia and Lando’s fleet shoot down the Union fleet while Ackbar blocks off the perimeter with mines and bombers. The Union fleet is still an enormous force and are wearing down the Republic fleet. They need help and have nowhere to expect it from.

On Mandalore, the warriors are defending the home world from Union forces while a Union dreadnought moves into position for bombardment from orbit, a move that would wipe out all life on the surface. At that desperate hour more Union ships emerge from hyperspace and it looks like all is lost–but these are the free Mandalorian warriors led by Finn and they fall on the Dreadnought, destroying it! Finn informs the Mandalorians by comm of what happened. Watching this brave young man, Idrian Fett and Teros Kryze are gripped by the strangest feeling of recognition while telling themselves it can’t be. The Mandalorians together send the Union fleet into a route.

The Mandalorians must now decide whether to stay and protect their homeworld or go to Leia and the Republic’s aid. Finn argues that they must save the Republic’s fleet. The Union’s entire strategy consisted of sowing dissension between the Republic and the Mandalorians, and it is only together that they can win the day. Idrian, thinking of the long-ago tragedy his own anger caused, backs him up, convincing the Mandalore.

Over Tatooine Lando personally shoots down a number of ships at the head of the Bespin fleet. Leia crashes enemy starships together using the Force. Ackbar’s defense never wavers, despite great sacrifices. Droid-piloted ships crash into the enemy, leaving holes in their lines. Poe and Black Squadron bring down a capital ship. If the Republic is to fall here, they will make every death count to at least give a fighting chance to the rest of the galaxy.

That is when new Union ships arrive, alongside Mandalorian ships! There is confusion for a moment before they realize the Mandalorian cavalry is here, and the day seems to be theirs.

Meanwhile, the Tatooine Alliance back on the surface of the planet discover among the captured Union equipment some kind of regulator that is connected to one of Tatooine’s suns. Luke is stunned when he realizes that, essentially, the suns of Tatooine have been turned into bombs. The Union must have been waiting for their enemies to gather in one place and one of the suns will engulf the entire system in twenty minutes, setting off the other in a chain reaction.

Luke warns Leia to get the fleet out of harm’s way while he attempts to evacuate the planet, but when none of the ships can jump into hyperspace they realize that the Union has blocked off hyperspace travel in the area.

Then Kylo Ren’s Union flagship bursts into normal space. Ren informs his mother by comm that this system is about to be destroyed and he will take her away, installing her as the political head of the new Union to rule the galaxy as she sees fit–as she deserves to, as their family deserves to after all it has done for the universe. Leia flat-out refuses, saying she won’t be a puppet front for a mass murdering regime. She urges her son to stop the bomb and Kylo is angry with her, berating her for her ingratitude when he has paid such a high price for her. He tries to tractor and drag her ship into hyperspace, but she orders thrusters reversed and holds fast.

Ren, now panicked at the thought of losing his mother as well as his father, leads a boarding party to her ship to extract her. When the hatch opens he is greeted by Finn and his Mandalorian warriors who jump into battle with Ren and his Knights.

Meanwhile Rey is on the Falcon, having hit on a plan with Luke over the comm to try and open a hyperspace route to divert the solar flare from the first sun before it hits Tatooine and reaches the other sun in the system. Luke, with no time to join her physically, goes into Force meditation on Tatooine.

Finn and Ren have a rematch and it looks like Finn is done for when Ren disarms him. But Finn takes Ren’s lightsaber to replace his own, wins the fight, then pulls a T’Challa and captures Ren before he can kill himself. Ren needs to face a tribunal–and worse, his mother–for his crimes.

Together Rey and Luke manage to open a route into hyperspace and Rey disappears into it ahead of the flare, trapping it in hyperspace. Back on Tatooine Luke disappears in the light of the binary sunset, too much of his essence poured into the Force. Finn and the others watch and wait for Rey to emerge into normal space and contact them, but she doesn’t.

The battle won, the captured Union database gives the freed Mandalorians information of their origins and Finn reunites in an emotional scene with Idrian and Teros. Leia, unsmiling, tells an arrested Ben that he is grounded for life. A memorial is held for those lost in battle, and Rey’s name is among them.

After a time skip Finn is proclaiming the creation of a new joint force between the Republic and Mandalore to keep peace in the Outer Rim and root out slavery. At that moment a ship jumps out of hyperspace, its hull red-hot and visibly falling apart, and a giant gout of flame follows in its wake. Finn recognizes the Falcon and tells Rey through the Force to eject, which she does just before the Falcon is consumed by the flames and blows up. Told you my version of Finn solves far too many problems by ejecting people into space Finn blasts into space to catch her and they bring her in, burned, frostbitten, and barely conscious but clinging to Finn as she tells him she followed him home, his light burns so bright.

When Rey comes to she is safe and in treatment. Her right hand was damaged and had to replaced with a mechanical prosthesis. She is, little by little, introduced to the new reality and we learn it through her. The Galactic Union is in disarray, and Republic and Mandalorian forces are hunting them throughout space. Leia is working to pull the Republic back together and bring the pro-Union leaders to justice. Hearings are beginning on Ben’s trial. Rey talks about her own ordeal, how she was lost in space and time and thought she was going to die, how she found Finn’s Force signature in the maeltrom and made her way out.

Hesitantly Finn introduces Rey to his fathers, and Rey hears from Idrian himself what happened. She learns that her mother is alive, though comatose, and goes to see her in the same hospital. When Rey stands over her mother’s bed she and Finn both feel Irena trying to wake up and reach out to her daughter, and they clasp hands to join their Force powers and bring Irena back. You see glimpses of Force ghosts around the bed, Qui-Gonn, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, and Luke, helping them. Irena opens her eyes and, without a moment’s hesitation, calls her daughter’s name. They hug, camera pans out, credits.

[cartoonjessie]

Caught in Small Spaces

A Santaisareylo gift for @graef9097​ and @underrated-reylo​

Rated: Teen

Summary: After the Supremacy is destroyed by Holdo's sacrifice, Rey wakes with an unconscious Ben by her side. But what if she doesn't leave him to fend for himself and takes him with her to the Falcon? As he wakes several minutes later in a tiny escape pod with Rey by his side, there's little else to do but figure out their future.

Word Count: 2909

AO3 Link

+++

Caught in Small Spaces

Her ears were still ringing when she woke aboard the Supremacy. Smoke filled her nostrils and she moaned softy as she pushed herself up from the cold floor. Not too far from her, she saw the lifeless body of Ben – or Kylo – she wasn’t even sure who he was anymore.

Between them lay Luke’s lightsaber, broken in two now, and with a heavy heart she crawled to it and picked up the pieces before she kept on crawling towards her enemy – and also her friend – and turned him over. Touching his cheek, she realized that his body wasn’t cold, and she thought she could see him breathe.

She immediately let go of him again, a frown on her face as she considered what to do. She had rejected his offer to… to what, precisely? To rule the universe with him? A preposterous idea. She didn’t want such power, and it scared her that he would want it with such ease.

Violently, she coughed some of the smoke from her lungs as she looked around the room. They were alone – for now – but she needed to get out. From studying the schematics of Dreadnoughts she knew that there were escape pods nearby – big ones, full of luxury – but also tiny ones, like the one she had arrived in.

She needed one of those so Chewie could pick her up in the Falcon, but felt conflicted about leaving Ben behind, especially considering the fact that the Supremacy was now adrift, and for all she knew it could blow up at any second.

Tucking away the remains of Luke’s lightsaber underneath her belt, as well as his crossguard, she was determined to get the both of them out of there before the Dreadnought suffered further damage and killed them.

Putting her arm underneath his shoulder and moving his arm over her neck, she tried to pull him up, realizing that he weighed a ton and only felt heavier because he wasn’t conscious. Waking him seemed like a worse idea though, because she couldn’t imagine him going along willingly. She hadn’t come all this way to fail in her mission. She didn’t want to give up just yet.

She knew that perhaps she had no right to kidnap him like thus, but she muttered: “You didn’t hesitate either when you took me along on Takodana. I’m just returning the favor.”

As she made her way towards the elevator, she could not help but pant, but as she realized that the Force could help, she focused, and suddenly his weight seemed to lessen, until he seemed to weigh hardly anything at all, and she was able to make a good speed.

The elevator itself was gone, wrecked in whatever tragedy had befallen the Supremacy, and so Rey had to jump to the floor beneath them, once again aided by the Force.

“Please don’t have him wake now,” she prayed as they landed smoothly and she quickly rushed to one of the escape pods further down the hallway. As the hatch to the escape pod opened, she moved him inside, realizing that these pods hardly seemed to be made for men his size. It was a wonder that he was still unconscious, for he didn’t seem to have any external injuries, but she thanked the Force for it. Perhaps this was just a sign that she was doing the right thing – that the Force wanted her to do this too.

She pushed him to the side of the escape pod as much as she could, making herself as small as possible as she lay on her side next to him, hardly fitting between him and the walls of the pod. These things weren’t made for two, and she realized that now, but what other option did she have?

She could hardly move as she closed the pod again, and ejected it from the remains of the Supremacy.

With one hand against Ben’s chest (there really was no other place for her to put it), she took out the small beacon from underneath her arm swathes and looked out the tiny window for the proper time to activate it. With the debris of the Supremacy around them, she decided to wait a little longer, and she was baffled by what she saw. The Supremacy was torn in two, and there were more debris here than before – like the rebels had torn through this Dreadnought with one of their own ships – at lightspeed.

It would be dangerous to have Chewbacca drop out of lightspeed among the wreckage, and they were already floating towards a safer area now. Just a few more moments and she could signal her friend…

Of course, as the Force could have predicted, this was the moment that Ben jolted awake. He could hardly move in the small space, and Rey could feel his heartbeat pick up underneath her hand, and hardly dared to breathe as she looked at him. As though he somehow would not notice her then.

It took him a second to assess the situation, and as he looked at Rey and then out the small window to the Dreadnought as it was torn in two, he frowned. Turning back to Rey in the small area, he realized that he was closer than he had ever imagined her to want to be to him.

“Are you alright?” she asked, her voice so soft that for a moment, he forgot that she had rejected him – or that they had fought for the ownership of Luke’s lightsaber.

But the thought only left him for a second, and then it was back, cutting him and making his gut turn in shame and humiliation. Though the reminder of her betrayal stirred some dark thoughts in him, the closeness of her entire body did quite the opposite, and the way her hand rested on his chest calmed him down enough to reply.

“Yes.”

The answer was brief, his tone conflicted as he gazed out at the Supremacy again.

“I need to go back,” he suddenly said, his tone urgent. “They can’t find us like this.”

Rey wondered why for a moment, until she realized that if they were found by the First Order, and he was seen escaping with her, no lie would be big enough to cover who had hurt Supreme Leader Snoke.

“Don’t worry,” she said quickly. “In a minute I’ll signal for the Falcon to pick us up. The First Order won’t get to us first.”

He looked at her as though she had gone insane, his entire torso swelling in rage as he tried to simultaneously calm himself, but he wasn’t very good at calmth.

“Why would you think I’d want the Falcon to pick us up?” he demanded to know, his voice in mild panic. “Did you hear anything I said aboard the Supremacy? About letting the past die? About ruling the Galaxy? I can’t just fly away in that piece of junk and leave Hux in charge!”

They were both frowning at the other’s stubbornness, both angry with the other’s vision, and both frustrated by the tiny box they found themselves in. They were too close to one another, and they both desperately tried to shift away from the other, but without success. In fact, it felt like they only shifted closer to each other.

“But my vision came true!” she protested. “You turned! You will stand by me!”

“No, you will stand by me!” he argued, looking into her eyes with a pleading gaze. “You can join the First Order, Rey! We don’t need more Starkillers or Dreadnoughts, but we need a firm hand and good leadership in order to bring equality to this universe! You can’t choose the Rebellion just as you can’t rule over chaos! Terrorism will make the road to peace harder! You must understand this!”

Rey didn’t know what to respond.

She was trying to understand him, she truly was, but it was hard to imagine herself as a force for good, working alongside the First Order.

Taking her hand from his chest, she slowly reached out to him, saying softly: “We both thought we saw our future when we touched, but what we saw doesn’t seem to have been the same. Either we were both mistaken, or the Force wasn’t done with what it wanted to show us!” She sounded hopeful now. “Maybe we just need… a better perspective!”

He calmed at those words, and offered her a nod as he moved his own hand to his mouth and bit the tip of his glove so he could take it off. With his bare hand exposed to her, the aggravation and frustration of just moments before seemed to disappear, and all he felt was an eagerness at the thought of touching her fingertips again, and as he saw how she had a brave little smile on her face, he couldn’t even stop himself from returning it.

Despite their arguments and different opinions, they weren’t truly enemies, not really. Not anymore.

Hopefully the Force could show them the way.

As their fingertips touched, they both held their breaths, but the visions they had longed to see did not appear. In fact, they saw nothing – just each other, awkwardly crammed together in a very small space, and their hopeful gazes grew more serious as they realized they weren’t connecting to the Force like they had before.

“Do you think we need to meditate?” Rey whispered, as though speaking louder would upset the Force, and he smiled for a brief second.

“I don’t think meditation is the key…” he said slowly. “We’ve made these connections between ourselves in our loneliest moments these past days. Maybe we’re just not lonely enough right now for the Force to bind us.”

As they were still touching, Rey looked at their fingertips, slowly moving her fingers between his, the palms of their hands pressed together now, even closer than they were. As they held hands, there were a million thoughts going through their minds, but the moment they looked at each other, those thoughts seemed to disappear again, and all they felt was this warm affection for one another. For a split second, nothing else in this universe mattered.

She knew he was right. They weren’t feeling so alone in this moment, and as she moved closer to him, she realized he was pulling her closer to him as well, inviting her to rest comfortably in his arms, and he rested the top of his head on hers while they hugged. It was a strange sensation, one that they wanted to give into for much longer than this, but they knew they had no time for this, and each second they indulged was a second too many.

“I’ll signal Chewbacca to pick us up,” she said as she turned on the signal, and he didn’t protest.

“But once you’re picked up, I go back,” he said. “I can’t go with you.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I wish you could.”

“You’ll always be welcome by my side,” he told her. “If not today, then maybe tomorrow.”

As they hugged, they noticed the Millennium Falcon drop out of light speed and pick up their escape pod before it shot away again, and as they opened the hatch and crawled out, Rey first and then Ben, she apologetically pulled his lightsaber from underneath her belt and offered it to him.

He took it, though his eyes lingered on the broken lightsaber of Skywalker that she now had.

“It broke,” she said as she took both pieces in her hand, not sure what to do with it.

For a moment, he bent down a bit as he looked at it, noticing that the crystal was split in half.

“You can still make a lightsaber with those two parts. Actually, two lightsabers. But they won’t be stable. They’ll be like mine.”

As he looked up at her, he carefully offered: “I can show you how to make it – teach you how to do it. I’ve done it once before.”

She was confused by his offer, and said: “I thought you wanted this lightsaber, and now you’re helping me fix it?”

He shrugged. “It once belonged to me. But that was back when it was stable. Now that it’s broken, it doesn’t really hold more value than this one.” He tucked his lightsaber behind his own belt when suddenly the door opened and Chewbacca walked in, carrying his crossbow while he glared at Kylo.

“Ben’s not staying,” Rey said, blushing. “We must drop him off again.”

Chewbacca roared in protest, mentioning what a hassle it had been to travel to those shipwrecks in the first place, and how they were needed with the Resistance.

“You’re right, we should hurry,” Rey agreed. “I’ll make it a quick goodbye!”

She had hardly said that or Chewbacca turned around and left again, not looking at Kylo, who had only glared at Chewbacca the entire time, the ache in his side worse with the Wookie in the room.

“I just want you to know…” Rey said slowly. “I’m not giving up on you. You know that.”

His gaze was surprisingly gentle as he nodded. “And I’m still offering a place by my side, you know that too. I’ll try to make things right, but I still think it would be easier with you by my side.”

As they looked at each other, there was hope in their eyes, and when the door opened, they were distracted as Chewbacca suddenly walked in-between them, to the pod, dropping off half a dozen Porgs, roaring that they were a problem for the First Order now.

Both Ben and Rey were confused as Chewbacca left again, then looked at the escape pod and the Porgs that seemed rather disoriented while they walked around the box.

Ben raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I can declare myself Supreme Leader of the First Order when I’m covered in feathers and bird shit.”

Rey chuckled as she took his hand, hoping to say a sweet goodbye before Chewbacca entered again, and she was forced to let go as Chewbacca once more dropped off several Porgs in the Escape Pod.

He roared that he was returning to the wreckage in a minute, but Ben protested.

“I’m not taking your pets with me!”

As Chewbacca roared violently and lifted his crossbow, mentioning that he had no right to make demands in the ship of the father he had killed, Ben gulped.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “His death wasn’t in vain,” he added slowly. “Snoke is dead. Without Han…” He gulped heavily, and Rey could feel how strong his emotions were in that moment – not full of hate, but full of gratitude and conflict, and if there was hate, then it was hate for himself, not for Han.

“It’s alright,” Rey said quickly, taking his hand. “Get ready. We both have plenty of things to do now. I’m sure our paths will cross again soon.”

He nodded, glad she had saved him from this difficult topic, and not minding that Chewbacca was watching, he stepped closer to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Thank you,” he muttered, before he moved back into the pod, and Chewbacca headed to the cockpit again while Rey remained by his side, watching him move about without trying to crush the Porg.

“What are these things even?” he muttered, quite clearly distracted by them, turning to Rey in mild despair. “Do they need to come with me?”

“Do this, and I owe you a favor?” she suggested sheepishly, and his chuckle warmed her heart.

“I don’t suppose you’ll come back with me then?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Not yet, Ben. You know this.”

“I do,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll be patient.”

As he lay down, he moved his hand to close the hatch, but Rey stopped him just in time by taking his hand in hers and leaning over the pod to kiss him on the lips.

It was a quick kiss – not particularly passionate or romantic – but it conveyed every bit of gratitude and affection she felt for him – and as she let go of his hand and stepped back, she smiled, noticing how he was smiling too.

“May the Force be with you,” she said.

“With both of us,” he replied, still a little baffled from what she had just done, his gaze incredulous, and he closed the pod again.

As he winked at her behind the glass, she chuckled, also because some of the Porg were climbing over him, trying to get a good view of the window, and as she lifted her hand to wave, she felt how they dropped out of lightspeed and he was dropped among the wreckage again.

The Falcon sped away rather quickly after that, and she soon lost sight of him, but she couldn’t stop her smile just yet.

She had no answers, only more questions than before, but if she listened to her heart, then she knew that things were right. The Force was at peace, too, and they were heading in the right direction.

They’d figure this thing out, whatever it was. One day at a time. And her vision of standing by his side would not remain just that. It would become true one day. She just had to hold faith, and the Force would do the rest.

The End

[solia-dreams]

White Noise, part 2

I accidentally slipped and wrote another Kylo X Rey fic today to complement yesterday’s (find it here: http://six-impossiblethings.tumblr.com/post/168995463107/white-noise)

---

He shouldn’t have touched her hand.

Months passed and he tried not to think of her, not as he took his place as the new Supreme Leader in Snoke’s guilt-ridden absence, not as he found himself quietly locked in political power struggles behind the scenes of his once loud and audacious First Order, rebuilding it from the ground up after the miserable defeat he’d led them into, not as he learned to govern a whole military and political movement he’d never anticipated the reality of. He tried not to think of her as General Hux made snide remarks across the audience chamber about his failures, with her, with Skywalker, with Crait, and he tried not to think of her as his personal guard was appointed and donned their red Praetorian costumes for the first time, each of them unaware that he’d personally killed most of their predecessors. With her.

“We’re with you, Supreme Leader,” the chief said, and they took up sentinel positions outside his bedchamber.

When he kept busy, which wasn’t hard, he succeeded in forgetting her. She would be in hiding, recovering along with her precious, shattered Rebellion, just as he and the First Order were. The ceasefire was unspoken, shaky, necessary, neither side strong enough yet to lash out at the other, no matter how badly they might like to be able to make the first move, and the galaxy they’d fought over waited breathlessly on the sidelines, content to largely govern themselves until one finally rose from the ashes to defeat the other or otherwise win the allegiance of the known systems.

When he ran out of productive distractions, that was when he felt it – their connection, forged by Snoke but unexpectedly unbroken by his master’s death, even when all other hints of his dark sorcery dissolved. He couldn’t explain it but neither was there anybody to ask. Unlike the first apparitions, he no longer saw her in full or held conversations with her, locked together in a muffled mind palace that blocked out his other senses. Locked with her in endless white noise. He was actively avoiding thinking of her now, and distinctly felt she was doing the same, far away somewhere, and he didn’t expect her to stumble into his mind again now that Snoke wasn’t pushing matters. Instead, it was hints, allusions, a suggestion he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, directly deal with. It was the vaguest scent caught on the air when he zoned out of his Generals’ dull reports about the reconstruction of the fleet – gone as soon as he inhaled deeper for it, startled back to attention. It was a glance between rows of unmasked officers during a training demonstration. It was another’s audible breathing, in time with his, softer, when he was alone with his thoughts, though nobody else could be seen or found. It was a spark of blue off his lightsaber as he threw himself into relentless training with his new guards, a glimmer of an outstretched hand in the corner of a holo-update, the flash of rough, pale fabric around a corner up ahead in a long sleek hallway. It was a pull when he slouched unseen in his undeserved throne between audiences, a disconcerting whisper against the silence of ruling a galaxy alone.

It was temptation. Snoke’s teachings had warned him of this: the light side of the Force, tugging on his soul, baiting him with what it knew he couldn’t resist.

Worst was when he slept. When he dreamed and had little control of where his mind strayed. And stray it did. Confused, conflicted feelings of anger, hatred, jealousy, craving, awe, hurt and curious captivation swirled unchecked inside him, taking unsettling shapes in his subconscious, playing out imaginary scenarios that varied in impropriety and stupidity, ensuring he woke most nights breathless and furious with himself.

In his dreams, his memories and desires and fears coalesced murkily. He found himself in battle with her over and over, in the throne room, in the snow, in the interrogation room where he’d first shown her his face. Sometimes he won. He wanted to kill Rey from Jakku for what she meant to the Rebellion, to all the people he’d loved, to him. In those dreams he played out his desire to hurt her, to throw his untempered jealousy on her like a weight, to see those hazel eyes shine with terror like they did in the forest as he overwhelmed her and brought her to a knee, or right to the ground on her back, and put his saber through her chest. Always through the heart, unless he broke her by smashing her through a tree or a wall or column. Her hair was always pulled back from her face and he never took her head; though he bore down with all his might on the face that plagued him, he could never repay her in kind for marking him in the forest after he’d killed his father. He came down on her with his searing red blade over and over, and he called her nothing over and over, and he pierced her heart over and over, and she screamed and cried and pleaded and apologised and crumpled and tears spilled from those eyes he could not forget until the sparkle went out in them, over and over again, but it was not enough to assuage the hatred he felt for her. There was no satisfaction to be gained in defeating her.

Other times, he lost. These dreams left him just as hollow and disappointed. He fought with all he had but in these dreams, it was not enough, and she took him down. She was untouchable, unreachable, far from the nobody he’d accused her of being, and she was so much more than he, pure in the Force and quick and lithe and better. Her moves were graceful, guided by the will of the Force, her reactions intuitive, moving before he could think, always out of the swing of his weapon. She found him lacking at every turn, as his father had, as his mother had, as his uncle had, as his master had, and that only made him more desperate, more determined to impress her, but she shamed him with her saintly perfection. She wounded him, she exhausted him, she chastened him. Sometimes he believed in the dreams that she was toying with him, but he knew it wasn’t in her nature and it was his own insecurities whispering in his ear; mostly, she was efficient in her execution. He was not worth her time. Every time, her eyes were cool and sharp, her mind made up, as she sidestepped a move he’d carelessly telegraphed and stabbed her lightsaber through him. She went for the heart, too. She didn’t care about him, not in these dreams, and he woke from them upset and unsettled, convinced even more deeply of his own inadequacy.

Then there were the dreams that were more memory than fancy, where something inside him snapped and he suddenly resolved to do what he’d never thought he’d be strong enough to do, where he raised his lightsaber to her terrified face but turned the wrist of his other hand, disguising his true intentions so he could destroy the Supreme Leader whose voice had poisoned his mind since his earliest memory. Where her wide bright eyes met his unwaveringly as she pushed herself to her feet before him, the same eyes that had looked earnestly into his just minutes earlier in the elevator as she insisted he could turn to the light and “I’ll help you”, where she nodded in frightened determination – where he had known that she really meant what she said, that she believed in his strength and power, that she admired him and trusted him. In the dreams where he battled the Praetorian guards with Rey, he was on fire, magnificent, powerful, worthy of his lineage and more than the sum of his failures. He was somebody with her.

He woke from these dreams unsure, even more unsure than he did from the fantasy ones, because the reality had the potential to be much more alarming. He had struggled with the Force for so long, having felt it in his blood all his life but falling from one extreme to the other, and on that day he’d just let go – let it all in, light, dark, all of it, and let it guide him to use it. And it had guided him into an alliance with the most dangerous person he knew, the scavenger rebel who knew nothing of her own appeal and power, which should have made him wary if he were any less arrogant, but instead it had felt right, and worse: it had felt like Not Alone.

It was short-lived, the warmth of Not Alone. Inevitably the final guard wrestled him into a dangerous headlock and she threw him the lightsaber that should always have been his, and it struck true as willed by the Force that ran through him like water, that ran through her like water, and he stood to see the truth of what he’d done to Snoke and the opportunity left open for them, the will of the vision shown to him when he touched her hand, and he extended his hand for her in turn, but she shut down and clung to the past and all its mistakes, and she disappointed him.

The dreams were invariably violent, but not always in the form of a battle. There were dreams of chasing her, either on foot or in his customised TIE fighter, in which he swelled with fury the longer it took to find her. She ducked and dodged and he could hear her heartbeat thudding like a tiny creature of prey, and when he caught her and dragged her out by her hair or crippled her ship – his father’s damn ship – she twisted and cried and kicked and kept trying to limp away, until she realised she couldn’t, then became unreasonable, unbending to him even in her downfall. She appealed to him. When he screamed at her she just took it, refused to scream back, refused to accept him or his words for fact. He pushed her, threw her, crushed her, threatened her, but she only ever fought him and told him he was wrong.

“Why did you hate your father?”

Her voice made him feel small, weak with the realisation that she was pure and dainty and kind and sweet and he was a bully, for that was what it was to derive a sense of supremacy from making someone else feel less than what they were, and a beast, for that was what it was to kill a father who loved you, who you loved. Her voice, her words, loaded with pain he’d inflicted – he hated her for the shame she filled him with, and hated the power she had to make him feel that way. At the same time, ashamedly, her voice left him longing, childishly eager to hear it again, for her to bestow her words upon him like he was worth the breath. When she sneered her words of raw anger, straight out of her wounded soul unfiltered, unchecked, they were just for him, directed at him alone, like he was all that existed. Listening to her yell and cry and argue could have sustained him in this way perfectly well, but then he’d learned what it was to listen to her talk… just talk. Which she’d done, softly, honestly, openly, in her funny accent, wrapped in a towel to dry off after an accidental dip in the sea some million million lightyears away on Luke Skywalker’s hidden island home, unforgettable eyes glinting with a fire he couldn’t see through their Force bond. She had no one else, no one else like her, so she’d simply let him listen while she sorted through her confusing experiences out loud, omitting nothing, divulging everything like she had nothing to hide. Letting him in. Innocently trusting him with her hurts. Speaking the truth because it’s all she knew, un-self-consciously uttering facts that he’d never truly realised before – that he wasn’t alone, even when he might have thought he was.

Things no one else had ever bothered to realise, not even himself, but which had always been true. Snoke’s voice had been in his thoughts since childhood, maybe earlier. His choices had not been entirely his own. His path had been tampered with. His life had been derailed without his knowledge, without his parents’ knowledge, without his uncle’s. How had she known?

Indulging in reflections of what she’d truly meant with her words led him into spirals of uncertainty, for what kind of Dark Knight cares what trickery or dishonest means brought him to his righteous path of the dark side, so long as he arrived? What Supreme Leader needs a scavenger girl to point out glaringly obvious truths about himself that he can’t find on his own?

“I’ll help you…”

Rey meant every word she said, he knew, and in her own way, she did want to help, but she was a child by comparison to him, in almost every way. She knew so little, about the Force, about love and hate, about the galaxy, about the way of things, about him. Basically everyone else in his life knew more about most things that she did. Yet she’d offered her hand, unbidden, across their Force bond, barely days after trying to shoot him with a blaster in the same manner, proving that while she might never accept him as he was, might always insist on trying to change him, she understood him. She saw him.

And she didn’t turn away.

And he shouldn’t have been so naïve as to believe the silly hopes of what remained of his innocent heart, but he desired that too completely, and in his unguarded moments, waking and dreaming, he was haunted by her eyes, seeing him, understanding what he was, wanting him on her side.

Their fingertips touching impossibly through space and time.

The shock of electricity shared between them. The Force, untempered, wild and eerie.

The intensity of her vulnerable gaze. Not nobody. Rey. Or were they one and the same, indistinguishable? Which one was it in the dreams where her eyes smouldered a singed hole through his skin into his soul and made his breaths sharper, quicker? Who did he imagine would scrape her nails across his chest and moan his name into his mouth?

Her hands wound in his hair…

Her teeth on his shoulder…

Her distinctive voice in his ear, ever earnest.

Tonight, it was one of these dreams.

“I know everything I need to know about you,” she murmured, hands sliding up the arms that braced him over her up to his shoulders. Eyes sparkling, dangerously tempting in the beautiful, symmetrical face he’d been unable to scar. Her voice sent a quiver of longing through him, and he bent his head to reach her, but she never made anything easy for him. She tightened her fingers on his collarbone and locked her elbows, keeping him away. “Ben…”

That little smile he’d more imagined than witnessed.

He exhaled. “Please.”

And she gave in to him.

Kylo Ren gasped awake and pushed himself up off his mattress, which just a moment ago had been her smooth body laid out beneath him, and his pillow, which a moment ago had been her shapely mouth, every bit as deliciously soft and responsive as he’d wondered when he’d looked down upon her. He kicked his blankets away and rolled himself into an upright position, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, flicking his forefingers carelessly as he drew his hand away. Dormant torches along the walls burst alight with fresh flames as his suggestion, settling quickly into a quiet burn that illuminated the space without overly brightening it. This huge room he now called his bedchamber had been built for Snoke, he knew, but the Supreme Leader had not lived to see it before the First Order had been forced to flee here to this incomplete flagship. He looked around it now, from the oversized bed (thankfully not containing anyone else despite the inclination of the dream, though he could comfortably fit quite a few playmates in here with him if he chose) to the cabinet of priceless treasures and arts gathered or stolen from across the galaxy, to the table at his bedside where his lightsaber and mask lay at arm’s reach, and between it all, the huge matted space that was his personal training area. He could see nothing out of place, no sign of disturbance, no indication of another presence.

He was alert now, so there would be no flicker of pale at the edge of his vision, no murmur, no soft hint of her scent. But he still gathered his knees against his chest and breathed deep and slow until he had himself under control, and listened, and looked, and waited, just in case.

He was pathetic.

He lowered his face into his knees with a groan, feeling sick. Who was he? Thousands of men and women and non-specifics looked to him as their Supreme Leader, Force-wielder, defeater of Jedi and the Republic, but the Kylo Ren of his dreams was variably a vicious murderer, a failure, a tyrant and a traitor. He ran his hands backwards through his overgrown hair and scrunched them into fists, grounding himself in the discomfort and pain of the pull. This had to stop. She was nothing. He was the Supreme Leader. The people she’d become something to in his place were dying off quickly enough. These psychotic dreams of slaughtering, fucking, losing to, torturing, wanting his greatest enemy, Luke’s perfect apprentice, Han’s perfect daughter, Leia’s perfect freedom fighter, they weren’t becoming of a man claiming a galaxy for his own.

As much as he hated her, he would hate more to admit that he wished he was her and ached for her admiration and respect. He wanted to kill her as much as he wanted her to trust him and follow him and give more of her perfect, pure self to him, selfish and greedy and fascinated as he was. He wanted to rip her perfect purity right out of her and pull her down to his level where he could sneer at her and say see, you’re nothing, no better than me, but at the same time, he wanted her to fight that bit harder and overcome him and prove him wrong, because what would he have left to strive after if she were not out there in the galaxy? As much as he wanted to crush life out of her, he wanted to feel life with her, as he had when they fought together, the Force binding them as a single, beautiful thing, completely in tune with one another’s movements, an ethereal tension akin to magnetism working them like crafted dolls on the same string to bring about the Force’s will. He’d been one with her, connected, known, seen, understood. Whole.

He had never been whole before.

So it had cut all the deeper when she’d refused him.

She was his equal, Snoke had said. Yet while he was a prince, a leader, privileged and praised, she was a scavenger, nobody, downtrodden and oppressed. And he still wanted her. The idea of possessing her, either by destroying her or capturing her or turning her, was not an alien one to him, but these dreams of intimacy with her? He cringed. Metaphors, he told himself, allusions to the dangerous game of power playing out between them. Jealousy. Anger. Inadequacy. Frustration. Pain. Hurt. Lust. Competition.

He wasn’t worthy of Snoke’s tutelage. He saw that now. Whether the hand of the Force trying to tempt him back to the light or of Rey herself, he still made the same mistakes night after night.

So it surprised him that his former master never returned to him, either from behind a shadow to reveal he was never defeated or from beyond the horizon of death, to taunt him, to berate him for his betrayal, to punish him. Many great masters of the Force had avoided death or, worse, found their way back to the world of the living to commune with those with whom they had unfinished business, and Snoke had plenty with his traitorous, unstable apprentice, but he never came to see it out. No more screams about his consistent failings. No electric shocks. No unexpected shoves from great heights.

The Supreme Leader Snoke had toyed with Ben Solo’s heart and mind since infancy from across a galaxy of stars and systems. He had turned the boy who would have been the Jedi prince of the known worlds into Kylo Ren, mighty descendant of Darth Vader. He had raised the First Order from the ashes of the Empire.

And he was dead.

He had killed his master, completing the final ritual of the darkness.

Snoke’s absence didn’t make him feel understood or connected or known or seen – rather, it added to the swell of absence he already felt in his life, especially after his soul-wrenching act against his father – but it did make him feel in control, powerful, dangerous.  

Like a Sith.

He lowered his feet from the bed and stood, reaching for his lightsaber. Loyally, it flew to his open hand as he walked to the middle of his flame-lit training area. A vague wave of his fingers and holographic soldiers appeared, waiting to be slaughtered, though they always put up a good fight.

“Long live the Supreme Leader,” he muttered firmly, igniting the saber.

---

You can find me on FF and AO3 as Solia, or Instagram as Six.Impossible.Things :)

[thenerdparty]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Review by Matthew Rushing

Two years ago Star Wars roared back into the collective consciousness of the world as The Force Awakens dawned a new era for the saga. The installment left many viewers speechless and eagerly anticipating this return to a galaxy far, far away. Luckily in this era of Disney’s rule, the wait was only 2 years (with a nice side of Rogue One in the middle) for Rian Johnson’s addition, The Last Jedi.

Context

First, let’s start historically. It is clear that the original “Rebel” generation was unsuccessful in passing on it’s values to the next, as the galaxy has quickly descended back into the universe of pre-prequel. A government that became ineffectual, split into populists and centrists, all the while allowing the First Order to rise, unchallenged because, they’re not really a threat. “Relax, the First Order is the JV squad”. The greed and corruption in the galaxy has returned to what we saw in the prequels, as people line their pockets with ill gotten gain, selling weapons to the highest bidder, on any side. It all boils down to this one truth not being clearly passed on, “freedom isn’t free”, and sadly there are too few in the galaxy who seem to understand that.

Where are you getting all of this, you might ask? Well, not from the movies. All of this has been cobbled together from the ancillary materials that have come out surrounding this new sequel trilogy and that’s only, vaguely been hinted at in the films themselves. The main issue here is that The Force Awakens did very little to set up the context of the galaxy and now The Last Jedi suffers even worse because of it.

Think back to the Original Trilogy, as you watch those movies, you have an instinctive understanding of who all the characters are as well as the overall context of the movies because Lucas based them on archetypes that we know. The heroes’ journey, an evil empire and a a small group of freedom fighters looking to rescue the galaxy. In the Prequels, it’s the fall of a Republic and the story of a man that cannot let go and will do anything to hold on to what he “loves”. Each of these previous trilogies gave us the context we needed to know about the universe as a whole and the characters so that we could understand the journey we were on.

And here’s where this all comes into play, not just with the world building but with the characters. Not only do we not truly understand the state of the galaxy, but we also don’t know the history of these characters and it’s clear the writers of the film don’t either. Say what you will about Lucas, he always knew the history and the future of his creation. Some details may change along the way, but the journey ended up much the same. The same can be said for Rowling with Harry Potter , she knew the end from the beginning, so she understood what each character needed to go through to get them to that end.

It’s been clear from The Force Awakens and now through to The Last Jedi that there is no knowledge of what the end game is for their characters. Writing 101, if you don’t know their past and future, you don’t know how to write their “present”. You can see this in the all of the characters. Take Snoke. We have absolutely no idea who or what he is. We don’t know how he came to power or seduced Ben Solo, he’s a vague phantom menace so that when he goes out like a punk in this movie… well lets just say fans may be arguing whose death was better, Snoke or Boba Fett. Oh and remember Phasma? Well don’t worry, you don’t really need to, turns out she wasn’t all that important any way.

Ben suffers from this same problem we saw with Snoke, he’s completely ill defined and so is his “fall”. As with The Force Awakens, there is still no context to his story other than him having darkness in himself and somehow, Snoke temps him to the dark side. It’s all so nebulous that when he turns on Snoke, I don’t know what to make of it. There is no weight to his decision because I don’t know enough of the history of the character to actually care.

As bad as this issue is for Ben, my first impression was it was worse for Rey. The ultimate mystery box seemed to still be very much an enigma. The answer we get about her family was vague and unconvincing, I still don’t believe she’s a nobody and while I am frustrated that they skirted the issue of her family, I can see why they sidestepped that to make the focus, who she chooses to be. Her struggle for identity is fascinating. The questions of who we are, is it a product of bloodline, upbringing or are we a sum of our choices and experiences is brilliant. I think the movie comes down on the side of choices and experiences and the idea that personal responsibility is the answer is outstanding. Rey shows us that even though we are personally responsible for ourselves, we are also responsible for those around us, to look after one another, teach each other, guide one another, pass on hope to one another and the chance of redemption.

The most damaged in all of this is Luke Skywalker. We know Luke’s past, how he saved his father, who’d effectively become space Hitler, because he believed there was still good in him. By the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke is the culmination of the collected wisdom of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda but greater because he avoids the mistakes of the past and forges a true, new path for the Jedi. But then, we get nothing. Oh we know Luke started a new Jedi Order and thought he could help Ben, only to be scared by his raw power and darkness. Wait, really? This is the same guy who redeemed Vader but can’t find a way to help Ben? Luke was right, “This is not going to go the way you think.” It’s as if the history of Luke has been forgotten. Now, I get the idea that Luke, like Obi-Wan, feels the pain of taking too much on, but at least Obi-Wan didn’t try to murder his student in his sleep and gave him a chance to change before delivering the “killing” blow.

Now, all that said, the lesson Luke learns about failure being part of life and how to deal with it, is actually a timely one. In life, failure is the best teacher. Yet, again, Luke’s past should have prepared him for this, his knowledge about Anakin and the help of force ghosts like Yoda, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, should have been able to help shepherd him through this ordeal, instead of running away to an island to die, screaming, “get off my lawn” to anyone who comes calling.

It is interesting that Kylo and Luke are actual after the same thing, Kylo wants to burn it all down and so does Luke, but for different reasons. Kylo because of his anger at everyone and everything and Luke because of his own hubris. He sees the Jedi as a failure, as well as himself, yet he’s blaming the wrong thing. In the end, it’s people and their choices that lead them to the dark or to the light, not the teachings of the Jedi. The Jedi texts and code are only a guide, that applied properly, promote peace, prosperity and hope in the galaxy. Over a thousand generations is not a bad run. Even though Luke gives Rey a lesson in humility in relation to the Force, it seems much to learn, he still has.

All of the issues I do have, stem from there being no direction for this trilogy. With no clear plan or endgame, this is what is left, each installment trying to make sense of the last, leading to it not always having fullest depth or payoff. This is post modern story telling at it’s worst, characters and plot without history and context that could have been more cohesive with planning.

Pass on What You Have Learned

Just as the galaxy and the characters in the movie lack context, the original characters fail to pass on their wisdom to the next generation and Luke is the biggest offender here. He seem incapable of passing on what he has learned as Yoda told him to. He’s driven by fear to almost kill Ben, and then the same fear leads him to reject training Rey for most of the movie. When he finally does train her, there is no depth or true substance to what he offers. You’d think someone with access to the original Jedi texts and a few good force ghosts would be able to provide more guidance than what we see.

Just because one has talent at something, does not mean they don’t have to practice, be taught and hone their skills. Rey is never given any of this, in the end, she’s forced to intuit who she should be for herself and from who Luke was, in the Original Trilogy. This may fit into the post modern world of “make your own way and your own truth”, but it’s not Star Wars. Lucas himself said,

“Star Wars has always struck a cord with people. There are issues of loyalty, of friendship, of good and evil…I mean, there’s a reason this film is so popular. It’s not that I’m giving out propaganda nobody wants to hear…Knowing that the film was made for a younger audience, I was trying to say, in a simple way, that there is a God and that there is both a good and bad side. You have a choice between them, but the world works much better if you’re on the good side.”

Lucas is clear, wisdom is meant to be passed on, the wisdom of failures and of triumphs.  It’s what both Obi-Wan and Yoda both do for Luke. Yes, they were wrong about Anakin, but that does not mean they didn’t have wisdom to share. Proverbs reminds us, “Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.” And the place to find wisdom is through, as Job reminds us, “Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” Lucas was once asked how he felt about the human condition and he said,

“I am very cynical, as a result, I think the defense I have against it is to be optimistic and to think people are basically good, although I know in my heart they’re not.”

It is clear that he understands that wisdom and goodness must be passed on and taught because they are not something we are born with’. Sadly Rey is left to find her own path, alone. Hopefully the books she saved from the force temple will give her some guidance, now that she is the last Jedi.

Luckily Rey seems to instinctively understand what Luke did at the end of Return of the Jedi, the Jedi are the embodiment of hope and light in the galaxy. Rey allows people to be defined by their choices, not their bloodline or possible history. She does not lose hope in that person’s chance at redemption until they make the choice to turn away from it completely. At that point, she stands on the side of the light, in it’s defense and in the defense of others. I think this is what is frustrating, is that I still feel like Luke should have been the one to show her this and he does, it’s just the Luke from the past not the present.

The only one in the movie doing any actual mentoring is Leia. Her relationship with Poe is a good example of passing on what you have learned. She gives Poe responsibility and then takes the time to discipline him, instruct him and trust him all over again when needed. Sadly the story is muddled with the interjection of Admiral Holdo, but it’s still the best example of someone passing on what they have learned to the next generation and it actually changing the character being taught.

The Movie

The plot of the movie is all over the place. The most glaring issue is with the Resistance story line. They don’t seem to know what to do with them, in the least and it leads to the worst “chase” scenes since Speed 2. There is no logic to what is happening. In space, there is no weight, so it’s all about thrust. If the First Order ships can create enough thrust, they could catch up to the Resistance ships. Another possibility is having a ship jump into the system, in “front” of the Resistance (it’s three dimensional space so there really is no “front”) and take them out. Now here is where context comes in again. Because we have no idea how big the First Order is, are we to assume that all the ships chasing the Resistance are it? And even if they are, could they just not jump “ahead” of the Resistance fleet and be done with it?

Another massive plot issue is why Admiral Holdo refuses to tell Poe and the rest of the Resistance her plan. Does she suspect a saboteur or a spy and that’s why? Well, we’ll never know, because the movie gives us no indication what she is thinking. It just creates a bad plot reason for Poe, Finn and Rose to come up with their alternative plan, to give Finn something to do.

As mentioned above, in the previous section, context creates a maelstrom of issues revolving around the plot points between Luke, Snoke, Rey and Ben. This leaves us with not always feeling the fullest weight behind who they are, the choices they make and who they become as the movie ends.

I enjoy the music, the effects are wonderful except that Yoda puppet, not too keen on his look. The design work is not bad here. Canto Bight is cool, but why is it in the movie and why is that not the story for the Resistance? Going to Canto Bight to try and rustle up support for the cause seems like a much more intriguing idea than the universe’s slowest chase. And would it kill the sequel trilogy to have some aliens we know from the rest of the series? What’s it going to take to get a freaking twi’lek in this series?

Another point of contention in the movie is the humor. Lucasfilm seems to be taking a page from the Marvel playbook and has inserted humor everywhere. Humor in itself is not a bad thing and the Star Wars saga is replete with funny moments, but The Last Jedi pushes it too far. So much of the humor that works in Star Wars is the dry, sarcastic kind that is exemplified in The Empire Strikes Back. Here, it feels forced in many places such as the constant porg jokes, Poe’s ribbing of Hux or Finn waking up in a clear suit and leaking fluids everywhere as he walks down the hall. It just does not feel as organic as it needs to, to truly work. The Star Wars franchise has it’s own rules on how things work in it and as Gareth Edwards said, 

“There’s such a fine line in Star Wars, if you go just slightly to the left it’s not Star Wars, it’s another sci-fi movie that doesn’t feel right. And if you go slightly to the right, you’re just copying what George did. So trying to navigate this thing where it’s new but feels fresh was like the dance that was the process of making the film.”

Conclusion

The Last Jedi suffers under the burden left to it by The Force Awakens. With no clear trajectory or plan for this trilogy, Johnson works to forge his own path but it’s one fraught with plot holes and many times, muddied character motivations. The universe, as it stands, lacks cohesion, history or context and it’s hurting the story. I love that Johnson tired to be different and some of it really works now that I have seen it a second time, while other parts still fall very flat. I love some of the moments in the movie, especially Luke’s noble end and the strong work done with the Rey/Ben/Luke story but Abrams has his work cut out for him with Episode IX. I never thought I’d say this, but J.J. Abrams, you’re our only hope. The Last Jedi is rated 2.75 out of 5 stars.

Don’t miss Matt on Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast and Owl Post: A Harry Potter Podcast!