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Yet more TRoS reactions now I’ve had a bit of time to think about it. Obviously very spoilerific
Things I didn’t like about TRoS in no kind of order
the massive sideways jerk of the story. If the trilogy had been written as a coherent story there would have been foreshadowing of both Palpatine’s return and the importance of General Pryde from TFA onward. In a well written story you do not suddenly drop everything to tell an entirely different story with entirely different villains two thirds of the way through.
Why is everyone so damn disrespectful to C-3PO? The guy’s a veteran of more wars than they’ve had hot dinners. Why are our heroes - who are supposed to be the nice ones who behave well to droids - pressuring Threepio to be mind-wiped and then acting like it’s no big deal? Shame on them all.
The sidelining of Rose. What was the point of introducing her character if she was just going to be left behind and even (possibly) superceded as a romantic interest for Finn? I mean, okay it’s very like life for some people to be very important for a while to you, and then be less important as you drift apart. But Star Wars is not like life.
Making Poe an ex-Spice runner. Again, okay, I think what they were trying to do was to make him the Han Solo of the new trio, with a girl in every port and a shady smuggling background, but frankly making your Latino hero an ex-drug smuggler doesn’t play well to me for obvious reasons.
The fact that the Force using characters were so enormously powerful that they had to be isolated in their own story because they could no longer interact with normal humans in any kind of equal way. Possibly SW has always been like this and I’ve only just noticed, but it did make me very sympathetic toward Order 66, which is not an ideal outcome.
I’m really not convinced by the Rey/Ben romance, but tbh I also thought that the Anidala romance was creepy and unbelievable. So creepy and offputting het romance is a time honoured feature of Star Wars, and this one was no worse than the last. At least this time Rey continued to say no to Kylo until he proved that he had changed for the better - which is an improvement on Anidala.
Introducing Zori entirely so audiences are no longer allowed to see Poe’s sexuality as whatever they want.
The problem of fighting a bunch of brainwashed child soldiers was retconned by making it apparently so easy for Stormtroopers to desert that the FO could lose whole squadrons of them without taking action. (Thus proving that the ones who stayed did so because they wanted to, but destroying the whole “conditioned from birth” thing that had been such a big part of the first two movies.)
More things I liked about TRoS in no kind of order
Finn has really matured into a take-charge hero without losing the kindness and empathy that characterized him from the start. Finn’s arc has been the only hero arc in the new trilogy that I really liked, and now that it’s been strongly hinted that he’s force sensitive too, I would love to see him in a new series being the next Jedi.
Creepy Palpatine hanging from a spike. Good for him. Nobody does balls to the wall evil for the sake of it like good old Palpy
The Dark side is a pathway to many abilities some would call unnatural. Ha! An actual tie in to an earlier episode used in a way that makes sense of what’s going on in this one. Excellent!
Jannah. Despite my reservations about how easy it is for stormtroopers to leave the FO, I did like her very much, and I loved that little bit where Lando suggested she find her parents now. Maybe there are now many escaped FO personnel who can come out of hiding and find new homes? For me it’s the main hopeful thought of the movie.
The subtle way in which the entire FO had changed, which helps make sense of why Hux would think it was no longer worth fighting for. (That and the fact that a massive Imperial fleet makes the FO redundant. Hux’s vision of the galaxy is not going to happen regardless, so why not go down while fucking up Kylo’s?) Armitage Hux saves the effing galaxy, people! I’m so happy :)
Kylo’s redemption. I’m not honestly very fond of Kylo, but it would be very unfair of me to want redemption for one abused boy and not for the other. I’m over the moon that I got both! I’m not going to deny being very glad that there is a happy ending for Han and Leia as well as Kylo in the afterlife.
The Force ghosts of Leia and Luke welcoming Rey to shed her evil heritage and take up their name instead, because they loved her and she’d chosen them.
The D-Day finale. OMG I was genuinely moved by Poe losing hope and then the day being saved by a rag-tag collection of private ships. “It’s not a navy, it’s just people.” Perfect - I welled up, and I am doing so again thinking of it.
On balance it’s still a huge positive. Admittedly, my expectations were very low, but they are exceeded.
Yet more TRoS reactions now I’ve had a bit of time to think about it. Obviously very spoilerific
Things I didn’t like about TRoS in no kind of order
the massive sideways jerk of the story. If the trilogy had been written as a coherent story there would have been foreshadowing of both Palpatine’s return and the importance of General Pryde from TFA onward. In a well written story you do not suddenly drop everything to tell an entirely different story with entirely different villains two thirds of the way through.
Why is everyone so damn disrespectful to C-3PO? The guy’s a veteran of more wars than they’ve had hot dinners. Why are our heroes - who are supposed to be the nice ones who behave well to droids - pressuring Threepio to be mind-wiped and then acting like it’s no big deal? Shame on them all.
The sidelining of Rose. What was the point of introducing her character if she was just going to be left behind and even (possibly) superceded as a romantic interest for Finn? I mean, okay it’s very like life for some people to be very important for a while to you, and then be less important as you drift apart. But Star Wars is not like life.
Making Poe an ex-Spice runner. Again, okay, I think what they were trying to do was to make him the Han Solo of the new trio, with a girl in every port and a shady smuggling background, but frankly making your Latino hero an ex-drug smuggler doesn’t play well to me for obvious reasons.
The fact that the Force using characters were so enormously powerful that they had to be isolated in their own story because they could no longer interact with normal humans in any kind of equal way. Possibly SW has always been like this and I’ve only just noticed, but it did make me very sympathetic toward Order 66, which is not an ideal outcome.
I’m really not convinced by the Rey/Ben romance, but tbh I also thought that the Anidala romance was creepy and unbelievable. So creepy and offputting het romance is a time honoured feature of Star Wars, and this one was no worse than the last. At least this time Rey continued to say no to Kylo until he proved that he had changed for the better - which is an improvement on Anidala.
Introducing Zori entirely so audiences are no longer allowed to see Poe’s sexuality as whatever they want.
The problem of fighting a bunch of brainwashed child soldiers was retconned by making it apparently so easy for Stormtroopers to desert that the FO could lose whole squadrons of them without taking action. (Thus proving that the ones who stayed did so because they wanted to, but destroying the whole “conditioned from birth” thing that had been such a big part of the first two movies.)
More things I liked about TRoS in no kind of order
Finn has really matured into a take-charge hero without losing the kindness and empathy that characterized him from the start. Finn’s arc has been the only hero arc in the new trilogy that I really liked, and now that it’s been strongly hinted that he’s force sensitive too, I would love to see him in a new series being the next Jedi.
Creepy Palpatine hanging from a spike. Good for him. Nobody does balls to the wall evil for the sake of it like good old Palpy
The Dark side is a pathway to many abilities some would call unnatural. Ha! An actual tie in to an earlier episode used in a way that makes sense of what’s going on in this one. Excellent!
Jannah. Despite my reservations about how easy it is for stormtroopers to leave the FO, I did like her very much, and I loved that little bit where Lando suggested she find her parents now. Maybe there are now many escaped FO personnel who can come out of hiding and find new homes? For me it’s the main hopeful thought of the movie.
The subtle way in which the entire FO had changed, which helps make sense of why Hux would think it was no longer worth fighting for. (That and the fact that a massive Imperial fleet makes the FO redundant. Hux’s vision of the galaxy is not going to happen regardless, so why not go down while fucking up Kylo’s?) Armitage Hux saves the effing galaxy, people! I’m so happy :)
Kylo’s redemption. I’m not honestly very fond of Kylo, but it would be very unfair of me to want redemption for one abused boy and not for the other. I’m over the moon that I got both! I’m not going to deny being very glad that there is a happy ending for Han and Leia as well as Kylo in the afterlife.
The Force ghosts of Leia and Luke welcoming Rey to shed her evil heritage and take up their name instead, because they loved her and she’d chosen them.
The D-Day finale. OMG I was genuinely moved by Poe losing hope and then the day being saved by a rag-tag collection of private ships. “It’s not a navy, it’s just people.” Perfect - I welled up, and I am doing so again thinking of it.
On balance it’s still a huge positive. Admittedly, my expectations were very low, but they are exceeded.