Post by Felicity Banks on Dec 23, 2017 19:29:56 GMT 10
Why do trilogies even exist? First books set up the world, introduce characters, and draw in the reader. Third books end in great cataclysms (from personal problems to universe-ending disasters) with high stakes and high emotion, when the characters we care about are pushed to the limit.
But what are second books (or movies) for?
I think trilogies are in some ways an expansion on the three-act structure, in which the middle section is where we find out the REAL fight. For example, in my own book "Heart of Brass" the main character thinks her goal is to get rich and restore her family's fortune, but her goal shifts toward caring about the injustices faced by gold miners who are badly treated by corrupt British law enforcement.
Some trilogies, like the original Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix (it's five books nowadays), effectively have two stories. One is told in Book 1, and the other in Books 2-3.
I think one great way to deal with second books/movies is to focus not on what the "REAL fight" is, but who the real characters are. This can make the middle book/movie a fan favourite (eg Aragorn in the second Lord of the Rings movie changes from acting like a ranger to acting like a king).
In "The Last Jedi" the fundamental plot is: The resistance survives—just barely.
It's a good plot for a second movie—kinda obvious, since the first film in the current trilogy (The Force Awakens) is about the resistance struggling against a bigger badder enemy. Therefore, the second film takes the same basic idea (resistance struggling) and makes it more so.
Like all stories, it's the detail that makes people care, and especially the character details.
In the first film we were introduced to Rey, a lonely scavenger who is powerful in the Force; Poe Dameron, the hotshot pilot; and Finn, the storm trooper who quits being a baddie and wants to have a quiet life (but also wants to impress Rey). We also see how the original three cast members have grown (or not). General Leia is holding the resistance together (and mourning the living death of her son) without her brother or her husband's help. Han Solo is clearly unable to cope with the living death of his son and is basically an adrenalin junkie distracting himself from reality by regressing to simpler days—but he's still fundamentally good, and loves his wife and son more than his own life. Luke is in self-imposed exile, clearly blaming himself for the evolution of his nephew Kylo Ren (aka Ben Skywalker).
The three main non-human characters are still in their comedic/sidekick roles (and same again in "The Last Jedi", which is just fine by me).
In "The Last Jedi" (which refers to Luke according to the director) Rey is stubbornly and patiently haranguing Luke to be useful once more. Leia sent her, and was absolutely right to do so. Despite the fact that Luke is technically being a whiny coward/quitter, his emotional arc is compelling. Mark Hamill has been praised for giving the greatest performance of his life. Kylo Ren is the other player in that plot line, and I think it's Adam Driver's acting skills that carry the movie. His part is incredibly hard and he manages to make it work. He has to be conflicted rather than whiny, to remain sympathetic despite killing frikkin' Han Solo (and many many others), and to have intense dramatic moments based entirely on mind power.
Luke's death is lovely (and the foreshadowing of unusual Jedi powers leading up to the scene with Kylo Ren was very well done), with the sense of peace and the two suns. The slow reveal of his horrifying error in almost trying to kill Ben is potent too. I'd have done all the same things he did: consider killing my nephew, decide not to, and then place myself in exile when my nephew turned to the Dark Side.
Leia, Chewie, and Rey are the most impacted by Han's death. You get the very strong impression that Luke and Leia have lost so much—including Han, who has been physically and emotionally absent for some time—that they grieve for Han in a quiet way; adding one more enormous weight of pain to all that they already carry. But Rey's anger is fresh and simple and new. It's actually childish in its simplicity. I'm not sure how other audience members felt, but I felt that the pain of Han's death had been largely dealt with in the two years between films. Even though no time had passed for the characters, the audience is now ready to move on. It was also clearly established that killing Han Solo made Kylo more conflicted than ever, which is quite emotionally satisfying (and means that Leia didn't send Han to a pointless death).
When I walked out of "The Force Awakens" I was still shaken by Han's death. Chris (my partner) and I talked about the recurring theme of redemption in Star Wars (probably my favourite thing about it) and we both asked, "Is redemption possible from there?"
From there, maybe not. But from here (ie "The Last Jedi")... maybe.
Rey and Kylo Ren's conversations are fascinating. Both are powerful but so painfully young, and so emotionally devastated by the failure of their parents and mentors. They both desperately want to be special, the way a child is special to their parents. Even though Kylo's parents love him enough to give their lives for him (Han literally, and there is a great moment when Leia and Kylo are connected during a battle and Leia knows he is about to shoot her part of the ship but she simply waits and lets him make his own choice), the love towards him is simply not translating to security in him. As an audience member I was torn between wanting to protect Rey from Kylo, and wanting Rey to bring Kylo to the light. The moment when they stand back to back to fight after killing Snoke is one of the greatest and most satisfying moments in the movie. Then when Rey realises he isn't joining the Light but simply getting rid of his boss, the disappointment is real for the audience too. She is once again convinced that Kylo is evil and cannot be saved, but in a much more mature (yet possibly incorrect) way.
A lot of people are pleased that Kylo *wasn't* redeemed in this movie, and I am too. It would have been too easy. But I'm still desperately hoping he'll be redeemed in the third movie. It has to echo Darth Vader's redemption without feeling like plagiarism. For once thing, Kylo needs to live. Having a single selfless moment and a sacrificial death is one thing. Living as a decent human being is another.
(The more I write, the more I want to watch both "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi" again. And the third film! Arg!)
It's worth noting that Leia and Rey (and Admiral Holdo) are all fundamentally making morally and intellectually good choices while the menfolk mostly run around screwing things up. For all three, their only weakness is acting on hope (and the desire not the sacrifice their troops) rather than numerical logic... but that is also their strength. Rey is still vulnerable and looking for a parent figure (as Kylo Ren accurately points out). Leia is still vulnerable to Kylo Ren, unable to kill him even to save others. After all, she knowingly sent Han to his likely death at Kylo's hand.
(And I LOVE that the answer to, "WHO ARE REY'S PARENTS?" is "No-one: Crappy junkies who sold their kid and later died." It makes her a true everyman (woman) who needs to work at being a hero. Okay yes, she's very very good at the Force. Still.)
Luke rejoins the fight after years of despair.
Rey changes from hating Kylo to hoping for his redemption, then accepting that he used her to gain the position of Supreme Leader. She also gains much more control over her power, and a better sense of her own value.
Kylo wants to recruit Rey (which, I gotta say, is an admirable trait). When he destroys his helmet (yay; I'm so sick of helmets) it shows his immature rage but also shows that he's coming into himself rather than being a low-budget Darth Vader. He comes into himself even more by killing Snoke, although it's clear he and Hux still have issues. After he and Rey fight, when he refuses to go and save the rebellion fighters, Rey interprets it as a total betrayal and gives up on him utterly, later symbolically closing the Falcon door in his face. But the audience saw Kylo's face when Snoke was hurting Rey. He genuinely cares for her. That, and the sense that he is haunted by his father's self-sacrificing ghost (and doesn't shoot his mother when he has the chance), makes me think there is still hope for him. I'm bored by 99% of fictional villains, but Kylo is genuinely interesting. I would also be satisfied by an ending in which Rey has to kill him when she doesn't want to. That would fit a true tragedy: a character who was so close to being redeemed so many times, but failed and died.
Poe has the most structurally interesting story. The opening sequence has him defying orders to take out a drone ship. It is a very impressive victory, but it costs the entire bombing fleet and many lives. Usually this is treated as a victory, and all the more so for the fact he disobeyed orders. But Leia is no wimp, and no fool. Yes, she feels the deaths keenly. That's not why she ordered Poe to stand down. When attacking a much larger force, a rebellion's most important goal is to stay alive and keep some strength in reserve. Poe's actions were brave and fundamentally successful, but it was a matter of winning a battle that potentially costs the rebellion the war. He is intensely disrespectful of Admiral Holdo in a clearly sexist way: he already knows her amazing reputation, but as soon as he sees a slender purple-haired old lady his opinion of the General shifts (presumably he assumes her victory must have been just luck, or inaccurately reported). At the end of the film, after trying and failing to save the rebellion with his own crack team, he finally recognises that she's just as clever and courageous as he'd heard—she simply didn't deign to tell a recently-demoted flyboy her entire secret plan.
The reason it's structurally interesting is that movies usually teach us to defy authority and "blow stuff up". Poe learns that sometimes even a genius pilot should sit tight and follow orders. It's no mistake that it's a brave young man defying much older women who needs to learn to listen. This is an expectation-defying plotline, and one that resonates hugely in 2017.
Finn is originally concerned only with Rey, and willing to desert to protect her. By the end of the film, he's willing to sacrifice himself for the rebellion. There's another structurally unusual moment when Rose saves him. That's not supposed to happen! Heroic sacrifice is WHAT MOVIE PEOPLE DO. The film made it clear that it was essential to take out the cannon. Finn was the last chance to make that happen—and, like Poe, he was ready to defy orders to get a military victory. There's a parallel to the courageous sacrifice of Rose's sister in the opening battle. More on the "Rose saves Finn" moment in a bit.
Rose Tico is everyone's new favourite character (followed closely by the real-life actress). Not only is the actress a woman of colour (Vietnamese American), but she's slightly overweight (which means with Leia there are TWO overweight women who aren't comedy relief!) She doesn't think of herself as a hero, but has strong enough feelings to sit in the cargo bay and space-taser anyone who tries to desert (while at the same time mourning her sister). I LOVE that that's what she's doing. She's a gifted mechanic—the only one who immediately guessed how the light speed tracking works—and she quickly joins the risky plan to secretly destroy the tracker, which would have been very useful if it had worked.
Once again, there are structural surprises. First, the entire tracker plotline ultimately fails. This is a huge deal, and a shock to the audience. Would it have been different if Poe had shared the plan with Admiral Holdo? Probably not; they failed because they were betrayed by someone they were forced to depend on. Would Admiral Holdo have let them do it? Yes; I think so. The risk of two people to save the fleet is absolutely worthwhile strategically. Was it a stupid thing to do? No. It's nice to see a movie deconstructing tropes like that, and it's entirely watchable as well as giving us a much better sense of the world. Why is the First Order so bad? Because they're supporting a wealthy and cruel elite. Is the rebellion perfect? No—in fact they're contributing to the business of war. Do mistreated little boys and space horses matter? Yes; they matter more than anything.
When Rose saved Finn, was that the right thing to do? The scene where she kisses him says (to me) that her judgement might have been a little off... but then she says an extraordinary thing: "This is how we live: Not fighting the ones we hate, but saving the ones we love." This is against the structure of the entire action genre. Fighting is what you do. Fictional violence is so emotionally satisfying that writers bend over backwards to make it plot-necessary. The more I think about that line—and the idea that the women in command have good reason to call back their fighters partway through dangerous manoeuvres—the more interested I am to see what comes next in this franchise. I've been thinking lately about my own violence-glorifying writing, and how I might do better.
Leia is the heart and soul of the rebellion. It's good to see her use the force, and you always know she'd be a great Jedi knight but is simply too busy with equally important tasks. Is it an error for her to not fight Kylo Ren when (I believe) she had the opportunity (or at least the opportunity to clear the bridge before he shot them all!)? Perhaps... but it fits her character as the stable beacon of hope when almost everyone around her falters. There is just one moment when she finally gives up... about three seconds before Luke appears. I have NO idea what they'll do in film 3, without Carrie Fisher. I desperately hope they've squirrelled away a secret scene or two. There is a sad beauty in the demise of Han, Luke, and (inevitably) Leia. It was eerie how much of her dialogue felt relevant to 2017... the 2017 that we all had to face without Carrie Fisher in the world.
There are two things that bother me about this film:
First, why did no one respond to the rebellion's signal for help? Are they really the beacon of hope they think they are?
Second, Luke gave Han's dice to Leia, but then Kylo Ren had them? What happened there?
Romance: Or, Everyone Loves Finn (And Who Can Blame Them?)
This film is almost entirely romance-free, which is really for the best given the amount of stuff in it. It's nice to focus on friendships for a while, too. But we know there's bound to be at least one romantic pairing before the trilogy ends.
Kylo and Rey: Please no. Yes, I want Kylo redeemed. No, I don't want their interesting relationship turned into just another romance. Kylo Ren is not an emotionally healthy individual. Plus the "Changed from evil due to lurve" plot is so boring.
There is one kiss in "The Last Jedi": Rose has fallen for Finn. It's clear Finn is surprised by the kiss and doesn't really have time to react one way or another. I have a bad feeling Rose's love will be unrequited, as if she doesn't have enough grief already! If she and Finn get together, there will need to be some good writing to make that happen. I'm open to that, except for the miserable potential for a love triangle. It's clear Finn is deeply loyal to everyone he meets. Loyalty and respect don't necessarily equate to romantic love, however.
Finn and Rey are clearly concerned about one another throughout the film, and there's huge relief when they're finally reconnected. (I'm not the only one who expected a kiss in that moment.) It seems likely they'll get together romantically, which makes sense. They are both better for meeting one another, and have a good dynamic. They're also both odd ones out in terms of fighters (an ex-Storm Trooper and someone with enormous power in the Force). So that romance makes sense on all levels. Rey also glances at an unconscious Rose, realising she's no longer the only woman Finn has spent any time with. She's not quite jealous, but... aware. That strongly suggests she feels more than friendship for Finn (who basically joined the rebellion to impress her). And I really don't want Rey to have unrequited love after all she's already suffered, either.
Finn and Poe are also extremely close, caring, and affectionate towards one another. The film-makers are absolutely queer-baiting with lines like, "Finn's naked and leaking??" and the way they embrace after an explosion sends one of them flying (I can't actually remember which one). And of course they do secret mission stuff together too.
Wait a minute. I've solved it. Here's the scene Star Wars needs to have to make me happy:
Rose: *Takes Rey to a storage area where they can talk privately* So you're a big hero, just like Finn. I guess you guys are... you know...
Rey: Um. *blushes furiously* Well I might sort of kind of think of him a little tiny bit that way. Maybe.
Finn: *Emerges bleary-eyed and shirtless from under canvas, and clutches it around his hips so the girls don't see EVERYTHING* Rose? Rey? What are you doing here?
Rose and Rey: *wide-eyed panic*
Rey: You. . . heard us talking?
Finn: Me? Nope. Nuh-uh. Didn't hear a thing. *Accidentally-on-purpose jabs his elbow into the canvas*
Poe: *Emerges bleary-eyed and shirtless from under canvas, clutching canvas around his hips, and hastily donning That Jacket* Oh, hi Rose. Hi Rey.
Rose and Rey: Ohhhhh! Er, we'll just be going now.
Rose and Rey: *become best friends*
Finn and Poe: *adopt half a dozen children and live on a porg farm forever*
But what are second books (or movies) for?
I think trilogies are in some ways an expansion on the three-act structure, in which the middle section is where we find out the REAL fight. For example, in my own book "Heart of Brass" the main character thinks her goal is to get rich and restore her family's fortune, but her goal shifts toward caring about the injustices faced by gold miners who are badly treated by corrupt British law enforcement.
Some trilogies, like the original Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix (it's five books nowadays), effectively have two stories. One is told in Book 1, and the other in Books 2-3.
I think one great way to deal with second books/movies is to focus not on what the "REAL fight" is, but who the real characters are. This can make the middle book/movie a fan favourite (eg Aragorn in the second Lord of the Rings movie changes from acting like a ranger to acting like a king).
In "The Last Jedi" the fundamental plot is: The resistance survives—just barely.
It's a good plot for a second movie—kinda obvious, since the first film in the current trilogy (The Force Awakens) is about the resistance struggling against a bigger badder enemy. Therefore, the second film takes the same basic idea (resistance struggling) and makes it more so.
Like all stories, it's the detail that makes people care, and especially the character details.
In the first film we were introduced to Rey, a lonely scavenger who is powerful in the Force; Poe Dameron, the hotshot pilot; and Finn, the storm trooper who quits being a baddie and wants to have a quiet life (but also wants to impress Rey). We also see how the original three cast members have grown (or not). General Leia is holding the resistance together (and mourning the living death of her son) without her brother or her husband's help. Han Solo is clearly unable to cope with the living death of his son and is basically an adrenalin junkie distracting himself from reality by regressing to simpler days—but he's still fundamentally good, and loves his wife and son more than his own life. Luke is in self-imposed exile, clearly blaming himself for the evolution of his nephew Kylo Ren (aka Ben Skywalker).
The three main non-human characters are still in their comedic/sidekick roles (and same again in "The Last Jedi", which is just fine by me).
In "The Last Jedi" (which refers to Luke according to the director) Rey is stubbornly and patiently haranguing Luke to be useful once more. Leia sent her, and was absolutely right to do so. Despite the fact that Luke is technically being a whiny coward/quitter, his emotional arc is compelling. Mark Hamill has been praised for giving the greatest performance of his life. Kylo Ren is the other player in that plot line, and I think it's Adam Driver's acting skills that carry the movie. His part is incredibly hard and he manages to make it work. He has to be conflicted rather than whiny, to remain sympathetic despite killing frikkin' Han Solo (and many many others), and to have intense dramatic moments based entirely on mind power.
Luke's death is lovely (and the foreshadowing of unusual Jedi powers leading up to the scene with Kylo Ren was very well done), with the sense of peace and the two suns. The slow reveal of his horrifying error in almost trying to kill Ben is potent too. I'd have done all the same things he did: consider killing my nephew, decide not to, and then place myself in exile when my nephew turned to the Dark Side.
Leia, Chewie, and Rey are the most impacted by Han's death. You get the very strong impression that Luke and Leia have lost so much—including Han, who has been physically and emotionally absent for some time—that they grieve for Han in a quiet way; adding one more enormous weight of pain to all that they already carry. But Rey's anger is fresh and simple and new. It's actually childish in its simplicity. I'm not sure how other audience members felt, but I felt that the pain of Han's death had been largely dealt with in the two years between films. Even though no time had passed for the characters, the audience is now ready to move on. It was also clearly established that killing Han Solo made Kylo more conflicted than ever, which is quite emotionally satisfying (and means that Leia didn't send Han to a pointless death).
When I walked out of "The Force Awakens" I was still shaken by Han's death. Chris (my partner) and I talked about the recurring theme of redemption in Star Wars (probably my favourite thing about it) and we both asked, "Is redemption possible from there?"
From there, maybe not. But from here (ie "The Last Jedi")... maybe.
Rey and Kylo Ren's conversations are fascinating. Both are powerful but so painfully young, and so emotionally devastated by the failure of their parents and mentors. They both desperately want to be special, the way a child is special to their parents. Even though Kylo's parents love him enough to give their lives for him (Han literally, and there is a great moment when Leia and Kylo are connected during a battle and Leia knows he is about to shoot her part of the ship but she simply waits and lets him make his own choice), the love towards him is simply not translating to security in him. As an audience member I was torn between wanting to protect Rey from Kylo, and wanting Rey to bring Kylo to the light. The moment when they stand back to back to fight after killing Snoke is one of the greatest and most satisfying moments in the movie. Then when Rey realises he isn't joining the Light but simply getting rid of his boss, the disappointment is real for the audience too. She is once again convinced that Kylo is evil and cannot be saved, but in a much more mature (yet possibly incorrect) way.
A lot of people are pleased that Kylo *wasn't* redeemed in this movie, and I am too. It would have been too easy. But I'm still desperately hoping he'll be redeemed in the third movie. It has to echo Darth Vader's redemption without feeling like plagiarism. For once thing, Kylo needs to live. Having a single selfless moment and a sacrificial death is one thing. Living as a decent human being is another.
(The more I write, the more I want to watch both "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi" again. And the third film! Arg!)
It's worth noting that Leia and Rey (and Admiral Holdo) are all fundamentally making morally and intellectually good choices while the menfolk mostly run around screwing things up. For all three, their only weakness is acting on hope (and the desire not the sacrifice their troops) rather than numerical logic... but that is also their strength. Rey is still vulnerable and looking for a parent figure (as Kylo Ren accurately points out). Leia is still vulnerable to Kylo Ren, unable to kill him even to save others. After all, she knowingly sent Han to his likely death at Kylo's hand.
(And I LOVE that the answer to, "WHO ARE REY'S PARENTS?" is "No-one: Crappy junkies who sold their kid and later died." It makes her a true everyman (woman) who needs to work at being a hero. Okay yes, she's very very good at the Force. Still.)
Luke rejoins the fight after years of despair.
Rey changes from hating Kylo to hoping for his redemption, then accepting that he used her to gain the position of Supreme Leader. She also gains much more control over her power, and a better sense of her own value.
Kylo wants to recruit Rey (which, I gotta say, is an admirable trait). When he destroys his helmet (yay; I'm so sick of helmets) it shows his immature rage but also shows that he's coming into himself rather than being a low-budget Darth Vader. He comes into himself even more by killing Snoke, although it's clear he and Hux still have issues. After he and Rey fight, when he refuses to go and save the rebellion fighters, Rey interprets it as a total betrayal and gives up on him utterly, later symbolically closing the Falcon door in his face. But the audience saw Kylo's face when Snoke was hurting Rey. He genuinely cares for her. That, and the sense that he is haunted by his father's self-sacrificing ghost (and doesn't shoot his mother when he has the chance), makes me think there is still hope for him. I'm bored by 99% of fictional villains, but Kylo is genuinely interesting. I would also be satisfied by an ending in which Rey has to kill him when she doesn't want to. That would fit a true tragedy: a character who was so close to being redeemed so many times, but failed and died.
Poe has the most structurally interesting story. The opening sequence has him defying orders to take out a drone ship. It is a very impressive victory, but it costs the entire bombing fleet and many lives. Usually this is treated as a victory, and all the more so for the fact he disobeyed orders. But Leia is no wimp, and no fool. Yes, she feels the deaths keenly. That's not why she ordered Poe to stand down. When attacking a much larger force, a rebellion's most important goal is to stay alive and keep some strength in reserve. Poe's actions were brave and fundamentally successful, but it was a matter of winning a battle that potentially costs the rebellion the war. He is intensely disrespectful of Admiral Holdo in a clearly sexist way: he already knows her amazing reputation, but as soon as he sees a slender purple-haired old lady his opinion of the General shifts (presumably he assumes her victory must have been just luck, or inaccurately reported). At the end of the film, after trying and failing to save the rebellion with his own crack team, he finally recognises that she's just as clever and courageous as he'd heard—she simply didn't deign to tell a recently-demoted flyboy her entire secret plan.
The reason it's structurally interesting is that movies usually teach us to defy authority and "blow stuff up". Poe learns that sometimes even a genius pilot should sit tight and follow orders. It's no mistake that it's a brave young man defying much older women who needs to learn to listen. This is an expectation-defying plotline, and one that resonates hugely in 2017.
Finn is originally concerned only with Rey, and willing to desert to protect her. By the end of the film, he's willing to sacrifice himself for the rebellion. There's another structurally unusual moment when Rose saves him. That's not supposed to happen! Heroic sacrifice is WHAT MOVIE PEOPLE DO. The film made it clear that it was essential to take out the cannon. Finn was the last chance to make that happen—and, like Poe, he was ready to defy orders to get a military victory. There's a parallel to the courageous sacrifice of Rose's sister in the opening battle. More on the "Rose saves Finn" moment in a bit.
Rose Tico is everyone's new favourite character (followed closely by the real-life actress). Not only is the actress a woman of colour (Vietnamese American), but she's slightly overweight (which means with Leia there are TWO overweight women who aren't comedy relief!) She doesn't think of herself as a hero, but has strong enough feelings to sit in the cargo bay and space-taser anyone who tries to desert (while at the same time mourning her sister). I LOVE that that's what she's doing. She's a gifted mechanic—the only one who immediately guessed how the light speed tracking works—and she quickly joins the risky plan to secretly destroy the tracker, which would have been very useful if it had worked.
Once again, there are structural surprises. First, the entire tracker plotline ultimately fails. This is a huge deal, and a shock to the audience. Would it have been different if Poe had shared the plan with Admiral Holdo? Probably not; they failed because they were betrayed by someone they were forced to depend on. Would Admiral Holdo have let them do it? Yes; I think so. The risk of two people to save the fleet is absolutely worthwhile strategically. Was it a stupid thing to do? No. It's nice to see a movie deconstructing tropes like that, and it's entirely watchable as well as giving us a much better sense of the world. Why is the First Order so bad? Because they're supporting a wealthy and cruel elite. Is the rebellion perfect? No—in fact they're contributing to the business of war. Do mistreated little boys and space horses matter? Yes; they matter more than anything.
When Rose saved Finn, was that the right thing to do? The scene where she kisses him says (to me) that her judgement might have been a little off... but then she says an extraordinary thing: "This is how we live: Not fighting the ones we hate, but saving the ones we love." This is against the structure of the entire action genre. Fighting is what you do. Fictional violence is so emotionally satisfying that writers bend over backwards to make it plot-necessary. The more I think about that line—and the idea that the women in command have good reason to call back their fighters partway through dangerous manoeuvres—the more interested I am to see what comes next in this franchise. I've been thinking lately about my own violence-glorifying writing, and how I might do better.
Leia is the heart and soul of the rebellion. It's good to see her use the force, and you always know she'd be a great Jedi knight but is simply too busy with equally important tasks. Is it an error for her to not fight Kylo Ren when (I believe) she had the opportunity (or at least the opportunity to clear the bridge before he shot them all!)? Perhaps... but it fits her character as the stable beacon of hope when almost everyone around her falters. There is just one moment when she finally gives up... about three seconds before Luke appears. I have NO idea what they'll do in film 3, without Carrie Fisher. I desperately hope they've squirrelled away a secret scene or two. There is a sad beauty in the demise of Han, Luke, and (inevitably) Leia. It was eerie how much of her dialogue felt relevant to 2017... the 2017 that we all had to face without Carrie Fisher in the world.
There are two things that bother me about this film:
First, why did no one respond to the rebellion's signal for help? Are they really the beacon of hope they think they are?
Second, Luke gave Han's dice to Leia, but then Kylo Ren had them? What happened there?
Romance: Or, Everyone Loves Finn (And Who Can Blame Them?)
This film is almost entirely romance-free, which is really for the best given the amount of stuff in it. It's nice to focus on friendships for a while, too. But we know there's bound to be at least one romantic pairing before the trilogy ends.
Kylo and Rey: Please no. Yes, I want Kylo redeemed. No, I don't want their interesting relationship turned into just another romance. Kylo Ren is not an emotionally healthy individual. Plus the "Changed from evil due to lurve" plot is so boring.
There is one kiss in "The Last Jedi": Rose has fallen for Finn. It's clear Finn is surprised by the kiss and doesn't really have time to react one way or another. I have a bad feeling Rose's love will be unrequited, as if she doesn't have enough grief already! If she and Finn get together, there will need to be some good writing to make that happen. I'm open to that, except for the miserable potential for a love triangle. It's clear Finn is deeply loyal to everyone he meets. Loyalty and respect don't necessarily equate to romantic love, however.
Finn and Rey are clearly concerned about one another throughout the film, and there's huge relief when they're finally reconnected. (I'm not the only one who expected a kiss in that moment.) It seems likely they'll get together romantically, which makes sense. They are both better for meeting one another, and have a good dynamic. They're also both odd ones out in terms of fighters (an ex-Storm Trooper and someone with enormous power in the Force). So that romance makes sense on all levels. Rey also glances at an unconscious Rose, realising she's no longer the only woman Finn has spent any time with. She's not quite jealous, but... aware. That strongly suggests she feels more than friendship for Finn (who basically joined the rebellion to impress her). And I really don't want Rey to have unrequited love after all she's already suffered, either.
Finn and Poe are also extremely close, caring, and affectionate towards one another. The film-makers are absolutely queer-baiting with lines like, "Finn's naked and leaking??" and the way they embrace after an explosion sends one of them flying (I can't actually remember which one). And of course they do secret mission stuff together too.
Wait a minute. I've solved it. Here's the scene Star Wars needs to have to make me happy:
Rose: *Takes Rey to a storage area where they can talk privately* So you're a big hero, just like Finn. I guess you guys are... you know...
Rey: Um. *blushes furiously* Well I might sort of kind of think of him a little tiny bit that way. Maybe.
Finn: *Emerges bleary-eyed and shirtless from under canvas, and clutches it around his hips so the girls don't see EVERYTHING* Rose? Rey? What are you doing here?
Rose and Rey: *wide-eyed panic*
Rey: You. . . heard us talking?
Finn: Me? Nope. Nuh-uh. Didn't hear a thing. *Accidentally-on-purpose jabs his elbow into the canvas*
Poe: *Emerges bleary-eyed and shirtless from under canvas, clutching canvas around his hips, and hastily donning That Jacket* Oh, hi Rose. Hi Rey.
Rose and Rey: Ohhhhh! Er, we'll just be going now.
Rose and Rey: *become best friends*
Finn and Poe: *adopt half a dozen children and live on a porg farm forever*