Star Wars Subjectivities: The Rise of Skywalker

The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth film in the chronicles of the lightsaber-wielding Skywalker family, is at once a very good movie and also a tedious letdown that reeks of corporate and creative cowardice. I find it the most infuriating of the nine movies because of this contradiction.

I fell in love with Star Wars (before it was Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) as a child and saw Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in the theater. I played with the toys, my dad built me a homemade Sarlacc Pit playset out of wood scraps from the garage, and so, for me, those movies will always be colored by nostalgia and warmth. And yet, I believe that I can say with some semblance of objectivity that they are good movies — well-made, compelling adventure stories with engaging, charismatic characters and an evocative sense of imagination. But as I discussed in my analysis of Attack of the Clones, my excitement for the prequels and the promise of new Star Wars movies shriveled on the vine while watching the very first opening day midnight screening in my city of The Phantom Menace. I believe that I can say, and defend my position in so saying, that the prequels are bad movies. They are poorly written, poorly acted, very expensive toy commercials.

What then was I to feel when I learned that Disney planned to make a new trilogy, hanging out three more bolts of cloth on the Skywalker mainsail of their $4 billion Star Wars ship? I was worried going into The Force Awakens, but I walked out with the feeling of excitement and exhilaration that I had so hoped to find in The Phantom Menace. I understood the criticisms that said it was just a blow-by-blow rehashing of the first film, that the original trilogy had relied tediously on not one, but two Death Stars, and this was just a new, bigger Death Star to contend with. I totally got it. But I dug the movie. I loved Rey, I liked BB-8, and if it was a variation on a theme, I had liked the theme and I liked the variations, and I was into it. It grabbed me again. I didn't ask my parents for toys like I had in 1983, but you get the picture.

I appreciated The Last Jedi, and though I found it imperfect and over-long, I really, really dug what it was trying to do. It inverted tropes, broadened the scope of the story in a way that was thoughtful and offered insight (very much unlike the prequels), and elevated characters we've never seen lionized in a Star Wars film while showing real, painful consequences for the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-dick-swinging-cowboy MO that has characterized the traditional Star Wars hero. More than anything, The Last Jedi got me excited for the next movie. Rey's parents being nobodies was such a great, bold choice. It made the Force bigger than one bloodline, which I believe the franchise needed desperately. Beyond Daisy Ridley's magnetic performance, the character of Rey, this unknown nobody with tremendous gifts (like Luke before her) was a huge attraction in The Force Awakens. Rey as a unique vessel for this universal power, coming from humble origins, just like Luke, felt right, and it felt invigorating.

So I was really excited for...well, not The Rise of Skywalker. Whatever the next, logical movie after The Last Jedi would've been...that would've been cool. But instead of that hypothetical movie, instead we got The Rise of Skywalker.

Now, The Rise of Skywalker is a good movie. There's a scene early on where Poe and Finn return in the Millennium Falcon, and Rey is pissed when she sees the damage on it. Poe gets pissed when he sees how damaged BB-8 has become. The two of them talk past each other while Finn tries to mediate. The dialogue crackles, it's very smart, the actors do a great job with it, and the camera is constantly moving. This one scene is something that George Lucas never could have written or pulled off in a prequel. It's exciting, professional big budget filmmaking, and it's what J.J. Abrams does. The whole movie crackles like that. It whisks you along on the ride and keeps you swept up in the action and characters while cutting constantly between plotlines. It's so effective at creating momentum that should your mind wander just before Poe says something like, "The future of the Resistance depends on this plan," and then you pause it and turn to your wife and say, "What...actually...is the plan? That the whole Resistance is counting on?" she'll respond, "I think it's just go find Rey and see what she's doing on that other planet? Maybe?"

That's not great! So what remains is an expertly produced movie that is all surface, because it takes a big, stupid mulligan on all of the interesting choices Rian Johnson made in The Last Jedi. But internet trolls and a loud minority of fanboys who were all offended by the upending of the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-dick-swinging-cowboy MO that has characterized the traditional Star Wars hero yelled "Nuh-uh! NUH-UH!" into the ones and zeros so loud that Disney went, "What?! Oh no! Well, shit. Then just...do the beginning again. Bring the Emperor back. Bring the whatever else. Maybe have a Death Star on every ship in the fleet? Just do the same! MORE OF THE SAME!!!"

I mean, they barely even take a passing swing at explaining why or how Rey could be a Palpatine. It is...gestured at, at best...and instead of trying to make sense of it or explain it, or make it make sense after The Last Jedi, the message seems to be, "Because. Come on. Just go with it. It's movie nine." The same goes for Kylo Ren/Ben Solo's redemption arc, where people keep telling him, "It's never too late. No one is ever gone." I mean, sure, but...remember all the genocides? He could renounce the Dark Side and dedicate his life to library science or some shit, but he's killed billions of galactic citizens. I'm thinking a war crime tribunal doesn't get erased by Dad's Force Ghost handing out hugs.

So in the end, The Rise of Skywalker is...fine? A perfectly engineered Star Wars outing designed to be so unchallenging that no one could possibly be offended. Strong women had their turn in the last one, so let's say that box is checked (sorry, Rose!) and let Rey and the boys blast it all out and bring the Star Wars ship into the harbor so we can launch all the TV shows ever. It is neither the Star Wars movie I hoped for, nor one I particularly like, but on the final balance sheet, it turns out I actually dislike more Star Wars movies than I like. Yes to the the original trilogy. Hard pass on the prequels. Yes on The Force Awakens, coin toss on The Last Jedi. I liked Rogue One and disliked Solo so much I turned it off. And Rise of Skywalker particularly grinds my gears because the franchise set us up for a graceful and maybe even powerful conclusion, forty years in the making. Rose's line toward the end of The Last Jedi, that they'll win by saving what they love, not by destroying what they hate is meaningful. It's a powerful insight in a movie whose reach might exceed its grasp...but at least it was reaching for something.

Something more than brand management, anyway.

"You killed your dad and did genocides!"
"But my dad's ghost says he still loves me and I'm nice!"

Posted by Vance K — co-founder, co-editor, and arguably the grumpy, hirsute co-pilot of nerds of a feather, flock together since 2012.

Stranger Than Science Fiction

I hope you like charts. Sorry. Here is a picture of Poe.

Don't get distracted

I'm on record as being quite smitten with one Poe Dameron as one of the best things about the new Star Wars trilogy. There has been no shortage of discussion of how he is presented, and the actions he takes, in the latest installment, The Last Jedi. I, for one, think the movie is fantastic top to bottom, but me just saying that isn't good enough. Author-nee-engineer that I am, I had to figure the what, why and how of it all.

Let's reverse engineer Star Wars.

Status: DISTRACTED

Poe exists for one very simple reason: he is the child of Han Solo. No, that's not a fan theory, I mean he is the spiritual son of the the character type. We have to go back to Han Solo in 1977 to understand him. Star Wars is this beautiful, sort of weird, western-Kurosawa fever dream, and the charming rogue is no stranger in those worlds. Solo is the absolute personification of that - scoundrel with a heart of gold.

So is Poe Dameron. But if you read the linky up there, his motivations are different. This is key- I think we need to look at each character along three axis: motivations, arc and the lie they believe. That last one is the key to any good character - K.M. Weiland is the one I learned it from, and it is absolutely essential - what is the lie your character believes? This is worthy of an essay of its own, but that's for another time. Let's look at Han and Poe. Here, I made a chart:

Han has one of the great character arcs in cinema (which I am 100% confident the Solo solo movie will wreck, but whatever) - we meet him, and he is this self-assured, greedy smuggler who doesn't need anyone who doesn't pay, and then his return is awesome because it means he changed. Poe doesn't change a whole lot over the course of The Force Awakens - he believes in the resistance, and is a hero of, start to finish.

This only serves to reinforce the lie he believes - that he is always right, and can get away with anything. The funny thing is, though, this is also the lie we, the audience, believe. We are so, so used to characters like this - charming, attractive dudes who break all the rules and get the job done.

Real life doesn't work that way. Look at the change in each character between their first and second films:

Everything about Han has changed - now he's not sure he belongs with the Rebels, and he's worried about the price on his head. He made a massive choice that he knew could mean his life in coming back to help blow up the Death Star. Poe, however, has become a little too concerned with himself, instead of doing the right thing - his motivation is still mostly good, but his overconfidence leads to him disobeying orders and common sense. He has changed, too, as a direct result of that lie being reinforced - with dire consequences.

When I first walked out of The Last Jedi, I was unsure of Holdo's actions - why wouldn't she tell Poe the plan, which would save a lot of trouble? His actions - still sure he is infallible and can get away with anything - show that he can't be trusted. By the end of the movie, we see he has learned the lesson, his motivation is no longer selfish, but at great cost.

But The Last Jedi does something magnificent - it gives Poe and Han a foil. They never share the screen, but DJ drives home this point, that for all the hearts of gold, good motives and charming scoundrels, there are a million who never care about anything except the money and their own gain.

DJ also reflects a rather cynical view - showing that the arms dealers will sell to anyone, and that both sides are corrupt. He's not entirely wrong; but then, neither is Poe. Both think their actions won't have consequences, or they can skirt around whatever they might be.

did you even look at the charts

The best part of The Last Jedi is the meta commentary on the state of Star Wars, stories and the way we perceive things. Poe's actions are not out of character; they are more in character than what most movies tell us they would be (see also Skywalker, Luke). It's a brave move, one that plenty of people aren't happy with, a good reminder that we all have lies we believe.

-DESR

Yet Another Spoiler-Filled Take on The Last Jedi

This is now the third take on The Last Jedi we’ve posted. First, there was Dean’s ebullient review of the film, followed by Joe’s tempered praise. Now I enter the fray, Tarken-like, to rain on everyone’s parade.

I jest, of course. I didn’t hate the film; I just didn’t love it either. To me, The Last Jedi is perfectly mediocre. Indeed, if I were to rank all the Star Wars films, I’d put it third from the bottom, beating only the execrable Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Thankfully, The Last Jedi isn’t that bad of a film. It is, at least, good at being a film. It's just not great at being a Star Wars film. As far as the Disney franchise goes, I prefer both The Force Awakens and Rogue One by a significant margin.  

WARNING: spoilers.

First, what I did like: the characters. The core trio of Rey, Finn and Poe are likeable, relatable and well developed, while Kylo Ren’s angry-teen-with-issues adds a unique and compelling new villain mold to the Star Wars pantheon. I also enjoyed Phasma’s limited screen time and of course love BB-8 (who doesn't). This is a good cast, and Rian Johnson does a solid job of putting the actors in position to succeed. This contrasts with the prequels, where the new characters were either bland (Bail Organa, Qui-Gon, Padme Amidala), offensive (Jar-Jar, the Trade Federation), criminally underused (Darth Maul, Count Dooku) or weighed down by poor acting (Anakin).

At least it wasn't this

I also enjoyed Luke’s arc. Here we have the former hero, whose training you will recall was cut short by crisis. Now he is the master, and clearly could have used a bit more of Yoda’s wisdom and patience. Tthings don’t go well training a powerful and troubled Ben Solo, akin to how they didn’t go well for Obi-Wan training a powerful and troubled Anakin. Luke reacts poorly, creating a crisis; he becomes so consumed by guilt that he abandons the cause he once championed.

This was a smart take. “Power corrupts” is a cliché, but we don’t often dwell on those who grow uncomfortable with wielding great power, or the burden it places on the individual. His ultimate redemption is, in my opinion, the high point of the film. The way it plays out is genuinely surprising, and packs an emotional punch.

Unfortunately, those are pretty much the only things I liked. It's worth mentioning that only some of my issues with The Last Jedi are specific to the film, while others are legacy issues from The Force Awakens. A third category are likely casualties of the switch from mystery-box-loving JJ Abrams to the decidedly unsentimental Johnson.

Some of my just-this-film issues are also scene-specific. Space Leia is cringeworthy, while the detour through Canto Bight feels tacked on and half-baked. I’m also decidedly not a fan of salt Hoth, which simply reshoots an iconic scene from Empire with cute dog-like creatures and far less majesty. Luke’s denouement aside, the whole scene feels lazy and derivative. Oh, and I wish they'd done a better job writing new character Rose Tico. I like Kelly Marie Tran in the role, but the screenwriters don't give her much to work with--a more compelling pathos would have been appreciated.


The Last Jedi as Episode VIII

The rest of the film, if considered on its own, is fine. But you can’t just consider it on its own; it is part 2 of a trilogy, and part 8 of a nexus. And it is in this framework that Episode VIII failed to impress me.

The Force Awakens presents viewers with two mystery boxes: (1) who are Rey’s parents and (2) who the fuck is Snoke. The answer to (1) works for me—it goes against the grain of Star Wars tradition, but it’s not a tradition I put much stock in. It’s nice to see that she’s basically a nobody, and that nobodies can be heroes too. But the answer to mystery box (2) is deeply unsatisfying, because it isn’t an answer.

Granted, the tie-in novels tell us that Snoke is a Sith dude floating around the Outer Rim, who had standing orders from Palpatine to come lead the fight in the event of the Emperor's death. But who reads the tie-in novels? One percent of the people who watch the films? Two? Bottom line, this really should have been answered in the film, and failing to do so essentially tells hardcore fans that they were wasting their time thinking about it over the past two years. Worse, developing the mystery surrounding Snoke would have been a fantastic opportunity to imbue the film with an air of enchantment. Johnson could easily have taken out the tedious detour to Canto Bight, or the downright awful Space Leia scene, and given us some extended Snoke exposition—something that would have made his death climactic rather than anti-climactic.

This could have been so cool

My biggest gripe with The Last Jedi, though—or rather, with the Disney trilogy as a whole—is its lack of vision. The original trilogy, of course, tells an old story, one that’s common in global mythology as well as central to fantasy literature: the rag tag band of plucky individuals who confront immense power and triumph against all odds. This is now thoroughly cliché in sci-fi film. I mean, think about the major YA franchises of the past decade—Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent, etc. They are all deploying the Star Wars formula. So it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t a cliché yet in 1977. There are also extra layers to the story, which give it richness--about the arrogance that military power breeds and the redemptive power of love, specifically, that of a father for his child.

For all their many faults, the prequels also house a compelling vision: of how—in pursuit of security—free societies underwrite their own demise. There’s been a lot written over the past year on how citizens in democratic states can recognize creeping authoritarianism. Whenever I read these, I am reminded of Padme’s line toward the end of Revenge of the Sith: “so this is how liberty dies; with thunderous applause.”

This has--and is--happening in many parts of the world, as elected officials consolidate power in their persons and stack the deck against would-be opponents. There are many Palpatines in our world, most of whom do not take power so much as convince their citizenries to give up freedoms and protections in the name of security, prosperity and the chance to blame some bogeyman or another--usually ethnic minorities, foreigners or class enemies--for every slight, real or imagined. Lucas put this to film a full decade before most Westerners realized the danger was also a danger to us, and not just to "those people over there." Too bad, then, that the prequels are so bad at being movies.

This brings us to the on-going Disney trilogy, which so far has presented a vision of...the exact same one as the original trilogy. Actually, there is a mild subversion of the original trilogy’s meta-narrative, but one so mild that it's barely a critique. Once again, we have a rag tag group of plucky individuals who confront immense power and (are sure to) triumph against all odds. And the films hit you over the head with the referential frying pan. Starkiller Base from The Force Awakens is the Death Star, but bigger! Kylo Ren is Darth Vader, but emo! Luke’s island is Dagobah, salt planet is Hoth, casino planet is Cloud City and so forth and so on. It's the same old same old, only with crappier design and little romance--the kind of thing dreamed up by corporate executives with checklists in hand and theme park rides in mind.

Why bother designing a new battle sequence when you can just re-use an old one?

The creative decision to track the original trilogy isn’t just unimaginative; it's also a missed opportunity to use the Star Wars platform to make a statement. Think back to where we are at the end of Return of the Jedi. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader are dead, the new Death Star has been destroyed and much of the Imperial fleet is toast as well. As both the now moribund expanded universe and Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath novels describe, this is followed by a period of intense chaos, where the New Republic steadily gains group against a demoralized and scattered rump Empire, which is increasingly relegated to the outer systems.

There are residual elements of this narrative in The Force Awakens. We learn that the New Republic is disinterested in a new confrontation. The First Order make their move against the New Republic anyway, committing planetacide, only to be stymied by the Resistance (i.e. the rag tag band of plucky individuals), who blow up Starkiller Base and First Order HQ (and presumably a lot of First Orderinos). Thus one assumes that the First Order has been dealt a significant blow and the New Republic is now aware of the serious threat they pose. Thus we might expect a shift of focus to the New Republic--weak and fractured, but still the biggest player in the game. What challenges might the Resistance struggle to overcome? A risk-averse, war-weary leadership? Incompetent governance, or an inability to mobilize a restive galaxy? Perhaps a traitor in the midst, sowing discord from within? Nope, nope and nope. Instead, in the text crawl that introduces The Last Jedi, we learn this:

The FIRST ORDER reigns. Having decimated the peaceful Republic, Supreme Leader Snoke now deploys his merciless legions to seize military control of the galaxy. 

Only General Leia Organa’s band of RESISTANCE fighters stand against the rising tyranny, certain that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker will return and restore a spark of hope to the fight.

So. The New Republic is inexplicably gone, and the First Order reigns supreme, despite its seemingly catastrophic losses. This serves one purpose, and one purpose only: to make sure we understand that this series is about a rag tag band of plucky individuals who confront immense power and (are certain to) triumph against all odds, and none of that other stuff.

What bothers me most is that I don’t need to see this story again, not when it’s been done so many times (and, in my opinion, done better in the original trilogy). What I really would have liked to see is a story that takes place amid the New Republic’s struggles to consolidate its authority, to present a more just and equitable system than its predecessor—and to do so in a context of deep economic uncertainty, institutional collapse and an ongoing insurgency.

This story is common in our world. Think about the various outcomes of the 2011 Arab Spring protests, from the mostly successful introduction of democracy in Tunisia to the retrenchment of military rule in Egypt, civil war in Syria and utter chaos in Libya. There are a few references to this kind of context in The Force Awakens, but only the tiniest glimpse of it in The Last Jedi (i.e. the allies who never show up). Yet this could have been the centerpiece in a unique and compelling grand vision, namely, how difficult it is to build something just in evil’s wake, and not accidentally underwrite new forms of dystopia.

I can’t help but wonder if the recourse to "fighting tyranny against all odds" reflects a peculiarly Western gaze, one in which there is only liberty (good) and tyranny (bad). The reality is infinitely greyer. There are party states, which take the form of democracy but whose elections are neither free nor fair; and elected strongman systems, where the skeletal form of democracy legitimates illiberal forms of governance. There are rational authoritarian states that do a better job delivering services than most if not all democracies; there are democracies that just seem to work, despite the deck seemingly being stacked against their long-term survival; and there are states that regularly swing back and forth between democracy and military authoritarianism. Even Western democracies, long been assumed to house stable institutions and robust systems of checks and balances, seem a lot less stable and a lot less robust than they once did. In fact, we all some insterstitial space between idealized liberty and demonized tyranny.

...but wait: why does Star Wars have to adopt a “realistic” morality? Isn’t it inherently about archetypes of good facing those of evil? Can't we just enjoy those kinds of stories for once?

To a degree it does, disembodied voice—but less that some people presume. Darth Vader exists in the grey area between good and evil, as does Kylo Ren. So, one might argue, do Luke and Rey—tempted as each has been by the dark side (even if, ultimately, they reject its siren call). In the end Star Wars still is mostly about good and evil, just not quite as starkly as it is sometimes framed. It's about good people with good intentions making difficult choices and not always choosing right, but finding a way in the end through sheer force of will and love for the people who love you back.

There is, of course, some of that in The Last Jedi. I just wish the new films explored those choices from the perspective of the power holders in the post-Imperial period, those burdened by the exercise of power and lack of clear-cut choices. Imagine how well that would have complemented the other two trilogies. It would have been original, it would have been compelling and it might just have been something we'd still revere thirty years from now. Perhaps I'm just yelling at clouds here, but to me that would have been a story worthy of Rey, Finn and Poe...


***

POSTED BY: The G--purveyor of nerdliness, genre fanatic and Nerds of a
Feather founder/administrator, since 2012. 

  

Review: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Why are you even reading this

We here at Nerds of a Feather are apparently not cool enough to be invited to The Last Jedi premier, so you get this review now. I'll try to avoid spoilers here, in case you are yet to see it. Ready? Here it is:

IT'S STAR WARS.

I mean, seriously, has there been anything worse than all the reviews over the last week? What is the point of them? There are three categories of people in the world right now:

1. People who have seen The Last Jedi
2. People who are going to see The Last Jedi
3. People who don't watch Star Wars and make sure everyone knows it, like the movie equivalent of a crossfitter.

Nothing I can say here, or anyone else over the last week, would change anyone's mind or course of action one iota. I could tell you, right now, that Rian Johnson is a brilliant filmmaker and The Last Jedi will be held up forever as the apex of human achievement, and GUESS WHAT, you either already saw it or are going to. I could, conversely, tell you that The Last Jedi makes The Phantom Menace look like The Godfather and Leia is a hideous mashup of puppetry and CGI for the entire third act and will retroactively make you hate Star Wars, movies and your parents, and you're still gonna watch it.

I could say literally anything - glorbleflath sploothnoorp - and yeah, it's still Star Wars. And the things people are saying about it! "It wasn't what I expected:, "I didn't like it, but I can see how others might", "it was amazing!", "it doesn't live up the the hype" (<--- why is CNN even reviewing movies?). YOU'RE NOT EVEN TRYING. If you are going to review it, actually review it. Don't just throw some word salad out there because your editor told you "We need Last Jedi content!" Or, if you do, at least make it funny, like I'm trying to. 

I mean, I get it, writing a review of a brand-new Star Wars movie is hard. If I was to score The Last Jedi right now, on our scale on 1-10, I would give it eleventy bajillion. But you can't trust me right after I walk out of the the theater. It's Star Wars. I can't be trusted with such things. When I saw The Phantom Menace, I though I was looking into heaven, seeing the face of God and all his angelic beauty.

Time has given some perspective to this. So, The Last Jedi is out. You already have tickets. You probably already saw it. So don't listen to me, because it doesn't matter what I say.

(it was really good)

-DESR 

Rampant Last Jedi Speculation

Welcome to the latest edition of Rampant Star Wars Speculation, with your hosts, Dean and Joe. Today we will be offering guesses, theories, and - you guessed it - rampant, wild, mostly unfounded speculation about what we'll see in The Last Jedi.

Spoilers ahead. Maybe.

Let's get to it.

My big question actually has to do with the poster- Luke looms large in the background, the spot where the villain typically is. Certainly the question of where he has been and what he has been up to looms over the first two entries in this new trilogy, but the question for now is: Does Luke turn to the Dark Side?

Dean: My money is on no. I think he is conflicted and uncertain. I hate to draw another line directly to Empire Strike Back, but look how he was then- uncertain how to proceed, under-trained, but knowing he must act. In fact, he never really received training after that. He faced Vader, Yoda died, and that was that. He could fight well, and use the force, but he wasn't trained too much as a Jedi. Now, his study, attempts to rebuild the Jedi, failure, and isolation have shown him the failings of the Jedi - hence the title. So I think this has more to do with him wrestling with his path (see the IMAX display featuring him on both the Dark and Light side).

Joe: I'll agree with you here. I can't see Luke doing a full turn. I can definitely see him wrestling with if he is on the right path and being unsure if he truly is following the Light Side after his academy (a New Jedi Academy?) was destroyed by Kylo Ren.

But a Dark Side turn? That doesn't seem like it would be part of Luke's journey, especially not after the son of Han and Leia turned. Kylo's frequent references to his grandfather are enough of that generational Dark Side turn that we don't need Luke to turn, too. This isn't Dark Empire. Probably.

My bigger concern, based on the trailers for The Last Jedi is that they're hinting at a Rey turn - which, let me tell you, would be a really terrible idea.

Let's speculate some more on Rey's parents!


Joe: I'm still going to roll with my far fetched idea of Rey being the daughter of Mara Jade. To quote myself from the first time we had this conversation: 

Do it like this: She was one of Luke’s students in his New Jedi Academy school thing that he founded after Return of the Jedi. She, with another student (or not, I don’t care), had a daughter. Ben Solo turned, killed that particular class of students, and Luke hid Rey on Jakku rather than take her with him when he ran and hid.

Dean: Gawd, I love that so much. Mara Jade is the best of the old EU. My problem with that is that I doubt they go that deep, though. The closer we get, the more I lean towards her being Han and Leia's daughter. There are a million signs that point to it, which have been covered ad nauseum at this point. It's not the most creative, to be sure, but I prefer it to her being Luke's kid.

Unless they bring in Mara Jade.

Joe: Force bless Mara Jade.


Porgs: Awesome or terrible?

Joe: Awesome. Next question.


Dean: Super awesome.

Where do you think Rey & Kylo end up at the end of this movie?

Joe: I think there's two real directions for Kylo Ren, and it really depends on whether or not they plan to do a redemption story for him at all. If yes, expect to see a couple of hints at said redemption. It wouldn't be a full blown face turn, but we will be able to see the shape of the turn. It would be Rey turning Kylo.

If no, and I would prefer that Kylo does not get a redemption given that he did straight up murder his father (Han Solo, remember?) in The Force Awakens, then expect to see a doubling down on his dark side turn. Possibly blowing up the planet Leia is on. That would also be one hell of a way to write Carrie Fisher out of the franchise. Spoilers, there is at least a 60 / 40 chance I'm going to cry at some point during The Last Jedi because of Carrie Fisher.

Rey is tougher. She's going to have a lot of questions about her heritage, why she was abandoned, and I don't think Luke is going to do her any favors. There might be a little too much of old Obi-Wan in him now. Hermiting really gets to a Jedi, you know. I think the movie will hint at a dark side turn for Rey, but I just don't see it happening. She's got too much basic decency running through her. More than most.

Dean: Much of the complaints about TFA were that is basically recycled A New Hope, which, yeah, a lot of the beats were the same (hey, if y'all want another Phantom Menace...), but this trilogy has a lot of grey to it... look at where we find Luke, previously this hero and beacon of light and hope. Snoke is not Sith, but he is dark. Kylo is conflicted the whole way, not just end like his fallen idol. So I think the end of this movie will reflect that, possibly with both of them closer to the middle, rather than extremes of light and dark. This will of course set up the reveal that Snoke is Revan in IX. (alternately, they may just go deeper into those extremes)

By Alice X. Zhang, check her stuff out seriously omg http://www.alicexz.com/

What gets answered in The Last Jedi, and what questions will remain?

Joe: I expect we'll still be wondering who the hell Snoke is and never get a satisfactory answer.

Dean: I just said he's Revan! Or maybe not? IS IT THE 15TH YET?!!?!?

The Last Jedi (or not?)

Potential Spoilers. Or not. This is just speculation, so I have no idea.

Yesterday we found out the title for Star Wars Episode VIII: "The Last Jedi". At first blush, a lot of responses went something like "OMG who could that be". Then people began pointing out, "hey, the opening crawl of The Force Awakens says that is Luke".

If we're doing that, The Return of the Jedi already did that, since Yoda said exactly that. So, yeah, Luke is the last Jedi. We've known that for 30 years.

But I think it's saying something else entirely.

The Jedi failed. Intended to be the protectors of peace throughout the galaxy, they feel victim to their own rigid code and getting too involved with the wispy-haired chancellor of the Old Republic, who just also happened to be a Sith Lord. That failure lead to their extermination, the rise of the Empire, the destruction of Aldaraan and all the rest.

Luke was then trained by Obi-Wan and Yoda, as we all know, leading to the proclamation that he was the last of the Jedi. Luke then tries to restore the Jedi order, failing miserably when his student and nephew slaughters all his students. Luke does the traditional Jedi thing and hides somewhere. Kylo, his former student, meanwhile, joins up with the First Order, aka Empire 2.0, under direction of someone called Snoke.

We know very little about Snoke, namely:
1. He likes holograms
2. He is very old
3. He is not a Sith.

While good ol' JJ Abrams likes misdirection, this message has been echoed enough from Lucasfilm/Disney we can likely trust it. This is important for several reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that while Kylo idolizes his grandfather, Darth Vader, he is not being trained as a Sith by Snoke. Why is this, then? Sith have always been associated with the Dark Side of the force, but are not its only adherents (Night Sisters of the Clone Wars show, for example).

I don't need a reason

It has also been stated the Snoke is very old- older even than the Empire. With age and scars generally comes wisdom, so we can assume Snoke knows a thing or two. So why is *he* not a Sith?

For practical reasons, because the Sith have *also* failed. The so-called 'Rule of Two'- there always being a master and apprentice- fails in practice. Palpatine killed his Master. His apprentice, Vader, ultimately killed him. The power-hungry nature which the Rule of Two was supposed to contain only worked so well. Sith don't like being middle management.

So we have two failures- the Jedi and the Sith. It is already clear those using the Dark Side of the Force are not Sith in the VII-IX trilogy. So what of the Light Side? I believe this title is the clue- the Light Side users have also learned from the mistakes of their forbears and are now ready to evolve into something more effective, starting with Rey. This makes Luke, not the last Jedi alive, but the last Jedi.

Ever.

Dean is the author of the 3024AD series of science fiction stories (which should be on YOUR summer reading list). You can read his other ramblings and musings on a variety of topics (mostly writing) on his blog. When not holed up in his office
tweeting obnoxiously writing, he can be found watching or playing sports, or in his natural habitat of a bookstore.