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theshijlegacy · 4 years

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Rise of Skywalker ramblings

Saw RoS last night and loved it.

I’d seen the mixed reviews and was a bit apprehensive going in, but was pleasantly surprised in a lot of ways. It kept some of the spirit of TLJ that I liked while still delivering a lot of the “safer” Star Wars story that I expected. Being part of a super enthusiastic opening night crowd is always fun too. And it’s nice to see that I’m not the only person who liked the whole 7-8-9 trilogy!

Spoileriffic thoughts below.

--Rey Palpatine was one of the theories I’d kicked around, but it would have been nice if she really was nobody, like the Force doesn’t care who you’re related to. Timeline-wise she would have been better off as his great-granddaughter but I completely buy Sheev having lots of kids and/or having some later in life.

--I’d been running with the “Skywalker is the new name for Force user” theory for a while, but I’m OK with Rey adopting it as her last name. She doesn’t have to be a Palpatine and the name of the family that saved the galaxy is continuing.

--HOLY CRAP FINN IS FORCE SENSITIVE. I would love it if that was what he wanted to tell Rey. (Best answer from Reddit: “I’m in love with Poe and don’t know how to tell him!”)

--Ben Solo didn’t make it to the end! I was convinced he’d get a redemption arc and live happily ever after. Props to JJ/whoever for going in that direction, especially with the Jedi fadeout.

--The opening crawl getting right to "oh hey the emperor isn't really dead.” So happy they didn't drag out the “when-do-we-see/hear-the-emperor???” mystery

--Sheev Palpatine and his motherfucking contingencies for contingencies, plans-within-plans shit. This guy was a thousand steps ahead of everyone else, all the time. Got a glimpse of that in Empire’s End too.

--LOL the tank of Snoke clones. Sheev loves his clones, in both canon and legends!

--Poe’s lightspeed skipping. Poe being an ex-spice runner. Poe and Zorii! Poe in general. Poe is great.

--Luke/Leia training flashback!! Leia's lightsaber!!!! Which she presumably built herself!!!!!

--3-way Finn/Poe/Rey hug. And the sound of a thousand fanfics being composed…

--More First Order defectors who had been kidnapped as children. (Also a plot point in Empire’s End, complete with a 6-year-old-ish Armitage Hux ordering around a group of kidnapped-and-brainwashed child recruits)

--Hux being the mole, not because he agrees with the resistance, but because he hates Kylo Ren. I bet he was hatching a plan as soon as Snoke was killed.

--Force-healing onscreen! And it wasn’t just “Force magic” (which I also would have been OK with), it was actual taking life from one to give to another.

--Rey was noticeably better at lightsaber fighting. She was… not great in TFA. Only slightly better in TLJ. Her year of training really shows and I like that we’ve seen a pretty clear progression.

--Rey stopping that transport with some Kyle Katarn shit and Kylo trying to get it back and OH SHIT REY SHOT OUT FORCE LIGHTNING

--Palpatine: GLADoS edition has been added to my recent “horrifying scene that works but really gives me the creeps” list (also includes flashback to Coulson resuscitation/brain surgery with him repeating “just let me die” on Agents of SHIELD, Brainy getting rebooted on Supergirl)

--Aside from his GLADoS-esque support arm complete with wires, I liked undead-Palpatine's look - missing fingers, whited-out eyes, and his transformation after he stole life from Rey & Kylo. Especially the red-lined robes.

--Got serious Endgame vibes at the end with all the ships showing up. Husband unit also pointed out the parallel of “I am inevitable”/”I am Iron Man” and “I am all Sith”/”I am all Jedi”

--OMG ALL THE JEDI SPEAKING TO REY. I didn’t recognize everything at first but I heard Obi-Wan (young & old), Yoda, Mace Windu, Ahsoka(!!!!!), and Anakin. Per the credits, voices also included Qui-Gon(!), Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, and Kanan Jarrus(!!!!!). Two notable absences: Cal Kestis and Ezra Bridger. I can accept Cal’s fate as TBD since Fallen Order just came out, but this is really good news for Ezra. I am now super super interested to see where these two have been.

--Kept the Rey/Kylo force-connection deal. It weirded me out in TLJ but I’m really glad it was kept here.

--Wedge coming back for one last ride! (and aging pretty well, wow)

--RIP Snap. :-( I’d grown a bit attached to him after the Aftermath trilogy, but I think Norra and Brentin would have been proud.

-- ForceGhost!Luke has a new attitude; I guess being dead for a while tends to mellow you out. I am still 100% OK with his character in this trilogy.

--Kylo not being as good at fighting after he dropped the dark-side allegiance – specifically the 6v1 fight against the Knights of Ren before he got the lightsaber. Like he'd been into it so deep for so long he forgot how to fight without it.

--Han coming back one last time for some Ghost Dad Advice

--THANKS FOR NOT KILLING CHEWIE!! I was seriously worried

--Rey fights herself!

--Where can I buy a replica of that Sith wayfinder? I do like shiny force-user crystals/holocrons/etc

--Rey finally builds her own lightsaber! And it’s yellow.

--TAKE THAT REYLOS: Oh you want a kiss huh? There’s your kiss! AND NOW HE’S DEAD.

--That whole scene. Kylo staring at dead Rey. Kylo force-healing Rey and bringing her back to life. And now they’re staring at each other, and I’m thinking don’t kiss you idiots, don’t fucking do it. FUCK they did. I actually booed out loud. (I will not deny being a little bit happy that Kylo died immediately after)

--All of the “are you happy Ep 7 & 8 haters???” stuff: Rey is super powerful because she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter, someone bringing up a “why don’t we Holdo this” argument and getting shot down with good reason, showing Leia’s Force powers with a flashback to being trained by Luke AND having her own lightsaber

--The urgent timeline got kind of.. muddled? Forgotten? They had 18 hours or 12 and still had time for all those spacejumps and Lando gathering friends from all over?

--A bit too on-the-nose with some of the ROTJ parallels. Lando in disguise saving the day on a desert planet! Speeder bike chase! Emperor taunting Our Hero while their friends are losing a huge battle outside! A Skywalker dies so Our Hero can live!

--Also wondered if one of the writers played SWTOR: Emperor who really isn’t dead uses Super Mega Force Lightning and tries to jump into Our Hero’s body to take over their mind.

After chewing on this for a day, here’s my ranking of Skywalker/Palpatine saga films from best to worst:

5 > 8 > 9 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 3 > 2 > 1

And including Solo and Rogue One:

5 > Rogue One > 8 > 9 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 3 > Solo > 2 > 1

tbh I’m so far into the “inject all Star Wars content directly into my veins pls” territory that I can’t say I hate any of it, and even the cringiest prequel moments are leaps and bounds ahead of a lot of other junk I’ve watched/read/played. So much about Star Wars is just FUN, and I will gladly handwave away most of my nitpicks (SpeedForce, I ain’t gotta explain shit) for the sake of enjoying the story. Even the ridiculous stuff that I poke fun at is still a part of the whole mess; it can’t all be great or even good or OK and that is fine with me. [NOTE: I have not watched the Holiday Special but the husband unit is weirdly enthusiastic about me doing so; it may happen yet this year.]

I really like this comment from the A.V. Club. More cynical than my overall take on the whole shebang but I totally know with where they’re coming from. I don’t agree with all the responses but it’s a pretty good discussion.

#rise of skywalker spoilers #episode 9 spoilers #spoilers

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