What did I just watch?!!! The Last Jedi

So.  I watched the Last Jedi again...

What the heck!

I absolutely love Star Wars Legends canon.  I felt betrayed by this movie.  I felt like that this wasn't right and didn't live up to my standards for a movie about the Last Jedi.  But I realized something...I was wrong.  If you care to open your mind to the possibilities of an uncommon opinion in the Star Wars fandom, I encourage you to read on:

Star Wars VIII:  The Last Jedi was good? ...

**** SPOILERS AHEAD ****

The first couple minutes of the movie, we see for the first time the full evacuation of a Rebel/Resistance Base.  I know in Episode V there is an evacuation of Hoth, but here we get to see the shuttles literally leaving the planet.  The tension is upped when the First Order arrives.  It increases more when the First Order Dreadnought arrives (we see this for the first time in the movies).  The threat is very real.


High Commander Hux:

And then we cut to Commander Poe in his fighter, stalling for the Resistance to evacuate.  His stalling has received much backlash.  I remember rolling my eyes when I first saw it.  But the second time I watched it, I thought about Hux's character.  Hux is incompetent.  (surprising I know.  Incompetent leaders of armies or fleets never happen...)


Hux's incompetence can be seen, and is kind of highlighted throughout the movie.  He's pulled around like a rag doll by Snoke, tossed into a wall by Kylo Ren, called an easily manipulated pawn by Snoke, and force choked by Kylo.  Hux continually makes wrong or foolish decisions (he's kind of like Hitler when Hitler started taking full command of German forces during World War II... ahem...invading Russia...Stalingrad...giving Rommel a break...)
Yeah, incompetent military leaders never happen right...

So I can totally go along with this scene:

(Skip to 1:04-2:08 if you wanna watch the conversation)

Now this isn't to say Hux is completely useless.  By the end of the movie, Hux has changed...  He realizes Kylo is the new supreme leader, but Hux sees himself better than Kylo.  Hux also changed the way how he went about killing the Resistance at the end of the movie too.  In other words.  He's learning.  I believe that this might lead to an interesting power struggle or confrontation between Hux and Kylo in Episode 9.  Hux might become a greater commander after learning from his failures and his burning desire to be the Supreme Leader will increase -- after he does feel entitled, considering who his father was -- how close his father was to Gallius Rax, the heir to the Galactic Empire by order of Emperor Palpatine --- and look, a connection back to the Original and Prequel Trilogy (dun, dun, dun!!)

Poe Dameron:

Not gonna lie.  I did not like Poe that much in episode 7 or 8...well, until I watched both of them again.  I respect his character.  It reminds me a lot of Han Solo's development.  Now, he obviously is no Han Solo -- he's kinda like a mix of the arrogance of a young Han, and the morality of a young Luke.  He is more arrogant than not, however.  He makes brash decisions and is always jumping into a battle.  This continues until Leia slaps and demotes him to Captain.

This slap is literally the start of Poe Dameron's character development from being a brash, arrogant pilot, to a growing leader.  I believe that Leia saw greatness in Poe.  At least the potential to be great.  She slapped him for not following orders.  You can see Leia's belief in Poe to have the potential in being a great leader when she tells him, "There are things that you cannot solve by jumping into an X-Wing and blowing something up. (*here's the key sentence*) I need you to learn that."  Also by her saying, "Dead heroes, no leaders," shows what she and the resistance needs.  Leia isn't stupid.  She knows what the Resistance needs.  She sees that they can't win their fight without strong leaders.  You can watch that here:

Poe continues to act arrogantly.  When Leia is almost killed, he goes behind Vice Admiral Holdo's back.  He eventually leads a mutiny.  Again, it takes Leia with a blaster to remind him what the Resistance needs:

Poe wakes up in a shuttle.  He's angry, but Leia continues to guide him.  Continues to believe that he can become a great leader.  I don't think any of this actually clicks with Poe until Vice Admiral Holdo sacrifices herself by jumping to lightspeed directly into Snoke's ship (probably the coolest space scene in star wars history).

But Poe learns.  When they are on Crait, and they fall back inside the Rebel base, Finn suggests that they fight the first order.  That they help Luke.  Poe stops him.  --- WHAT?!!!  IS THAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I SEE?!!!  RIDICULOUS!!! *Points wand at Ryan Johnson* Avada Kedavra...oh wait wrong fiction...)

Anyway.  Poe tells Finn and those listening that Luke is buying them time.  He tells them basically that they have to live to fight another day.  He then takes a quote that Vice Admiral Holdo said earlier in the film and twists it a little -- which by the way.  this shows he was actually listening to her.

When everyone hears what Poe says they look to Leia.  She tells them "Don't look at me."  This is actually really cool.  Leia sees that Poe has embraced his potential to be a leader and literally gives him a chance to lead!  Poe has changed.  I believe he will make an important high commanding officer before this trilogy is over.  Poe may be a little cocky still, but he is a growing leader.  After all:

Supreme Leader Snoke:

Oh Snoke, my boy.  :)

I will say this about Snoke:

I really thought Snoke's origins would have been revealed.  I was disappointed and still am when my expectations were...uh...cut in half.

However, Snoke establishes himself as an extremely powerful force user.  Now they never call him a Sith Lord.  But when I watch what he does, how could he not be the new Dark Lord of the Sith.  Someone had to take that mantle when Sidious died.  That someone was Snoke.

Just watch him literally blow Kylo away with his powers:

In a previous video, you could see him pull Hux around like a rag doll through a hologram.  This is crazy.  I think that he might have given Darth Sidious a run for his money.

Many say Snoke's character is lame.  Typical antagonist dark lord character.  :)  Snoke is driven by something.  Did you catch it?  He is terrified of Luke Skywalker.  Yep.  If you watch episode 7, what does he want?  To kill Luke.  In 8, he wants to kill Luke.  Luke is the only that he believes can stop him -- or at least be used as a beacon of hope to revitalize the resistance to fight against the First Order...(yeah, we'll get to that later...)

So, Snoke is driven by this fear.  So much, that this is the only thing that he thinks about.  He obviously has nothing to fear but Skywalker.  Look at his amazing power, no one could possibly challenge him.  He's superior to all that are around him.  People fear him.  So he only focuses on finding and killing Skywalker.  He links Kylo Ren's and Rey's minds together, to reveal the location of Luke on Ach-To.

Ultimately, Snoke's ambition to find Skywalker, as well as his fear that Skywalker will return from hiding begins to blind Snoke from the realities around him.  In other words, with all his power:

This arrogance will be Snoke's downfall.  He doesn't truly realize the conflict in Kylo Ren's heart...or maybe he does.  Maybe he wanted Kylo to fully fall to the darkside and the only way to do that was to kill himself...thank's papa Snoke.  No.  Snoke wouldn't just give up his powers.  He is in essence, the Dark Lord of the Sith.  And just like Palpatine said, "All who have power fear to lose it."  So no, I don't think Snoke saw Kylo's betrayal.  He was blinded in the moment, desiring Rey to die.  This was because he called her a "True Jedi" meaning that she had to perish.

BUT WAIT A MINUTE!!!!  A Dark Lord of the Sith blinded in the moment!!!  Why, that's never happened in the history of Star Wars!!!  It's insulting!!!

By the way.  Snoke is betrayed.  He is killed...

Now, unlike some, I truly believe Snoke is dead.  Only light side users have been able to figure out immortality.  True, this could have been learned by Snoke, but wouldn't his body have faded away instantly when he died?  Just like Obi-Wan in episode 4, or Yoda in episode 6, or Luke in episode 8?  Cause it doesn't.  And if it was a hologram projection of his body, like what Luke does, again, wouldn't his body fade away?  Because it doesn't.  His corpse is still there after Kylo wakes up and becomes the new Supreme Leader.


Finn:

Finn is an interesting character.  In episode 7, he is on the run.  He doesn't want anything to do with anyone.  In fact, if he hadn't run into Han Solo or Rey in episode 7, he probably would've followed the character named DJ as some kind of smuggler/war profiteer.  But guess what.  He developed as a character.  Bravo Finn, bravo!

Finn has turned into a pretty cool resistance fighter.  His story in no way is close to Kyle Katarn's legends story, but hey.  Finn was a Stormtrooper.  He ran away and met a girl.  He held and wielded a lightsaber in episode 7 rather well (until the whole back cut up thing, that is).  If you remember, Kyle was an Imperial who turned away from the Empire along with his partner Jan.  Kyle became a great rebel soldier and eventually a Jedi Master in Luke's academy.  It does make wonder about the possibilities...

Finn has changed when he wakes in episode 8.  He doesn't want to run from the Resistance.  He wants to help it.  He also wants to help Rey, who he believes is very important to the Resistance.  So he hatches a plan with Poe to go and find a hacker who can get them onto Snoke's ship to disable the hyperspace tracker.

And here comes Rose.  Now I'm really trying here, so bear with me.  This arc is hard to follow and kind of boring/annoying.  Rose, a resistance cleaner (oddly Finn said that he was mop for the First Order :( -- oh please don't be a love triangle) and Finn go to Cantonica, which is basically a world with a Mos Eisley feel, except for really rich people.  To be honest, the only purpose this arc serves is to show Rose's celebrity crush on Finn, the reality of war profiteering, animal cruelty in the Galaxy for entertainment, and in my opinion -- most importantly introducing Temiri Blagg.  Temiri Blagg might hold the future for the potential New Jedi Order under a hypothetical new Grand Master Rey.  Holy crap.  Star Wars is on rest on your shoulders Temiri.

Anyway, Finn and Rose get arrested.  They meet a guy who I can only describe as a mercenary.  DJ.  I hate his character.  But I think that was meant to be like that.  DJ says that either way both sides fight, and people keep getting rich from war profiteering.  I agree with Finn when DJ betrays them.  There is obviously a good and bad side.  Sure not everything is black and white, but there is a vast difference in the tactics used by the First Order and the Resistance.

DJ helps the two get on to Snoke's ship.  They are captured when DJ betrays them -- surprise, a mercenary betrayed you for more money :)  Now here is a good scene.  Finn reunited with Captain Phasma.  And what a great fight that was:

Finn's character development is truly seen during the Battle of Crait.  He tries to sacrifice himself for the Resistance.  :)  This is how you know character development exist.  The Finn from episode 7 would never sacrifice himself for anyone, until the end of episode 7 when he tries to save Rey and fights Kylo.  Now whether or not he would have succeeded in blowing up the First Order's new toy, I don't know.  Rose kind of knocked him out of the way, but the speeder he was driving was basically melting apart.  I speculate that his speeder would have been destroyed before he even got to the big gun.  I kinda wish Rose would've died saving Finn.  It would have meant more.  Now Rose is definitely no Jar Jar.  Those who think so:

Rose lives though...(sorry in my stories some character's gotta die...it adds more tension and drama).  And Rose and Finn kiss...(PLEASE don't make a love triangle...)  Anyway, Finn takes Rose back to the base on Crait.  This is where Luke shows up and the Resistance escapes.

Finn clearly develops as a capable leader during this movie.  This goes back to the theme that Leia is looking for new, young and strong leaders to well lead the Resistance.  I definetly see Finn as some commander in the Resistance -- after all during the Rebellion against the Empire, many high commanding Rebels were once Imperials -- look at Agent Kallus.  Either Finn will become a commander in the resistance or his potential force powers will be awakened and Rey will teach him to become a Jedi in her potential New Jedi Order.  Either way, I think Finn has an interesting future ahead of him.


Leia:

Ok, I just want to start off by saying this movie was Carrie Fisher's finest performance.  I'm incredibly sad that she passed away.  I don't know how JJ is going to go about using Leia in Episode 9, but I hope that whatever happens will give the fullest honor and respect to the memory of Carrie Fisher and the character of Leia Organa.

Ok.  Here we go.  This was by far Leia's finest hour.  She is dealing with the death of her husband.  In case you didn't know, their is a braid in Leia's hair referred to as an Alderaanian mourning braid -- in reference to Han Solo's death.

Despite her loss, Leia is still the strong character that she always has been.  She leads a retreat from the Resistance Base.  However, Leia isn't the main focus of the film.  It's the new kids who are.  But Leia is the wise mentor for several of these character's, especially Poe Dameron.  She sees the potential for a great leader in Poe and helps him embrace this as the movie progresses.  Her inspiration keeps several resistance fighters and leaders going.

Now the controversy.  The command bridge on the Raddus is blown up, sucking all of the Resistance's leadership into space, including Leia.  Huh...  Leia uses the force to bring herself back into the ship.  This unfortunately/fortunately(?) has brought about videos like this :)

For starters, Leia has always had force powers.  She can hear Luke's voice in episode 5 (you know...when Luke doesn't want to be left hanging there), can sense that Luke is alright when the Death Star II blows up in episode 6, and she knows that Luke and her are siblings in episode 6.  I suspect that Luke taught her at least some basics in regards to the force.  She had to have been strong.  After all, Yoda refers to her in episode 5 when talking to Obi-Wan by saying "There is another."

Now, how did she survive space for that long?  It's been done before by Jedi/Force Users:

Thank you Kanan.

Now as the movie progresses Leia continues to mentor Poe -- it kind of STUNNED me when she woke from her comma though...probably was just as stunned as Poe...

Leia leads what's left of the Resistance to Crait.  Here, we actually see Leia lose hope.  Their big door got blown open.  She knows there is only one way in and out.  She knows they're done for.  And then the thing that Snoke feared the most happens.  Luke appears.  Hope is restored.  Luke was that spark.

(sorry no audio besides binary sunset tune):

Leia, with a renewal of hope, steps back to let Poe lead the Resistance out of Crait.  She finds Rey and both of them sense Luke's passing.  This has to be another blow to Leia, but she fights on.  She remains the strong and wise leader/teacher/mentor that she is.  Especially to Rey, who needs it more than ever with Luke's passing.

Leia may not have had much character development, but gosh.  She was still Leia.  Thank you Carrie Fisher for playing this role for as many years as you have and for all the other great things you did with your life.

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo:

Kylo Ren.  Yes.  Now we're moving into the super important characters.  Kylo Ren is probably my favorite character in regards to character development in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.  Ok, Swolo memes aside, Kylo did amazing in this movie.  Originally I expected Kylo to actually become Ben again and then Rey become a dark side character.  However, what happen plays out well.

Kylo Ren is amazing and you have got to give him some credit.  In episode 7, Kylo killed his father, Han Solo.  Yep, bring back those flashbacks folks...  Kylo killed his dad.  That absolutely wrecks him.  You can see when Kylo is internally fighting to decide on actually killing Han and his face when he does kill Han isn't exactly satisfaction.  At the end of 7, Kylo loses to Rey in a lightsaber duel.  I thought this was incredibly annoying the first time I watched it, but Snoke also realized this and it's perfect :)

Kylo remains conflicted as the movie continues.  He destroys his helmet, letting the "past die" as he says.  He goes to attack the Raddus, and shows off his piloting skills.  When he has the bridge in range, there is a long scene of him hesitating and finally deciding not to kill his mother.  If this doesn't show inner conflict, I don't know what does.


Kylo's connection to Rey's mind is fascinating.  We knew it was something that happened between force users - we see this with Luke and Leia (but the best part is this is something taken straight from Legends where Jedi masters and apprentices communicate with each other and such [found in books]).  It's just really cool to see it on screen.  Sure the Swolo scene was kinda unnecessary, but what is said in these scenes are.

You know, Kylo may never say he's a sith, but he is a sith.  He is an expert manipulator.  Every scene were Kylo and Rey speak to each other, Kylo manipulates Rey.  Kylo is driven to get back on Snoke's good side.  He knows finding Luke will do that.  So he manipulates Rey to get closer to him; to feel bad for him.  I believe Kylo would have found where Rey was (on Ach-To) if Luke hadn't come in and broke the connection.

Kylo puts seeds of doubt in Rey.  He tries to convince her that he is right.  He makes himself look hopeless to gain her trust.  His true cards are revealed when he sees Snoke's dead body.  I believe that this moment was the point of no return.  Ben Solo officially died in that scene.  Kylo Ren fully embraced the dark side and took the power vacuum created by Snoke's death.  He became the new Supreme Leader.  In essence, though he'd never say this, he became the new Dark Lord of the Sith.

Kylo's attack on Crait is fascinating.  You begin to see the tension rising between Hux and Kylo.  Kylo's commands are impulsive.  It goes from sending every fighter after the Falcon because he wants that "piece of junk blown from the sky."  Kylo then sees Luke appear and orders every gun to fire on him in an amazing scene of red dust.  Kylo prepares to fight Luke, tossing Hux aside when Hux says that this is a foolish thing and they should finish the Resistance --

Kylo fights Luke in an amazing duel.  It ends with Luke revealing he was just a projected image of himself.  Kylo is furious.  He leads his troops into the Rebel Base, where Kylo finds his father's dice.  Here we see almost regret or anger in Kylo.

The last scene with Kylo in it is the last telepathic connection with Rey.  He clearly wants her to join him, but she literally shuts the door on that thought.


Kylo Ren developed a lot in this movie.  Yeah, it may have been to an even more evil and powerful villain, but he did develop.  The best part is he isn't just an evil character because he's evil.  He has a legitimate reason to be evil.  Luke did try to kill him, just like Snoke had manipulated him into believing would happen.  Kylo is also conflicted with his father's death, infuriated by his uncle, and apparently very confused when it comes to his mother.  Imagine if Anakin's force ghost appeared to him...

Rey:

Oh, Rey.  Ok.  Many say Rey is a Mary Sue.  A character who gets everything right with little to no experience with no problems and has no flaws.  The perfect character essentially.  To be honest, I believed for a long time that she was a Mary Sue.  It took me a while to see things differently.

Snoke literally says why Rey is so powerful:

He tells her that as Kylo grew stronger, something would rise to challenge/balance out his power.  That person is Rey.  Anyone who is a Star Wars fan who has tried to understand the force knows that balance in the force is very important.

Anyway.  Rey starts off on Ach-To.  She follows Luke around, trying to get him to train her.  Luke continues to refuse.  During this time, a mind connection is made between Rey and Kylo.  Kylo begins manipulating Rey, starting to make her doubt that Luke is the good guy that everyone says he is.

Luke eventually does agree to train Rey, by teaching her three lessons.  The first lesson was that all things have the force inside of it, therefore, force users can be anyone whose potential is tapped.  The second lesson is that the hubris (excessive pride/self confidence) of the Jedi blinded them.  He explains that with all their power and strength they couldn't sense the rise of Darth Sidious and Vader.  (which actually kind of explains some things from the Prequels on the blindness of the Jedi -- also expanded upon in Star Wars Rebels when Yoda speaks to Ezra:)

The third lesson given was actually a deleted scene.  As far as I know, it is still considered canon.  It is the one scene that I really wish wasn't cut from the movie because it has so much packed in it.  Out of all the deleted scenes, this is the one scene that should not have been cut.  Here it is:

These three lessons are important for Rey, though she doesn't really believe them at first.  She continues to worry about her friends who are dying.  Rey does learn about how Luke almost killed Kylo and Luke's immediate regret afterwards.  Rey decides to listen to Kylo's advice, and believes that she can save him -- to turn him back to Ben Solo.  Rey leaves Luke, and is captured by Kylo shortly after.

Rey finally meets Snoke (that first video in this Rey section).  Snoke is betrayed by Kylo.  Rey believes that Ben is back and has returned to the light.  An epic fight ensues (this is the best fight in the movie and I'd be a poor Star Wars fan if I didn't post it here :)  )

As Kylo kills the Praetorians, this floats in my head.  Kylo got a Pentakill on that last one...

With Snoke and the Guards dead, Rey believes that she saved Ben.  But Kylo realizes Snoke is really dead.  He tries to manipulate Rey, using her greatest weakness.  Her parents.  Kylo claims they were nobody (I still question whether this is the truth or another lie to manipulate Rey -- only time will tell).  Rey refuses to join Kylo and the both of them pull the Skywalker lightsaber apart.  This is actually a cool scene cause it shows the power of light and dark -- almost a  Yin Yang thing.  It's pretty cool.  Both get knocked unconscious, but in a surprise turn of events, the Hero wakes up before the villain :)

Rey takes the remains of the Skywalker Lightsaber and steals Snoke's ship.  She returns to the Falcon where Chewie and her enter the Battle of Crait.  They draw the TIE fighters away in yet another cool Falcon dogfight.  Rey's skills with a gun turret have gotten pretty good.

Rey ends up saving the Resistance from Crait, by revealing her powers to them in moving a bunch of rocks.  They escape Crait.  Rey along with Leia sense that Luke has died.  Rey says she isn't sad, but at peace.  This is a huge thing considering that would not be the response of someone who wasn't becoming a Jedi -- learning to control their emotions and such.

We also learn that Rey took the Jedi texts that Luke thought were destroyed.  Rey ends her connection with Kylo when he tries to communicate with and most likely manipulate her one last time.  This is epic because it shows how she grew throughout the movie.  Luke kept on telling her that the Dark Side calls to her, and that she just went right to it when given the choice.  This temptation is a problem for Rey throughout the whole movie.  But in this last scene, Rey doesn't even speak to Kylo.  She just looks at him and ends the connection.  This shows how much she has changed from being brash and easily drawn to the temptation of the dark side.  Rey is definitely NOT a Mary Sue.

Rey is an interesting character but she isn't my favorite.  I do wish she would have far more character development.  But this is where my speculation comes in.  My hopes.  The future of the Jedi rests on Rey's shoulders.  I truly do think that Rey will become like the legends Luke.  She will recreate the Jedi Order and become the Grand Master.  I believe that Finn potentially could become a Jedi as well as Temiri Blagg.  Rey will succeed where Luke did not.  I believe that great things can be done through Rey, and I truly hope these things come to fruition.  On top of that, this is just a super wish.  I hope that when Rey constructs her own lightsaber (and she will :), I hope that she uses the Skywalker Crystal and constructs a Saber Staff.  We saw Maul with one.  It's time to see a Jedi with one.

Luke:

Now here we go.  The most controversial part of the film.  Luke Skywalker.  The hermit?!

Luke has abandoned all of his hopeful beliefs.  He's not the cheery Jedi we knew.  Luke did something terrible so that no one could find him or communicate with him.  He cut himself off from the force.  (BY THE WAY THIS OPENS UP SOME HUGE DOORS.  Anyone remember the famous Jedi who got cut off from the force -- The Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik -- That's right!!  Legends concepts are coming back into canon folks!!)

Now the question has come up many times.  How could someone who saved Vader, the ultimate evil in the galaxy, loose hope in everything he believed to be true and become a hermit?  Oh, poor Luke.

You know.  I don't think it's ever happened in the history of Star Wars where Jedi go into self-exile after tragic events.  OH WAIT!!!!!!  Let's go to Legends first.  Remember the First Jedi Purge from KOTOR II?  What did the Jedi Masters do during that time?  Oh, yeah that's right.  They went into hiding on planets that are hard to sense the presence of a force user.  They hid from the Sith because they knew if they met together again they would draw the Sith out, just like what happened on Katarr. The Sith killed all the Jedi on Katarr if you remember.  And Darth Traya killed the remaining Jedi Masters on Dantooine when they came out of hiding to strip the force away from the Exile -- Remember this:

(4:48 where Kavar talks about severing the force

8:35 is the Exile's sentence

9:02 is the passing of judgement :)

11:50 Masters being stripped of the force forcibly)

In canon, Jedi going into hiding never happened... WAIT A SECOND.  Remember those movies that a lot of people hated for some dumb reason before the Sequel movies came out.  I think they were called the Prequels or something like that.  Remember the Great Jedi Purge?

Remember what Yoda said after the initial days of the Purge?

Now I want people to think hard here.  Obi-Wan was on Tatooine with Luke.  He literally just lost everything.  His very way of life, people he grew up with, people he respected, people he trained.  All of them gone in a matter of days.  His home - the Temple - was invaded by outsiders and desecrated.  Children were murdered.  Do you really think that Obi-Wan is ready to fight the Empire head on and fight Sidious.  Even Yoda couldn't beat Sidious.

And here's another thing.  Yoda was defeated by Sidious.  He went into a lonesome exile on Dagobah.  You know what happens when you stay alone for almost 30 years of solitude.  You kinda start to loose it.

But I'm wrong obviously.  Jedi self-exile never happens...


Anyway.  Here is Luke.  He has this great responsibility to bring back the Jedi Order.  To train the next generation.  And he's doing it alone.  Out of the blue, his sister has a son named Ben.  He takes Ben to train him, sensing his power.  Ben is basically to Luke as Anakin was to Obi-Wan.  Luke poured all of his knowledge into Ben and trained him so that one day he too could become a great leader in the new Jedi Order.

And of course the dark side meddles.  Snoke manipulates Ben.  Ben doesn't believe Snoke's lies until Luke attempts to kill him.  Ben goes on a rampage.  He kills everyone who was training to become a Jedi.  He burns the new temple to the ground.  He leaves nothing left alive.  Luke's greatest achievement betrayed him, just like Rey says.

Luke not only held himself responsible for the deaths of all the new Jedi, he also held himself responsible for Ben's fall to the Dark Side (sounds kind of similar to Obi-Wan when he talks about Anakin to Luke on Dagobah in episode 6).  Beyond that Luke feels great failure believing he failed Obi-Wan and Yoda and the concept of restoring the Jedi Order.  The one that takes it all is his failure to keep a promise he made with Leia to keep Ben safe.  He failed his sister and his best friend.  All of this is on Luke's shoulders.  That's more than Yoda and Obi-Wan faced during the Great Jedi Purge.  Can someone please understand why Luke would self-exile himself and fall into an almost depression like state?  For crying out loud, Luke cut himself off from the force.  To do so...well it isn't good.

Listen to Kriea from KOTOR II on explaining what it feels like to be cut off from the force:

AND HERE'S THIS IF YOU ARE WILLING TO WATCH:

Now just imagine Luke without his connection to the Force on top of all the loss and failure piled on.  You can pretty much understand why he refuses to return and why he continues to hide on Ach-To.  Luke is broken and not even really a Jedi anymore.  He sees the many flaws in being a Jedi.  When Rey comes to him he wants nothing to do with the Jedi anymore.  He refuses to get involved.  He just wants to die on Ach-To.

In one of the most important scenes for Luke in the movie, R2-D2, ever the hero, reminds Luke who he is.

R2's help convinces Luke to train Rey in three lessons, which I already mentioned.  But see the best part is this connection back to Obi-Wan (THE GREAT JEDI MASTER OBI-WAN!!)

Obi-Wan lost everything.  The man who he saw as a son and brother betrayed him.  He basically had to kill his best friend.  In case you didn't how much this affected him let me remind you here:

The only thing that kept Obi-Wan sane was this little baby boy named Luke.  He had promised to protect him and one day train him.  He held onto the belief that this new hope would emerge - Luke.

When Luke began training Rey, I believe something clicked in him as he trained her.  That he found something super important -- Purpose.  Because if you remember, Luke reconnected himself to the force only after he started training Rey.  In doing so it opened up many doors.  Because Luke had severed himself from the force, Yoda, Anakin, and Obi-Wan couldn't speak to him.  When he reconnected and Rey left, what happened?  Yoda appeared!!  And it was probably one of the best Yoda words of wisdom scenes ever.

Yoda reminds Luke who he is.  Notice in this entire scene, Yoda never says it is time for the Jedi to end.  He tells Luke it's time for him to look past a pile of old books.  Yoda encourages Luke to help and guide Rey.  When Luke protests, Yoda talks about failure being the greatest teacher.  The most important thing Yoda tells Luke is that the true burden of being a master is to be willing to let go of your students. 

!!!!  If you remember the Clone Wars and Prequels, this was Anakin's greatest flaw.  He couldn't let go.  He didn't want to let his mother go.  He didn't want to let Ahsoka go.  He didn't want to let Padme go.  His fear turned into anger.  Luke was different though.  He just remained fearful of failure.  Yoda's advice encouraged Luke to do what had to be done.


Luke returned.  He saw his sister for the last time.  You know what the best part of this scene is though?  Not necessarily Luke and Leia reunited.  But how the Resistance troops just gawk as Luke walks out to fight the First Order.  This is what Snoke feared the most.  A single Jedi can change the outcome of a war, and he knew that.  Luke was that spark of hope; that spark of courage that the Resistance needed.

And he fought Kylo Ren -- essentially the new Dark Lord of the Sith:

START AT 6:43 FOR FIGHT

Luke had projected himself using the force in the end.  This was an epic show of the Force.  Luke becomes one with the force shortly after in one of the coolest setting scenes ever.

Luke had development in this movie.  He had to face his failures.  He had to let go of the past.  He became a Jedi again.  That's at least what Kanan would say:

1:17-1:34 FOR THE PART HE SAYS ABOUT BEING A JEDI

Luke's last words to Kylo are perfect.  "The Rebellion is reborn.  The war has just begun.  Most importantly the Jedi will live on after Luke is gone."  The JEDI WILL LIVE ON!!  LUKE IS NOT GOING TO BE THE LAST JEDI.

This furthers my belief that Rey will become the new Grand Jedi Master and rebuild the Jedi Order.  If you know legends Luke, then you know that he didn't do everything the same that the Old Jedi Order did.  He changed things.  He tweaked philosophies.  His New Jedi Order was different from the Old.  I believe that Rey will do something similar.  Rather, I hope Rey will do something similar.



AND NOW:

Oh boy.  We've just gone through the development of the major characters in this story.  The gist is, the resistance was in need of strong leaders, and by the end they had two strong ones in Finn and Poe.  Kylo was a conflicted character who fully embraced the Dark Side.  Rey has so much potential and I hope to see a lot of character development in the next movie.


On top of this, I do still have problems.  Vice Admiral Holdo needs to be addressed.  I have no justification for how she acts towards Poe.  I understand not keeping him in the loop for everything, but I think she, as a commander, should have told everyone what the plan was so that they felt secure in knowing there was a plan in first place.  I really didn't like her character - probably cause she was a static character.  However, she was essential in Poe's development.  That is the only redeeming quality I see in her.  And of course there is her sacrifice.  But I feel like that her sacrifice didn't have a huge impact, despite it finally making Poe realize he needs to be a leader.  Other than that, her death was pointless.  In my opinion characters who you invest in a lot should be killed because they will have the most impact when they die.  If you kill a character who you aren't invested in then what is the point.  Anyway, here is the best Star Wars space scene ever:

And then there is Rose.  She is the traditional support character.  She basically has a celebrity crush on Finn.  That is ok, but please make it stop there.  I think a stupid love triangle would be a bad idea.  This trilogy doesn't need a love triangle.  I do wish Rose would've died during the Battle of Crait.  Her sacrifice to save Finn would've meant a lot to Finn's character development and maybe a couple others who knew Rose. -- see her death would've worked better than Holdo's because she had far more screen time than  But she didn't die, so I hope that if she is to stay with the main cast that she starts having some proper development as a character than remaining a static character.

I did think it was odd that they used the real puppet Yoda for Yoda in the movie, but I got over that real quick.  Thank you Frank Oz!!!

You know.  Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi did have some flaws.  It definitely didn't meet many's expectations.  It took me a while to grapple with it.  But I finally found the light.  Because when it comes down to it, it's still Star Wars.  That's gotta count for something.  There were still epic Star Wars scenes in this movie.  Yeah, it wasn't what many of us expected, but gosh was it a ride.  I encourage you to rewatch this if you haven't yet.  It is a valued member of the Skywalker Saga.

AND ALSO.  I heard something about how "fans" gave death threats to Ryan Johnson over this movie.  REALLY.  What the heck guys?!  You are no fans if you're giving death threats to people.  That's ridiculous.  You know what it reminds me of? :

Yep...you know where this is going

Now I'm not going to give a rating for this movie.  It seems when I give ratings it confuses people.  So I'll just say if you haven't seen the movie  -- THEN WHY IN THE HECK DID YOU READ THIS!!! --- HAHA --- but seriously if you haven't seen this yet, watch the movie.  If you had and you're still mad at it, I hope that you read this and can watch it again.  If you have seen it already and have no qualms with it, well watch it again cause it's Star Wars.

Remember, when it comes down to it, it is Star Wars.  Legend's stuff is coming back into canon, folks!!  We still have hope.

Thanks for reading and have an epic day!

AND LASTLY HUGE THANKS TO THE AMAZING JOHN WILLIAMS FOR CONDUCTING YET AGAIN MORE MOVIE SCORES FOR STAR WARS:

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