It is when they’re being an ass. Last time I checked the sequel films aren’t the end of the world. Anyway, moving on.

Seems like just yesterday Maz was saying another story for another time. With JJ back I’m sure we’ll get an official story to how she got the Skywalker lightsaber, though.

 

Damn, it takes making a joke out of movie quotes to make you consider someone an ass?

 

The only problem I have with Maz Kanata is why in the hell would you cast Lupita Nyong'o and then use her as a CGI character.....

 

That's the one thing I've been wanting to know this whole time. I hope we get the answer.

 

In case anyone's interested, MSW recently did a podcast that most likely confirmed...

Spoiler

the whole Kylo Ren and the Spider Oracle part of the leak that was talked about a few weeks ago. The worst part is that said leaks and rumors also confirmed that Kylo will have a romantic attraction towards Rey.
In other news, Zorry Bliss has also been confirmed to be an anti-hero, and she will have a connection to Rey as her ship is the same as the one that dropped Rey off on Jakku as a child.

 

Do people even care anymore. I'm not even planning to see it on the big screen unless it gets really good reviews. At the prices they now charge for films, it's not worth my time unless it's good, and for a few dollars more if I wait a few months I can just buy the Bluray.

 

Spoiler

TLJ pretty much spelled out that Kylo has a romantic attraction towards Rey, though. (And I SO hope the pairing doesn’t become canon)

 

I really don't get why they're pushing...

Spoiler

...the Rey and Kylo romance.

Post-TFA, "Reylo" was a huge joke. It was taken seriously by the Tumblr shipping/fanfiction crowd, but the rest of the Internet was laughing at it.

I don't necessarily object to some romantic tension between the two. Before meeting, neither probably had too many peers of the opposite sex. Obviously there might be some...new feelings going on. For all intents and purposes, I actually think this is one thing TLJ handled well. TLJ planted the idea of romance in our mind, but had Rey firmly make a decision (against joining Kylo). That should have been the beginning and end of any romantic plot.

But I think it would be laughable if the movie ends with them as a couple (as some rumors suggest), or if Kylo dies in Rey's arms as she cries or something. Rey having feelings for a guy who murdered his father and injured her best friend makes zero sense. He's just too bad a dune to be redeemed that much.

 

Well none of that sounds bad to me.

Spoiler

The Spider Oracle sounds neat to me, very SW assuming it’s executed well. Zorri Bliss’ ship, connection to Rey, antihero all that sounds right to me.

I have zero issue with Reylo, I think thematically it’s a done deal. The PT ended in a broken relationship and broken family. The OT healed the family through Vader’s sacrifice. The ST is going to end on a new relationship with these two, Rey’s going to redeem him. They’re not going to end “The Skywalker Saga” on a down note and another death. That goes with the whole female lead. Women win by healing things not killing them.

Maybe I’m wrong, I mean, I just think it’s probably the most likely route.

 

Ah yes, I too remember how in "A New Hope", Leia helped save the rebels in the battle over Yavin 4 by healing Tarkin despite how he had committed planetary genocide by murdering her homeworld of Alderaan - Oh wait, no, Leia helped smuggle the plans to destroy the Death Star to Yavin 4, which contributed to Tarkin's death when the rebels attacked the space station's weak points and blew it up.

But I do remember the time in "The Empire Strikes Back" where she and the others escaped Cloud City because Leia healed the stormtroopers who were so moved by her kindness that they allowed her and the others to escape - Oh wait, no, Leia actually helped Lando cover the others' escape by shooting stormtroopers.

Oh, but there was the time in "Return of the Jedi" where she convinced Jabba the Hutt to spare her friends by healing him despite how he had enslaved her and repeatedly molested her - Oh wait, no, she strangled the shit out of Jabba the Hutt. Like a boss.

Seriously, man, what's with the blatant sexism?

 

1. I do because it doesn't make any sense for there to be any romantic tension that isn't entirely one-sided on Kylo Ren's part.

It doesn't work with Rey's backstory nor with her previous interactions with Kylo Ren. Rey grew up in a scavenger community where she had to watch her back. She didn't grow up in a loving environment where she'd have been so sheltered that she wouldn't have be able to recognize abusive or threatening behavior or where she'd try to justify or downplay it because it is so at odds with her worldview.

Kylo Ren was a stranger who kidnapped her, tortured her, violated her mind and put the closest thing she had to a best friend in a coma. It doesn't matter if he's got pretty eyes or is related to nice people. That kind of traumatic events do not leave you open to romantic tension. It leaves you constantly on-guard around a person and careful to never betray any kind of vulnerability. Even if you somehow end up in a situation where you have to work with them or try to convince them to work with you, those guards stay up no matter what because they are not a choice, they are survival mechanism activated by that person did to you.

If Rey was going to go try to turn Kylo Ren to the lightside, she'd be guarded and cautious. She wouldn't be holding his hand in a cave.

If Rey had been close to Kylo before he turned evil, mutual Reylo would have been more believable because at least then Rey would have been trying to reconcile Ben Skywalker and Kylo Ren because she'd have trouble imagining that the person she knew could become the person he now is. She would have had happier memories of him and not purely associated him with bad things.

Also, people point to how Rey believed Finn about being a resistant fighter as evidence that she's naive and easily trusting, but that arguments ignores one important thing: BB-8 didn't contradict Finn.

2. That doesn't matter because Rey and Kylo Ren's first interactions was him kidnapping and torturing her. After that, she wouldn't be going going "oh my gosh pretty troubled boy", she'd be going "get away from me" because she'd associate him with the pain she experienced when he tortured her.

I don't like Reylo as anything except one-sided. Shippers are going to ship and that's all fine and dandy, but a canon ship is a beast of a different nature and Reylo should have never been let out into the wild. It should have stayed in the zoo of unused ideas.

3. At the moment, I don't think they can do a satisfying Kylo Ren redemption because yeah, he feels bad when he does evil things but he still does those evil things so he doesn't have any sympathetic qualities. It's the equivalent to me murdering someone and saying: "But I felt really bad about it." I then keep on killing people and using that same line. Not only does it not make me sympathetic, but it also makes me even less sympathetic.

Honestly, I don't see why Kylo Ren would be redeemed. Everybody who cared about him is dead. Now that I think about it, it would be a more fitting fate for him to die alone. He wants to be permanently divorced from the past and as he lies dying, he realizes what that means. He hasn't become stronger from it and he hasn't become more like Darth Vader. It doesn't solve his emotional conflict or provide him with any resolve. All it means is that he dies alone and unmourned because he's either killed or rejected anyone who did or could care about him.

 

Not gonna lie, I dig that design.

I mean they gave us the Republic gunship, one of the most awesome ships in the SW saga. It´s literally a space soviet Hind.

 

It’s not a sexist comment I am talking archetypal themes. I am not saying women always “heal” things, in every instance, and cannot use violence. I am talking about the larger plot and ending the franchise. Padme tries to “save” Anakin in ROTS and fails, she doesn’t take a knife to his throat. (small joke) Lucas’ theme throughout SW has always been the corrupting nature of violence and how the cycle feeds itself. Vader maims his son and passes the scar of violence onto his child, that’s some deep Lucas shit right there. Let me hit some of the big points in the story real quick.

1) Jedi cannot build and Army and fight a war it corrupts them fundamentally and destroys the Jedi Order
2) The violence of the Clone War destroys the bonds of planets and ends the Republic, birthing the Empire
3) The Chosen One falls and is NOT killed by Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan’s love for Anakin prevents him from ending him, which in-turn allows the Jedi to return in ROTJ. (Exactly like The Hobbit / LOTR when Bilbo spares Gollum)
4) Luke wins the Rebellion by not killing the Emperor, by being a true Jedi and not being sucked into a Sith fight.

Yes SW has always included violence and dispatching villains BUT the subtext of the story has always been that violence is bad and the scars of violence echo down through generations.

So again I think thematically that Rey is meant to heal and bring about reunification of the family, which in turn means saving Kylo. Saving Kylo in a way Padme was unable to save Anakin. It’s not sexist to say the feminine has a component of nurturing and healing, it’s always been an aspect of the feminine. The cycle of violence has to be broken to end “The Skywalker Saga.” So just to be clear I am not saying Rey isn’t going to kill Stormtroopers and perhaps Palpatine “like a boss.” Being able to deliver copious amounts of violence is in fact something Jedi do spectacularly but it’s not how they win.

 

You’re missing some plot points. First of all the characters have a kinship in that they are powerful force users and that makes them different from the rest of the universe and that is something they can see in each other. And despite Kylo’s protestation that this story “isn’t about her” he knows it is. They, by nature of their Force affinity, are in the “Great Game” of galactic domination.

Secondly Rey has seen inside Kylo’s mind. So yes he did all those things but she also knows him in ways other’s don’t. The audience “sees” Kylo is conflicted, Rey understands this conflict in a way we don’t. As referred by the fact that she risks her life to try and turn him back to the light. Why exactly do you think she goes to the Supremacy?

In terms of redeeming Kylo.... I mean first of all Vader was redeemed and that’s the entire point of redemption. Redemption isn’t qualitative. You don’t mete out redemption, it’s not justice. People aren’t deserving of redemption, that’s the whole fucking point of redemption.

 

Vader's redemption worked because he sacrificed himself while doing so. If Vader had survived, he probably wouldn't have gotten some happy ending. He probably would have been imprisoned, or maybe even executed by the Rebellion.

Kylo can redeem himself, but he shouldn't get some kind of happy ending where he marries Rey or something. He needs to die, or go into exile, or something along those lines. He can never truly live his life as Ben Solo again, unless they pull some kind of mind-wipe thing, or reveal he's been possessed by Palpatine this whole time (and his action weren't his own).

 

Sometimes we miss the most obvious things.... someone’s been talking to him this whole time.

Personally I would love Space Ronin. I can’t think of anything better than a conflicted exiled Jedi cowboying it through the Outer Rim. Righting wrongs and seeking redemption. Wait a second sounds like The Mandalorian....

Seriously I am betting full redemption and Ben alive. End it on a high-note. It’s undoubtably what Han and Lor San Tekka would want.

 

Ya know, the Knights of Ren annoy me. This is supposed to be a elite cult/hand picked warriors right? Why do they look like Mad Max rejects?

 

While I can’t say I like the KON Armor I do like it for one simple reason. It looks old and worn. My biggest design gripe for the ST is everything looks “new.” Lucas’ master stoke for the immersive nature of the OT was a “used” universe. I guess if the FO are all the gads about the universe they can look all spiffy and new but thank god the Knights at least look the part.... even if I’m not particularly fond of it.

 

I don’t know if anybody’s been to one of those new Look chain theaters, but today I visited one and saw a poster for this movie, but below it, there was a video player playing the trailer. I dunno, it was actually really cool.

 

Supposedly....

Spoiler

Those red star destroyers are all miniature death stars

And Zorry Bliss is Rey’s mother.