#bensolodeservesbetter

Rey: Okay.

Ben: What?

Rey: Sure. Since you already know the way... Besides, why bother the trouble to find the second wayfinder in a dangerous mission? You've already found one, let's use that.

Ben: Really?

Rey: Plus, it would be better to have help while facing the Emperor. And since we both want him dead and we make a pretty good team, as we established in the previous film...

Ben: Whoa, whoa! So you're saying... you are going to Exegol with me?

Rey: Of course! It would be very stupid of me to go alone. Why would I?

Ben: Yeah, that would be dumb. So... Aren't you going to fight me?

Rey: Why?

Ben: We are in the death star, I guess a lightsaber duel would be very dramatic and visually outstanding.

Rey: Ben, if I wanted you dead, I'd kill you in the throne room while you were unconscious.

Ben: I know, right?!! It's not like you had to run in the desert and do a dangerous backflip!

Rey: Nah... That's just extra.

Ben: Good, that's what I thought.

Rey: Just to let you know, I have two lightsabers now. If you need one--

Ben: But I already have my own.

Rey: Yeah, but if you happen to toss it in the ocean--

Ben: Why would I do that? It's my only weapon! I need it to protect myself!

Rey: Lol, I don't know, just saying. Oh, another thing I forgot to mention! Now I can force heal. So if you get injured or die, don't worry, I got you.

Ben: That's a relief! I might try it too!

Rey: Sure, it's totally not dangerous! Nothing happens to you.

Ben: So I'm not risking dying or something?

Rey: Absolutely not. Since I did it without any harm, why would it harm you? Don't worry, you'll be fine. You are a fan favorite.

Ben: I know, JJ and Chris Terrio wouldn't dare kill me off.

Rey: It would make no sense at all. But even if they do, I healed a murderous snake once, I can do it again.

Ben: Hey--

Rey: Just kidding, love you, hope you come back to the light side! ♡♡♡ And even if you don't, that vision of us in the Sith throne was dope!

Ben: Oh you saw that too? So it wasn't just my dream. Were you sitting in my lap in your vision too?

Rey: Yeah and I kept touching your tight.

Ben: Good, let's kill that old man and sit on his throne.

Rey: But can we be on the light side while seated?

Ben: Rey, it's literally the SITH throne! What part of the word "sith" do you not get?

Rey: But you said you wanted to let old things die, remember? Can we just be grey jedi instead?

Ben: K, whatever, if we still get to touch fingertips I don't mind.

Rey: I should probably call Leia and tell her I'm with you. You know, just in case she wants to speak to you, she doesn't have to reach out using the Force.

Ben: That would kill her.

Rey: Yeah, she can just call me on this high-tech comlink we use in this galaxy.

Okay, so I don’t normally post on here, but after seeing TROS and reflecting on whatever it was that I just saw, I felt like venting a bit. Besides the fact that the glorious Reylo kiss scene was glaringly edited, the track titled “Farewell” is a significant indicator of what was SUPPOSED to happen. It ends in a rapturous major key, with trumpets a-blaring, indicating that WE WERE MOST CERTAINLY ROBBED. This sham of an ending has had me in all kinds of emotions, except tears. Literally, the movie left me feeling numb. I left the theater in a state of emotional blankness and churning turmoil. Granted, everything has its pros and cons- I appreciated the visuals and most certainly John Williams soundtrack. Quite honestly, though, I have researched, read, and analyzed all kinds of theories after watching this movie. The plot holes are in your face and the retcons more so. However, I have a little meta that I was thinking about today. 

Going back to “Farewell,” I kept humming the ending today, and finally after many repeats, I realized that it sounded familiar (and not because it’s a rearrangement of themes). 

First listen to this at timestamp 4:20

Now listen to this at timestamp 3:32

Sound familiar? AND LITERALLY THE TRUMPET THEME IS THE MOMENT BELLE AND PRINCE ADAM KISS. :heart exploding:

John Williams is ALWAYS intentional with his music. This being a Disney movie, I don’t find it surprising that he may have gotten some inspiration. Especially, when it comes from a movie with the ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE.

Disney completely failed with the fairy tale ending on TROS though. George Lucas was adamant that Star Wars was a fairy tale. How can you have a character that for three movies has always wanted a family, starts out alone on a desert, and ends up alone on a desert, and without the prospect of creating her own family with her soulmate?  There were so MANY hints and nuances that indicated the idea of motherhood and Rey wanting a family, which includes creating her OWN (Ex. Porg nests with babies, group of children on Pasaana, fertility necklace, etc.). 

Anyway, I’m off on a tangent. The point is, John Williams most certainly knew how the story was going to end and he delivered accordingly. What DLF did at the last minute was not only disrespectful, but a slap in the face after so many years of producing orchestral masterpieces. 

Dear John Williams,

If you ever read this, please know how much you have made an impact on my life and the life of others. As a musician myself, I will always revere and remain in awe of your talents and the gift that you provided the world. Thank you for sharing every ounce of effort and energy to make movies iconic and memorable. You literally give life to every film you’ve scored and I wish you nothing but many more long, happy years in music. 

Much Musical Love,

Knightdreamerreylo

P.S. I want to see you in concert sooo bad! Please, please, please come to Florida! <3

But then, I thought, hey! Let’s see what the corporate spin is on this disaster!

1.  “...it’s about taking the ideas that came from ‘VIII’ and trying to complicate them and develop them and to have some new surprises.”

Umm...the ideas from VIII were plenty complex. They didn’t need to be “complicated”, they needed to be explored. And if you were trying for new surprises, you failed utterly. Everything about this movie was completely predictable to anyone who’d seen the other eight movies. Okay, moving on.

2.  re: Rey Palpatine. Terrio argues that this reveal is in dialogue with “The Last Jedi” rather than just a ret-con of it.  What dialogue? The idea that the Force isn’t tied to bloodlines, that people can be strong no matter their ancestry, was a major theme of TLJ, and it was echoed even at the end, with Broom Boy. Saying that Rey actually did get her powers from her genetic heritage is directly opposed to that theme, not in dialogue with it. Unless, of course, that dialogue is nothing more than a taunt of “In your face, Johnson!” So that statement is some bullcrap. Next one.

3.  Terrio added that anyone who thinks he and Abrams ignored the direction of “The Last Jedi” or countered it rather than developed and deepened it...are “not understanding how writers think.” That’s an interesting statement, since what I’ve seen from this fandom is an enormous amount of creativity and intelligence, including fanfiction that is far superior to many works of published fiction. There are also innumerable meta that explore the story structure of the ST and of the three-trilogy body of work as a whole, written by people who know what they’re talking about. I agree that somebody doesn’t understand how writers think, but I don’t think it’s the fans.

4.  “We wanted to show all the characters growing in some way.“ One of my biggest problems with this movie was the static nature of the characters. They had basically no arcs whatsoever, except for Ben, whose arc has been building from Episode VII and who regresses immensely before making the final push to become Ben Solo again. So you failed at that, dude. Big time.

5.  “ Luke stopping Rey from tossing a saber away....That moment for us was about Luke having learned something and ... he will not let Rey make the same mistake that he did.” Unpopular opinion incoming -- I actually agree with this statement. That’s how I read the whole Luke interaction when I saw TROS. In TLJ, he was still too into his own head, still a bit of the whiny farm boy from Episodes IV and V; here, he actually seems to finally be wise. My issue with this particular Luke segment is simply that it was rushed too quickly (which was no different than the rest of the movie).

6.   “ As J.J. said, that it would almost be weird for Palpatine not to be in some way in this movie.” No, it wouldn’t, because he was canonically dead.Threats to peace can come from anywhere, and there were any number of big bads in the EU that could have been used here, if you didn’t want to go with an original character.

7.  “We probably could have written a whole movie that was just a lead up to Kylo Ren going to get the wayfinders...Where he now is the king, and he had to sort of earn the throne. And now, how will he perform as Supreme Leader?” Innumerable amounts of people would have paid such good money, multiple times, to watch that story, if it were done well (and probably if it were done in a mediocre way, to tell the truth). You left something really interesting in the Idea Trash Can.

8.  “I think Rey has to keep asking herself who she is and keep declaring who she is in the course of this movie, and that changes. At the beginning of the movie, Rey is a different person than she is at the end,” Actually, she’s not (see point #4 above). You may have intended for her to wrestle with her Palpatinian heritage, but then you never gave her time to do so (never even wrote it into the script, apparently). She struck me as frustratingly indifferent about it, to be honest. So, that’s another big fail for you.

9.  “I don’t think we think of it as she’s going to live there,” Terrio said. “We thought of it as just paying her respects and sort of undoing the original sin at the end of the third movie, which is the separation of the twins.“ Then that’s another big fail, because everyone I’ve talked to about that ending believes she is going back to live there. That was the message we got from the way it was written, shot, and edited. It says the exact opposite of what you’re claiming it says. So either a) you’re spouting bullcrap because you realize it was a horrible ending; or b) J.J. Abrams is an utterly incompetent filmmaker.

10. re: Rey Skywalker  “In the end, we thought that the final victory of the Light and the final act of self-affirmation for Rey was to declare that despite her blood she is a Skywalker. At that moment, the Skywalkers truly win the family saga.” Um, you people had a whole-ass actual Skywalker with a complex backstory and a tremendous fan following -- remember him? Yeah, the guy who sacrificed his life to save the woman he loved, the woman who was essentially his parents’ “replacement child” for him. He died and then was never mentioned again, and there is no indication that even his soulmate ever mourned his passing. That is not a win for the Skywalker family, not by any stretch of the imagination.

11. re: the Force Ghosts at the end.  “Spiritually, it’s not a crazy idea that all the Jedi would be standing with them, but it might’ve been a bit of a visual shock to see all these new characters on Tatooine who weren’t part of the story of Leia, Luke and Rey.” The Ben Solo erasure is breathtakingly astounding. I just can’t even with this. AN ENTIRE MAJOR CHARACTER FROM THE FRANCHISE’S MAJOR FAMILY DIES AND IS COMPLETELY IGNORED. It is absolutely shitty storytelling. But then again, I’m probably way off base here, since I “don’t understand how writers think.”

12. re: the specific Force Ghosts they chose.  “But, the twins never got to Tatooine together. So, the idea of seeing the twins together after the sabers are laid to rest felt like it was something that was very moving to me and J.J.” First of all, the twins were on Tatooine together in Episode VI, so jot that down. (Seriously, did these people even watch any of the other movies? Sure doesn’t seem like it, from the amount of canon that got exploded or ignored.) Second, I’m glad it was a moving idea for you and J.J.; how nice that you were able to share those feelings with each other. However, this movie isn’t about you. It’s about the story. And within the context of the story, it made no sense for Rey to go bury the sabers on Tatooine in the first place, no matter how great you all thought that Force Ghost thing felt. That, in short, is what was wrong with the entire movie -- it wasn’t about the actual story, at all. It was about making pretty set pieces and cool-looking battles. It was a shallow veneer that hid a hollow core.