#sw:tesb

I don’t know why and no, I’m not sorry for doing this.

I mean look at this

that has to be the most half-assed way ever of holding onto someone, neither of his hands are gripping or even really touching her, he’s just got his arms around her from when she fell into him

this is after she tells him to let go the first time. She’s got her hand over his, holding it in place. Even when she leans away from him and tells him to let her go again, yep, she’s still holding onto his hand.

I’m pretty sure that the reason why Vader is such a scary, scary villain isn’t because he has a lightsaber or can do things with the Force that no one else can, it’s because of how other characters react to him. We see his own men be terrified of him. The entire Rebellion runs from him; they don’t even consider any other option. It’s not a question of bravery or firepower. You can’t fight him. If Vader’s coming, you run. We don’t even really know what’d happen if he caught Luke, but we know that we don’t want him to catch Luke.

What I mean is, you see people get killed in movies all the time. Sometimes really gruesomely. Vader Force-choking Ozzel isn’t nearly as gruesome as a lot of other movie deaths. But watching Piett’s terrified reaction to it, and the way he visibly steels himself every time he interacts with Vader... that’s what makes Vader scary. Piett isn’t shown as a coward, or comically subservient, or stupid. He’s clearly a good, competent officer. Vader is just terrifying.

We know Leia has survived torture by Vader, we see her stay at her post as the base is literally collapsing around her. We’ve seen Han charge at stormtroopers and out into Hoth’s deadly night. But Vader shows up... and they run, terrified and almost panicked, as fast as they can. Because Vader is that scary, that dangerous. What’ll happen if he catches them? We don’t know. But we don’t want to find out.

That’s what creates the tone of the movie, and the stakes, and the emotional payoff. Underlined with the music, supported by the storyline, etc, of course, but I think ultimately any story comes down to characters because that’s how we get invested. And they understood that when they made Empire (thanks, Marcia Lucas and Irvin Kershner).

Which is why Luke, Leia and Han can spend basically the entire movie losing and getting caught, and yet by the end of it we’re still rooting for them, we still think Luke’s the hero and Leia’s the leader and we don’t think any less of Han for being essentially the damsel in distress. Because it’s not that they always win. It’s that they’ll always try.

Leia begins the briefing and he’s still welding in the background

still welding...

but the Hobbie asks about two fighters against a star destroyers and Leia turns to talk to him

meaning she’s now facing the Falcon

and when we cut back to the wider shot...

look who suddenly found something better to do, and is in fact not even pretending to work anymore, he’s literally just standing there

(it’s almost like he perked up when Hobbie questioned Leia’s plan like he wanted to see how she’d respond to it aka reminder that Leia’s “calm facade concealed an impressive temper” and Han “enjoyed watching it in action” and how the hell did he even notice this with the noise and the sparks from the welder, eh Han? Eh?)

anyway as soon as it’s clear that she’s turned away again, it’s back to the welding

... at least until the commander guy yells “okay, everybody to your stations!” and Leia turns to go

at which point he’s back to just standing there, although this time he remembered to at least pretend to be engrossed in work

Leia: fine

Han:

Han: oh wait no Chewie's taken the ship apart, I can't leave yet

Han: oh no Luke's in trouble, guess I'll go save him since I'm stuck here anyway

Han: I'll leave tomorrow

Leia: hey Solo it's tomorrow

Han: okay but I don't have clearance to leave, so I can't leave

Han: guess I'll go check out the probe droid since I'm stuck here anyway

Leia: we're under attack, everyone out!

Han: LEIA are you okay??

Leia: what are you still doing here? you got your clearance to leave!

Han: no I didn't

Leia: yes you did

Han: I don't know what you're talking about

Han: anyway I'm leaving

Han: I'm leaving real good

Han: just as soon as you're safe, and warm, and fed--

Leia: oh crap I can't get to my ship

Han: TAKE MINE