“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I feel something terrible has happened…”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (TLJ) has been in theaters for almost a full month now, long enough for the three of us to digest it and for the fandom to tear itself apart over it. To say the film was “polarizing” would be putting it mildly, and that is saying something after the Great The Force Awakens (TFA) Discourse of ‘15. Fortunately for you readers, Gretchen, Ian, and Zach are here to hash it out.
What were your feelings on The Last Jedi going in?
Ian: Excitement. Anticipation. Terror. Dread. I didn’t go on opening day so a few early takes on it had crossed my path. I heard “disappointing” and I heard “best since Empire” so I wasn’t sure what I was going to get, but I was convinced someone was going to turn evil or die or both, and I was hoping it wasn’t Rey or Luke.
Gretchen: Basically same, except I did see it on opening night. I will admit to intentionally spoiling myself on certain plot points via online spoiler posts (don’t judge, it was a mental health choice). I was so anxious that I didn’t want to not enjoy the movie because of it. It diminished some of that anxiety, so I was able to go into the movie with more excitement and eagerness than terror.
Zach: I do believe the kids these days say “maximum hype.” I was salivating like a starving man at a buffet. The only bad thing was that since it was so close to the holidays I could not go see it until almost a week after the release. I divorced myself from the internet that entire time so that I would not get spoiled.
What did you think of the characters, new and old?
Ian: It’s a mixed bag. There’s a lot I loved. I loved everything with Rey/Kylo/Luke. I love curmudgeonly disillusioned Luke grumping about on his island. I could watch that movie for days. The Rey and Luke interactions had me hook, line, and sinker. Kylo showed a lot of growth as a character, and after mixed feelings on him after TFA, I am sold on him now as a villain. I love that the First Order is now being run by a petulant emo kid whose General (Hux) wants nothing more than to undermine him. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Gretchen: I totally agree about curmudgeonly Luke, though the brusqueness did take me aback on first viewing (I’ve seen the film twice now). Luke has never been unkind, but being alone for a decade might rub off some of the social niceties. The only thing about Luke’s arc that felt off to me was his moment of weakness with Kylo. Without seeing the apparently horrible visions themselves or following Luke’s development with the training school, seeing the character whose last canonical act was looking at a hardened militaristic warlord who had oppressed the galaxy for two decades and even his own teachers believed was inhuman and beyond saving look at a teenage boy who had literally done absolutely nothing wrong yet and going “maybe I should kill him” even for a second was jarring.
verything else made sense afterward—the disillusionment, the sense of failure, the bitterness, hiding away, and turning inward. To me, it’s totally in line with his idealistic character to just crumble after that.
Zach: I will admit that I was not sold on Luke on my first viewing for that exact same reason, but on my second viewing I think I understand it more. Like Luke said, it was a single moment of weakness that happened to spin out of control.
Gretchen: I’m actually coming around to it more, though I still think seeing the visions would have helped the audience relate to his moment of weakness more easily.
Ian: There was some character stuff that I really wanted to love, but didn’t land for me. I loved Laura Dern’s character, and it was cool how she saved the Resistance, but at the same time, the contrivance of her not sharing her plans with ANYONE rang hollow.
Zach: I just thought she was being a good admiral. As Leia’s chosen Number Two, especially in a military setting, you are obligated to trust her judgement and do as she says without question. I am just mad she died, because I wanted to see more of her.
Gretchen: I didn’t mind that so much, but I do understand why it didn’t land for a lot of viewers. To me, it made sense because at that point in time, no one but Finn, Rose, and Poe knew about the device on the Imperial ships that was tracking them and for all Holdo knew, they were being tracked through hyperspace by a spy. It made sense to keep her plans close to the chest because she didn’t know who she could trust. It wasn’t explicated that way on screen, but that was my instinctual interpretation, so I never considered any other perspective until I went online and saw that other people hadn’t perceived it that way.
Ian: I definitely didn’t get that. It would have been nice to get a line from someone or even just a suspicious glance or something. Finn and Rose’s side quest was fun, but seemed out of place. I felt like they were in another movie. And then to have their whole heist plan just fail miserably, while an interesting choice and consistent with the theme, kind of robbed their story of its narrative importance. And then again, when Rose stops Finn from sacrificing himself, it felt off. Like, you just probably got both of you killed instead of just Finn. A lot of weird choices in that arc. Thematically they make sense, and the characters are great, but narratively they just felt strange. That said, I did like Rose as a character, I just wish she’d had more to do. Poe’s stuff just didn’t work for me at all.
Gretchen: I liked the tonal balance between Finn and Rose’s arc and Rey’s with Luke and Kylo. To me, Finn and Rose aren’t just thematically consistent, their journeys are just as much the heart of the movie as Rey and Kylo. They’re parallel explorations and you can’t have the themes of TLJ without either one of them. They need to stand side by side and inform each other to fully get what the movie is trying to convey. The villains aren’t just the space Nazis, it’s the entire system that benefits from and allows the oppressive system to exist.
I also think that Rose saving Finn fits thematically with the concept of balance (more below). Rose helps Finn find a reason to stand with the Resistance, but then he goes all the way to the other extreme. Juxtaposed with Holdo, I like how we see that heroic self-sacrifice isn’t always the solution, especially if done when explicitly told not to.
I unabashedly adore Rose (read her book!). She’s a huge step for representation and manages to avoid a minefield of potential stereotypes in her characterization. I also love that while a new character, she gets her own mini arc of learning that punching a hole through oppressive systems, while important, is not the ultimate goal of resistance; the goal is to free those trapped within it (like the fathiers) and give them a better life. She then turns around and saves Finn with that same mentality.
“This is how we win, not by fighting what we hate, but by saving what we love.”
I love that so much. Her rescue doesn’t negate his impulse to sacrifice himself or make it meaningless, it just recontextualizes it in the larger story of focusing on preserving what’s good and staying alive to fight another day.
Ian: Man, now I feel like I’m the disillusioned fanboy. I think I need a second viewing. I only saw it once, and am still in hot take mode. For what it’s worth I did really like Finn, Rose, and Poe in this, I just felt like the narrative could have been stronger.
Zach: I am with Gretchen on this. I would die for Rose Tico.
What do you love most about this movie?
Gretchen: I loved almost everything about it, and it got even better the second time I watched it. The characters, the themes, oh my god the themes. I loved how different it was from so many other Star Wars movies; in a way, it did what Rogue One tried to do with the seeming hopelessness of fighting a power so much stronger than oneself, only better.
Zach: Yeah, for me it is difficult to find an aspect of this movie that I did not love, outside of the art direction.
Ian: I’m going to say it again: I love grumpy hermit Luke. But I also love that even in his old age he is still getting taken to school by Yoda. Luke throughout all the movies is always going by the moment flying by the seat of his pants, and even here in his exile he is just kind of going on impulse. Hamill’s performance is the highlight of the movie, and for all the criticisms against the film from angry fanboys, the ones that are crying about how this movie “ruined Luke” are the ones I understand the least. I loved LOVED Luke unceremoniously chucking the light saber over his shoulder and then later referring to it derisively as a “laser sword”. I even like Luke milking weird alien seal monsters and drinking their still-warm green milk. Die angry about it.
Gretchen: Luke was absolutely hilarious. I’ve never thought of him as a comedic character but damn if TLJ didn’t show me that he is deeply humorous and has a snide streak in him that Leia would be proud of. I loved the scene where he mocked Rey for physically reaching out by tickling her hand with the blade of grass.
Zach: He learned so much from Yoda that he never even realized. Yoda’s appearance in this movie was a gift. When he appeared and his theme swelled, I almost cried. True, I had been hoping for Anakin to appear, but Yoda is even better. I still get emotional just thinking about it.
Ian: That whole throne room scene top to bottom. I could go moment by moment to say everything I liked, but basically I loved all of it, so if you saw it I don’t need to run through it again.
Gretchen: Canonical Force wielder Leia. Like, that scene was cheesy af, but you know what? I don’t even care. Anything less in your face would have been dismissed because there are fanboys who have been dismissing Leia’s Force sensitivity for decades even though Luke flat out told her in Return of the Jedi (ROTJ) that the Force was strong with her. I’m glad that the team basically just gave a giant middle finger to all the haters and gave Leia the most dramatic Force using scene possible. Also, she’s a Skywalker. They’re drama queens. She would do this.
Zach: Everything this movie did with the Force was fantastic. The scene with Rey immersing herself into the Force and seeing everything that it is, that surrounds the galaxy and binds it, that whole scene gave me goosebumps. Then the scene in the cave with Rey was fantastic. I always thought that the way people interpret the Force as a binary was limiting. Even in Empire Strikes Back (ESB), when Luke enters the tree that is strong with the Dark Side, it does not harm or corrupt Luke. It gives him information, a warning. The same thing played out in the cave on Ahch-To; the cave provides Rey with an answer, though not the one she wants to see. The Dark Side is dangerous because of the truth it brings, not because it is evil itself.
I daresay that this film even surpasses the spirituality shown in ESB. I have seen some people complain that the scenes where Kylo and Rey commune through the Force came out of left field, but their interactions were solidly based on things we have seen in the original trilogy (OT) and prequel trilogy (PT). The PT had Anakin communing with his mother through dreams in Attack of the Clones, and with Padmé directly in Revenge of the Sith. Vader and Luke communed in the final scene of ESB, and also in a deleted scene from ROTJ. Everything about the way the Force is handled in this film is stunning, and in a good way.
Ian: Luke’s last stand. Again, I loved everything they did with Luke, and the way he sacrificed himself in the end I felt like was a fitting goodbye to the character. I think we all know he’ll be back in force ghost form though, I mean that’s a foregone conclusion, right?
Gretchen: Oh for sure. I can’t imagine him not showing up as a Force ghost. Can we talk about the SKYWALKER TWIN REUNION? I was sobbing from the poignancy and beauty of it. It was everything I wanted from them reuniting after a decade (except for them fighting side by side together). I loved how Luke turned around the scene from A New Hope and focused on Leia’s loss and grief instead of his own. The fact that he glammed himself up to talk to his sister and confront Kylo? A+. That’s a Skywalker for you, going for maximum drama and elegance whenever possible.
Ian: Porgs. I love porgs. Fight me.
Gretchen: I was surprised by how tasteful they were. Very adorable. I also like the Tired™ Caretakers/Fish nuns. They’re Big Damn Mood.
Zach: I’m sure that anyone living with a Skywalker gets Tired™ after enough time. All the aliens in this movie were so great. As someone who grew up on a farm milking cows, those thala-sirens getting milked was hilarious.
Ian: BB-8 like straight up murdered some people this time, right? They (I’m using they as a pronoun for BB-8 because robot genders, what?) really kicked some butt in this movie, and without them, Finn and Rose’s side quest would have failed. Er– failed much harder than it did. The way they took control of a walker was a fun moment. BB-8 kicks butt.
Also, Rey: “Could you put a towel on or something?”
Gretchen: I may have laughed so hard I cried at that line. Rey’s the best.
Zach: A meme was born.
I actually really, REALLY like Kylo in this movie. A few of my friends have been telling me that he falls flat for them as a villain because he is whiny and does not strike them as “scary,” especially compared to Darth Vader. First of all, Darth Vader’s whole outfit works because he is supposed to be self-denying evil; he is trying to escape his past self and the good person he was. Kylo is the exact opposite; he is completely himself and is running from nothing. He is evil through and through, simultaneously he is not trying to imitate anyone any more. He abandons his helmet and cape, shedding the similarities to Darth Vader. He shows his face the whole time, because he is finally being who he is and wants to be.
His rejection of redemption was a masterstroke of filmmaking, not just because it is a complete inversion of the typical Star Wars narrative, but because of how evil it makes him. He is the fanon Darth Vader more than ever. I also think that his screaming and yelling is a very nice touch as well. I want to scream and yell all the time too.
Ian: I love that Snoke is dead, like for realsies dead. No ambiguous “thrown down a tall vertical shaft” or lost under rubble. He’s dead. There’s his corpse. And there is some more of it over there. And there’s a little bit right here too. He ain’t coming back. And now the First Order is being run by two spoiled brats who hate each other and it’s awesome.
Zach: I really dug Snoke getting whacked too. One of the big gripes I had about TFA was how derivative it was, right up to having the deformed and dark supreme leader running the show. I love that on a purely aesthetic level, Snoke was the anti-Palpatine. Palps walked around with a black bathrobe and had everything made monochromatic. Snoke wore a gold-thread Space-Prada bathrobe in the middle of a room decorated with red wallpaper. At the same time, he is also just like Palpatine, proud and overconfident. His death scene was the best. I do feel just a little bit bad though. Will Andy Serkis ever get to show his real face in a movie?
Gretchen: Armitage Hux solely existing to be a whiny brat, get punched a lot, then be the voice of reason when Kylo went off the deep end about his uncle gave me life.
Zach: I live for Evil Infighting in my stories. I cannot WAIT to get my hands on some comics about the First Order power struggles that are for sure brewing.
Gretchen: By far my favorite thing, other than the Skywalker twins reunion and canonical strong Force wielder Leia was Holdo’s last stand. To me, that was a near perfect scene in every respect. The cinematography and sound editing were on point. All that dramatic music, her blocking, Laura Dern’s acting. I was sitting in my seat muttering “Do it, lightspeed through that ship, do it, dooooo iiiiiiit”
…and then she did. And the film goes silent while we watch this gorgeous shot of the destruction of Snoke’s ship. I stopped breathing. It was so beautiful. Knowing her long friendship with Leia (she’s a secondary character in Leia: Princess of Alderaan) and her queerness (she’s confirmed by book canon and the actor as pansexual) only gave that moment more power for me. This beautiful, strong, queer woman is taking a stand against oppression and, as Rose put it, punching a hole right through it so that the people she loves can survive. God. Damn. That’s glorious.
What do you like least about this movie?
Zach: I needed more Maz.
Ian: The contrivance of having the resistance ships just out of reach for most of the movie, and the lightspeed tracking system, and running off to a whole other planet to find a code breaker that may or may not even be there. Basically the whole backbone of the plot felt broken. Moment-to-moment this movie is very strong, and individual scenes the way they play out are mostly really good, but the larger story, at least where the opposing factions are concerned, is really clunky and did not work for me.
Zach: I want another duel between Rey and Kylo. In TFA, Kylo was a mess, both because he had just killed Han and he had been shot and stabbed before fighting Rey. We did not get to see these two fully recovered characters have a good, all-out swashbuckle in this movie. I know it did not fit, but I still want it.
Gretchen: I’m mildly annoyed that Snoke was such a non-entity. I have so many questions about him. On the one hand, we did know very little about the Emperor prior to the PT, so that’s a fair parallel. On the other, we also know from the PT that the Sith come in pairs and as of the OT, both the Sith lords we knew of were dead so….who the hell is Snoke? Where did he come from? How did he get powerful enough to start influencing Ben when he was an infant, which was only 4 years after the battle of Yavin?
I really liked Kylo definitively killing him and taking his place, but at the same time, Snoke as a character seems anticlimactic. He’s literally just a random evil dude who tutored Kylo then died. There was so much hype about finally getting to see him on screen, and that hardly felt worth it.
Ian: Poe’s whole deal felt a little forced. I can buy his kickass flyboy attitude, and even him pushing to destroy the dreadnaught at the beginning despite the heavy losses, but his later mutiny and mistrust of Resistance leadership felt forced and I didn’t like it.
Gretchen: I hear that. My initial impression was that his distrust of Holdo had more to do with his personal attachment to the leadership of Leia and his frustration that he was not given a position of power. He was acting from wounded pride and entitlement. Holdo, on the other hand, wasn’t obligated to tell him her plan, since he was her subordinate and not involved in the planning of the operation.
However, after having written the previously linked piece, some have pointed out that alongside the gendered dynamic, there is the unfortunate racial dynamic of having two white women condescending to Poe. I totally agree, and am now more in agreement with you, Ian. I think they could have written Poe and Holdo’s interactions to better explain Poe’s mistrust. I can see what they were going for, but upon reflection, it wasn’t executed as well as my initial impression of it led me to think.
Ian: Phasma. What the hell? We were promised more Phasma. How can we get Phasma an actual character? She is the Boba Fett of this new trilogy, and I’m angry about it. I hope she comes back for IX or I will be forever salty about her.
Gretchen: Totally with you on this one. Why is this what they went with for Phasma? It makes no sense.
Zach: I totally think that her role in this movie was perfect and they could have put her in a bit more, but you know what, I bet she lived. There is no way that all the stuff that happens in the Phasma comic takes place in the brief time between TFA and TLJ. She survived and will be back for IX.
Ian: Leia in space was a really weird moment and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I know Leia has latent Force powers, so her surviving being in space doesn’t bother me, but the way it happened was strange and took too long.
Zach: Y’ALL READY FOR MY ART DIRECTION SALT? GET READY BECAUSE THE ART DIRECTION STILL SUCKS IN THIS MOVIE. THEY DID NOTHING TO INNOVATE ANYTHING.
While it is not as bad as the 100% Derivative TFA direction, there is still too much repetition for me to call it good. All the starfighters are exactly the same, from the X-Wings to the A-Wings. A-Wings are my favorite Star Wars starfighters, and to see that literally nothing about them changed really torqued me. The same can be said for the TIE fighters. At least the capital ships have had some innovation with their silhouettes; the Resistance flagship Raddus comes to mind as a good hybrid of the OT Mon Calamari ships and the PT Separatist warships. Canto Bight looks too much like an Earth casino for me to buy that it happens in another galaxy, and the AT-M5s, as cool as their new gorilla-shape is, look too similar to the OT’s AT-ATs, especially when compared to any of the PT’s walkers.
Long story short, I am from Crait because I’m still salty about the art.
To say TLJ was Theme Dense would be a bit of an understatement. What did you think of them?
Ian: The theme of failure is written all over this movie. Fear of failure, regret over past failure, just failing in general. Everyone’s plans kind of fall apart, even the bad guys’. It makes the movie feel kind of bleak, and maybe the humor feels a little dissonant as a result. That said, it’s the first Star Wars movie to be openly critical of the Jedi. I found that to be refreshing, as it’s a thing I’ve felt since the PT came out. The Jedi order felt bloated and ineffective in those movies, and I feel like Luke was given copies of the Blu-rays to watch. He realizes their failures as an organization, one that we’ve been told were these perfect guardians of truth and justice for a thousand generations. It breaks down the mythology of the Jedi and makes the universe feel more real.
Gretchen: There were themes everywhere and honestly, I am LIVING. What you just said about failure and the Jedi resonated really powerfully with me.
There were two other major themes that struck home to me, too, and I’m still thinking about them weeks later. First is balance. Every major plot thread deals with the balance between extreme positions. Rose comes to represent the balance between Poe’s blow-stuff-up-at-the-expense-of-people perspective and Finn’s who-cares-about-the-cause-i-need-to-save-my-friend mentality at the beginning of the film. Both Finn and Poe grow beyond these initial stances in the film, of course—Poe via his interactions with Leia and Holdo (which has some unfortunate racial and gendered undertones that could have used some editing/tweaking) and Finn via his interactions with Rose. But Rose is the first of the three to realize that fighting for the cause must be balanced with freeing the oppressed and saving what you love.
Rey’s arc involves her eventually embodying the balance between Luke’s guilt-ridden wallowing in the past and Kylo’s anger-driven obsession with burning it down and getting rid of it. In TFA, she lived in her past much like Luke does now (though for different reasons), and her journey in TLJ takes her to a place where she realizes that all she needs is herself, her compassion, her commitment to her friends, and the inherent balance in the Force to guide her. She can calmly let her disappointing, hurtful past go and is the first to do so. Luke follows suit after his confrontation with Kylo, who is still stuck in the ‘burn the past’ mindset.
Rey also eventually embodies the balance between the desire for compassion (Return of the Jedi era Luke) and an acknowledgement of Kylo’s own agency in any redemption. She’ll reach her hand out, but if he doesn’t want to take it, she’s more than willing to walk away until he’s ready to make different choices.
And I’m not even done yet. Second, as a member of multiple marginalized communities (woman, LGBT, neuroatypical, mentally ill), the theme of de-centering the white male hero monomyth is so powerful. There’s a reason all the female characters are sources of balance and are the first once to start course correcting when confronted with their failures.
There’s a reason why Luke’s arc is so tinged with the sense of failure and that he flat out mocks the idea of him being the one to ‘save everyone’. There’s a reason we get so many shots of diverse people fighting against the First Order, and why Rey’s arc is so closely intertwined with Finn’s, Poe’s, and Rose’s. Why no one person can be said to have truly saved everyone with a singular act. Because Star Wars is very purposefully creating a story where hope is communal, resistance and saving the day are collective actions, and diverse stories about heroes from all races, species, ethnicities, and backgrounds are the new norm. They’re de-centering powerful Force wielders in general and the Skywalkers in particular as the ultimate heroes of the galaxy, and I could not love them more for it.
To put it bluntly, TLJ showed us quite clearly that Star Wars is no longer about a singular, straight, white, male hero saving the galaxy. Such characters participate in the story, for sure, and they contribute to the good guys survival and stand up against oppression. But what’s important is they don’t do it alone or act first. They join in as allies where others are already fighting and stand with them. TLJ is about tearing down oppressive, patriarchal systems of privilege wherever they exist—be it in space nazis, rich arms dealers, toxically masculine thinking that privileges destruction over human lives, an order that believes feelings of love should be suppressed, or in the most privileged person in the galaxy believing he has a right to rule it because of said privilege.
All of it has to go in order for a diverse group of people to start something new. These are themes I’ve seen building in the extended new canon materials for the past two years. TLJ felt like the team heading up Star Wars finally decided to make what they’ve been building to ever since TFA absolutely clear on screen.
Zach: What she said.
Ian: Yes, everything. This. All of this. Despite weird plot contrivances and a couple of moments that didn’t land for me, the thematic elements were what I loved about TLJ. Gretchen, I think you might have hit the nail on the head about why there was so much backlash against it from ravening fanboys.
Gretchen: I mean, it’s not at all surprising that they’re the loudest voices right now. I, on the other hand, am all about these themes and any quibbles I might have with pacing or characterization (even my gripe about Luke) are completely worth it because of the overarching thematic elements and meta nature of the film. When I first saw it, it was top three Star Wars films for me. It’s already moved past Return of the Jedi (my #2) and is well on its way to being equal with ESB (is that heretical to say?).
What do you hope to see from IX?
Ian: At this point, I don’t know. I feel like we’re in uncharted territory. I guess mostly I’m curious what they are going to do with Leia. Carrie Fisher completed her time on set for this film before she passed away, and this movie didn’t do the thing. It didn’t kill Princess Leia. So how are they going to deal with Fisher’s absence? I hope for that to be dealt with tastefully, but in a way that makes sense as well. Maybe she died offscreen and the film opens with her funeral? I don’t know. Carrie Fisher was a treasure, and her absence will definitely be felt.
Gretchen: I hope they recast her. IX is clearly being set up as Leia’s movie. Han was the member of the original trio most centered in TFA, then Luke in TLJ, so Leia was going to be the one centered most in IX. That final scene with Rey almost made it seem like Leia could potentially step in as a mentor for Rey in the Force. Given this trajectory, to me the only viable option is to recast. It’s honestly what I think Carrie Fisher herself would want. Though I do pity whoever steps into her shoes, that’ll be a tough role to fill.
Zach: Exactly, I am hoping that they recast her too. They simply cannot write Leia out of IX, both because it needs to be her movie and it would not make sense for the character. I am sure Lucasfilm will find someone, but like Gretchen said, those are some big shoes to fill.
Ian: I’m hoping to see the First Order fall apart from within as Kylo and Hux fight each other for power, and the smaller, weaker resistance take advantage of that in order to win the day. Is there any question that this third movie will see the fall of the First Order? I feel like that’s a foregone conclusion.
Gretchen: Yessss, bring it on. I want Kylo to watch as the First Order burns to the ground because of his own pride. I want him to lose it all. Heck, I’d like to see him lose his connection to the Force somehow. Because he’s so fixated on what’s his, what he ‘deserves’, and what his owed to him because of his layers of privilege, the most fitting trajectory to his arc is simultaneously a) losing all that he believes gives him power, including the Force, and b) irrelevance. That would be truly gratifying to see unfold.
Zach: Like I said, Evil Infighting is my favorite thing to see. I cannot wait.
Ian: I want to see Rey take the next step as a Force user and become a total badass.
Gretchen: Can we see her find broom kid and just be all, “Yo, the Force is about balance and being a Jedi means helping people fight oppression. That’s all you need to know, you wanna kick space Nazi butt with me?”
Ian: Yes, please.
Zach: REY TEACHING A NEW GENERATION OF JEDI YES PLEASE. I think as both a metaphor and a necessary plot thing, Rey will rebuild Anakin’s lightsaber and make it into her own blade. I hope they make a new color for it.
Gretchen: If they make it white, I will have all the Ahsoka feels. So…make it white.
Zach: I want another good old-fashioned lightsaber duel in IX. Rey and Kylo have it out and Rey thoroughly and definitively stomps the fool.
Gretchen: From your lips to god’s Abrams’ and Kennedy’s ears.
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Zach’s Rating: 9 – Squee-Worthy. When you are excited about everything here and what it could be and can’t wait to see more. Leaves the viewer with a spring in their step and a song in their heart.
Ian’s Rating: 7- Satisfying: Fantastic! Entertaining! I would be willing to watch it again. It isn’t perfect, but it hits an emotional or thematic sweet spot that leaves you glad you spent time on it.
Gretchen’s Rating: 9 – Squee-Worthy. When you are excited about everything here and what it could be and can’t wait to see more. Leaves the viewer with a spring in their step and a song in their heart.
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If you haven’t had enough of us talking about The Last Jedi, Ian and Zach are going to make guest appearances on The Fandomentalist to join Gretchen, Julia, and Kylie for one ginormous TLJ/Star Wars fest. Coming next week, so stay tuned! It might be a long podcast…
