So I see a common criticism of THE LAST JEDI that hinges on the supposed waste of time of the “casino storyline”. I feel like this take requires you to ignore the best line in the whole movie. Here we go.
*spoilers*
*spoilers*
That whole story kicks off because Finn is determined to protect Rey. He isn’t leaving out of cowardice, he’s leaving because he doesn’t want his friend to show up in the middle of this disaster.
Remember neither Rey nor Finn are members of the Rebellion in any official way. They’re sympathetic but they aren’t on the team. We’ve seen Finn do this before!
In THE FORCE AWAKENS he goes to Starkiller Base not to help destroy it but to find Rey and get her away. Finn is NOT a Rebel. He’s a good guy who wants to be free.
He wants to take care of his friends, but he’s not here to sacrifice himself in the name of any cause. So he’s booking it in order to protect Rey when Rose finds him.
They go in search of a codebreaker, but Finn is still in this for himself and Rey. It’s not until he sees the corruption and greed, the venality of the world, that he starts to think about the larger picture.
A casino is the PERFECT setting for this realization. It’s a complete caricature of everything that’s wrong with the world. And even when they get free (because of the inspirational story that is the core of the Rebel vision)...
...there’s still the “hey everyone’s in this for themselves” philosophy of their codebreaker to challenge Finn’s burgeoning sense of duty and morality.
The whole point of this story is to set up the choice for Finn: the codebreaker’s cynicism or Rose’s idealism? Even as they’re fighting their way free, is he doing this for himself or for the Rebellion?
And we know the answer in the best exchange in the whole movie.
PHASMA: You’re scum.
FINN: REBEL scum.
FINN: REBEL scum.
Finn’s made his commitment now. He can’t help Rey, wherever she is, and he in that moment has no way out of a collapsing Star Destroyer, but he confirms to himself his new identity.
THAT’S the point of the casino storyline. To take Finn on a journey that commits him to the cause.
Thanks.
Thanks.
