Awww, the fathier race, I love them. Not the racing, it's terrible. And Rose tells us the FO specifically stripped her mining colony "then shelled us to test their weapons." Finn, of course, knows little about the FO from an outside perspective. #sithmas
I mean, he definitely thinks the FO is terrible, often to the point of panic, but for the first time we're hearing what the FO's oppression looks like elsewhere in the galaxy. #sithmas
Re: Finn's childhood/training (I really need to read the tie-in books, they're read-along canon rather than... whatever was going on in the Expanded Universe) #sithmas
(I know *some* about the EU, but it's mostly stuff like "One time they made a clone of Luke. They called it... Luuke." There was also a Boba clone. I can only assume it was called Booba Feett.) #sithmas
It reminds me for some reason of the taboo in the Narnia books of eating *talking* animals: understanding language is too close to human. #sithmas
We also see the fathier... master? shoving ragged children (who work for him?) around as well as whipping a fathier while rich people cheer from the stands, so, lovely people all around #sithmas
And between shots, Rose says, "They took everything we had." She means the First Order, but it's not hard to apply that to the Canto Bighters who have everything. We're told now that they're weapons dealers/war profiteers. #sithmas
Whereas Finn (who looks dismayed) had everything taken from him so early that he doesn't even remember having it. We're seeing two different kinds of oppression, both with POC characters. #sithmas
BB-8 squeals in to alert them to Red Plom Bloom Guy! The Most Interesting Codebreaker in the Galaxy! I have heard they considered using Lando here, but decided against it. Possibly because everyone here is terrible. #sithmas
Aaaand Our Heroes are promptly intercepted and hauled off, droid and all. We will never see Red Plom Bloom again, as opposed to what I kind of wished had happened. #sithmas
Over to Luke watching Rey train with her staff and the rock, which, PLEASE NOTICE how we are shown here that her staff skills directly translate to the lightsaber, no I am never letting the "Mary Sue" thing go #sithmas
You know, I did see something interesting in the Lando Wikipedia entry: Billy Dee Williams got fan backlash for Lando betraying Han, and "felt that the situation would've been different if Lando had been played by a Caucasian actor." #sithmas
Luke now talking about how the defunct Jedi are now "romanticized" and their legacy is failure, specifically citing the Darth Sidious storyline from the prequels, because the Jedi Order was bad and it should feel bad #sithmas
Rey points out that Luke saw that there was conflict in Vader, and iirc she says exactly the same thing to Kylo, that there is still conflict in him. As I said about conflict being associated with light... #sithmas
... rather than darkness: #sithmas
Ahhhh, here's that look from Luke meant, going back to the idea that Rey "downloaded" Kylo's skills during their interrogation scene in TFA. #sithmas
Back to Rey and Luke: "And I became a legend," he says, which is not only part of his arc here, but he cites it as part of his hubris, thinking he was a great enough master to train his nephew. That... well. You know how that went. #sithmas
Yeah, this is why I think they're moving in the direction of some kind of "Gray Jedi," not a balance of Dark Siders and Light Siders, but an internal, individual balance. #sithmas
Oh, here's Luke's version of What Happened, I'd forgotten we get his first. Wait, we must see this THREE different ways, then, because all Luke says is "He turned on me." o rly. #sithmas
Once again, we see Luke sitting with R2 watching his Jedi school burn. In my haste here, I made it sound like R2's school, which would have been BADASS #sithmas
"He vanished with a handful of my students. The rest of them he straight murdered. It was not the best day." (Side note: very "Anakin and the younglings" move there, Ben) #sithmas
A quick google is giving me lists way more complicated than I actually want. The worst part of me not catching up on these is that I already follow like half the authors. If you wrote a Star War, please chime in here #sithmas
"Leia blamed Snoke" (explicitly, in TFA), "but it was me. I failed," because of his hubris. And thus Luke joins a long line of self-exiled Jedi master fuckups, I AM JUST SAYING #sithmas
"The galaxy may need a legend," says Rey. You know, I like that she tends to be *right,* despite being the young inexperienced one. She asks for guidance, but her instincts are good. "Young people are always wrong" is not a theme per se. #sithmas
I SUPER ENJOY that Rey has the wisdom to tell Luke that, essentially, Kylo's choices are Kylo's fault, not Luke's. I mean, there's stuff she doesn't know yet, but still. Also, they're having this convo on the mosaic. #sithmas
Well, and not unlike Rey here, Finn shows good, natural moral instincts when he chooses to save Poe at the beginning of TFA. Which was also about your choices speaking to who you are. #sithmas
Meanwhile, back in Space, Hux destroys the equivalent of the Resistance hospital ("medical frigate") because he is also The Worst. It's been evacuated, leaving the captain to go down with the ship, with his last words ("It's been an honor") to Holdo. Foreshadowing? #sithmas
On the flipside, I didn't read the EU, so I don't really care what Luke was or was not like in the books. I care about the movies, and Luke's story seems perfectly consistent within them, IMO. #sithmas
Which, don't get me wrong, I think criticism of The Last Jedi AS IT EXISTS is perfectly valid (and I have expressed some myself). I just get irritated with people who are furious that it wasn't the movie they had in their heads. #sithmas
FEELINGS!! #sithmas
So, here's Benicio Del Toro's entrance, locked up with Rose and Finn. "Don't be fooled by the wrapper." No, no, the wrapper is exactly who he is! Shady and seedy and untrustable! JUDGE THE BOOK BY ITS COVER JUST THIS ONCE #sithmas
I already have questions about how DJ is prepared to open the cell doors and waltz out. You almost wonder if he was a plant of some kind--but who would know Rose and Finn were coming? #sithmas
There's also little touches throughout where he rescues them, gives back Rose's pendant, etc., that make you think the movie's "surprising" you that he's a good guy. OOPS #sithmas
Meanwhile, BB-8 has subdued all the guards (???). FACT: “In every single scene just shoot a cutaway of BB-8, and you’ll never regret it.” #sithmas filmschoolrejects.com/57-things-we-l…
I am a sucker for BB-8; I am sure there are viewers who found him annoying af in this movie, but I love when he machine-guns the coins at the guards. I mean, the ones he hasn't already... tied up and gagged? And then he blows the smoke off his lighter, I CAN'T #sithmas
Awww, it's the scene with in the fathier stable. From what I saw on the extras, the main fathier was at least partly a real puppet? Ah, they are also lionhorses #sithmas nerdist.com/the-last-jedi-…
And here's the scene where Rose tells the kids that they're with the Resistance, to their delight. See also: #sithmas
So now Rose and Finn release the fathiers and escape on one, galloping through the casino and wrecking their shit. SEIZE THE MEANS OF RECREATION #sithmas
Two things about this sequence: there's not much plot cross-cutting, which may be why people got irritated ("Why is all this casino stuff happening?!"). See also the director's statement that he wanted to break up the overall story less. #sithmas
Second, I have watched the deleted scenes, and I think literally, in the literal sense of literally, half the Canto Bight footage must have been left out. The final cut seems REALLY REASONABLE in comparison. #sithmas
Bonus third thing: sure, the social commentary in the Canto Bight sequence seems self-justifying to me, but it's not until the final scene that you realize this is part of what the whole movie was about. I see why you could get irritated before then. #sithmas
A rescue! I like how Finn is like "wait, BB-8, are you FLYING A SHIP?" ("The droid... stole a freighter?") But no, it's DJ. Because Rose and Finn are out of options. Ughhh noooo don't do this to them #sithmas
Okay, the next disc chapter is called "Kylo's History Lesson," so very clearly I need to get a lunch break in NOW, because BOY DO I HAVE SOME NOTES ON THIS. #sithmas
Okay, I'd forgotten--it's the infamous shirtless scene. I like to think that "Matt" got really upset and decided to work on his gainz. Indeed, Redditors promptly christened him Ben Swolo. #sithmas
Listen. I am scared of what I'm about to walk into. I am not talking about shipping or the validity thereof. I am talking about livetweeting eight movies for two weeks and inevitably compare/contrasting things. #sithmas
What strikes me about this scene is that Rey is *uncomfortable* with the lack of shirt. Please refer to Anakin/Padme Discourse, "It makes me feel uncomfortable." BUT. Kylo's not doing anything AT her, a third party opened Force Skype on them. #sithmas threadreaderapp.com/thread/9768109…
Granted, he doesn't reacquire any shirt per her request either. I would be willing to say that Snoke dropped this on them right now on purpose, because fucking Snoke. But in doing so, he has misunderstood what appeals to Rey. #sithmas
"do you have a cowl or something" always makes me laugh, yes #sithmas
My point is, we have a prequel and a sequel showing a guy and a girl's gradually evolving relationship, and they do so *in different ways* and to different ends. #sithmas
For starters, they both get Jedi training, unlike Padme just having her uncivilized blaster. I suppose Ben is royalty through Leia, whereas *Rey* is the scrappy, sandy padawan. Have you been to my space tavern, the Sandy Padawan #sithmas
Consider, also, how femme Padme was, particularly during the courtship, and how androgynous Rey's costumes are. I've seen pictures of boys cosplaying Rey without alteration (except the hair). #sithmas
Well, he confirmed that for sure #sithmas
Verbally, 1) There's never any "SAND" dialogue on either side, no awkward smooveness, no "oh, honey, no" moments. 2) I DO think we are evolving from "I take what I want" to something more equal. See also: #sithmas
There's no "WE MUSTN'T!" "BUT WE MUST!!" melodrama, although Luke is going to lose his shit when he catches them, so it *is* forbidden. Rey's concern isn't "we shouldn't be together," it's "I've got to bring both him and Luke around to my way of seeing it." #sithmas
See, this kind of thing is why I got sucked into close-reading these movies instead of livetweeting them in real time like a normal person #sithmas
BREAKING NEWS: Galaxy of Heroes informs me that new bounty hunter "BOSSK CONFIRMED." I have no idea what this means. Bossk is a lizard dude? I just watched eight movies and I don't even remember. #sithmas
Anyway, I will wrap that digression up with this Anakin/Padme note: #sithmas
ayyyyyy timeline synchronicity #sithmas
Update on "wtf is a Bossk": #sithmas
HEY, WHAT IS THIS SCENE ACTUALLY ABOUT? It's about Kylo telling Rey what really happened with Luke. Also, he says he DIDN'T hate his father, so--???? I need to read those books, don't I #sithmas
So the one (1) glimpse we get of Ben Solo pre-Kylo is him waking up to find Luke murderfacing over him, lightsaber drawn #sithmas
Now, my dude, I don't see Luke making you kill all your classmates and burn down the school, but go off, I guess #sithmas
Here's "Let the past die. Kill it if you have to." I saw someone elsewhere saying that the point of this is that Kylo is wrong, but I think it's similar to what Luke saying let the Jedi Order die, it's Rey letting go of her parents: we have to do things differently. #sithmas
A good bit of that scene was also Kylo pointing out that Rey is still hung up on her crappy parents, viewing Han as a father figure, etc. So now Rey goes, you say there's dark side in that cave? I'M GOIN IN #sithmas
I love the mirror cave, and I love what they do with Rey's background. At this point, she doesn't "remember" who her parents were (she denies that they abandoned her "like garbage," like, thanks, Kylo). And the cave says, it doesn't matter. #sithmas
The line of Reys kind of reminds me of a line of descendants, if that makes sense? Or a line of moments leading up to the present? And then she gets up to the mirror, the two parent-shapes combining to reveal... herself. She is a self unto herself. It doesn't matter. #sithmas
So we're making both the point that 1) she didn't come from a famous Force-sensitive family, she's nobody, but also 2) it doesn't matter that she didn't, or that her parents were terrible. That doesn't define her, and the Force is for everyone. #sithmas
oh my god #sithmas
Meanwhile, she's recounting this to Kylo in her firelit hut via Force Skype, talking about how they're not alone, as in "they have each other," and apparently Uncle Luke senses something amiss because he's tearing around yelling for her, CLOSE THE SKYPE WINDOW YOU GUYS #sithmas
Aaaand Luke bursts in on them touching hands and the way it's shot it looks like Kylo's literally in the room with her, and Luke like BLOWS UP HER HUT (I FORBID YOU TO HOLD HANDS WITH MY FAILURE!!) #sithmas
I'm still laughing about this (notice, I suppose, that we're talking "eyes are the windows of the soul" being what got to her, rather than the whole shirtless thing) #sithmas
Low-blood-sugar snack break, I'm back. Rey and Luke start fighting (iirc the extras show that they had Mark Hamill do as much of it himself as possible?), ending with Rey giving him a taste of his own murderface medicine. TELL US THE TRUTH! welllllllll... #sithmas
So Luke is like, "It seemed like a fine night for looming over my nephew and looking through his mind while he slept, as you do, and apparently I saw a future that I proceeded to help create, sooooo that happened." See also: #sithmas
This is one of the scenes I was thinking of--it's Luke's fear of what Ben will do, not hate for Ben, that drives Luke almost-but-not-quite to a dark-side action. #sithmas
Anakin's afraid Padme will die (and that Obi-Wan is too close to her); Luke flips out on Vader when the Emperor threatens to hurt Leia; obviously Luke is afraid to fail again. (Also, Rey says that Kylo's afraid he won't be as strong as Vader? Not sure what else.) #sithmas
I can't explain what the deal is with villains like Palpatine or Snoke or even, say, Count Dooku; worth noting that they're presented as finished products, not people in the process of choosing Force sides and vulnerable to fear. #sithmas
And Luke has the decency to say, he was ashamed of himself and Ben was just "a frightened boy" and this particular moment is 100% on him. Everything after Ben pulls the ceiling down, though... #sithmas
Watching this go from “it’s not what it looks like, I swear” to “everyone dead and on fire” #sithmas
Ah, here's Rey with Major Theme Words, "your failure was thinking his choice was already made" and "there's still conflict in him." #sithmas
So here's what I'm saying about lack of melodrama: Rey tells Luke that she saw Kylo's future when they touched hands and that she can turn him, not "we must be together, WE MUST!" She cares, but there's also a greater purpose. #sithmas
More Thematic Words: she offers the lightsaber to Luke, as in, well you go take the legend mantle back up then. He won't. "Well, then [Kylo] is our last hope." #sithmas
I *have* to stop here, but come back for Burning Down the Jedi Tree tomorrow. #sithmas
