I've written a bit before about at least one of the issues I have with The Last Jedi: its treatment of Luke Skywalker. To be fair, though, it's a good movie... for what it is. It's got great direction, beautiful cinematography, and wonderful acting. It just, you know, happens to have a shit script.
Yeah, I know. It's been a little over five years since The Last Jedi came out, and really, am I still going on about it? Shouldn't it be over and done with by now? Moved on, enjoyed The Mandalorian and Andor and just let sleeping dogs lie? That's what we're gonna do, right?
No.
So, about our beloved Master Jedi!
I've seen quite a few complaints about Luke's character in the sequels, but none really hit the nail right on the head for me. I kinda ranted a little more round about in my aforementioned other blog post (which is absolutely meant at least 60% as tongue in cheek, so...), but what it really boils down to isn't that he almost murdered his nephew or that he proceeded to run away into hermitage like the Jedi he was, it's that he fucking gave up on Ben Solo. His own nephew. His family.
Okay, so since writing the first blog entry, a thing has come to my attention, which is that Ben wasn't quite as young as I thought he was. Apparently he was in his early 20s when shit hit the fan, so, okay. Still a kid, just not a child. This does not, however, actually change anything regarding my opinion of the events that transpired.
I've had people tell me that, no, Luke didn't give up on Ben. That he just recognised that he couldn't bring him back to the Light, that someone else would have to be the one to do it. That would have been acceptable, but, fam, that just isn't the case. I know we all want to see the best in our beloved Jedi, myself included, but Luke admitted to Rey that he gave up Ben as lost to the Dark side, that he believed there was no Light left in him, that Snoke had gotten him too deeply. Even during their battle on Crait, Luke still had no faith in Ben coming back to the Light. His hope had been placed in Rey.
The fact that Luke Skywalker gave his nephew up as irredeemable is absolutely a disservice to his character. Yes, I know that he's older and maybe things happened and he isn't quite the brash young himbo he once was... But, again, Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, turned himself over to Imperial forces in order to attempt to save his estranged father who, for the entire time he'd known of him, had done practically nothing but try to cause harm to himself and his friends. This kid faced down Emperor Palpatine on the off-chance of bringing Anakin Skywalker back to the Light because he happened to sense the tiny modicum of his real father actually left in that suit.
Again, I point out that we, the audience, were shown how conflicted Kylo Ren was. Yes, that's metagaming, and that's illegal, but, again, Rey could sense it. Ren struggled with it. Snoke was aware of it. Leia hoped for it. Practically every-fucking-one who had any connection to Ben Solo could see that the Darkness didn't have as much of a hold on him as he pretended it did. The only ones who couldn't see it were his own father (and I think that's just 'cause Han felt dad guilt) and fucking Master Jedi Luke-fucking-Skywalker!
In case you can't tell, I feel a bit strongly on the subject...
But, you know what? Luke's mistreatment isn't the only issue I have with The Last Jedi. In fact, it isn't even the biggest. The thing I dislike the most about this film, the thing that actually makes me not like it, is that Poe, Finn, and Rose's storyline relies on a goddamned misunderstanding trope.
To recap, the start of the film has Poe, by himself, facing down a bloody star destroyer as a distraction. It then progresses to an all out assault on one of the First Order's Dreadnaughts, a move that was successful but unfortunately came with heavy casualties. Leia had ordered Poe to pull their forces back, but he (and the rest of his squadron, mind) didn't want to miss the chance, so he sort of, you know, ignored her. This resulted in Leia demoting him from commander to captain (which, for the record, is still an officer rank), and then she gets blown up and spends almost the entire rest of the film unconscious.
Enter Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo. Holdo takes command in Leia's absence, and when Poe tries to talk to her about what they're doing next, she gets haughty with him and basically tells him to go sit quietly in a corner. This is after she accuses him of being a hot headed grandstander with a hero complex (which is not Poe's character at all). She proceeds to then appear to do absolutely nothing save keep the Resistance's remaining ships on a steady course, just out of their pursuers' blaster range, and Poe is... less than impressed.
So Poe decides to do something. Because that is the type of character Poe is.
Okay, apparently The Last Jedi is a story about making mistakes and the repercussions of said mistakes, and that's all fine and dandy save the fact that Holdo's mistake is just fucking stupid. Which, for the record, seems more than a little rude to her character, because everything else about her indicates she has a good head on her shoulders. Telling a hothead with a hero complex absolutely nothing about your plans is just as stupid as not telling a man who cares too much and is a doer at all costs, if not more so.
She also, for the record, did not tell a whole lot of other people she felt didn't need to know, which was also not smart. Keep in mind, this is stated as being the very last of the Resistance forces. There's a couple hundred people on those ships. This isn't some big military, it's a small group of freedom fighters. Every single one of them is putting their life on the line for a cause they believe in more than anything (with the exception of Finn, but he comes around [which, for the record, is the entire point of the Canto Bight set, people]). There is no 'need to know' in this. At least, there shouldn't be. And not telling everyone what the fuck she was doing is how Poe had enough support among the crew for his mutiny.
Y'all.
Had Holdo told Poe of her plans, he would have trusted her more, respected her more. If she had told him of her plans, he would have supported them (as shown when he wakes up after Leia stuns him and finally lets him in on the 'secret'), found ways to help her.
But she didn't tell him because this story needs for him to misunderstand her so that Poe can go off and make his own mistakes. So that he can, based solely on a misunderstanding, send Finn and Rose to Canto Bight in a desperate attempt to save everything he cares about because it fucking looks like Holdo is doing absolutely nothing herself. And, oh my giddy aunt, I hate misunderstanding tropes because they are a fucking lazy way to add drama to a story!
I'mma tell you, it would have been so much more compelling, a significantly more beautiful and meaningful story, if they worked together and still failed. The entire plot could have remained the exact same (save the mutiny, because that just wasn't needed at all), and been top tier storytelling. You can even keep the crux of Finn and Rose's failure in finding the wrong codebreaker. But to take all the obvious work and love put into this film and ruin it with the laziness of a misunderstanding trope to push the narrative? It's a major letdown, and we absolutely deserved better.
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