EW: The Last Jedi: Kylo Ren's humiliation — and other tales from the Star Wars dark side

Well it was a humiliating defeat Rey inflicted on him.

 

After reading about Ren all I can say is I knew it!

Also poor Chewie!!

 

That says it all:

He said Kylo and Rey are “two halves of the dark and the light.”

 

Omg you're right!!

 

Yep witnessing Han's son kill him, give him reason to do this.

 

In the final part of the eight part EW release, we find Kylo Ren in a dark place after the events of The Force Awakens. Yes the Resistance took a massive decimating blow at the hands of the now destroyed Starkiller Base, but Ren is tormented after killing his father, left scarred physically and emotionally. His path in The Last Jedi may prove to be more complex than we anticipated. Captain Phasma might have a more linear purpose in the film, and it screams vengeance! We also get an update to make sure Chewbacca is all right, and check in on Maz Kanata!







Entertainment Weekly's eight part coverage by Anthony Breznican comes to a close, checking in on the status of the dark side with Adam Driver's twisted, potentially conflicted, anger ridden Kylo Ren and the not to be forgotten, perhaps purposely underused in The Force Awakens, Captain Phasma. The piece doesn't go completely dark side as we do get some brief updates on Chewie and our new little orange friend Maz Kanata, but first....the dark side!





KYLO REN



As we have seen in many of the promo shots it seems as though Kylo Ren is taking off his mask in The Last Jedi, perhaps metaphorically showcasing his human side a bit more, for better or worse. In addition to this, utter humility, at the fact that a scavenger not only resisted him but left him physically scarred and defeated on Starkiller base.

Familiar to a Sith (although he isn't), in dealing with things in an absolute manner, Ren went to the extreme in how he rebelled, how he dealt with his anger and/or frustration with his family, perhaps his overbearing legacy, a theme easily relatable to youth and teenagers of all generations.

Perhaps one of the more interesting quotes from Johnson is an unexpected clear division between Kylo and Rey, despite their similarities, both excellent pilots, both strong with the Force (in their own unpolished ways):

The ironic parallel between Rey and Kylo is carried out through what Kylo Ren did to Han Solo. Murdering his actual Father in front of the girl who saw Han as a Father figure she forever longed for:

It will be interesting to see these two interact, both with stronger powers, but on opposite ends of not only the Force, but understanding of one another.





CAPTAIN PHASMA



I think we all assumed Phasma would survive the trash compactor, now we find out if she achieves her vengeance against Finn and the Resistance!

Phasma's backstory, while approached and developed between Christie and Johnson, will not be shown in The Last Jedi, so it's all forward, and forward means good old First Order destruction, and revenge!





CHEWBACCA



Chewbacca, clearly still mourning the loss of his best friend Han Solo, may find himself a little more reckless in The Last Jedi, but perhaps eventually grounded by the realization that he still has people he cares for, people he needs to protect, and possible some new ones along the way:

MAZ KANATA



The wise old drink slinging orange bundle of knowledge will have an even smaller impact in The Last Jedi than The Force Awakens:

Breznican points out that the theme explored earlier, that the past can shape your path is evident, and who better to help churn up the past than someone as old or older than Yoda, that has seen almost everything!





To close this out, I want to go back to Adam Driver for a moment







One thing I am dead set on, and that is that Adam Driver will steal the show in The Last Jedi. Rey and Luke have been major focal points early on in promotion, but this will be Adam Driver's movie, and I am anticipating one of, if not the best single performance in a Star Wars film.





You know we’ll be discussing this on The SWNN podcast The Resistance Broadcast this week as well! You can find me talking up Adam Driver on Twitter at @JohnnyHoey and be sure to follow our official SWNN account at @starwarsnewsnet and The Resistance Broadcast at @RBatSWNN.





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Kylo being a show stealer, never saw that coming.

 

Snoke values Kylo for being equal parts of the light and the dark. Looks like he'll be coveting Rey too.

 

Good point. Until now we thought, that he wants Rey brought to him, so that he can use her as a reminder for Ren about the power of the dark side and the consequences of having compassion.

 

I love how Han is having an impact on both of them, and while Ren is struggling with the fact he does not feel stronger, Rey is growing darker from his death.

 

Is this a mistake?
"The aspiring Sith let his last bit of light slip away when he drove his janky, handmade lightsaber into the heart of his father,[...]"

 

Just the journalist's interpretation I think.

 

TBH, I'm not taking any of these articles, including the VF one, too seriously. The writers do seem to be inserting their own opinions a tad too much and passing them off--perhaps not intentionally--as fact/canon.

 

Yeah like the romance misinterpretation in the VF one lol

 

Yep. With a gaffe like that, and snarky remarks about Mark Hamill's physical fitness, I'm leery of trusting this type of "journalism."

 

I can't help but get a bit miffed at the whole Kylo is a monster who has fallen to the darkness and is a Sith wannabe though.

 

The Sith wannabe part is what gets me. Sure, he looks up to Gramps, who was a Sith, and likely he wants to emulate Snoke in some way, but we've been told officially that Snoke and KR are not Sith. So...not sure how anyone not from LF can say with authority he's a Sith wannabe. And I guess murdering his father makes him a monster who has fallen into darkness in a lot of people's eyes--those who choose not to see the light-dark conflict TFA puts up in a marquee in capital letters and flashing lights.

I mean, I like Anthony Breznican...I just am going to take his stuff with a grain of salt for now.

 

Yeah I feel the humanity part of Kylo they try hard to express gets swept under the rug by the Sith talk. He'll be dark, yes, but if there was no light, Han would not haunt him. They were not kidding when they said this movie was gray!

 

Or the movie will show light and dark as two sides of the same coin. (It will be interesting how all this turns out!) But with the complete lack of Adam Driver/Kylo Ren marketing at conventions and such, I can understand how people are kind of stuck in a rut in terms of what they think about Ren. But maybe that's the intention.