Official Finn Episode VIII thread

He can once he emerges from his coma which we know he will. All of the stuff you're naming are reasonable assumptions, but they are assumptions. I'm not sure we get any time marker for when Leia changed her clothes and just how long Rey was there (at least not from TFA). If they do a flash back or establish it through dialogue that Rey told them then fine. But it, at least in my mind, requires some sort of address. Because again, this isn't like where Luke shot down the Death Star, Finn was part of the planning. That's nothing to celebrate (not just for Finn but for any of the characters involved in the planning). Han flew the ship past the shield, Fin identifed Phasma as a person who could take down the shields, Chewie kidnapped her, Han blows the hole in the oscillator, Poe destroys it, Finn buys Rey some time, Rey defeats Kylo. Does Finn contribute? Sure. Everyone does. Does this body of work rise to the level of becoming a big deal in the Resistance? I'm feeling like that's a strong "No"

For comparison, take Poe's establishment as the best pilot in the Resistance... we see his works and can understand how his reputation would precede him and Kylo be aware of him. If I use that as a gauge, I can see a logically coherent story moving forward with Finn being thought of as a "Big Deal" because as the story was relayed, and as it was told successively amongst rank and file, the fetes grew in grandeur. That's something that would be easily believable because we see it happen IRL as well. Ultimately, you could examine how Finn behaves when taking a title he hasn't earned (in TFA) vs how Finn reacts having a title thrust upon him that he didn't earn (TLJ). He didn't ask to be a Big Deal, he was just going back to get his friend. Otherwise he was just trying to get away. That's it. But now events have happened around him and he has to deal with the change; it could make for an interesting character dynamic.

Hopefully they use some dialogue to establish that people in the Resistance know what a Ren is and who Kylo is so there's a reason for them to hold Finn in high regard with the belief that he fought him off. It wouldn't take much to establish it, it just needs to be done and I hope they will.

 

The article you linked doesn't indicate when he becomes a Big Deal. It says:

In The Last Jedi, John Boyega’s Stormtrooper-with-a-conscience no longer has to fake his status in the Resistance. The actor tells EW that after helping take down the First Order’s Starkiller Base and being gravely wounded in combat with Kylo Ren, he’s finally the thing he always wanted to be:

A big deal. For real.

“The funny thing is, between VII and VIII, Finn’s now a big deal! He is now a big deal. Imagine that – you get taken down by Kylo Ren,” Boyega told us at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida. “Think about what the gossip’s going to be like in the Resistance. ‘Oh, that’s the guy that got slashed down by Kylo?’”

Unrelated to all this is the highlighted part... at what point did they even hint at Finn WANTING to be a Big Deal? They establish pretty painstakingly that Finn wants to run. Now in TLJ he is the Big Deal he always "wanted" to be? Wanted? When did he ever want that? I hope this is just John Boyega talking and that the script in TLJ doesn't actually have this as an element.

Also from that same article they keep talking about how hard the recovery is from a LS injury and so I'm hoping very much that there is a plausible pathway from Finn being injured and comatose to Finn battling Phasma in melee combat (and I am SERIOUSLY hoping that whatever weapon he uses is nothing like a LS or sword otherwise we'll have yet another continuity issue to explain.)

 

He stopped running and came back to rescue Rey. He lied pretty much about everything else, but the moment he decided to help Rey while no one else really did and pick up the saber to defend Rey, I'd say he became big deal. He took on Kylo and lived to tell about it even if he got his arse kicked.

 

So...

To reiterate, nothing in the article indicates when that happens. Between 7 and 8 Finn becomes a big deal. Between 7 and 8 he also wakes up from a coma. There is no indication of which one happens first. Either one could happen first. Ultimately maybe they will choose to have others tell Finn's story by others while he is in a coma... I'm not married to either one of the options, I don't care. I just care that they explain how people know and have context to consider him a big deal.

Honestly the only thing he did (to me) that's worthy of gossip is standing up to Kylo and that would require for people to know that Kylo is a Dark Side Force User and also knowing what such a user is capable of. And based on what we have from TFA enough time has passed that apparently people don't even know if Jedi were a real thing. The Sith (their most realistic reference point of what a Dark Side user is) have been gone even longer than the Jedi.

Maybe they'll opt to simply say his injuries were extensive and should've killed him and he's a big deal for having survived it. That would seem like an odd thing to make one a Big Deal in the Resistance, but they could go that way. I'm unable to take these interview pieces to be a 1 for 1 iron clad account of the movie, just general story points. Ultimately I just want them to pay attention to detail and ensure things make sense.

 

Yeah Finn is only a defctor that provided intel, was a survior of a near sucide mission, spoken highly of for having resued the best pilot. Survived going toe to toe with death himself.

No big woop.

 

I'm not sure what you are saying. From the first trailer, it looks like we WILL SEE Finn wake up from his coma onscreen in TLJ.

Not in between films.

 

There isn't a time jump... which I think effectively eliminates the possibility of any sequence being "in between films". He does indeed wake up from his coma chronologically in Episode 8, at this point we don't know when he has become a "Big Deal" in the Resistance. Does it happen while he's in a coma, or does he wake up and tell his story and then it happens? Who knows. I just know between last episode and the next one we'll get our answer whether we see it on the screen or only hear about via dialogue of characters on the screen. Right now we don't know and either one is possible.

It won't take all that much to the thread the needle here and set up a logical sequence of events that lead up to these plot points (i.e. Finn is a big deal) while simultaneously not raising more questions; my point is just wanting to be sure that they do. People who aren't into detail (or who are franchise fanboys) will allow silly, radical, and/or implausible changes to be foisted upon the characters without critical thought. I am not among them.

This doesn't just apply to Finn. When a character changes or does something new we are invited as part of the audience to ask ourselves, why? And a movie that's done well answers those questions within the established framework.

 

It's two days (from the novel) since when Starkiller blows up to when Rey and Chewie leave D'Qar. It's probably another two days for Rey and Chewie to reach Ahch-To.

So four days (at the least) is reasonable time for rumors to take place about Finn while he's in a coma.

 

Again, I am not opposed to the rumors starting while he is in a coma, just want it all to tie together. If the rumors about Finn swirl principally because of his confrontation with Kylo (and people have context for who Kylo was in the FO and what he could do as a Force User) then Rey and/or Chewie could relay all the information necessary for the rumors to start. If it's supposed to be based on Finn's participation in attack planning (which to me doesn't make a lick of sense) then someone else has to start that portion of the thread because Rey wasn't there for that. Maybe they'll have Chewie relay it in that case. Honestly, his stand against Kylo is the only one that makes logical sense as the thing that propels the rumors based on the information we have right now.

 

It may be simple as Dr. Kalonia being amazed that someone has survived lightsaber wounds, as she's never treated this before. So the rumors could start from the Doctor and get bigger from there.

 

Agreed, I said a similar thing further upstream. You don't see many treatments for LS wounds because (unless it's a limb being severed) generally the strikes against the torso are deadly. I remember watching Anakin strike down the Separatists Council or when Obi Wan finally defeated Maul for real... it was a simple slashes that killed people. Of course we know that out-of-universe, those in the Resistance now wouldn't be aware of either of those events.

 

Pretty much the above granted I suppose since a lightsaber does instant cauterizing you wont bleed out.

It still makes no sense given how the fight was presented for Kylo to eff up a killing slash.

Unless Poe's Jacket has lightsaber resistance material.

 

Finally Han's nickname for him means something.

 

Finn was simply far enough away and falling away from Kylo when he was srtuck. Apparently far enough away that he was wasn't cut in two pieces. It crystal clear.

 

But was he interested in killing him in the first place? He wanted Rey and whether Finn was alive but unconcious or dead didn't really matter to him. He was an obstacle to be removed and if rendering him unconcious did the job then why bother? Besides, if Kylo captured Rey then Finn would have been blown up with the rest of the Starkiller Base.

 

Maybe Kylo figured he cut deep enough to sever the spine? IDK. I personally would've gone for an Obi Wan vs Maul solution, cut them completely in half and know the job is done. But I guess since he didn't respect Finn as a LS wielder or see him as an equal adversary perhaps he just didn't care how he disposed of Finn, dead, incapacitated, no difference.

 

He was screaming "Traitor" and seemed pretty mad to me so yeah I expect him to go for the kill. There was literally no reason for him not to go for the kill. If you want to incapacitate with a lightsaber you chop off their hands.
If he wanted to KO Finn he could have chucked him into a tree but that ability was on Cooldown? Out of Mana? Out of Slots for the day?

 

You know there were 2 things that this article that continues to draw my attention

1. I think I mentioned this earlier but, the notion that Finn wanted to be a Big Deal... where does this come from? Anything we can tie it to in TFA? I don't see it.
2. "Women always find out the truth". Han's line really did add dimension into the idea that Finn and Rey were a potential item going forward. I mean even Han saw it