Official Finn Episode VIII thread

I personally don't dislike Rose, I just kept replaying back what she said to Finn and trying to figure out how it was an actual lesson for him, and came to the conclusion maybe it wasn't a lesson for him, maybe it was just her thought based on her experience (hating the FO, and loving Finn). She could have let him ram the cannon and (to let me tell it) it would have taken it out. But she chose to save Finn over dealing the FO a strategic (but temporary defeat). I just assumed it was a lesson for Finn, but maybe that was a bad assumption.

 

Finn was so full of hate against the First Order that he was disobeying a direct order and committing a pointless suicide. In that moment Rose saved a person she loved and saved Finn to fight another day. The First Order is built on hate and the Resistance/Rebellion is a fight for the idea of democracy/freedom. These are things worth saving and it's an idea that resonates throughout the galaxy.

 

I know why I dislike Rose, she thinks she is too cute, turns me off, I kinda liked her when I saw her wearing a Finn t-shirt at Star Wars celebration, like who wears a Finn T-shirt haha, anyway, that line 'I saved you dummy' did it for me... WHY DOES FINN HAVE TO BE A DUMMY... oy vey.... drinking out the trough... oy vey...

 

YEAh. The lesson was Finn.

It's a call back to earlier in the film after they destroy the town with the fathiers.

Finn's like, because they destroy the town: "It as worth it to make them hurt."

While Rose is like, destroying the town and hurting them doesn't wasn't worth it: *releases fathiers. "Saving the fathiers was worth it."

I. E. Hurting the enemy is not the point. Saving innocents from the enemy is the point.

Which is pretty much a Jedi mantra.

 

It's interesting that he says he still doesn't know how or why Finn resisted the First Order conditioning. Why has it not been explained to even him, when he plays the character and they planned to skip over it in TLJ? Shouldn't they have given him an explanation, even if they weren't going to give one directly to the audience so he at least has an answer to give them if they ask him?
I guess this puts to rest the idea that we were given an answer in the film. Also, I guess it leaves the door open for it having to do with the force. Especially since we know that, movie to movie, stuff can drastically change.

 

To the surprise of no one, most of the reasons come from TFA. TLJ does nothing to push this forward so I don't know that there is a reason to continue to ship FinnRey. But I guess it's ok if you hope

 

Something Funny to think about.

 

This Finn's thread is so dead 409 pages you think this section gets a lot of action. I guess not after the Last Jedi.

 

There's nothing really to talk about. After TFA and leading up to the release of TLJ, we had fun speculating about Finn's arc. Whether he would be a Jedi, force-sensitive super soldier, or just a regular super soldier were all popular discussion topics. But after TLJ, the expectations for Finn were reset from high to very low. Look at the three topics I listed and compare them to "regular soldier that switched sides". The latter doesn't seem very exciting does it?

 

TLJ kinda killed it dead in its tracks. I knew Finn was going to be in a sub-plot, but I didn't think it would be a tertiary plot, and I thought it would align more to the theme of the rest of the movie, have more meaning to Finn, and carry him a great distance in development, show his growth (mentally and physically) and give a glimpse into his future. None of these things were true. And so accordingly... there's not much to talk about.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 12, 2018, Original Post Date: Apr 12, 2018 ---

The irony is that there were so many people clamoring for just that - an "ordinary Finn" and when TLJ went that direction and we said, "ok I guess Finn is going to be ordinary" they got into a tizzy. They want him to be it, but don't want him to be called it LOL. "Finn isn't ordinary, as proof, look at all these ordinary things that he did." LOL. Ok I guess fam.

Addendum: Let me be more nuanced here, it's ok to call him ordinary and wish for him to be ordinary if you mean it as a euphemism for non-FS. If you say he is ordinary as part of a critique, THEN it's a problem.

 

LMFAO!!! Subscribe to that channel!

I know I did

 

I know Rian Johnson crapped on Finn and Luke, and the remaining of the males in the Last Jedi.

I see John Boyega voice what he feels what Rian Johnson did with Finn in 8.

 

Yeah I think someone else posted this video awhile back, I think Boyega articulates some of the things we're saying here (to no avail). Rian told the story he wanted to and it was about Kylo, then Luke, then Rey, then everybody else. And now that it is done, we have to endure all the retro-active canonizations and Sharp Shooter fallacies of the apologists until the next movie comes out. There's no consistent thread between these movies (which a critique for the franchise) and so the next Finn we get may bear no resemblance to the one in TFA or TLJ, and may indeed land somewhere based on a trajectory that was not provided in either of the two previous installments.

 

There's a Finn/Rey/Poe scene in the latest Poe comic that takes place after TLJ.

 

I agree.

 

I think one of the huge misses of TLJ is that Finn doesn't confront or even seemingly address his past in any meaningful way. I actually heard it once in this thread that development Finn was given in TLJ was good/great and now, in the final episode he should confront his past.

And all I could think was, "how does that make any sense?" Rey, Luke, Kylo, Leia, and even Rose to a degree all tackle/address the past in TLJ...

...why would you have Finn (of all people) wait another episode to do the same? Why in a movie where everyone else is confronting the past, would Finn not also? And moreover, NOW after Finn has "chosen a side" / "been written into the Resistance as a soldier"... why would you argue that now is the time to deal with the past? Does that make sense? Shouldn't his interrogation of his past and an examination of his values been the thing that preceded and influenced his choices (like the other characters)?. I think so, and it's particularly why I hate the Canto Bight sequence so much. It was a backdrop for a bunch of sermonizing that wasted time that could have been spent actually seeing Finn think for himself.

For some contrast, notice how Rey chose to go to try to turn Ben. A bad decision, but we at least get insight as to why SHE chose it. Luke didn't have to berate her into action, he doesn't program Rey on what is ethically right for her, quite the opposite, Rey chooses the course of action that Luke wouldn't do and doesn't condone. Despite the rich background that could have been explored for Finn in TLJ, in the end, he doesn't have his own reason for being with the Resistance, he has Rose's reasons for being with the Resistance. She'd seen suffering caused by folks like those in Canto Bight. Her sister died on the bomber that saved the fleet. She was the one that saw some value in briefly freeing the Pokemon horses on Canto Bight.

Why are Rose's reasons good enough for Finn? Better yet, why are Rose's reasons appropriate for Finn? Why shouldn't his own past and view inform his decision? Why shouldn't Finn's reasons be Finn's reasons? Neither the Resistance or the FO runs Canto Bight, why should Finn pick one side over the other based on what he sees there? We know why Rose would, because it's in her past but it's not in Finn's past. Why should Finn especially be moved by DJ's non-committal approach? He doesn't know DJ, but we're to understand that Finn decides to join the Resistance as part his interaction with him?

"But DJ betrays the Resistance and that influences him"

Why? Why does it influence him? He doesn't have Rose's background. He hasn't been fighting for weeks, months, or years with these people, why should he especially care about who DJ betrays? And why should he specifically JOIN the Resistance because of it (especially when he did)? I mean seriously.

This is what I mean about people being so caught up in elaborate set pieces and visuals, meaningless tie ins, and themes that they miss the actual story telling; the thing that matters most.

"Wow look how clever that was, Rose and DJ were like an angel and a devil on his shoulder"

Yeah sure but neither one of them had anything to say that should have been relevant to someone of Finn's background that he should make any immediate choice (let alone one to rejoin the war on a different side, right as that side is being annihilated and he's aware of it). It is hard sometimes for me to fathom that you all watched the same thing I did and came away thinking it was great. It was hot, pressurized, garbage.

 

I don't know how the last jedi could have been made without addressing HIS story. As you said. None of what Rose went through pertains to Finn. Why should he care? Or better yet. How come the Resistance shows no concern for what Finn has gone through his whole life? Why are the needs of the Resistance more important than Finn's?

No one in their right mind would join the Resistance under these circumstances. The first thing Finn would think of would be his own home and family or at least his own freedom. Not join another military organization and become their soldier. There is no concern for a lead character's motivations, and what is crazy is how Rian has him going off on someone else'e motivations and then is ready to do a suicide run. Huh? Finn's reasons for saving Rey were bad enough, but at least they felt genuine. There is no reason for Finn to be going on a suicide run based off on someone else's motivations. These have nothing to do with him.

If TLJ was Rian's final project. He would fail for ignoring the motivations of his lead characters.