Underappreciated/Overlooked Things You Like in TLJ.

It’s obviously a messed-up situation in which misunderstandings abound on the sides of both parents and child. Just like the Luke -Ben temple incident. After all we’ve known about this family in this saga, why should we expect Skywalkers to be sensible and nondramatic?

 

it's not that Han and Leia threw Ben away. it's that Ben felt like they did.
he's clearly a kid with massive emotional challenges and he's stuck on this to the point of being incapable of growing up as a result of it.

all Snoke had to offer was understanding and security; something that resembled stability and purpose, which is what he felt was lacking in his life with his actual family: sent away to Luke, who unfortunately had a moment of malice toward him.
and for things that he feels are beyond his control/not his fault.
he's just a kid with all this power that he never asked for, and everyone's treated him like he's dangerous and toxic.
so guess what? that's what he's become. : o p

you can see it in the moment Rey says "you are a monster" and he answers "yes, i am."
he's owning it because he's been called it. and there's no pride in that.
you can see in his eyes that he's broken--he's giving up.
and Rey sees it too, which is why she starts to reach out to him; she realizes the depth of his conflict then.

 

i get that, but i'm old enough to be his mother, so i will always think of him as a kid. : o p

and let's face it, have you ever seen such a case of arrested development?
even when they asked Adam Driver how old Ben is supposed to be in the movie, he fumbled all over his answer because Ben is technically 29-30, but he's literally playing him as a teenager.

 

Apparently in Star Wars you’re still young in your late 60’s, at least according to Yoda!
Calling Luke “young Skywalker” was a nice touch by Rian.

I do agree about Ben. He’s like 30 and Snokes calling him a child in a mask!!!

 

Then he immediately begins murdering his peers. Is this supposed to be a Columbine allegory?

 

i don't think so. i think it's doubtful he just went on an angry rampage.
it seems there was a contretemps among the students likely over Ben's claim that Luke tried to murder him.
Ben and the others who agreed with/believed him just happened to "win" the fight. : o p

but i feel we need more information in this area before we can fully judge what happened there.

 

Yeah, that’s mostly where I crooked my head in the theater. I need a little more of that, please. There’s an underappreciated moment

There were followers of Luke that were loyal to Ben? To the point of KILLING, loyal? KOR is everyone’s assumption. I’d sure like a little more background on that. I’m sure that wasn’t the intent, but it really does have the icky flavor of a school shooting for me right now. Probably just me though.

 

what's really compelling to me is that they are all Force users, so it's not like lying/deception is a simple matter.
if Ben said Luke tried to kill him and if Ben believed it, some maybe would see that he's telling the truth.
i totally get the icky school shooting, but i do think what happened here was less a massacre and more a combat situation.
doesn't make it much easier to swallow, but i very seriously doubt these were helpless little younglings being cut down in apple-cheeked innocence.

 

I agree: he must own his experiences and look no further than himself for blame now that Snoke is gone.

If Snoke is entirely gone now, perhaps the absence of Snoke's stranglehold on Ben's mind and distorting manner of Ben's senses will cause Ben to comprehend how far he has gone towards the Dark Side of the Force.

Snoke worked on Ben early, before he even was born into the world, and that long-range and incessant influence definitely contributed to Ben's choices to become Kylo Ren.

With enough distance and clarity, Ben could ideally redeem himself.

Or, perhaps he descends further in IX, believing, wrongly I'd say, all hope is gone.

In the interests of staying on topic (re: "underappreciated/overlooked things" in TLJ), I'd also add this point, which I think has not received the attention it deserves:

Kylo Ren lies to Hux about Snoke, crediting Rey with Snoke's demise.

This happens quickly, after Hux comes in and sees the aftermath of what transpired between Kylo, Rey, Snoke, and the Praetorian Guards.

Kylo quickly changes the direction of the conversation, says "Let's finish this," and at that moment effectively claims the role of Supreme Leader after the briefest objection by Hux. Then all attention then turns to Crait.

Hux has no knowledge of Kylo's treason, that Kylo is indeed a traitor.

If this were still the time of the Sith, then this would be the "natural" course of "ascension" of apprentice over master.

Perhaps the truth of Kylo's turning against Snoke can be used in IX to generate some rift between him and the First Order.

 

Or perhaps something for him and Finn to bond over. “Look, I know what I said before, but . . . <sigh> . . . I get it now.”

 

Fixed, thanks for the heads up

 

this is what i tell @RockyRoadHux too. Hux will be back formidable in ix.
he's at his low point in TLJ just like everyone else.

and no way he's going to cut and run; he's going to turn the whole FO on Ren, i think.
because there's no way Ben is going to be able to lead it. : D

 

A small thing I loved in TLJ was Rose's line when her, Finn, and BB8 reunite with the Resistance on Crait. They're all happy for a few seconds that they made it out alive, then Rose looks over everyone and, on the verge of tears, says, "This is all that's left?"...I thought Tran knocked it out of the park on the delivery of that line. It really spoke volumes as to how decimated the Resistance was.