I’D ASSSUMED THIS WAS A DIFFERENT SULLUSTAN BUT I AM DELIGHTED

Training is very extensive, but we don’t see, like, any of it so we don’t know what it entails. What we can extrapolate from Luke’s experience is that party tricks are probably the easy part (though they’re likely difficult to become really really good at), that the real challenge is emotional and spiritual mastery,…

Yep! And the crossguards are necessary vents because the weapon can’t handle all the power.

I’m saying that may not even be necessary. She mindtricks the guard because Kylo Ren had just inadvertently taught her how to do it.

Here’s another thing: Rey learns how to mindtrick the stormtrooper by resisting Kylo Ren, she learns telekineses from watching Kylo Ren, and she kicks Kylo Ren’s ass by doing what Maz Kanata tells her and closing her eyes and giving herself over to the Force.

I think it’s because, a lot of times, they were remixed and combined. The attack on Starkiller Base involved elements of both Death Star attacks and the ground battle at Endor. The “bridge scene” was the Death of the Mentor but it was also the Confrontation with the Father and the “Join Me” and the “There’s Still Good…

I’m seeing this point made a lot, but I’ll raise you this: The Force Awakens actually retreads the entire original trilogy in order to get the “cyclical/mythic storytelling” thing out of the way and put our heroes through their paces.

I’ll admit I’m disappointed that Luke doesn’t have, say, half a dozen Jedi at his side, but since this movie was unfortunately made thirty years later I figured we weren’t going to get any of that interstitial stuff. Luckily Disney has been doing a pretty good job managing the books and comics. I would love love love…

Exactly. I would have liked something different, or something also-impressive that wasn’t such an all-the-chickens-in-one-basket deal, which the Empire failed with twice.

I mean...it does exist as is. That said, it’s a planned installment in a trilogy, which means the writing is bound to look more like a TV show, occasionally.

Sure, except that the “shooting it into another system” thing just makes it another Death Star.

I was confused as to why showing up and killing your sun wasn’t a devastating enough thing for a weapon to do.

But even then, Kylo going dark didn’t cause the galaxy to go to hell, really. It seems as if Leia is leading a pretty successful harassment campaign against the Empire.

It seems like, mostly, they fixed things for a long time. Luke’s not in exile just out of shame, but because he needs something from the First Jedi Temple. The Resistance is finishing the work the Rebel Alliance started and, mostly, they seemed to have been doing a good job.

By literally closing her eyes, meditating, and giving herself fully to the Force.

Well it’s also just a major trait of any character born to another character. That said, I don’t think she’s Luke’s kid - I think she has a little bit of Jedi training she doesn’t remember.

no training

What kills me is that no one complaining about her preternatural Force ability has been wondering if maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with her super secret past that the movie keeps bringing up. Like, guys...it freaks out the other characters in the movie, too.

I assumed that what we were seeing was the destruction of Luke’s academy - a flashback rather than a flash forward.

This is awesome.