I also need an explanation of what went down at the Jedi Academy. I can’t imagine a scenario where Kylo (who at that point would supposedly be teen and not fully trained) could best Luke. The only way I can accept what happened was that Luke was somehow not present when Kylo and the Knights attacked. I would have…

This is supposed to be the third trilogy in a 9-story arc, so of course there need to be ties woven throughout. Rogue One is your original film or as close as to one as you’ll get. Read the Expanded Universe if you want something completely new.

They are one and the same. Maz even says it. But the saber was passed down to Luke and it’s his.

The difference is she had him down, he was wounded and she could have delivered a fatal blow. The Jedi don’t kill in cold blood. (Remember when Anakin has Dooku between two sabers? He’d cut off his hands at that point so Dooku was defenseless but Anakin straight up executed him). Rey thinks about killing Kylo, is even…

The film makers came up with that trick and visual effects has advanced to the point where they can have Force users do more. It doesn't necessarily mean the others couldn't pull off those things.

Great post! I’m with you on Luke. We need to see him tear *stuff* up! I don’t like the backstory he was given that made him a failure but it is what it is. Rian Johnson needs to elevate Luke again. He’s a myth in TFA. He needs to become a legend in Eps VIII and IX. And he can't die. That's too easy and lazy…

I think he’ll get redemption in death. Turning back to the light and then sacrificing himself to save another. Han’s touch to Kylo’s face becomes the most powerful gesture in the new trilogy. It will be the thing the haunts Kylo and makes him become Ben again in the end.

When she knocks him down the look on her face to me was the same face Luke had after he sliced off Vader’s hand in ROTJ. Rey touched the dark side. And in the novelist ion (which is canon) Snoke is in Rey’s head and says, “Kill him” and she thinks that doing so would be “So easy.” The dark side is always a present…