WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, in theaters now.

Out of the many issues that people are taking with this most recent Star Wars trilogy, one stands above all others: poor planning. One scene in the sequel series in particular, where Rey ceremoniously hands Luke his lightsaber, does a great job exemplifying the problems that arise when attempting to create a coherent three-part story without a proper game-plan.

This moment is actually stretched out over two films, with the beginning of the scene serving as the closing shot of J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens and its continuation coming at the start of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. The strong contrast in the scenes’ presentation, tone and significance offered a sobering look at what was to come.

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THE BIG MOMENT

The final scene in Abrams The Force Awakens is a powerful one. It has Rey finally finding Luke Skywalker and presenting him his old lightsaber with a look of hope, uncertainty, and even fear of what’s to come. In a movie that focuses so heavily on the theme of passing the generational torch, it’s both a touching and fitting moment to close out the film.

Then, two years went by. Between The Force Awakens and the release of The Last Jedi, the Internet ran amuck with wild speculation of how this moment would play out in Rian Johnson’s upcoming entry in the series. Somehow, contrary to possibly every single one of the thousands of fan theories, Luke Skywalker takes the lightsaber and unceremoniously tosses it away.

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Star Wars The Last Jedi Rey Luke Skywalker

It’s important to note that this is not a critique of either one of these scenes. Individually, they both serve their function and are well executed. Abrams crafted a triumphant and epic closing moment that left people wanting more and Luke’s subsequent reaction in The Last Jedi does a great job setting up both the character’s current mental states and future arcs in the film.

However, taken together, the scenes don’t blend at all. This is instantly evident even from a technical, blocking standpoint. The physical distance between Rey and Luke is inconsistent, to say the least, with the wide shot set up in The Force Awakens placing them dozens of feet away from each other and the close-ups in The Last Jedi showing them practically inches apart.

SUBVERSION, SUBVERSION, SUBVERSION...

While the term “subverting expectations” has almost become a cliche in itself recently, Luke’s “subversive” dismissal of his old lightsaber isn’t the actual problem here. The issue is that this moment had the weight of not only an entire previous Star Wars movie, but also of two years of fan hype and speculation. Few would argue that fans should be in charge of the direction their favorite franchises take, but to have this scene play out as it did, it felt that Johnson not only ignored the fans, but Abrams' set-up, as well.

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In Johnson’s defense, The Last Jedi does capitalize on this moment, using it as an excellent entryway into the type of Star Wars movie that audiences should expect. One of the core ideas of the film is the characters', as well as franchises', complicated relationship with the past. It presents interesting and unique character journeys that show Rey, Kylo, and Luke confronting what it means to be a Jedi, the fallibility of legends, and the importance of failure.

Now, if The Rise of Skywalker had continued to explore these ideas in more depth, there might not have been a problem.

WRAPPING UP THE TRILOGY

With the announcement that Abrams would return to direct the final entry of the trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, fans were interested to see how he would approach the controversial paradigm shifts presented in The Last Jedi. While Abrams certainly didn’t ignore all the developments, he definitely did some course-correcting, wrapping up the series with an installment that felt a lot more in-line with The Force Awakens.

Abrams backtracked on Rey’s parentage, Kylo is back wearing the mask he had symbolically destroyed in The Last Jedi, and Rose Tico is demoted to glorified cameo status. While none of these decisions are inherently bad storytelling, they do, at best, sidestep many of the core themes that were established by Johnson. The worst offender is Rey’s familial relationship to Emperor Palpatine, something which may have served as a satisfying reveal directly following the teased force-flashbacks in The Force Awakens, but instead, feels hollow after The Last Jedi’s insistence that ANYONE can be a Jedi, regardless of bloodlines.

We may never know exactly what happened behind the scenes at Disney that led to the general incohesive feel of this trilogy. While The Last Jedi fans might blame Abrams or the studio and some Force Awakens diehards may never forgive Rian Johnson for the changes they didn’t like, there really is no benefit in pointing fingers. It’s important to remember that movies, even ones as massive and as calculated as Star Wars, take lives of their own during production. Art evolves and changes and sometimes doesn’t turn out exactly as planned. Abrams and Johnson had a heavy weight to shoulder with this trilogy, and similarly to the prequels, how we look back on their films will certainly continue to change with time.

Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Matt Smith, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film is now in theaters.

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