Skeleton Crew, the show that could have been anywhere

The world is nuts right now. It's probably always been nuts, but now it's all on TV, everyone knows it's nuts, and everything keeps happening faster and faster. Somehow, in the 50 years since Star Wars first came out, we've moved into a spot where, instead of a lark, looking at a technologically advanced world of adventure, it is, at it's best, a quiet return to a simpler time. To wit, Skeleton Crew was tremendous. 

The sequel trilogy really struggled, particularly in the final installment, and part of the issue was that it continued to try to consume the entire galaxy in it's breadth. It took every thing from the Star Wars universe and just threw it into the same pot. The Last Jedi was disparaged by some, but a thing I appreciated about it was the bid to make Star Wars more tactile again, and make the movie smaller in scope. It wasn't perfect, but it set something up that could have been much better. 

It seems as though Lucasfilm is figuring out something I have thought for a while. We don't necessarily need fan service at every offering, but simply good stories that live in the universe. It's such a sandbox to work with, and feeling a need to return to Palpatine and the Skywalkers at every turn only drags things down.

The Mandalorian worked because they featured new characters as leads. Personalities and arcs could go anywhere, and need only graze the existing canon. The Book of Boba Fett was disappointing in many ways, but a big cause was bringing a galactically important character with an already remarkable backstory AND following, and tried to shoehorn a story around that.

Recent disappointment and burnout drove poor viewership to The Acolyte, but it wasn't a bad show. It was a moody character driven mystery that sort of typified where Star Wars is at. It felt more akin to Andor and Skeleton Crew than to the core films. It was a decent show that had the trappings of Star Wars, but didn't need to be trapped in them. Andor and Skeleton Crew took this mindset and executed it even better.

Andor is a gritty war series that demystifies the idea of war, and brought the origins of a rebellion to a grass roots level. The fact that Cassian Andor was in Rogue One was incidental. It felt like the major plot points and internal motivations could have come from our timeline, or at least they seemed recognizable and real. 

Skeleton Crew was basically a kids adventure that was well written enough that grown ups got into it as well. There was almost no correlation to the extended Star Wars universe, except to provide the setting, rather than fixed plot destinations, and the show itself felt more like Goonies in space than another typical Star Wars offering. 

And that's where the Lucasfilm offerings have excelled. It excels when Andor's renegade is allowed to be a renegade, and the kids in Skeleton Crew are allowed to be kids, and heck, Luke Skywalker in a New Hope was a bored teen, and was allowed to be a bored teen, and all of whom happen to be in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars is best when it is not making itself a character. 

A Universe and a Galaxy

On my flight to San Francisco, I wanted to watch something fairly light that I didn't need to invest too much of my attention on, and I went with the 2nd Lego Movie. I'm a grownup. The movie lasted only 90 minutes of the 4 hour flight, so I vowed to watch something longer on the way home. I picked Avengers Endgame, and it worked out perfectly.
This is the second time I watched the movie, and was therefore able to absorb the details much more closely. (I was also able to watch it in one sitting this time, because my viewing partner didn't need to go to bed). The details, however, were more important to long time comic book fans. The coolest part for me was the coming together of all those storylines and all those heroes.
Undoubtedly, that was the pinnacle of the entire Marvel franchise to date, and will be tough to replicate in the future. Still, why would they feel the need to? On the whole, most of the characters in the Universe are part of their own story. They can keep telling Black Panther's story without Valkyrie flying in on a Pegasus. Captain Marvel will surely have some interstellar sequel that will be unconcerned about Spider-Man's pursuit of a high school diploma.
The other big franchise that is reaching its conclusion is, of course, Star Wars. Both franchises are Disney properties and make a bazillion dollars, chiefly on the backs of nerds, but that is about where the comparisons end, at least cinematically. The two biggest overarching difference revolve around the two points I made about Endgame, which made the movie so special for me and other viewers.
Star Wars is a 9 movie arc, telling the story of the same family, and those surrounding them. Those movies not of the main series are related closely to the so called Skywalker Saga. The culmination of the 9 movie arc will not result in some grand coming together of beloved characters from across the movies. There isn't a deep well of characters that will converge at the end of the movie. Instead, the end of the Rise of Skywalker will simply be the end of the story for several important characters, notably Kylo Ren and Rey.
While the end of December's movie offers the conclusion of a beloved saga, it does something that the Marvel Universe doesn't: It offers up an entire galactic playground for directors and film writers to work with. As we've seen from Rogue One and Solo, the feel and thematics are unconfined by the feel and thematics of the original anthology. There is another trilogy on the way, and it will be a complete surprise. The Star Wars Galaxy will live on, and we have no frame of reference as to how it will do so. Any movie can be made in the Star Wars Galaxy, and we won't be able to say if it's right or wrong.
Marvel's movies and Star Wars films appeal to a broadly similar fan base, but aside from the content of the films, they also have completely different circumstances surrounding them. The Marvel Universe is exciting, because we can see what we know come together, but Star Wars is exciting because there is a whole Galaxy to explore

The Last Jedi is about character growth, like it or not

[Spoilers, of course]

The interesting thing to me, with regard to the newest movie of the Star Wars anthology, is how many of the criticisms of the film exist because viewers don't like the fact that director Rian Johnson actually made a film rather than another episode of Star Wars.

After seeing The Force Awakens, most viewers said "that was good, I can't wait to see what happens next" whereas after The Last Jedi, anticipation for the 9th movie in the series has been blunted, because there was so much to digest from this movie. While this movie indeed carried on the overarching story, it was also an excellent thematic lesson in and of itself. The themes that the movie bore, most notably of failure and the ability to grow from those failures, allowed characters to develop beyond the archetypes we had already been accustomed to.

Let's take a look at two criticisms in particular, and I'll try to put your mind at ease. First, and most damning, is perhaps the one that came from Mark Hamill himself, who said he disagreed with how Luke Skywalker was portrayed in The Last Jedi, because the Luke he knew would never give up in the face of adversity like the fall of Ben Solo. Never mind the fact that most Star Wars fans remember his origins as a whiny farm boy, but his earlier failures are central to the plot of this particular movie.

If you need any help with this concept, Yoda is there to help spell it out explicitly for you (Aside - the criticism that Yoda seemed to have been shoehorned in to this movie also remain unfounded, because he is so integral to the moral to this story). In order to teach, one must pass along strengths, but also weaknesses and failure. Too late, Luke learned the dangers of hubris, which the Jedi's failures a generation ago should have passed on to him. Now, understanding these lessons, he can and did share those with Rey, and used Kylo Ren's own arrogance and anger against him, in order to stall for time for the Resistance.

A broader question, aside from the implications of the Force and the Jedi, is what the heck did the Finn/Rose story have to do with anything? Many people have said that they would have been ok with their story line had they been successful, but frankly, they had to fail. The point of their mission was to fail.

There were three important characters that needed to be a part of this story line. The first is Poe Dameron, who slowly saw the light as the movie progressed. He achieved an early success, destroying a dreadnaught in the opening scenes of the movie, but was reprimanded for the high cost of the attack. Shortly thereafter, an attack on the bridge killed most of the top leadership, including Admiral Ackbar, and severely wounded Leia (in a scene that I am growing more comfortable with) putting Admiral Holdo in charge, as a character that Poe did not know or trust.

Holdo had the best intentions in mind, but Poe remained unconvinced, and dispatched Finn and Rose on their mission to Canto Bight. Ultimately, he learned that patience would have been rewarded, and his brashness led to a further decimation of the resistance as transports were destroyed after the betrayal of the coder. By the end of the movie, on Canto Bight, Poe made two decisions that showed he now understood the value of assessing potential costs with gains, and patiently waiting for all information to come available.

The second character is more obviously Finn. Upon awaking from a medical stasis, he immediately wants to know the status of Rey. To him, the galaxy is mostly about him, and the woman who first ever treated him like a human being. His goal upon encountering Rose was to take the tracking beacon away from the Resistance fleet.

Being sent to Canto Bight with Rose opened his eyes to the plight in the galaxy. Yes, he could not fight those that he did not hate, but now, he learned that the Resistance wasn't fighting because they hated the First Order, necessarily, but because people like the stable hands needed the support of those stronger than them. By the end of the movie, the cause for Finn was no longer vengeance or self preservation, but doing right for those that needed help. Rose put it best when she told him that the war would be won by protecting who they love, not killing who they hated.

And that brings us to Rose, who was introduced to us in this movie, and might just be the most underappreciated character in The Last Jedi. Really, she is at the heart of where I think the franchise is headed. She is the every-woman, brought up from the lowest rungs of society to a mechanic's role in the Resistance. She comes from nowhere, like Rey, but without the sensitivity to the Force. In a movie that lays bare the failures of the doctrinal Force teachings, her heart and determination are the characteristics that drive any success in this movie.

That, I believe, is where this franchise is heading with episode 9. The only Skywalkers left are Leia and Kylo Ren. This franchise, then, is no longer about the Skywalkers, but rather about the Galaxy. The Force is guided by the Light and the Dark, but the Galaxy, like humanity, has Good and Evil at his poles. Unlike the Force, which requires balance, inherent Good doesn't require Evil to rise to its equal. This movie sets up the possibility of so many stories outside the characters we know, and sets up a climax in which the Galaxy, not necessarily a particular character or bloodline, prevails.