I expected to see the same young woman I'd been following for the past two movies a little older, a little wiser, a little more confident, but still with things to learn. Almost immediately, the question of Rey's identity is reopened. The Rise of Skywalker displays an obsession with the past that not even The Force Awakens had. What we got instead was extremely disheartening. The Force Awakens had tee-ed up interesting questions, which The Last Jedi knocked out of the park with the best possible answers and set things up for what should have been a fantastic finale. The years between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker were, in many ways, a great time to be a Star Wars fan. The sequel trilogy doesn't remove the Skywalkers, but it does revitalize the saga by giving it new blood. The Empire Strikes Back's brilliant twist gave Luke the most personally difficult revelation he could hear, and in doing so turned Star Wars into a family story. The Last Jedi completely disrupts the mold that Star Wars had inevitably found itself in. The realization that Rey isn't powerful because of her connection to some bloodline does something more than making her stand on her own in this story. The fact that she doesn't, that she chooses to continue in the face of this devastation, is what starts her on the next part of her journey. Because of this, she has the opportunity for growth and we can actually believe for a second that she might consider finding the belonging she's sought in Kylo's offer to join him. The Last Jedi does Rey a great service by giving her the most personally challenging answer possible to the question of who she is.
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