Okay so continuing my binge of theatrical OT then TFA then RO I just got done watching TLJ.
And let me say it was a bit of a struggle during the movie's first act since there was just so much random and goofy stuff and I really wanted it to be over with so I could finally check out TROS on disc.
But then holy crap I was blown away with the realization of how much TROS changed how TLJ is framed. Dude it's freaking insane and it's freaking awesome.
RJ clearly said all right I'm gonna make a movie that subverts expectations and throws curveballs left and right and good luck to whoever comes next. But JJ and Terrio hit every curveball out of the park!
First off Rey's vision after swimming into the Dark Side cave.
She first sees all the clones of herself (hello Palpatine clones!) but this is the part that blew me away. She then clenches her fist as she sees two shadows approaching and becoming one, thinking it's her parents, later revealed to just be her own mirror image. No, NOT HER MIRROR IMAGE! The two shadows were her and Emperor Palpatine becoming one in her body as he said!!!
That's why only "she" remained but she wasn't looking at herself! It was Emperor Palpatine in her body!
:
And then Kylo's infamous quote when speaking to her about why he killed Han Solo: "Let the past die, kill it if you have to." *Which was advice she had to follow in the next movie when facing her grandfather!* Later he tells her "It's time for old things to die." You could actually take that as Ben Solo deep down, the good Ben, realizing that somehow everything is being manipulated for the worse by an old "thing" that needed to die. My mind is being utterly blown left and right, lol. And he was so conflicted between good and evil that something old and bad from the past had to die and it was tearing him apart but he didn't truly know what and who to focus his attacks on.
BUT THERE'S MORE, lol.
Kylo and Rey see each other's "futures" which Snoke claims were just his own manipulations but what Snoke *did not know* is that the visions he was allowing them to have were TRUE!!!!
Rey said that she saw Kylo turning and Kylo said "no when it's the right time *you'll* be the one to turn and you will stand with me." Dude in TROS Rey *did* agree to submit to Palpatine and strike him down so that he could become the ultimate Sith when she lost all hope and saw no other way to save her friends. And she *did* stand with Kylo shortly after that *but* with both of them as a Dyad of the Light. Both of their visions about the other person turning and them standing together were literally 100% TRUE. There are so many layers to this my mind is beyond reeling, lol.
TLJ Snoke really seems to be grooming Kylo to be his "new Vader" assumedly so that he could turn on Palps. So in trying to cultivate Kylo's loyalty while manipulating Rey into allowing herself to be captured did he give them visions that then BECAME self-fulfilling prophecies or did he unwittingly just open their minds to the actual future that was going to happen all along? Was the arrogant recreation of his former master also a part of Palpatine's own undoing!?
Also now that we know that Kylo was ultimately redeemable Luke comes across WAY less of a **** than before. When he tells Leia "I have to face him, and I can't save him" now it plays much more like "and *I* can't save him, but I'll face him so that he *can* be saved." And when Leia states that she's given up on her son Luke Skywalker himself restores *her* hope with the "no one's ever really gone" which plays out perfectly causing her to later reach out to Ben in TROS.
ALSO now that we know from Rey and Kylo's Star Destroyer/Kijimi duel that Kylo absolutely *can* damage things with his lightsaber while projecting (he helps destroy the Vader shrine) now we can definitely say that he in fact did kill Luke when he sliced and stabbed him on Crait. So Luke was a total badass, did something no one had previously done, restored hope to the galaxy (so that his legend would grow and people would answer Lando's call) and got to have his "Old Ben" sacrifice death moment.
JJ and Terrio (and Iger and whoever the hell else) so unbelievably connected all the dots that I don't know when I'm ever gonna not be in awe of what they did and I can't help but also appreciate what RJ did in just going for broke in daring to take the story in directions that even he probably couldn't imagine getting resolved but they did! So freaking satisfyingly and so much better than that ridiculous Trevorrow script, lol.
Seriously I'm just beyond blown away.
