When The Force Awakens came out in 2015, I was one of the many who were excited and really enjoyed the movie. I didn't mind the criticism regarding the rehashing of Episode IV since I considered it a retelling of events in a new backdrop, which succeeded for the most part, while leaving enough mystery for the sequels, which I then believed was a planned-out trilogy. But most of all, I enjoyed TFA because of the characterization of Rey. Which just made what happened to her in the following two movies all the more disappointing.When Rey was introduced in TFA, she embodied a sense of wonder, amazement, and adventurous spirit perfectly suited for the story and the universe. Daisy Ridley's acting was a blast to watch, as she went from a scavenger stuck in a desert, pining for the past, to learning to receive the love and care from others and finally start to look towards the future. The movie effectively portrayed a lovable main character, enough to make audiences understand and get attached to her, while left out some mysteries regarding her parentage, connection to the Force and a tease about the Dark side for future films.Then came The Last Jedi. Now I won't go into what the movie did right and wrong, since it's been argued to dead everywhere. But here is where Rey's story started to go astray. Her flirt with the Dark side, which was teased in TFA and was expected to became her undoing, went nowhere. Her connection to the Force got some half-assed explanation which I still don't understand (the Force just gave her all that power to counterbalance Snoke and/or Kylo Ren or sth?). Her parentage was a thing I liked, it fit with the theme of the movie, although that was retroactively ruined by the following Episode. But most of all, by trying to keep her the happy-go-lucky character from the first movie, they failed the basic of writing by making the character immuned to her own actions. What happened when she disobeyed her master and went to rescue Ben Solo from the dark side? Well when Luke did it he lost an arm, his lightsaber and learnt a truth that drove him nuts. When Rey did it, they successfully killed the Big Bad, Kylo Ren was still evil, and she lost the lightsaber. You would think they will show her reacting to that, but nope. The next scene after the throne room fight, we saw her triple-bullseyeing 3 TIE fighters while laughing. A total disconnect to the very previous scene where Kylo Ren shattered her memories of her parents. Her rock lift, which was supposed to be a moment of carthasis, where the training paid off, just felt like a moment, since nothing we saw demonstrated that she wouldn't be able to do so without Luke's training. All in all, eventhough TLJ nailed Kylo Ren and delivered a debatable characterization of Luke, which I personally like but understand if others do not, Rey, the main character is where I thought they dropped the ball. And boy, I really shouldn't had held out hope for the next one back then.One of the biggest problems with The Rise of Skywalker, as many have pointed out, is the need to went out of its way to undo TLJ. Just owned it, and move on with it, why couldn't you, movie? TLJ at least followed TFA in its theme of moving towards the future. Rey accepting her parentage, and moving on to become a new Jedi, in honor of her master and those who came before, but also in her own way, was a logical step of her arc. But then the movie just had to ruin that with the stupid Palpatine reveal, which invalidated everything the previous film had been building up for, and the character's own arc. Stop looking back went out the window; the connection to the Force went out the window; turns out it was her granddady's genes that made her powerful. Her wrestled with the Dark side failed, her redemption of Ben Solo failed (Kylo Ren returned to Ben Solo thanked to his mother's sacrifice and the memory of his father). They gave her force healing out of no where. And overall, they just lost all the focus the character should have. What's new about Rey at the end of TROS? Luke went from a bratty farmer to a wise, empathetic Jedi. Anakin went from a junkyard orphan to a powerful Sith Lord, consumed by love and hate at the same time. Rey went from what? A scavenger good at fighting who wanted to see the universe and not die in the desert to a Jedi good at fighting who had seen the universe, I guess. Her character growth was neglected over the course of the trilogy, until it became a mess of a character with no clear direction and focus.It's sad to look back at what we got and think about what we could have had. Rey could have been a new icon, a mainstay of the franchise with a great actress portrayal for years to come. Instead we got a directionless character arc in a bleak post-sequel territories where I don't think people would be that excited about. Instead of being the young, bright and energetic face of Star Wars, now when I think back at Rey all I could think about is how they squandered her and all the sequels' potential. She's not the worst case (F for Finn's character arc), but as the portagonist, she stuck out the most. Maybe kids who grew up with this trilogy would have a fonder view of Rey, and I really hope that they do. Me, personally, I just feel sad that I had to watch a character I love got ruined right before my eyes. via /r/StarWars https://ift.tt/32NDRLu
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