The Last Jedi- The Importance Of The Throne Room Scene And Kylo Rens Development

The Last Jedi- The Importance of the Throne Room Scene and Kylo Ren’s development

The throne room scene was when we finally see what Kylo Ren is thinking. Kylo believes both sides of the force have failed him. First the light side with his teacher Luke and now the dark in his mentor Snoke. Both believed him to be a failure for different reasons. Luke because he feared Kylo’s tremendous power and Snoke because he believes Kylo is weak and that he has found a more fitting successor in raw strength in Rey. Snoke believed he was only luring Rey to him through the interactions between Kylo and Rey he forced upon them throughout the movie, but in reality he was causing both to find someone who truly understands the other. This caused Kylo to strike out against Snoke and lead to his demise. 

The subsequent fight against the guards showed how in sync Kylo and Rey were. Kylo believed he had found something in between in Rey. Something not quite pure light side or pure dark side, but in the middle. He had come to reject both sides of the force and wanted to make his own way by destroying the old “antiquated” systems and creating the world anew. He rejected Rey’s offer to join the rebellion and stop the first order because he saw that the rebellion would just put the old systems in place, the systems he believed failed him. He could only achieve his goals of change if he stayed with the first order and lead them. He wanted Rey by his side because he saw his goals for the new system in her, but Rey didn’t agree with his methods to reach his solution though tearing down the system through violence. 

Kylo didn’t know another way to achieve his goals but through violence. This was the disconnect. Kylo was taught his whole life to fight (through Luke) and conquer (through Snoke). Whereas Rey was taught to remain passive and accepting. Rey learned that to make change she would have to take action, but only when need be, while Kylo slowly resorts to action in escalating extremes. 

The Subversion of the Mark of Athena

Annabeth’s solo quest is a bright spot within this series in that it completely subverts your expectations for what both Annabeth and the reader thought it would be. Upon a re-read I realized that this quest was the exact opposite of what Annabeth had wanted. Annabeth wanted to prove herself to the gods and to herself instead she is forced into the quest, disowned by her mother, in the end Annabeth ends up questioning her mother’s integrity, and even when the quest is over she is sent against her will into an even more dangerous trial instead of going home to glory. Annabeth has always wanted to prove herself to the gods and in the end she is mad at the gods and doesn’t care for their approval. This coupled with the fact that Annabeth going on a solo quest has been built up since the beginning of the Percy Jackson series makes this subversion fascinating to read.

This is what frustrated me the most about how season 6 ended. It seemed the power struggle that has been happening since the end of season 2 was completely forgotten, so that the Paladins could go back to earth. The paladins so far have failed to see the bigger picture, they look at all the small scale injustices and don’t even think as to why they came about only that they are wrong. With Lotor they lost the only chance they had of stopping the Galra without completely destroying them and the empire. This is an empire where all the subjects have been taught victory or death from a young age, now that voltron has disposed of not one but two of their leaders especially one who trusted them they will undoubtedly view them as public enemy number one. Voltron has also given Sendak a point that he can rally the Galra behind him with, that voltron is evil and must go. What the paladins fail to realize is the effect their crusade has on not just planets under Galra rule, but the Galra themselves. They have now made it so as long as Lotor is gone they have no means to stop the Galra without excessive force and to wipe them out. The Galra will not let Voltron dismantle their empire until their dying breath. Right now voltron has lost their option that keeps them in the moral “white”. 

Even at the start of the season when Lotor tells the empire he is their ruler and that he will bring peace Lance immediately asks him if he will free the planets from Galra control now, but Lotor can’t do that. This situation doesn’t have a quick fix. If Lotor just started freeing planets right when he seized control he would lose the faith of the entire empire and would probably be labelled a traitor instead of their leader. Lotor voiced to Allura that he believed that the Galra and planets they had control of could live together in peace and it would be mutually beneficial to both societies. His story to Allura in Alderan would have been the perfect way to slowly integrate peace and freedom in the galaxy which would be based on the exchange of goods rather than the forceful taking of them. This could then branch out into the Galra having no real control of the planets they trade/buy from getting rid of the empire’s totalitarian reign. Lotor’s thinking in this instance was right, but the paladins don’t want to have to wait for peace or gradual change and that is their true shortcoming. 

It’s kind of sad that we haven’t gotten to see the paladins learn that they can’t force change throughout an entire galaxy that has run the way it has for thousands of years and that not everything is black and white in war. Even the blade of marmora are only accepted by the paladins because they outright oppose the empire through force instead of looking at the people who try to instigate change from within. 

Alright. I’m going there. I’m gonna say what a lot of people are too scared to admit:

Allura made the wrong choice.

There’s a lovely theory out there about how Lotor may not have been harvesting quintessence from the colony Alteans, and the Paladins jumped to conclusions. I love that theory, but I’m going to take it a step further. Even if Lotor WAS harvesting quintessence, the Paladins were still in the wrong.

Allura opposed the idea of harvesting quintessence in the name of saving lives. But she actually only saved the few Altean lives of those who had yet to have their quintessence harvested. And she sentenced probably millions more people to death, and even more to suffering. With Lotor gone and his quintessence plan shut down, the war is going to continue, and it’s not going to be pretty.

Let’s think about the Galra. They just lost their emporer AGAIN. There’s going to be another Kral Zera, and I think we all know who’s going to become emporer: Sendak. Lotor failed, proving that trusting a half-galra as their emporer was a great mistake. Likewise, people are not likely to trust the generals who had sided with Lotor. They’re going to turn to the “purest galra” to lead them back into prosperity.

Yes, there will be some that continue their loyalty to Lotor, but in that case who is their biggest enemy? Who took down their beloved emperor not once, but twice? Yep, it’s Voltron. This also gives Sendak a chance to reunite the people under a common enemy. Regardless of if he does this, though, Voltron is back to being public enemy number 1, and Sendak is sure to continue a Galran reign of terror.

There will be people lost in the Galran conquest, lost in the Galra fighting each other based on their loyalties, and lost in Voltron fighting back. Not to mention that we don’t even know how much longer all of this is going to continue. So many more people are going to die, when Lotor had a plan to end it all for good at the cost of only a few lives in comparison.

Did he go about it the wrong way? Absolutely. I personally think he should have been up-front with the Alteans. Let them CHOOSE to be the sacrifices, not trick and force them into it. But he really was working for the sake of saving as many lives as possible, whereas Allura allowed her feelings about her heritage drive her to drag out the suffering of the universe.

Honestly I’m not sure why so many people are against this thinking. We’ve already seen in the other reality that she’s perfectly capable of doing the wrong thing for the right reason.

This. I understand that people want a redemption arc, but they can't erase what Lotor has done. Erasing what he has done takes away from the complexity of the character. I want a redemption arc as well. A redemption arc isn’t about being innocent all along. It’s about someone learning from their mistake, acknowledging they were wrong, and moving in the right direction. I'm also fine with Lotor ending up a villain because he seems like someone who took his goal too far and those characters make some of the most complex villains. He was also a character bound for tragedy in one way or another. Many people, including myself, feel like they didn't take enough time to explore those complexities that could make him either a hero or a villain before making him into a zarkon 2.0 and that was disappointing. I liked the idea behind what the voltron writing team was going for, but found the execution somewhat lacking.

I'm certain they aren't done with Lotor because of all the plot points and reveals surrounding his character and past in seasons 5 and 6. Hagar had just found a cure for quintessence poisoning right before Lotor himself fell victim to it. It wouldn't make sense to completely discard of him after all the set up they created. I hope they explore more of the complexity of his past and character in the future.

My problem with the whole #justiceforlotor tag going around on tumblr and twitter is that I wish it focused more on his wasted potential as a character rather than advocating for his innocence. I agree that he is a victim of his parents and his terrible upbringing, but his crimes are still pretty heinous, so he’s far from innocent at this point. If anything I just wish the wording on the photo was less “Lotor is innocent give him a redemption arc!” and more “Lotor is a very nuanced, morally ambigous character who deserves more screen time to show that, and shouldn’t have been turned into Zarkon 2.0 for shock value.”

Jessica Jones Season 1 Review

             I enjoy marvel on the big screen and the small, but this is my favorite tv outing of the media juggernaut. The fight scenes aren’t as amazing to watch as daredevil’s and the world building isn’t as rich as Luke Cage’s, but it create one of my favorite psychological character studies to be put on screen. This show puts you inside the head of Jessica Jones and Kilgrave and makes you feel what they feel and think what they think. You see the okay days Jessica has and you see her rock bottom and everything in between. I say her okay days because after Kilgrave no day she has seems to be truly good. The trauma she experience under Kilgrave’s control has warped her and she struggles under the weight of it even long after she believes him dead. Her struggle against Kilgrave throughout the season is emotionally taxing for her and the audience. It brings to a head the same question Daredevil did should the hero kill the villain? The answer to that question is different then daredevil’s. Jessica initially doesn’t want to kill Kilgrave because she want to save Hope, but she also doesn’t want to kill him because deep down she fears that would make her exactly what he made her into a “murderer”, so when she shoves those thoughts away and decides to kill him to prevent future harm to others I felt bad for her. Her demon may be gone, but this is another trauma she will have to deal with that will make her road to recovery even slower. I believed that she did what was right because he couldn’t be contained by the end and though she will deny it she was a hero in her actions.

Jessica’s depression and ptsd was so real and raw in it’s portrayal. Her rock bottom was one of the hardest to watch. I enjoyed the tentative relationship with Malcolm that formed during the season and her bond with Trish. These bonds were the emotional core of the show. They were what gave you hope for Jessica’s future because at the end of the day they never left her side. Even after all the sarcasm she tried to use to distance them (yes, that was a joke).

You can’t talk Jessica Jones without talking Kilgrave. Kilgrave was psychotic and unhinged and it kind of made sense how he ended up that way. We understand how this character came to be and yet we don’t really sympathize with him. We don’t condone what he does, but they somehow make him seem human even though he should be an impossible character to write that way. He has all the makings of a one dimensional psychotic over powered villain that’s not much else, but David Tennant and the writers manage to create one of the best, if no the best, marvel villains to date.

Jessica Jones is my favorite marvel Netflix series and the show I would recommend to anyone who asks. I strongly suggest that anyone who hasn’t seen it yet go and watch it because I believe that there is a message or character that will resonate with anyone who watches.

Spider-man Homecoming Review

Spider-man Homecoming was better than I could have hoped. When it was first announced that Disney and Sony were teaming up and rebooting spider-man I was a little frustrated that this was happening again and I thought that moving Black Panther to make way for spider-man was just a cash grab. I have never been happier to be wrong. The Movie mixed the school and hero aspects of Peter's life wonderfully. He was the awkward nerd that everyone loves and remembers. Tom Holland was excellent and brought the character to life. His rendition of Spider-man was a fresh take on a character that has been brought to the big screen on numerous occasions. He made me feel for Peter and his struggle to prove himself to others and stay true to his ideals. This movie also addressed important questions every spider-man fan has asked himself time and time again like how does spider-man get places if he has no buildings around to websling on? and what does spider-man do when there isn’t a world or city threatening enemy to fight? He runs the places he wants to go and gives little old lady’s directions to where they want to go.

             As a lifelong spider-man fan I was impressed by the cast and how they portrayed their characters. Jacob Batalon was loveably humorous and geeky as Ned Leeds. Tony Revolori portrayed the classic high school bully to the T and was fun to watch. Zendaya was quirky and strange yet endearing. Tom Holland blew it out of the water and convinced me time and time again that he is Peter Parker and Spider-man. Marvel has yet to miscast its heroes. Michael Keaton fixed the villain problem and brought a 3-dimensional character to the vulture.

             I did have a few problems with the film and almost all of them came from the completely forced love subplot between Peter and Liz Allen. I found Peter’s one-sided attraction to Liz endearing, but it made no sense that she would return his feelings. He constantly let her down and every interaction they had I could barely believe they were friends. They were closer to acquaintances that didn’t really talk that much and that Peter was really awkward around. She doesn’t know he is spider-man so throughout the movie she sees Peter being unreliable. At the beginning she doesn’t even think to invite him to her party until Ned says Peter knows spider-man. This was however a rather small blemish considering it didn’t take up that much of the runtime.

Overall this movie was a blast to watch and I enjoyed the ride from start to finish. This movie was worth the money I spent to see it and I will be seeing it many more times to come