For the love of God, unmute
concept: instead of Kylo Ren getting a redemption arc, we get a Captain Phasma redemption arc
but not like, “ok she’s good now and made of sweetness and rainbows and she had a really tough childhood and didn’t know what she was doing” kind of way.
but like
Captain Phasma leaves the First Order, not because she’s necessarily morally opposed to its callous slaughter of innocents, but because she and Hux are barely holding the organization together; all they ever do is clean up after Kylo’s tantrums, and at some point Kylo (probably under Snoke’s orders) comes up with a plan that is so utterly ridiculous that Phasma is like “f this shit I’m out.”
only what no one counted on are the number of Stormtroopers who are completely and utterly loyal to Phasma and Phasma alone because dammit, she’s a good commander. She’s terrible to the ones who don’t fit in or don’t live up to standards, of course, but that just means that the First Order’s most ruthless and efficient soldiers are defecting to follow Phasma.
because Phasma may be cruel, be she at least understands that there have to be limits to cruelty in order to lead effectively. Really, she’s more practical than cruel, and destroying perfectly functional computer equipment in a fit of rage, or killing underlings for minor infractions (may or may not be canon, but it’s the sort of thing you’d expect from KR) is simply not practical.
and so with Phasma gone and Kylo in charge, Phasma suddenly finds herself fighting against the First Order. At first it was simply self-defense as they tried to hunt her down as a deserter, but when she quickly proved herself more than a match for them, it turned into a guerrilla war to take them down – it is, after all, the practical thing to do.
so that is how Phasma and Leia find themselves on the same side, and of course the practical thing to do is for them to team up. It’s an uneasy truce, and Phasma and Finn make a deliberate effort to avoid each other – neither ever ends up forgiving the other, despite being allies. Phasma and Leia never come to like each other, either, but there is a grudging respect.
and after everything, when the First Order is finally taken down, Phasma and her soldiers are offered pardons for their service, which they accept. They become mercenaries, which has much better pay and job security than the First Order did. And if a lot of their dealings are on the shady side of the law, it’s never quite severe enough of an infraction for anyone to want to risk going after them.
seriously, i don’t actually want her to be good; give me “cool motive, still murder” Phasma. Let her be the villain who is undeniably evil but that everyone still loves.
a list of things about the tfa novelizations that should probably be discussed asap
aka if you haven’t read alan dean foster’s adaptation and before the awakening by greg rucka you’re Missing Out, My Friend:
- rey built her speeder all by herself. she also built a computer. completely from scratch out of salvaged tech from fighter plane wreckages, used data chips to build herself a flight simulator program so she’d have something to do to alleviate her constant boredom, and then taught herself to be an amazing pilot out of sheer stubborn determination to not let her own invention outsmart her.
- finn is inexplicably TERRIFIED THE WORLD WILL EAT HIM at various points after he crashes on jakku like… he’s climbing out of the TIE fighter wreckage and panicking and looks up at the sky and sees some birds and thinks DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THE BIRDS ARE GOING TO EAT ME… YET. he sees niima traders and thinks MAYBE THEY CARVE UP YOUR ORGANS TO SELL ON THE BLACK MARKET! he walks into maz’s and has this observation that escalates real fast that it’s a “perpetual round of eating, drinking, gambling, scheming, negotiating, arguing… and OCCASIONALLY ATTEMPTING TO SPLIT ONE ANOTHER’S LIVERS OR SOME EQUIVALENT ORGAN.” (which, on the one hand, precious sweet cinnamon roll, and on the other… what the hell kind of propaganda are stormtroopers shown about the non-First-Order world????)
- the jacket scene is extended from the film. it includes an exchange of an echoed
flirty“tell you all about it sometime” re: what poe/finn missed in each other’s lives in the interim. DISCUSS- in general everything is fleshed out in a lovely way that takes stock and slows down and breathes into the spaces the movie can’t? so many scenes have ten dialogue lines where the movie has one. the rey/bb-8 trading at niima scene in particular – movie rey is WIDE EYES ABOUT SIXTY PORTIONS (/bb-8 wibbles) WIDE EYES BECAUSE DAMN IT DON’T GET ATTACHED TO THE DROID, but book rey spends several pages reading unkar’s motives for wanting bb-8 and calculating what advantages keeping the droid could have for her and i think i like that version better honestly
- if you ever thought han solo was a posturing dashing space rogue and not an empathetic goober who’s constantly thinking about other people’s feelings underneath his cellophane bravado, this novel would like to have a chat with you tbh
- there’s a lot of interesting stuff happening re: jakku culture and its social environment?? rey muses at length in the prequel about teedos and their culture and how they think all sandstorms are the same continually-appearing one sent as a sign of disapproval by their god. there’s a lot about how violence is very present on jakku, but also very code-of-honor: do your thing and people will generally stay out of your way, but mess with someone else’s shit, well. there’s also an interesting juxtaposition of rey musing that age/gender aren’t factors giving anyone any special treatment in the life-and-death cycle of their environment, but also implications that unkar plutt and his henchmen ogle her, not in a way that indicates they’d act on it but still in an icky power assertion one. (i don’t get the sense otherwise that gender is much of a factor on jakku, though, and certainly not in the way that much of a rape culture exists among the scavengers, so do unkar&co just do this to everyone or??)
- for anyone on the rey femslash/”rey has probably just never ~seen a girl” train: rey/devi. please cry with me about it. rey (briefly) has a close female peer and friend on jakku in the prequel and uh, IT’S A THING
- rey and poe’s meetcute at the end though like. no “thank you for all you did for finn your bravery means so much to me!” no “bb-8 has told me so much about you i feel like i know you so it’s good to put a face to the name!” uh. i quote: “she nodded slowly, searching his face and finding that she liked it.” listen rey i know we’re all in the same boat here about oscar isaac but have some goddamn chill, i didn’t realize I LIKE YOUR FACE was an expression on jakku but here we are friends
- the tfa novelization in general is some damn elevated prose (i was expecting blatant money grub with daisy ridley’s face slapped on the cover and i got SAT words in every sentence), but poe’s section in the prequel is equally as elevated tbh?? all these gorgeous metaphors and observations and such. at one point leia happens to all of sit and glance while in his presence and he’s all YOUR SADNESS IS DESCENDING ON YOUR SHOULDERS LIKE A BLANKET MADE OF MEMORY AND WARMTH AND LONGING AND LOSS. please envision with me a world containing a poe dameron who says to your face all casually and amicably “hey buddy /arm punch” while apparently looking at the mere way you slouch and drawing elaborate metaphors in his head about your life and experiences and that one time in the third grade you were sad.
- on that note: i am now more convinced than ever that instead of it only being a meta wink-and-nod, the fucker absolutely knew what he was saying when he said “as long as there’s light we’ve still got a chance.” he probably patted himself on the back mentally for a split second like “that was a good one, buddy, clever double meaning there, you did good.” jessika pava probably groaned internally like “g o d dameron dial back the corny factor why don’t you” and gave him a hard time about it after they got back to d’qar. i don’t know about you friends but i feel like this is the poe dameron we all deserve, t b q h
I LIKE YOUR FACE
