How to Fix The Last Jedi

Original Posted on DevientArt on April 26, 2019. Select Changes have been made in formatting, grammar, spelling, and a few added sentences. No fundamental changes have been made.

How to Fix The Last Jedi

This may be turned into a video someday.

Step 1 - Re-frame the Poe/Holdo conflict of the film.

• This is actually the easiest fix. Holdo should tell Poe that there might be a First Order spy on board and all information is on a need to know basis. She should also say that she suspects Finn may be a spy. And since Finn has been unconscious since TFA, Poe will consider that an unreasonable assumption and should point that out. Resulting in Poe being sharply dismissed. YouTuber EcHenry has already suggested this fix and I think its a good one as it sets up that the conflict is because of a trust issue. Poe can even suspect that Holdo or one of her staff is a spy. He can even comment to himself what does he know about Holdo. This can lead to Finn and Rose suggesting the Canto Bight Mission and Poe will use the same logic Holdo does for not telling him her plan for not informing her of their plan. The rest of their conflict is perfect as is, the set up just needed improving.

Step 2 - Rewrite Canto Bight

• This one is a bit trickier. I think Rose and Finn should make contact with the "Master Code Breaker" but he refuse to help them and then as they are escorted out of the Casino by Canto Bight Security for parking illegally, Rose makes her anger at the rich known and how she wishes to destroy the town. Finn should be off put by this. This results in them being thrown in a cell where they meet DJ and the plot should continue as relatively normal, with one exception - Finn should not say it was worth it when they destroy much of Canto Bight during the Fathier chase; rather he should wonder was it worth it. Leave it open ended and up for the audience to make the value judgement.
  

Step 3 - Finn and Rose

• Rose needs to be established as a no nonsense, do whatever needed type of person. She essentially needs to represent the more extreme side of the Resistance. And this should be off putting to Finn, with him wondering what it means to be a member of the Resistance and what it would mean for him.
  
• After Rose saves Finn, preventing him from sacrificing himself for the resistance in vain, when she kisses Finn, he should be confuses and possible even disturb by it. He should not be as receptive to it as TLJ presented it. Or just cut it out, because I felt it was out of no where and I do not think it was set up at all.
  

Step 4 - Enjoy

• So what I did here was not so much as rewrite TLJ, but rather reinterpreted it to make more sense, making the assumption that Rian Johnson decided to leave some of the facts out for artistic purposes. Essentially I approached TLJ as an in-universe historian would, based on real world Historian approach to historical films. I asked myself what is Rian Johnson trying to say about this period of The First Order-Resistance War and then asked what is J.J. Abrams trying to say with TFA and TROS (which is hard for a film that hasn't come out yet). Then I worked to reconcile the two to make a stronger story.

-Jonathan Berry