As an ending to the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker works medium well. As a direct follow up to The Last Jedi it is abysmal. Whether it would have been better for either J.J. Abrams or Rian Johnson to complete the entire trilogy is harder to answer. While we both love TLJ the most, it’s also the most disjointed from the other two parts of this final trilogy. 

Kristin definitely enjoyed this one more than Wil, although she understands most of the complaints. The biggest, most annoying issue with the final trilogy as a whole is how little time the main trio of Rey, Finn and Poe spend together. We, as the audience, are expected to do a lot of mental work to make them as close to each other as Luke, Leia and Han from the original trilogy and it just doesn’t totally work. 

Many other characters were not quite given their due including Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico. Luckily, the chemistry between Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren is just as captivating as it was in the first two movies and their relationship is absolutely the most interesting and fully fleshed out of the whole movie. 

Additionally the ending of Carrie Fisher’s Princess/General Leia was extremely disappointing, though we’re aware there was nothing much to be done about it. All in all, we’re both relatively mixed about Rise of Skywalker. There was a lot to like but there are also several valid concerns and criticisms. Whatever you think, though, we can all agree this was the end of an era and it’ll be hard to match it in the future.

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER SHOWNOTES!