I saw it again this evening, probably my last viewing before it’s on Blu-ray/streaming. I’ve made peace with it. It’s never going to be my favorite, but I’m willing to stop comparing it unfavorably to TLJ and start comparing it favorably to all the lunatic EU novels I read in the 90s. It’s big and convoluted and kind of dumb and a lot of fun.

With regard to pacing, I think the Pasana and Kijimi stuff could probably be condensed into one segment, which would free up 15 minutes or so that could be better spent restoring the Lando’s kidnapped child subplot and/or showing Rose’s study of the old Star Destroyer plans actually leading to some insight that helps in the battle. Or going into any amount of detail about how the Emperor came back. Or setting up the Force dyad, like, at all. This movie is obsessed with explaining five or six different McGuffins, but it’s completely disinterested in providing any exposition on the (very weird) stuff the story actually hinges on.