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You know what I really like about that post? The idea that Kylo renounces the dark side early. WAY early. In fact, I think all my tentative feelings with his redemption get drastically minimized if it’s not presented as a big movie (and saga) ending reward, but if it’s an end-of-first-act thing in response to something really horrible and awful that Hux & the Knights of Ren do. At which point the big fight between Kylo and Rey is almost 100% one-sided where he’s just trying not to die while explaining that he wants to atone. And then… we start the 2nd act.
The character dynamics of THAT movie are drastically different (and kind of exciting) more-so than the sort of “we know he’s going to turn good by the end here” vibe that TROS and DOTF both had. The idea that the rest of the trio HAVE to interact with him now would be really, really interesting to see play out.
I agree. Obviously Kylo turning is no great twist, so it would have helped to get it over and done with. Especially because, if you don’t, you’re sort of left with the question of what does he do before the turn?
In my mind, at the end of TLJ, we already know that becoming Supreme Leader won’t leave him fulfilled. So either you have him regress a bit, lashing out and reaching dark side rock bottom (with some sort of epiphany moment), or you have him wanting out from the very start - which is more what I would have done, him trying to take the First Order in a new, less evil sort of direction and getting push back. TROS chose neither. Instead, we got wheel spinning. Kylo just asking Rey to join him on the dark side for an hour like he already did in the last movie, while removing anything featuring him doing something overtly dark side (like killing Hux for being the spy).
There is that epiphany moment, but it’s cushioned by how abrupt it is, and with little context, like how if we had known for sure that Kylo was in love with Rey, as they had originally planned to set up in the Oracle scene, it would have been a much more powerful “what am I doing?” moment when he’s about to kill her.
I don’t even think you’d have needed to drastically divorced yourself from the preexisting structure of TROS. Combine Pasaana and Kijimi, so they get to the Death Star a lot sooner. Than, before the heroes zip off planet, they ‘arrest’ Kylo Ren. But instead of just being able to toss him in jail or whatever, they are forced to work with him because he knows the way to Exegol. Something like that.