- Nothing Luke says disservices what he was like in TLJ. “A Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect” - yes, he’s poking fun at his old ways. He changed by the end of The Last Jedi. It’s a meta joke at the same time, but that’s besides the point. Plus, it was fear that kept him there. Fear that he’d fail the galaxy again, fear how Leia and Han would react to his actions, etc.
I’ll accept the saber point (even if I still think this whole religious reverence for lightsabers was mainly started by the angry fan reaction to TLJ), but didn’t Rian literally say that the reason he came up with the “Luke almost killed Ben” backstory was because Luke wouldn’t just hide away out of fear? It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to his mistake that caused Luke to exile himself: he genuinely thought the galaxy would be better with the Jedi gone.
- We are already planning on fixing the Leia knowledge in Ascendant. Especially if Rey is turned into a clone, Leia will begin to recognize the similarities as she trains her. She spent time with Palpatine in the Senate, so she is used to his aura in the Force, even if she wasn’t aware of such a thing at the time. Luke knows because he’s a ghost. They’ve sorta just gained omniscience.
Yeah, I know about the plans there. But it’s still a major problem with the original scene, and one that can just as easily be solved by scrapping the thing entirely.
- Luke raising the X-Wing is such poetic language for how much his character has grown across the saga it would just be a shame to see it gone. Yes, it doesn’t make the most sense that it’s functional, but he did make the right choice by not using it in TLJ. If he had shown up to those gorilla walkers in-person he would have been dead in 10 seconds flat, Skywalker blood or not. His use of the Force at the end of TLJ really can’t be diminished to just a “that was the only way to intervene” moment. It was the most Jedi-like way to intervene. He never attacked, only using the Force for defense.
How is Luke raising the X-Wing poetic in any way, other than the most surface level? All it seemed like to me was yet another one of JJ’s beloved “ZOMG I RECOGNIZE THAT THING, I LOVE STAR WAAAAAAAARRRRRRSSSSS!!!” moments, blandly recycling iconic imagery from the OT with no regard for context, emotion, or logic. And Luke probably would have died if he showed up to Crait in person, but he had no way of knowing that. If he had a choice between going to Crait in person and possibly dying, or going to Crait with a life-draining astral projection technique and definitely dying, then he looks like an idiot for choosing the latter.
EDIT: Oh yeah, also Leia knowing that Rey has such a dark history yet still hedging all of her bets into her regardless is the emotional undercurrent of the whole film. She made the mistake of sending Ben away for her brother to deal with, but this time she takes up the reigns herself and her faith and devotion to Rey is what pays off and saves the galaxy. Otherwise Leia does basically nothing for the plot in what is supposed to be her movie of the triology (TFA was Han, TLJ was Luke, TROS was hers).
This is a good point, but I feel like there could be a way to convey this even in a cut that removes Ach-To. Maybe during the “Be with me” scene, instead of hearing the voices of Jedi she doesn’t even know, Rey could hear Luke and Leia’s voices instead? They could say that despite Rey’s [INSERT SECRET DARK BACKSTORY HERE] (which they would logically know about due to being ghosts), they still have faith in her, and encourage her to rise and face her fears. That way, you could deliver the same emotional payoff originally contained in the Ach-To scene, only in a much more logical place given the main tension of the climax.