Broom Kid said:
“People didn’t reject TLJ because their emotional maturity wasn’t up to the task”
Some people obviously did though. The idea that NOBODY did that doesn’t make any sense. It’s an overstatement you’re making in response to an overstatement he’s making to arrive at one of his bigger points (which I find lucid and relevant). It’s not total nonsense to suggest people didn’t understand the Last Jedi, especially not in the face of two years of people very loudly not understanding it in front of as many people as possible.
There’s no point in attempting to reject observable reality simply because it doesn’t align with your personal viewpoint. You’re not the people he’s talking about, and that’s fine. You don’t need to then try and further argue that the people he’s talking about don’t, and have never, existed. They did, and they still do. You aren’t among their number, and don’t need to count yourself among them for your opinions to have validity.
I don’t take your arguments against the review as an attack at all, but I do think trying to erase the group of people he’s talking about doesn’t help anything.
Further - I don’t think there’s anything really sanctimonious about the tone of the review at all because he’s also describing how he understands, and sometimes indulges, in the headspace he’s also criticizing. He’s saying that he’s been there, and he still visits semi-frequently, but it’s because he knows of what he speaks that he’s able (and willing) to make the criticisms he’s making.
Well I can only run with my own anecdotal observations obviously, but the criticisms of TLJ seem (to me) to be pretty consistent and very rarely in the meta realm. I don’t see anyone saying for instance that Luke couldn’t be broken and dejected, or that Leia couldn’t have Force abilities, or that a slow chase wasn’t possible or that the legend of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi couldn’t use an overhaul. I only ever see the same stuff about character and lore and plot holes and the like. It’s generally surface stuff rather than fans balking at brave ideas. But again that’s just my observation and I accept your point about my generalisations.
There’s a wider point that I think many reviewers are ignoring - TROS exists within an established realm. For example I actually don’t like many aspects of where SW has ended up. I still cringe at the ‘Leia as sister’ thing even now, and hate that she’s a Skywalker/Jedi. I hate that the Force is so genetic, or that Force Ghosts have progressed beyond Obi Wan’s casual log-sitting and now control the weather and grasp solid objects! I could go on, but the point I’m making is that I really enjoyed TROS in the context of really liking what it was doing despite not being thrilled with the sandpit the game is now playing out in. Rey being a Palpatine was awesome to me - not because I like the idea of inherited power at all - but because it reconciles how I felt about her insane power levels in the previous films. Her being a Skywalker would not have done the trick for me - her being a baby Sith Lord (an unknown quantity at this point as far as I know) was a great antidote to the rather cavalier writing in the previous instalments. So it’s not really fan-conservatism driving me so much as a desire for a consistent narrative.
But I’m rambling now, sorry! Thanks for the reply!