For allbingo
Jan. 9th, 2022 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: A Window To The Future
Summary: The Jedi Academy watches The Force Awakens.
Prompt: Free Space — Metafiction
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The opening credits began with a brief display of the Lucasfilm logo shining like a chrome helmet and the title screen of, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Really, Ben thought, if they weren’t basically doing a holo night to celebrate Poe’s graduation from the flight Academy and being about to embark on a journey in his own right, they wouldn’t be here. Not that Ben was complaining. He could safely say that he was happy for Poe. Very, very happy. After all, Poe was his friend. And here, sitting among a bunch of pillows along with his Jedi Academy classmates, he could say that he was good.
“Okay,” Hennix said, “Why is this ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’? I mean, come on, people. We live in a galaxy. Unless it’s a separate galaxy…”
Voe rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Hennix, I think you’re overthinking it,” she said. “I mean, we have galaxies separate from our own. This could be a separate galaxy.”
The score played on.
“So basically there’s a not-Empire forming and I just vanish?” Luke said. “That doesn’t sound like me.”
“Well, you know, sequence of events matters,” Voe said. “Maybe this First Order made sure you were gone so you wouldn’t show up and wipe the floor with them.” She began imitating a possible First Order officer. “ ‘Is he gone? Yeah, he’s totally gone. Thank the stars!’”
“I bet any of Luke Skywalker’s enemies check the closet for him before he goes to bed,” Hennix joked.
“I,” Luke deadpanned, “Don’t know whether to be flattered or concerned by you referring to me as the boogeyman.”
***
The movie opened proper with a pan over a planet, then something that looked like a Star Destroyer gliding over it. Then a shot to —
“Stormtroopers?” Luke said. A wry shake of his head. “So, do these First Order stormtroopers actually know how to hit the broad side of a bantha?”
“Were the Imperial ones bad at aiming?” Ben said.
Luke snorted. “Your namesake may have told a few ‘from a certain point of view’ lies but this…well, let’s say I think Obi-Wan was trying to be nice to the stormtroopers. You’d be surprised how many times they completely failed to hit their target.”
A droid — that looked like BB-8, Ben thought — looked up at admittedly a very pretty starry sky on Jakku. Then he whirred back inside, clearly having seen the approaching shuttle.
Inside, a man who looked like Poe and a man who looked like Lor San Tekka exchanged a map piece. Ben didn’t miss how his uncle seemed to roll his eyes at Lor San Tekka’s claim that without the Jedi, there could be no balance in the Force.
“Uh, uncle?” Ben said. “We’re Jedi. Well, except Poe. Sorry, Poe.”
“I’d say that’s…naivetie on Tekka’s part,” Luke said. “There’s multiple other orders out there. The Aing Tii, Jal Shey, Baran Do…”
“You’re listing off the names of people who wear robes,” Ben said.
“My point is,” Luke said, exasperated, “That Tekka’s an explorer; he should know better. Besides, the Jedi may be keepers of the peace, including us, but they are not perfect. Not even a little bit.”
“See also the Mandalorian Wars,” Ben said.
“See also giving lightsabers to children,” Luke said. “As well as having weird, inconsistent views of sex and relationships, and generally having read the manual for being pompous, monotone asses.” Under his breath, “Also Anakin.”
“What do you mean, Uncle?” Ben said.
“Never mind,” Luke said.
***
Of course there was a battle. Of course the audience made jokes about stormtroopers finally being able to hit things, of course Luke actually winced at the sight of a flamethrower burning down a hut (Ben supposed he knew what happened to Owen and Beru Lars now), and then The Villain entered.
“Uh, he kind of looks like discount Revan, doesn’t he?” Ben said to Poe. “Definitely the mask.”
Unlike Revan, the first word out of Kylo Ren’s mouth (and what kind of name was Kylo Ren anyway? Wouldn’t the logical conclusion be to call him Darth Kylo?) was insulting Lor San Tekka for being old.
“Okay, seriously?” Voe said. “Nothing so much as a badass boast or something; he makes fun of Tekka for being old? That’s…childish.”
“I think I liked him better before he started talking,” Ben muttered.
It seemed, Ben thought, like he was in for a long sit. At least the beautiful visuals of Poe were more than worth it.
***
“Okay, seriously,” Ben said, “He just walks up to Tekka and decides he's going to just assume Tekka will give him the map? That’s…as subtle as a Gamorrean doing ballet.
“To be fair,” Luke said, “Vader did something similar-ish, according to your mother. Before everything, he thought that strangling the Rebel officers aboard the ship was a good idea. And thinking he could just ask your mother what happened to the Death Star plans.”
“So,” Poe said, “Is he basically imitating Vader’s weaker moments? Is he going to get knocked out of the sky in a TIE fighter by one of his wingmen?”
Ben actually snorted. "Imagine that."
It was much to Ben’s anger and outrage that Tekka got killed, and Poe was brought before Kylo Ren and forced to kneel. It was admittedly odd (and a little funny) when Kylo Ren decided to defy villain cliches and kneel in front of Poe.
“Huh, wonder why he did that?” Hennix said. “Maybe he actually likes the guy.”
“Or he thought the stormtroopers were being drama queens,” Ben muttered. He still couldn’t say he liked Kylo Ren. The guy somehow thought he was funny when he was just an asshole, he had no sense of subtlety, and moreover, he was a murderer. Ben couldn’t imagine anyone being able to spend an hour with him. At least his liking for Poe was one possible redeeming quality.
If you really wanted to stretch it, he didn’t even force Poe to watch the later village massacre — though that was damning with faint praise.
***
“Wow, Kylo Ren seems to be going out of his way to be as unlikeable as he possibly can,” Voe said.
“So did Vader,” Luke said. “No offense, Vader.”
Voe sighed. “ ‘No offense, Vader’ — file that under sentences I never, ever thought I’d hear.”
Poe was dragged off to — Force knows what fate. Now they met the stormtrooper with the bloodstained helmet — FN-2187, who hadn’t fired on the villagers. Ben found that, in a weird, roundabout way, FN-2187 reminded him of Poe. After all, if Poe were in that situation, he wouldn’t fire on innocent people either.
There was also a scavenger who helped BB-8. Ben watched her clips, of things like getting served a quarter portion in return for a valuable find, and was already grateful that for all his many issues with Mom and Dad sending him to the Academy, they hadn’t decided to leave him there. (He hoped the scavenger in question was born on Jakku; he couldn’t imagine what kind of parents were screwed up enough to leave her there. Or maybe a really sadistic third party left her there. Poor girl)
The scavenger actually did remind him of Voe, in a way. Prickly, but willing to do the right thing when it counted.
So far, at least the heroes were likeable, even if the villain seemed to be going out of his way to be as unlikeable as possible.
***
Ben’s opinion of Kylo Ren didn’t get any better after he tortured Poe, he’d be perfectly honest with himself. There were some things before that could have been called nice-in-a-creepy-way — namely, Kylo complimenting Poe for enduring torture. But the scene itself…
Stars, it really was uncomfortable just to watch. Leia had told Ben a little bit about being tortured by Vader after Ben had overheard her having a nightmare about it, but still…it was different, actually seeing it. Much different.
Slowly, gently, Ben squeezed Poe’s hand. It was like that was keeping Poe grounded, in so many ways.
***
“Does this holo think I’m that much of a giant failure?” Poe whispered even as Kylo strode out of the room to report to some flame-haired authority figure that the map was in a BB unit.
“Poe,” Ben whispered. “Come on. You are not a failure. Hell, the holo cut between you screaming and him walking out. Maybe you put up a fight so awesome and wonderful that the holo couldn’t bear to capture it.”
Poe smiled, if faintly. Then, “Thanks. I needed to hear that. Really.” A pause. “I guess Kylo acting nice to my counterpart didn’t keep him from hurting him, I guess.”
“I’m sorry, Poe,” Ben said. “Honestly, he’s just a stupid, unlikeable oaf. Don’t worry about him.”
***
FN-2187 broke Poe out, and Poe — well, of course Poe would name a stormtrooper and give him a second chance. Of course he would. It just suited Poe, no matter what — seeing the beauty in others especially when they couldn’t see it in themselves. At least they had good interaction that seemed to make them happy, before —
“Okay, I think this holo really has a grudge against me,” Poe lamented. “I mean, I get captured, tortured, then killed off via crashlanding? Who exactly making this holo did I piss off?”
“Well, kriff them,” Ben said. “They’re terrible.”
***
Kylo at least got a funny line in, about the redhead (Hux) and how his troops were skilled at committing high treason. At least there, the murdering, torturing, ageist asshole at least got a funny line. Ben was at least glad for that lest spending more time with Kylo than he needed to only became more aggravating.
Interestingly, he went against Snoke’s orders (so Snoke of all people was leading this First Order? Wow) to do it too. They could have just destroyed the droid. (As much as Ben was loathe to think of anyone harming BB-8) Add in Hux’s line about personal interests (and why would he have to add in that little jab if they were on the same side?) and…did Kylo have some twisted, poisoned soft spot for Poe?
Ben being jealous really did take a backseat to the fact that Kylo had tortured Poe. It really didn’t make a difference, Ben thought now that he really considered OT. Kylo had broken into Poe’s mind, much like in a way, Vader had tried to with Leia (and Vader didn’t have any sort of hots for Ben’s mother — at least Ben hoped not). Kylo — Ben at least hoped Kylo stayed as far away from Poe as possible, for Poe’s sake.
***
At least Rey and Finn seemed shippable. Something about them only evoked the feeling of Ben’s parents — the way they argued, yes, but also the way they rejoiced after taking out TIE fighters. Ben smiled despite himself even as he watched them.
Kylo Ren was still an asshole, Ben thought, but at least they got to be diverted away from him throwing a literal tantrum with his lightsaber (seriously, how was this guy still even taken seriously as a threat?) to Han and Chewie. Even if it was followed up by a whole rathtar chase that Ben couldn’t say was relevant to the plot.
And then there was Snoke. Even as he ignored Hennix’s snark about how as-you-know-Bob Snoke’s line about “in the hands of your father, Han Solo” really was, Ben was flabbergasted. Did that mean he somehow, somehow had a twin? Not only an evil twin, but an evil twin trying to be as uncool as he possibly could?
He had to talk to Mom and Dad about this, assuming there was a right way to broach the subject.
***
The holo went on. There was Maz Kanata’s castle, a monologue from Kylo that at least tried to humanize him, though Ben had to leave just about immediately after the monologue, just at the idea of Vader being his grandfather.
And Poe, sweet, understanding Poe, joined him.
“Hey,” Poe said, “Even if Vader was your grandfather, it wouldn’t change even a little bit about you.”
“You really think so?”
“Ben, I know it,” Poe said. “You’re not a bad person. Whatever’s been going on, you’ve been fighting against your demons day in and day out no matter what. You’re strong. Brave. Do you think Vader could have held out this long, in your place? He really wouldn’t. You're exceptional.”
There was something about Poe’s words that felt warmer than Ben had any right to feel. Poe, who had saved Sela Trune, who had ultimately refused to help kill Zeva Bliss…he was exceptional too. Ben hoped that he could tell Poe that, again and again, and Poe would believe him.
“I think you’re exceptional too, Poe,” Ben said.
Poe nodded. “You are too kind.”
“It’s the truth.” Ben held Poe’s hands like they were the most delicate, precious things out there. “It always was.”
He’d tell Poe that the whole time, no matter what.
***
The Hosnian system got destroyed, much to everyone’s disgust and horror, and the Battle of Takodana began. At least Poe turned out not to have died, though Rey (the scavenger) got captured.
Leia insisted there was still Light in Kylo, but it was hard to see. Earlier, he’d been quite scary towards Rey: he’d circled her while she’d been psychically frozen (he hadn’t done that with Poe, though stormtroopers aggressively manhandling him wasn’t any better), pointed an ignited lightsaber in her face, invaded her mind (and judging by Rey’s facial expressions, she was in a lot of pain), and then monster-carried her to his shuttle.
The interrogation room — well, Kylo had assured Rey that he had no idea where her friends were. He’d taken off his mask for her (at least Ben saw it coming with Kylo looking like him). He’d explained what was going on (did he suddenly feel bad for someone who was for all intents and purposes a civilian being dragged into this mess?), but then there was, “You know I can take whatever I want.”
He didn’t miss how Voe shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Or Kylo invading Rey’s mind a second time — and he seemed uncomfortably close to her, Ben thought, as he rubbed in her worst memories. He shouldn’t have been that close to her, that intimate. It was like he was taunting her.
At least he got some form of comeuppance. Ben didn’t know how Rey had turned the mind invasion technique against Kylo, but it served him right. The guy was a bastard, and definitely deserved to be shown that Rey, not he, was the biggest rancor in the pit.
Rey reunited with Finn, at least, and Poe led the attack on Starkiller Base. Han died, much to the outrage of everyone watching, including Ben (it was like Kylo was willing to throw away his one glimpse of vulnerability he had with Han, a familial vulnerability). Rey ultimately won the snow duel, Finn went to recover, and Rey went to get Luke.
***
Ben could at least say he was relieved that the movie was over. It had good parts — good lines, likeable heroes. He just never, in a million years, wanted to be like Kylo Ren.
Summary: The Jedi Academy watches The Force Awakens.
Prompt: Free Space — Metafiction
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author’s Notes: Call this something I thought of after browsing TV Tropes and seeing a few of these types of fics having a page/references.
The opening credits began with a brief display of the Lucasfilm logo shining like a chrome helmet and the title screen of, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Really, Ben thought, if they weren’t basically doing a holo night to celebrate Poe’s graduation from the flight Academy and being about to embark on a journey in his own right, they wouldn’t be here. Not that Ben was complaining. He could safely say that he was happy for Poe. Very, very happy. After all, Poe was his friend. And here, sitting among a bunch of pillows along with his Jedi Academy classmates, he could say that he was good.
“Okay,” Hennix said, “Why is this ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’? I mean, come on, people. We live in a galaxy. Unless it’s a separate galaxy…”
Voe rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Hennix, I think you’re overthinking it,” she said. “I mean, we have galaxies separate from our own. This could be a separate galaxy.”
The score played on.
“So basically there’s a not-Empire forming and I just vanish?” Luke said. “That doesn’t sound like me.”
“Well, you know, sequence of events matters,” Voe said. “Maybe this First Order made sure you were gone so you wouldn’t show up and wipe the floor with them.” She began imitating a possible First Order officer. “ ‘Is he gone? Yeah, he’s totally gone. Thank the stars!’”
“I bet any of Luke Skywalker’s enemies check the closet for him before he goes to bed,” Hennix joked.
“I,” Luke deadpanned, “Don’t know whether to be flattered or concerned by you referring to me as the boogeyman.”
***
The movie opened proper with a pan over a planet, then something that looked like a Star Destroyer gliding over it. Then a shot to —
“Stormtroopers?” Luke said. A wry shake of his head. “So, do these First Order stormtroopers actually know how to hit the broad side of a bantha?”
“Were the Imperial ones bad at aiming?” Ben said.
Luke snorted. “Your namesake may have told a few ‘from a certain point of view’ lies but this…well, let’s say I think Obi-Wan was trying to be nice to the stormtroopers. You’d be surprised how many times they completely failed to hit their target.”
A droid — that looked like BB-8, Ben thought — looked up at admittedly a very pretty starry sky on Jakku. Then he whirred back inside, clearly having seen the approaching shuttle.
Inside, a man who looked like Poe and a man who looked like Lor San Tekka exchanged a map piece. Ben didn’t miss how his uncle seemed to roll his eyes at Lor San Tekka’s claim that without the Jedi, there could be no balance in the Force.
“Uh, uncle?” Ben said. “We’re Jedi. Well, except Poe. Sorry, Poe.”
“I’d say that’s…naivetie on Tekka’s part,” Luke said. “There’s multiple other orders out there. The Aing Tii, Jal Shey, Baran Do…”
“You’re listing off the names of people who wear robes,” Ben said.
“My point is,” Luke said, exasperated, “That Tekka’s an explorer; he should know better. Besides, the Jedi may be keepers of the peace, including us, but they are not perfect. Not even a little bit.”
“See also the Mandalorian Wars,” Ben said.
“See also giving lightsabers to children,” Luke said. “As well as having weird, inconsistent views of sex and relationships, and generally having read the manual for being pompous, monotone asses.” Under his breath, “Also Anakin.”
“What do you mean, Uncle?” Ben said.
“Never mind,” Luke said.
***
Of course there was a battle. Of course the audience made jokes about stormtroopers finally being able to hit things, of course Luke actually winced at the sight of a flamethrower burning down a hut (Ben supposed he knew what happened to Owen and Beru Lars now), and then The Villain entered.
“Uh, he kind of looks like discount Revan, doesn’t he?” Ben said to Poe. “Definitely the mask.”
Unlike Revan, the first word out of Kylo Ren’s mouth (and what kind of name was Kylo Ren anyway? Wouldn’t the logical conclusion be to call him Darth Kylo?) was insulting Lor San Tekka for being old.
“Okay, seriously?” Voe said. “Nothing so much as a badass boast or something; he makes fun of Tekka for being old? That’s…childish.”
“I think I liked him better before he started talking,” Ben muttered.
It seemed, Ben thought, like he was in for a long sit. At least the beautiful visuals of Poe were more than worth it.
***
“Okay, seriously,” Ben said, “He just walks up to Tekka and decides he's going to just assume Tekka will give him the map? That’s…as subtle as a Gamorrean doing ballet.
“To be fair,” Luke said, “Vader did something similar-ish, according to your mother. Before everything, he thought that strangling the Rebel officers aboard the ship was a good idea. And thinking he could just ask your mother what happened to the Death Star plans.”
“So,” Poe said, “Is he basically imitating Vader’s weaker moments? Is he going to get knocked out of the sky in a TIE fighter by one of his wingmen?”
Ben actually snorted. "Imagine that."
It was much to Ben’s anger and outrage that Tekka got killed, and Poe was brought before Kylo Ren and forced to kneel. It was admittedly odd (and a little funny) when Kylo Ren decided to defy villain cliches and kneel in front of Poe.
“Huh, wonder why he did that?” Hennix said. “Maybe he actually likes the guy.”
“Or he thought the stormtroopers were being drama queens,” Ben muttered. He still couldn’t say he liked Kylo Ren. The guy somehow thought he was funny when he was just an asshole, he had no sense of subtlety, and moreover, he was a murderer. Ben couldn’t imagine anyone being able to spend an hour with him. At least his liking for Poe was one possible redeeming quality.
If you really wanted to stretch it, he didn’t even force Poe to watch the later village massacre — though that was damning with faint praise.
***
“Wow, Kylo Ren seems to be going out of his way to be as unlikeable as he possibly can,” Voe said.
“So did Vader,” Luke said. “No offense, Vader.”
Voe sighed. “ ‘No offense, Vader’ — file that under sentences I never, ever thought I’d hear.”
Poe was dragged off to — Force knows what fate. Now they met the stormtrooper with the bloodstained helmet — FN-2187, who hadn’t fired on the villagers. Ben found that, in a weird, roundabout way, FN-2187 reminded him of Poe. After all, if Poe were in that situation, he wouldn’t fire on innocent people either.
There was also a scavenger who helped BB-8. Ben watched her clips, of things like getting served a quarter portion in return for a valuable find, and was already grateful that for all his many issues with Mom and Dad sending him to the Academy, they hadn’t decided to leave him there. (He hoped the scavenger in question was born on Jakku; he couldn’t imagine what kind of parents were screwed up enough to leave her there. Or maybe a really sadistic third party left her there. Poor girl)
The scavenger actually did remind him of Voe, in a way. Prickly, but willing to do the right thing when it counted.
So far, at least the heroes were likeable, even if the villain seemed to be going out of his way to be as unlikeable as possible.
***
Ben’s opinion of Kylo Ren didn’t get any better after he tortured Poe, he’d be perfectly honest with himself. There were some things before that could have been called nice-in-a-creepy-way — namely, Kylo complimenting Poe for enduring torture. But the scene itself…
Stars, it really was uncomfortable just to watch. Leia had told Ben a little bit about being tortured by Vader after Ben had overheard her having a nightmare about it, but still…it was different, actually seeing it. Much different.
Slowly, gently, Ben squeezed Poe’s hand. It was like that was keeping Poe grounded, in so many ways.
***
“Does this holo think I’m that much of a giant failure?” Poe whispered even as Kylo strode out of the room to report to some flame-haired authority figure that the map was in a BB unit.
“Poe,” Ben whispered. “Come on. You are not a failure. Hell, the holo cut between you screaming and him walking out. Maybe you put up a fight so awesome and wonderful that the holo couldn’t bear to capture it.”
Poe smiled, if faintly. Then, “Thanks. I needed to hear that. Really.” A pause. “I guess Kylo acting nice to my counterpart didn’t keep him from hurting him, I guess.”
“I’m sorry, Poe,” Ben said. “Honestly, he’s just a stupid, unlikeable oaf. Don’t worry about him.”
***
FN-2187 broke Poe out, and Poe — well, of course Poe would name a stormtrooper and give him a second chance. Of course he would. It just suited Poe, no matter what — seeing the beauty in others especially when they couldn’t see it in themselves. At least they had good interaction that seemed to make them happy, before —
“Okay, I think this holo really has a grudge against me,” Poe lamented. “I mean, I get captured, tortured, then killed off via crashlanding? Who exactly making this holo did I piss off?”
“Well, kriff them,” Ben said. “They’re terrible.”
***
Kylo at least got a funny line in, about the redhead (Hux) and how his troops were skilled at committing high treason. At least there, the murdering, torturing, ageist asshole at least got a funny line. Ben was at least glad for that lest spending more time with Kylo than he needed to only became more aggravating.
Interestingly, he went against Snoke’s orders (so Snoke of all people was leading this First Order? Wow) to do it too. They could have just destroyed the droid. (As much as Ben was loathe to think of anyone harming BB-8) Add in Hux’s line about personal interests (and why would he have to add in that little jab if they were on the same side?) and…did Kylo have some twisted, poisoned soft spot for Poe?
Ben being jealous really did take a backseat to the fact that Kylo had tortured Poe. It really didn’t make a difference, Ben thought now that he really considered OT. Kylo had broken into Poe’s mind, much like in a way, Vader had tried to with Leia (and Vader didn’t have any sort of hots for Ben’s mother — at least Ben hoped not). Kylo — Ben at least hoped Kylo stayed as far away from Poe as possible, for Poe’s sake.
***
At least Rey and Finn seemed shippable. Something about them only evoked the feeling of Ben’s parents — the way they argued, yes, but also the way they rejoiced after taking out TIE fighters. Ben smiled despite himself even as he watched them.
Kylo Ren was still an asshole, Ben thought, but at least they got to be diverted away from him throwing a literal tantrum with his lightsaber (seriously, how was this guy still even taken seriously as a threat?) to Han and Chewie. Even if it was followed up by a whole rathtar chase that Ben couldn’t say was relevant to the plot.
And then there was Snoke. Even as he ignored Hennix’s snark about how as-you-know-Bob Snoke’s line about “in the hands of your father, Han Solo” really was, Ben was flabbergasted. Did that mean he somehow, somehow had a twin? Not only an evil twin, but an evil twin trying to be as uncool as he possibly could?
He had to talk to Mom and Dad about this, assuming there was a right way to broach the subject.
***
The holo went on. There was Maz Kanata’s castle, a monologue from Kylo that at least tried to humanize him, though Ben had to leave just about immediately after the monologue, just at the idea of Vader being his grandfather.
And Poe, sweet, understanding Poe, joined him.
“Hey,” Poe said, “Even if Vader was your grandfather, it wouldn’t change even a little bit about you.”
“You really think so?”
“Ben, I know it,” Poe said. “You’re not a bad person. Whatever’s been going on, you’ve been fighting against your demons day in and day out no matter what. You’re strong. Brave. Do you think Vader could have held out this long, in your place? He really wouldn’t. You're exceptional.”
There was something about Poe’s words that felt warmer than Ben had any right to feel. Poe, who had saved Sela Trune, who had ultimately refused to help kill Zeva Bliss…he was exceptional too. Ben hoped that he could tell Poe that, again and again, and Poe would believe him.
“I think you’re exceptional too, Poe,” Ben said.
Poe nodded. “You are too kind.”
“It’s the truth.” Ben held Poe’s hands like they were the most delicate, precious things out there. “It always was.”
He’d tell Poe that the whole time, no matter what.
***
The Hosnian system got destroyed, much to everyone’s disgust and horror, and the Battle of Takodana began. At least Poe turned out not to have died, though Rey (the scavenger) got captured.
Leia insisted there was still Light in Kylo, but it was hard to see. Earlier, he’d been quite scary towards Rey: he’d circled her while she’d been psychically frozen (he hadn’t done that with Poe, though stormtroopers aggressively manhandling him wasn’t any better), pointed an ignited lightsaber in her face, invaded her mind (and judging by Rey’s facial expressions, she was in a lot of pain), and then monster-carried her to his shuttle.
The interrogation room — well, Kylo had assured Rey that he had no idea where her friends were. He’d taken off his mask for her (at least Ben saw it coming with Kylo looking like him). He’d explained what was going on (did he suddenly feel bad for someone who was for all intents and purposes a civilian being dragged into this mess?), but then there was, “You know I can take whatever I want.”
He didn’t miss how Voe shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Or Kylo invading Rey’s mind a second time — and he seemed uncomfortably close to her, Ben thought, as he rubbed in her worst memories. He shouldn’t have been that close to her, that intimate. It was like he was taunting her.
At least he got some form of comeuppance. Ben didn’t know how Rey had turned the mind invasion technique against Kylo, but it served him right. The guy was a bastard, and definitely deserved to be shown that Rey, not he, was the biggest rancor in the pit.
Rey reunited with Finn, at least, and Poe led the attack on Starkiller Base. Han died, much to the outrage of everyone watching, including Ben (it was like Kylo was willing to throw away his one glimpse of vulnerability he had with Han, a familial vulnerability). Rey ultimately won the snow duel, Finn went to recover, and Rey went to get Luke.
***
Ben could at least say he was relieved that the movie was over. It had good parts — good lines, likeable heroes. He just never, in a million years, wanted to be like Kylo Ren.
