Just Breathe—The Last Jedi Monday Night Football Trailer Analysis

I’ve done a pretty good job of staying away from spoilers for the upcoming Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi. All previous previews have been vague, atmospheric, with only one “reveal” sort of tid-bit (Luke talking about the Jedi needing to come to an end). I like it this way. I want to be surprised in the theater on the night of the release. But after tonight’s preview, I feel like we got a preview that dives pretty deep in to the plot and conflict we can expect in the upcoming film.

So, first impression—What did I just see!!!!! This seems every bit as moody, scary and intense as the previously #1 of all Star Wars movies, Empire Strikes Back. That film saw everything shaken, destroyed, at risk (Vader as Father, Obi-Wan a liar, Luke failing in his training and handless, Han frozen in carbonite) but TLJ looks like it will shatter the revelations of that episode with what I am guessing is a confused Rey, a murderous Kylo, and a powerful beyond measure Snoke. Allow me elaborate.

The trailer begins with a voice over, Snoke, talking about finding someone with raw, untamed strength (most likely Force strength). We see flashes of Kylo Ren, in helmet, his nasty saber…but then we see Rey light up her saber. Does he mean Rey? Is he talking to her? He couldn’t be talking about Rey…

Rey then starts to talk about something that has always been inside her, obviously this is the Force. It is now awake, and she is seeking help to control it. I guess her snowy forest duel with Kylo at the end of Episode 7 counts as that awakening. She is being taught by Luke, kneeling on the ground, rocks floating (just like Luke did while being trained by Yoda on Dagobah), but suddenly, a large crack appears. Luke freaks out, and then we hear him talking about having seen this type of “raw strength once before,” not fearing it enough then, but having a firm fear of it now. Does he mean Rey? Surely he must. He says this in what appears to be an inner sanctum of his Jedi retreat, so it has to mean Rey—and that means that he’s afraid of Rey just like he was afraid of…Vader? LUKE IS COMPARING REY TO DARTH VADER?!?!?

Then the trailer turns to Kylo…so maybe he’s talking about Kylo? We see Kylo go through an inner dialogue while flying his nasty Sith Tie-Fighter, something about letting go of the past…letting it die…killing it if necessary. And as he presses the fire switch and swoops down on a Resistance craft we see General Leia! His mom! Did Kylo enjoy murdering Han so much that he now feels it necessary to kill Leia, too? It would seem to be! “It is the only way to become who you are meant to be,” he says. Is he talking to himself? Or Rey?  (He’s also got a sweet carbon-fiber looking scar/stitch on his cheek. At another point in the trailer, farther along in the timeline, he has a scar but no carbon-fiber…so it seems that the film unfolds over a bit of time).

This seems to be the main plot…Rey and Kylo and Luke and Leia. The trailer shifts to a quick glance at the other characters—Chewie, a Porg, Poe (talking about being the spark that ignites the end of the First Order [wait, are they going to kill Poe?), a healthy Finn battling Captain Phasma (yeah, she survived the Starkiller Base explosion), BB-8, an ice fox(?) and then…

A distraught, exhausted Luke saying “This is not going to go the way you think.” Cut to Leia, but it looks like a different scene, so we have no way of knowing who he’s talking to. I think it is Snoke. Wouldn’t that be cool, if like ESB, Luke takes on Snoke…but this time, maybe he dies?

The trailer ends with Rey swimming to Kylo, Snoke trapping Rey in a Force hold that seems like she is being gutted to her core, and Snoke commanding, “Fulfill. Your. Destiny.” I’m pretty much exhausted at this point, so what comes next just about caused me to fall over in disbelief: Rey says, “I need someone to show me my place in all this,” the camera cuts to Kylo…and he extends his hand to her!!!!

Chills! Screams! No! Does Rey go Dark? The lighting of the scene…the shadowing, she’s very clearly talking to Kylo, and I can’t even handle it.

Mercifully, the trailer ends there. I was so pumped over this trailer, I can’t even imagine how incredible the film will be.

The trailer adds some quick glimpses at some other cool stuff, included the knuckle dragging AT-ATs, tons of scenes showing the First Order is still strong despite its Episode VII losses, space dog fighting…this film is going to have it all.

Check out the trailer and have your Star Wars world blown wide open. What do you think? Am I close? Does Rey turn to the Dark Side? Who dies? Let us know below! But in the meantime, pray for Rey….it looks like she’s going to need it.