Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally here, bringing the new generation of rebel scum - Rey, Finn, and Poe - back to the big screen. The long-awaited sequel to The Force Awakens is packed with action, humor, and heartfelt moments... but our heroes were also riddled with poor judgment, rash actions, and bad decisions.
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This is not necessarily a criticism of Rian Johnson's film. It's clear that failure and rising above failure is a key theme in the film. As Yoda's Force ghost tells a weary Luke Skywalker:
"Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is."
If Yoda is correct, then the characters of The Last Jedi have learned a lot. By the end of the film, Rey and Kylo Ren's mentors are both gone, and the two young warriors find themselves as the key players in the conflict between the First Order and what is left of the Resistance. Everyone, on both sides of the war, seems to make bad decisions, and no one (except for Benecio del Toro's DJ, that is) comes out on top. Let's break down where things went wrong.
This page: The Resistance, Rey and Luke
The Resistance
The Last Jedi begins with Poe Dameron ignoring General Leia's direct orders, opting to pursue the attack on a First Order dreadnought rather than standing down. As a result, the Resistance loses every last one of its bombing ships, and Leia demotes Poe as punishment. Even after Leia is injured, Poe still doesn't learn his lesson, and when Admiral Holdo orders him to stand down he resorts to initiating a secret mission behind her back - culminating in mutiny. If Leia hadn't recovered and disarmed Poe, the Resistance would have fractured and fallen apart.
Holdo isn't free from blame, however. She does not instill much courage in her subordinates, and there's no transparency under her command. Instead, Holdo hides her plan to have the Resistance shuttles go to a former Rebel base to hide from the First Order, which Poe is in favor of after Leia loops him in. She does not have any contingency plans or ways to protect the shuttles, and as a result, a vast majority of the already dwindling Resistance fighters die. In a final and suicidal attempt to divert the First Order, she destroys their largest ship, but this was not part of any larger plan of action.
If DJ hadn't ratted out the Resistance shuttles to the First Order, the assumption is that they wouldn't have been noticed... but Rose and Finn use a shuttle that has a hyperspace drive. Wouldn't it be possible to evacuate silently until there was no one left on the ship?
The few Resistance fighters who are left all fit onto the Millennium Falcon, and if it hadn't been for an intervention from Luke Skywalker and Rey separately, the Resistance would have been completely destroyed.
Rey and Luke
Luke Skywalker's momentary lapse in judgment is arguably the bad decision that led to the resurgence of the Dark Side. Fearing the darkness he saw in Kylo Ren, Luke briefly considered killing his padawan in his sleep. Not only is this the antithesis of the Jedi code, it also bears strong parallels to Anakin's horrific slaughter of the younglings. Luke quickly changes his mind, but Ben Solo witnesses his master's betrayal and turns on him.
When Rey arrives to ask Luke Skywalker for help and he refuses to offer any aid, she doesn't throw up her hands and return to help her friends against the First Order. Chewbacca and R2-D2 don't do much to convince Luke either, and no one seems to be in a rush to get back to the Resistance. Luke points out that he didn't want to be found, but Rey and her friends didn't seem to have considered that as an option. Luke teeters back and forth between training Rey and wanting to end the Jedi Order, and his indecision in some ways leads Rey to search for answers elsewhere.
First, Rey pursues her past in the darkness under the island. Unfortunately, the infinite mirror reflections do not provide her with answers. Her mental connection with Kylo Ren leads her to quickly forget that he tortured her, killed Han Solo, and tried to murder both her and Finn. Rey becomes convinced that she can bring Kylo Ren back to the the light side. After confronting Luke - speaking of bad decisions, attacking Luke Skywalker with a quarterstaff doesn't seem like a good idea - she has Chewbacca drop her off on a First Order ship, where she is promptly taken captive and brought before Snoke.
After Rey leaves, Luke angrily goes to set the Jedi Temple on fire, acting as if by burning the tree down, he can end the Jedi Order. Apparently, the wise Jedi Master did not notice that Rey took all of the ancient Jedi books with her. And even when Luke creates a projection of himself to distract the First Order troops, he doesn't clue Leia or Poe into his plan, leaving the Resistance uncertain of what to do or where to go.
Finn and Rose
Finn's heroism left over from the end of The Force Awakens is short-lived; he only meets Rose Tico as he tries to jump ship (literally) to save his own skin. He and Rose hatch a plan to save the Rebel fleet, and based on a tip from Maz Kanata they take a shuttle without permission, and go to Canto Bight to find a nameless code breaker with a red plom bloom, so they can somehow convince him to go on a suicide mission to sneak onto a First Order ship. What could go wrong?
This ramshackle plan is desperate at best. They do not know this person's name, even though Maz claims that he is the only person capable of pulling off such a feat. They don't know anything about him beyond a location and a brooch. But upon arriving at Canto Bight, it becomes clear that Rose and Finn also have no strategy, no aliases, and no compensation to offer to the mysterious wearer of the red plom bloom. Within minutes of arriving in the casino on Canto Bight, they are tasered by security and thrown into a cell. Instead of pursuing the hacker they came for, they settle for a mysterious and presumably criminal man whom they found in their cell in Canto Bight.
Not only do they trust him with sneaking onto the First Order ship, they also allow him to learn critical pieces of the Resistance's plan, including Holdo's escape shuttle plan. DJ naturally sells them out to the First Order, and sings like a bird.
The Rose and Finn sequences also highlight the incredible skills of BB-8, who disarms guards on Canto Bight, helps to steal a ship, and even hotwires an AT-ST. It makes you wonder if he could have opened the blast door just as easily as DJ.
The First Order
The Last Jedi was the First Order's fight to lose, and somehow, despite leaving the Resistance in shambles, they still lost. The fact that the First Order did not completely destroy the Resistance is a testament to how deeply they messed up. The Resistance had few resources and few options, and it seemed as though the First Order, with their seemingly infinite ships, walkers, and Death Star-inspired weapons should have won within the opening moments of the film.
Instead, the in-fighting between Snoke, Hux, and Kylo Ren fractured the First Order. Hux is sneering and quibbling leader who becomes little more than a punching bag for Snoke and then Kylo Ren. Snoke's hubris makes him believe that he knows how Kylo Ren will act - a mistake that he pays for with his life. Kylo Ren had a chance at redemption, but chose to become the new Supreme Leader of the First Order. However, becoming Supreme Leader didn't help Kylo Ren become more clear-headed. Not only does he fail to turn Rey to the dark side, but he allows her to escape and facilitate an evacuation of the Resistance forces.
When Kylo Ren is faced with his old master, Luke Skywalker, he becomes blind with rage. Luke knows this, and uses this to his advantage, allowing the Resistance forces to escape. At first, Kylo Ren has General Hux fire everything the First Order has at Luke Skywalker. When Luke is left standing, Kylo Ren doesn't realize that this is a hoax, but instead decides to face off with his old master in one-on-one combat as the First Order watches.
Snoke's pride leads to his death, and Kylo Ren's pride leads to the Resistance surviving. The First Order has only themselves to blame. At the end of The Last Jedi, the question isn't who made bad decisions - it's who made the worst decisions.
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