Luke's "mistake" in ESB being what though? The cave thing, or ditching the training to go save Han/Leia?
As for TLJ, I don't see how it's "apeing ROTJ" either. The throne scene plays out entirely differently, it's a whole different dynamic. Yes, Kylo's a wild card as far as Rey's concerned, same as Vader was for Luke, but she seems to have far more to go on in terms of a schism between Snoke & Kylo. They've been conversing pretty significantly, Kylo's pretty open about how they're both special and there's more in store for them than just being Snoke's attack dogs. It's a little more than just "he's Han's/Leia's kid, surely there's some good left in him".
And what's this "wrong" interpretation of ROTJ you're referring to. Again, George loved TLJ, pretty sure he's not going to go out of his way with that type of praise if he felt it was based in a fundamental misunderstanding of EpVI.
For the ESB thing, it'd be the going for Leia and Han.
But back to Rey going to Kylo...
No, she has *nothing* to go on in terms of a schism between Kylo and Snoke. We, the audience, have witnessed how Rian Johnson's more petty take on everyone has led to Kylo being pushed more by Snoke making fun of his cosplay helmet than anything serious, like his killing of his father under Snoke's direction or being manipulated by Snoke, but Rey has seen
none of that.
And as much as Rian Johnson thought the tone and style of his story was one of Rey and Kylo having any depth at all, the actual substance of his script is painfully and blatantly
shallow in their connections.
There's nothing
significant in their conversations
for Rey, the nominal lead hero; the film never takes a stab at addressing her being tortured, Han being killed, or Finn being maimed all by Kylo, only having Kylo just kind of shrug and say "hey, I may have murdered my father, but it wasn't because I hated him" without trying to actually justify or explain why that should be forgiven. Nor does it believably give her a reasons to see him as
anything beyond a dedicated a space fascist: she fundamentally gains no insight into what made Kylo be dark enough to set off Luke's alarm bells, and when the film has Ben/Kylo then murder his school right afterwards, it's
unintentionally suggesting Luke's homicidal urge was actually right, even though that's antithetical to Star Wars morality. And the depth of the connection cannot have any depth if neither Rey nor Kylo can see how blatantly obvious their loyalties and goals are; not a single audience member could possibly believe that Rey would actually go evil, or that Kylo would go good.
From Rey's perspective, she was:
- Captured by Kylo, who then tortured her and violated her mind,
- Then he killed someone she was beginning to see as a father figure, a particularly awful crime to someone who has yearned for familial bonds as Rey has, and unthinkable that Kylo would kill that,
- Then he tortured, maimed, and tried to kill the friend who has Justin proved himself her most faithful ally and companion for trying to defend her,
- All while being a blatantly evil space fascist who's an accomplice to system-wide genocide,
- Then, in TLJ, when they meet again, he immediately tries to violate her mind again before she stops him,
- She discovers from both his and Luke's testimony that while they disagree on who started the hut confrontation, they both acknowledged that Kylo immediately slaughtered his school afterwards,
And then just like that, she suddenly
sympathizes with him, and looks to him for solace when Rian Johnson's script decides she's petty and shallow enough to care more about her parents being someone important than being abandoned and having Han and Finn come back for her, and is sad a mirror didn't answer her questions.
WHAT THE HELL?!?
The only reason for Rey being in that throne room, which most definitely *is* aping ROTJ until it gets to its twist, is because Rian Johnson wants her there. The only reason she has any thought that Kylo could be redeemed is because Rian Johnson needs that to be the case so he can have Rey acting as Luke in ROTJ's throneroom scene. The only reason she has moved past his actions against her and cares about a "Ben" she doesn't know is because Rian Johnson is a Kylo fanboy and is apathetic towards the other characters, including her. And the only reason she even goes to the Suprmacy is to try and save "Ben;" it can't be to pragmatically eliminate a the greatest threat, because then that same pragmatism would have been active when Rey wakes up to see an unconscious Kylo with no on else around yet, and Kylo would have been captured or killed, and Rian Johnson doesn't care that Rey, as the lead, needs that kind of thought line answered because it's not about his precious Kylo.
