Why were the male gorilla/wolf aliens coming after Moses and his friends rather than the carcass of the female alien, which was presumably Pheromone Central and must have had a much stronger scent than the traces left on Moses and the others’ clothes? (This must be, of course, why the carcass was part of the final bait along with Moses–also it had to be burned anyway to keep away the other aliens.) Is it because the weed room where the carcass was kept was insulated from smells to avoid detection? This seems the likeliest explanation, since the male aliens weren’t coming for the weed room once Moses and the others got behind the door but rather crowded outside. This is consistent with them losing the trail and hovering at the last place where they had the scent.
Which is kind of mind-boggling in its own way. These pheromones can cross outer space but they can’t get past a weed room’s scent insulation, evidently. Who knew weed dealers were our line of defense against alien invasions? Respect.
Also, is there a chance another female alien could land on Earth, drawing males after her? If so, Earth is fucked unless the authorities–or an audience of violent tin hatters, which seems likelier–listen to Moses and the others’ story. Unless they know to shoot any further female alien from a distance and then napalm the carcass, then thoroughly cleanse any trace of the pheromones on people and the surroundings under UV light, there are going to be repeat landings of male aliens and more deaths.
I’m also trying to figure out how reproduction works for this alien species. If the male:female ratio in the movie is representative for the species as a whole, and assuming male and female are even vaguely analogous terms for this species, maybe it works like a queen ant mating with multiple males and storing their semen for years to fertilize and lay eggs at her leisure. We may have been watching something like an ant mating flight in progress, only to be violently interrupted by Moses.
I mean Moses regretted what he did, but would things really have been better if he didn’t kill the female alien? He himself was already marked by the pheromones just by their initial contact (First Contact, if you will) when she pounced on him, and probably the same people who had been marked by touching him in the original timeline would have been marked even if he had let the alien go. Maybe there would have been a smaller pheromone footprint on him, since he would not have had the queen’s pheromones all over him from killeng her, and so fewer people might have been marked, but that’s about it.
But really, best case scenario, even if Moses hadn’t even reached into the car and never come into contact with the queen, she would have touched and marked someone eventually in a city as crowded as London. The males would have arrived and killed the people who were marked. They could have arrived in even greater numbers without her scent being shielded by the weed room (remember, our planetary line of defense). And if the queen had lived and successfully mated, there would have been aliens born on Earth to wreak havoc unless she moved on elsewhere to give birth/lay eggs. All in all I can’t think of Moses killing the alien as a bad thing, though his intentions at the time were not noble.
Tl; dr AtB is a movie about how weed dealers and disaffected teenaged boys are our best defenses against an alien invasion, God help us all.
As the male leads of the sequel and prequel trilogies, respectively, Finn and Anakin Skywalker go through similar story beats. But what’s interesting is how those similarities are also framed as contrasts. It’s at the point where they seem to be Left-Handed Mirrors of each other.
Finn begins his story in the same place that Anakin ends his: turning against a fascist organization and the people who groomed them.
On the other end of that, it’s interesting that Anakin fell to the Dark Side at 23, while at that same age, Finn made the opposite choice to embrace the Light.
Both have slavery in their backgrounds. While Anakin was born into slavery and chose to leave his mother to become a Jedi, Finn was kidnapped from his family before he was old enough to remember them and forced to serve the First Order.
As part of their slave backgrounds, both men lose their true names. Finn was assigned the designation FN-2187 after being kidnapped and doesn’t seem to remember what his birth name is. Anakin was also assigned a new name, Darth Vader, by his master after pledging himself to Sideous. He is able to reclaim his family and identity right before his death. Hopefully, Finn will discover his identity, family, and name as well.
Finn and Anakin both formed attachments easily and strove to help others. During his training, Phasma tried to teach Finn that helping his fellow cadet, Slip, was wrong and that letting him fail would strengthen the First Order as a whole. Her efforts failed and Finn still instinctively rushes to the aid of those around him. Anakin was also criticized for trying to help individuals rather than focusing on the broad picture. In the now Legends Jedi Quest novels, he is specifically told that helping his fellow padawans Darra and Tru was a sign of shortcomings within him. In ROTS, Obi-Wan stops him from trying to help the clones who are struggling in the battle because they need to stick to their mission. With Finn, it is a villain trying to pressure him into becoming like her, while the ones telling Anakin he is wrong to care about others are meant to be heroic.
Both Finn and Anakin also fight powerful dark siders, K/lo and Dooku respectively, and fail in their first battle with them. They are also severely wounded before their ally jumps in to continue the fight. Hopefully, this parallel will continue with Finn defeating K/lo in their next film confrontation. Instead of being another step toward the Dark Side like it was with Anakin, it could be confirmation of his Force sensitivity or at least rededication to his path in the Light.
As part of their slave narratives, Finn and Anakin are also able to kill the people directly above them. The deaths are even similar with Phasma and Palpatine both dying after being cast down on space crafts that are being destroyed. But while Anakin died killing his master, Finn is able to stand triumphant over his dying overseer.
On that same note, both men attempt to sacrifice themselves for those they love. Anakin dies saving his son from Palpatine while Finn nearly dies trying to protect his friends in the Resistance from the First Order.
@loopy777 Well, obviously. Finn going from “This fleet is doomed” to outright kamikaze for the remnants of that fleet because the person who tased him and mocked him gave him a lecture about the evils of the universe and has a sad past is the height of writing. His character regressing from valuing his own individuality and feelings, something that was systematically denied to him as a child soldier, to seeing himself as expendable for yet another cause is great character development. And his “having” to be hurt yet again to be saved from himself and being lectured to about how hateful he is for wanting to sacrifice himself for other people is a great thematic moment.
And that’s just one character.
If I squint hard the egregious and incoherent “that’s how we win” moment was about Rose realizing she was wrong and telling Finn he shouldn’t throw his life away for a cause like her sister did, that yes, he should live, he should have a chance to see Rey again. But there was a relentlessly glorified suicide run like 5 minutes earlier, and that was evidently about serving the light and not being a hero? And Paige wasn’t trying to destroy what she hated, she was thinking about Rose in her last moments? Finn wasn’t acting out of hate either, he was trying to buy time for the remainder of the Resistance. Why is it love when Holdo does it and hate when Finn does it?
I think I would have liked the scene better without that stupid line, because then at least it could have been about Rose’s trauma and not about her being a thematic vessel or whatever the hell that scene was trying to achieve.
@loopy777 DJ as catalyst for Finn development is even worse, though? At least
Rose became a friend of sorts. Finn went from fleeing to kamikaze
because a random dude he met in a jail cell spouted nonsense moral
equivalency and then–shock!–betrayed them. That looks awfully flimsy to me.
Did
you seriously put Finn’s “individuality” in quotes? I guess I
hallucinated the parts in TFA where he escaped the regime that kidnapped
and enslaved him out of his own “individual” conscience, where he made
friends and built relationships as an “individual,” and wanted to flee
to the Outer Rim out of his terror and trauma as an “individual.” Or the
part in TLJ where he wanted him and Rey, two “individuals,” to be
spared the destruction. There’s even a part in the TLJ novelization
where he all but begs Rose to understand that he was never allowed to
think and act for himself as an “individual” in the First Order (and
Rose dismisses him because yay friendship)!
I’m sorry, buying
time in a desperate situation has always been a valid military plan and,
for that matter, Holdo’s and Paige’s sacrifices also consisted of
buying time with their lives. There WAS a plan on Finn’s part for the
Outer Rim to rally and come to the Resistance’s aid. Finn had so much faith in the
people of the galaxy rising up against the First Order that he was
willing to literally stake his life on it, and then to have his
attempted sacrifice cheapened by being called an act of hate and not
love left a serious bad taste in my mouth.
Also, even if we say he
was acting without a plan, that is at best thoughtless or reckless, not
hateful. Rose’s speech, though framed and received as a thematic
moment, was unearned and made no sense even by your metric.
Different people are sensitive to different things, and have different reactions as a result. I’ve noticed that even a number of people who are very critical of TLJ don’t see the treatment of Finn as a problem, for instance, and a lot of white women see TLJ as an unqualified victory for female representation. I think a lot of people also react positively to what TLJ was trying to do, especially the last half hour or so, without necessarily dwelling on the failures of execution or how unearned some of its most heartfelt moments were.
Yes, Finn was an individual, but ‘individuality’ was a never a theme or a subplot anywhere; it’s not important to the story, and 7 certainly doesn’t posit it as the reason he left the FO. 8 was clear that no more help was coming to Crait, & everyone knew it by then. And I don’t think “thoughtless and reckless” inspires suicide without some deeper emotion driving it- you’re taking away Finn’s agency, and kind of infantilizing him.
@loopy777 “My first battle, I made a choice.I wasn’t going to kill for them.”
I mean… I can’t believe I actually have to explain what an astounding assertion of individuality that was for someone who was brainwashed to be a cog in the FO machine. He listened to his own trauma, his own morality, in defiance of everything he had been taught his entire life, and I thought that made his individuality pretty important to his story and TFA as a whole. I’m curious, what do you think Finn’s arc in TFA was really about?
Oh hey, I didn’t realize “believing in the people of the galaxy” and “fuck it, I’m gonna save my friends anyway even if no one’s coming” weren’t valid motivations, or that attempting to kill yourself to destroy a weapon that would have been used to kill your friends has to come from a place of hate now. By that metric weren’t Holdo and Paige a lot more hateful, since they killed a metric ton of people in their own suicide runs? Or is it okay as long as they had a good plan–do carefully planned suicide attacks never come from a place of hate? As far as I can tell good planning and hatred are like… two totally unrelated indices. One doesn’t say anything about the other.
And why is it infantilizing to read a motivation in Finn that is not hatred? Believing that people will rise up is infantilizing now? Wanting to save your friends is infantilizing? I mean your handwavy “some deeper emotion” seems to be your own assumption and not anything supported by the story, other than the presupposition that Rose was correct. Why does that deeper emotion necessarily have to be hatred–couldn’t it be love, or maybe depression from everything he had suffered?
@loopy777 But Finn’s story being about asserting individuality explains both of those developments? He tried to flee because he listened to his own trauma and fear about the FO rather than be drawn into another cause to fight for. He came back for Rey not because he was obligated by a higher cause because she was someone he wanted to be safe. It’s clear that he hadn’t given himself to the Resistance at this point, but rather had his own goal he wanted to achieve by helping their mission.
It’s also possible that TLJ badly mangled his arc and his newly discovered individuality is ridiculed and called a bad thing, and then his dedication is also called bad so all he can do now is follow the person who was violent against him and insulted him. Maybe Rose Tico is just a horribly written character. You know, just a possibility.
Again, you can’t deny that earning time for one’s allies is a valid tactic that has been used throughout history, in general to show how noble the person is (e.g. Holdo). Even if no one came, Finn’s allies could still find a way out while their cover was intact. Since no one including Rose was expecting Luke to come, as far as anyone knew at that point Finn’s sacrifice actually was necessary for the Resistance remnants’ survival.
It’s interesting that it’s suddenly a “spiteful act of defiance” and “hate” because Finn does it while it’s “heroic” when Holdo does it. It’s also interesting that, while they both miscalculated, Holdo is judged by circumstances she could have known at the time while Finn is judged by circumstances he could not have. Omniscience is expected for Finn, but not for Holdo. And what’s more, not being omniscient makes Finn spiteful and hateful instead of, like, just not all-knowing.
You seem to have forgotten or misunderstood the role “thoughtles or reckless” played in my argument. That was not my first position, which was that he was making a noble sacrifice and there was no evidence he was acting out of hate, but rather a fallback position that even if we accept for the sake of argument (you know what that is, right?) that Finn’s suicide run was poorly planned, a position I don’t actually agree with, that at best makes him a bad planner and not automatically hateful. I was pointing out that even if you’re right about the sacrifice being needless, it doesn’t support your (or Rose’s) conclusion that he was being hateful.
But Finn wasn’t trying to destroy. He was trying to defend, much as Poe was. That’s another reason Rose’s line was dumb, by the way, because there is no clear line between destroying and defending when you’re being attacked by an enemy that’s trying to annihilate you. There’s a famous case of someone trying to apply pacifism toward fascists in our own world, but Neville Chamberlain doesn’t get the best rap unfortunately.
Different people are sensitive to different things, and have different reactions as a result. I’ve noticed that even a number of people who are very critical of TLJ don’t see the treatment of Finn as a problem, for instance, and a lot of white women see TLJ as an unqualified victory for female representation. I think a lot of people also react positively to what TLJ was trying to do, especially the last half hour or so, without necessarily dwelling on the failures of execution or how unearned some of its most heartfelt moments were.
@loopy777 Well, obviously. Finn going from “This fleet is doomed” to outright kamikaze for the remnants of that fleet because the person who tased him and mocked him gave him a lecture about the evils of the universe and has a sad past is the height of writing. His character regressing from valuing his own individuality and feelings, something that was systematically denied to him as a child soldier, to seeing himself as expendable for yet another cause is great character development. And his “having” to be hurt yet again to be saved from himself and being lectured to about how hateful he is for wanting to sacrifice himself for other people is a great thematic moment.
And that’s just one character.
If I squint hard the egregious and incoherent “that’s how we win” moment was about Rose realizing she was wrong and telling Finn he shouldn’t throw his life away for a cause like her sister did, that yes, he should live, he should have a chance to see Rey again. But there was a relentlessly glorified suicide run like 5 minutes earlier, and that was evidently about serving the light and not being a hero? And Paige wasn’t trying to destroy what she hated, she was thinking about Rose in her last moments? Finn wasn’t acting out of hate either, he was trying to buy time for the remainder of the Resistance. Why is it love when Holdo does it and hate when Finn does it?
I think I would have liked the scene better without that stupid line, because then at least it could have been about Rose’s trauma and not about her being a thematic vessel or whatever the hell that scene was trying to achieve.
@loopy777 DJ as catalyst for Finn development is even worse, though? At least
Rose became a friend of sorts. Finn went from fleeing to kamikaze
because a random dude he met in a jail cell spouted nonsense moral
equivalency and then–shock!–betrayed them. That looks awfully flimsy to me.
Did
you seriously put Finn’s “individuality” in quotes? I guess I
hallucinated the parts in TFA where he escaped the regime that kidnapped
and enslaved him out of his own “individual” conscience, where he made
friends and built relationships as an “individual,” and wanted to flee
to the Outer Rim out of his terror and trauma as an “individual.” Or the
part in TLJ where he wanted him and Rey, two “individuals,” to be
spared the destruction. There’s even a part in the TLJ novelization
where he all but begs Rose to understand that he was never allowed to
think and act for himself as an “individual” in the First Order (and
Rose dismisses him because yay friendship)!
I’m sorry, buying
time in a desperate situation has always been a valid military plan and,
for that matter, Holdo’s and Paige’s sacrifices also consisted of
buying time with their lives. There WAS a plan on Finn’s part for the
Outer Rim to rally and come to the Resistance’s aid. Finn had so much faith in the
people of the galaxy rising up against the First Order that he was
willing to literally stake his life on it, and then to have his
attempted sacrifice cheapened by being called an act of hate and not
love left a serious bad taste in my mouth.
Also, even if we say he
was acting without a plan, that is at best thoughtless or reckless, not
hateful. Rose’s speech, though framed and received as a thematic
moment, was unearned and made no sense even by your metric.
If you get a spare 22 minutes, this is worth a watch. I wasn’t going to share it initially because it’s almost entirely about white characters. Just at the point where I realized how incredibly white the video is, Pop Culture Detective points out the racism behind the fact that the trope actively makes white men look fundamentally good and sympathetic, like heroes even when they’re not being heroic – and that, of course, men of color are not viewed romantically when they’re the abductors.
Not that they should be! The way the video is edited, putting so many clips back to back showing white romantic leads abusing their love interests, is disturbing. It’s unsettling. It explains a lot about the Star Wars fandom – it explains a lot about fandom in general. These trends aren’t progressive in the least. There’s absolutely nothing edgy or subversive about making the toxic white guy a sweetheart in the end. It’s the absolute status quo that needs to BE subverted,
Let’s talk about the Finn-Phasma fight. I’ve heard Finn’s victory over Phasma being described as a lucky strike, but I don’t think that’s at all true. I thought it was another case of Finn’s quick thinking and tactical smarts saving the day, much like his hangar scene in TFA (link).
Despite being far too short and the adversary being a character that did not get nearly enough buildup, this fight is still intense and well put together. For my money it’s the most tactically interesting hand-to-hand combat sequence in the movie. It also lets Finn be the badass that he should have been for the entirety of the movie–I mean can we take a moment to appreciate the Aesthetic of him just swatting aside some dude who came at him with a gun?
The man has a gun in his face and doesn’t give a fuck. “Move, I’m in a hurry.” Pow. Doesn’t even change course, just walks right past the screaming trooper to his actual opponent. Serious kudos to the Stormtrooper’s voice work here, too, like AAAAHHHHHhhh
And also that leaping charge at Phasma? Iconic. Remember this part and what he was trying to do here, because it’s important for the payoff of the fight.
Finn had the high ground. It was over the second that happened.
Proof Finn is the next Kenobi 😂
All seriousness that’s what made Obi-Wan such a good fighter. He wasn’t a powerhouse like Anakin, but he had a strategic mind and was good at improvising plans on the spot.
Phasma herself regarded Finn as a highly capable soldier.
Good point. Also like Finn, Obi-Wan’s Force abilities seem to be particularly strong on sensing and empathy–like when he felt the destruction of Alderaan much as Finn felt the destruction of Hosnia. Their abilities even manifested the same way, by hearing the screams of the dying. It probably has to do with their personalities, the way they are both very empathetic and sensitive to people and situations.
I’m pretty sure Phasma giving such praise is the equivalent of other people shitting their pants in transcendent euphoria. I wonder if the fight was personal to Phasma on some level–she just could not accept that she and the system she so believed in could have been wrong (“You were a bug in the system”).
This scene is so underrated and amazing for so many reasons.
Just look at Rey’s Face. It is the picture of amazement and curiosity. She has no idea about the ships of the First Order. Most of the ships she’s ever even seen are they junks on Jakku. This scene perfectly depicts someone who is just finding out the world is bigger than them.
Now compare that to Finn. It looks like he is having a PTSD attack. On his face is the look of horror, fear and anxiety of what will happen if their caught. The scene perfectly shows how much trauma Finn had gone through and how much he’s hiding from Rey.
Seriously, hands off to John and Daisy!
Also, in this part Finn just LISTENED to the ENGINE SOUND and knew an airstrike was coming. What phenomenal senses and attention to detail. The Resistance’s chances would have been much diminished if Finn had become a FO officer as he was on track to be.
Racist asshats like to portray his reaching for and dragging Rey out of the tent as some kind of assault, which uh, first the tent literally blew up and she would have been blown up with it if not for Finn’s snap judgment, and second, this is a trained soldier’s reflex and not some seduction move. He heard danger coming and pulled his teammate out because she didn’t sense it like he did. The same thing he did for Zeroes, Nines, and especially Slip, he did for Rey here. He’s such an amazing leader and I love him.
Finn’s victory was not a fluke
Let’s talk about the Finn-Phasma fight. I’ve heard Finn’s victory over Phasma being described as a lucky strike, but I don’t think that’s at all true. I thought it was another case of Finn’s quick thinking and tactical smarts saving the day, much like his hangar scene in TFA (link).
Despite being far too short and the adversary being a character that did not get nearly enough buildup, this fight is still intense and well put together. For my money it’s the most tactically interesting hand-to-hand combat sequence in the movie. It also lets Finn be the badass that he should have been for the entirety of the movie–I mean can we take a moment to appreciate the Aesthetic of him just swatting aside some dude who came at him with a gun?
The man has a gun in his face and doesn’t give a fuck. “Move, I’m in a hurry.” Pow. Doesn’t even change course, just walks right past the screaming trooper to his actual opponent. Serious kudos to the Stormtrooper’s voice work here, too, like AAAAHHHHHhhh
And also that leaping charge at Phasma? Iconic. Remember this part and what he was trying to do here, because it’s important for the payoff of the fight.
One thing I love about this fight is that Phasma is HUGE and the camera emphasizes this fact. She fills the entire screen in her two final attacks…
…and the height difference between the actors, already considerable, is emphasized by the camera angles and poses, by having Phasma attack from above and filming her from below…
…or by having Finn stumble and bend down with Phasma looming over him.
I’ll save Exhibit D of how Phasma’s size was emphasized for later, when I wrap this thing up.
This size difference is an unusual juxtaposition for a cinematic fight between a man and a woman, with the woman being the large, seemingly invincible enemy and the man the smaller one who must win by his wits if he is to win at all. I daresay the races of the characters make it even more unusual.
Finn is in trouble here, as the David in a David vs. Goliath fight always is. Even though he is strong and athletic and has aggro like nobody’s business, the best he can do is stay on the defensive and he can’t push her back. He’s being pushed back, dodge by dodge and parry by parry, until he is driven to the edge of a pit. Another leaping charge to try and get her in the helmet? He can forget about it unless he wants to be cut in half, not while she’s pressing him this way.
Then he takes a hit near the edge of the pit and flies back before he stumbles to the edge. Let’s take a closer look at that part.
Notice how, as Finn is flying backward from Phasma’s strike, he’s turned at a 45-degree angle and is actually looking behind his back into the pit as indicated by the red arrow.
In fact, when you see him recover from the stumble, he’s STILL looking down into the pit right until the moment he turns to face Phasma again. It almost looks like he’s purposefully getting a few steps closer to the edge to get a better look (gif is slightly slowed down).
Could that be the look of someone who’s gazing down an actual abyss and making a split-second decision?
We can also see from these shots that there is actually a clear path of escape from both Phasma and the pit toward the camera, indicated by the green arrow in the screenshot. Finn could have rolled under her next attack to avoid being knocked backward.
But instead, immediately after getting a pretty good look at exactly where he’d be falling, he takes what seems to be the worst possible course of action–standing to meet the next attack, which has the predictable consequence of getting him knocked back into the pit.
From this examination of the sequence, it’s very probable that Finn literally looked before he leaped. He saw that the drop was a survivable height and that he could raise himself out of it, or find some other way to get out and beat Phasma/help Rose. If he didn’t want to fall he had shown more than enough reflex and had the size advantage, given that he was fighting a larger opponent, to duck and change course rather than stand and meet an attack that would cause him to fall.
One fly in this ointment is that Phasma could see into the pit as well as he could, and if she paid attention she could see that he had survived and was coming back up for Round 2.
However, first of all, even if Phasma was looking Finn still would be better off on the rising platform because he would have more room to maneuver on it. If Phasma did not manage to jump onto the platform he would be given a new height advantage. Remember that initial leaping attack? It didn’t work because she was too tall and also saw him coming, but if he could just get some elevation the second time could be the charm. Even if she did jump onto the platform he would still be slightly better off than before with more space.
Second of all: Rose.
I think it was reasonable for Finn to have counted on the possibility, or at least to have hoped, that Rose would distract Phasma in some way, and in fact Rose performed beautifully by screaming “No!” and reminding Phasma of her existence. This prompted Phasma to spin away from the pit and fire at Rose without taking the time to see what had become of Finn, missing her chance to anticipate him or get onto the platform with him.
Mind you, Phasma didn’t have to attack Rose. Rose wasn’t even shooting at first and the scene already established that Phasma’s armor is blaster-proof. She could have taken a split second to glance down after Finn and check that her former star cadet was actually out of the fight and didn’t have a trick up his stolen uniform sleeve. Phasma’s downfall came from her own cruelty and arrogance, which makes it all the more satisfying.
It’s also worth noting that Rose’s shooting back at Phasma, while furthering the distraction, was extremely risky to her. It wasted valuable time she could have taken to seek cover after her initial shock and horror, and as a result she was nearly hurt and could have been killed.
Rose already knew that shooting Phasma was futile. She had tried it earlier, and the blaster beams had bounced off like BB pellets. Shooting at Phasma was a grief and rage response, coming from someone who had suffered recent bereavement and couldn’t bear the thought of losing someone else.
It’s hard to tell to what extent Finn counted on Rose as a distraction, since his decision was by necessity on the fly. However it’s clear that Rose’s action, along with Phasma’s underestimation of him, made his plan work out beyond probably even his best expectations. And when that payoff came…
Bam.
Remember how Finn was trying to get at her “chrome dome” from the start, and why it didn’t work? She was too big, and she saw him coming. Well, his falling trick took care of both problems, first by giving him a height advantage with the rising platform, and second through Rose’s assist distracting Phasma with her genuine distress.
This is the promised Exhibit D of Phasma’s size as well. She even falls like a colossus here, filing the screen a third time as she falls over in slow motion like some once-gleaming idol. Though I did not capture the whole sequence here you can see the beginning of how Finn’s figure being revealed as Phasma falls, as though toppling her were a necessary step for his full self-realization. It’s a neat visual that would have worked a lot better if both characters had had better lead-up stories, or if the deleted mini-uprising scene had been kept at least. Still, given the history between the two, it’s a moving moment to see him literally rise above his abuser and affirm his freedom from her. In this he presents a contrast to Kylo Ren who, rather than being free, chose to sink deeper into an abusive and oppressive dynamic after killing his own abuser (link).
In this fight Finn, in true trickster hero fashion (link), prevails over a larger, seemingly unbeatable enemy using his wits and also by turning her own flaws against her. Some luck was involved, as in all fights, but in many ways Finn made his own luck by seizing an advantage through fast, unconventional thinking. It’s in keeping with what we know about the character–that he has the acumen to make accurate tactical judgments under fire and the boldness to take decisive, sometimes risky action. The moment was short and easy to miss, but impressive nonetheless.
I think that I prefer to think about a foil not as someone who is in natural opposition, like a Harry v. Draco, but people who are similar with a noted or a few noted differences. One of my favorite literary foils is Elinor Dashwood and her sister Marianne. Elinor is steady, stable, sort of long-suffering. Marianne is sunny, lighthearted, is fine with taking chances. They are not enemies – they love each other very much – but despite being born to the same parents and having the same upbringing, they are very different women.
So with that in mind, this is why I think Finn’s foil is Poe Dameron.
He’s been working with a Skywalker for years and she’s his mentor!
Finn’s relationship with the Skywalker’s
Worked in the same organization as a Skywalker relative
Worked alongside 2 Skywalker relatives (Han and Leia)
Kylo, a Skywalker relative, is his arch enemy and foil.
Bonus
Finn’s best friend/love interest is the daughterstudent of Luke Skywalker.
Poe has been working with Leia for years, she’s his mentor.
Finn literally has a relationship with almost all of the Skywalkers, fought with their lightsaber, and started the entire plot of TFA.
This is bull shit that after 4 years Finn and Poe, but especially Finn, have to fight for their relevance in this damn franchise.
Fuck You, Russell Walker.
Finn was also the only character who argued that the Resistance had to go out and help Luke Skywalker against the entire fucking First Order military. You know, despite never having met the guy? It wasn’t the best idea but as Will Smith memorably said, he’s got the spirit.
Leia explicitly passed on her legacy to Poe, just as Luke passed his to Rey. And when Luke gives his “The Rebellion is reborn today” speech–setting aside whether it’s an earned moment–it’s Finn who comes up in the “war is just beginning” line.
Finn has Han’s legacy, part of it. One of the forgotten and downtrodden of the galaxy, the weary and traumatized renegade who very understandably wanted out of the fight and to get what little safety he could for himself, who ultimately came back to the fight because that was the right thing to do.
But Finn goes even beyond that. He was willing to stake his life in people around the galaxy rising up and coming to the Resistance’s aid. He was willing to give himself so there might be a tomorrow. He is the leader and symbol of the antifascist uprising that will come, that must come if there is to be any kind of future. He is the one who will tear apart the First Order’s lies. He is the man Supreme Leader Ren should fear the most, if he has any sense at all (a highly debatable point). Rose saved Finn at the risk of the entire remaining Resistance because she saw him as the hope for the future, mangled and marred as the message was.
And Supreme Butthead? He gets Jack Schitt. He gets Vader, at best, if he finally makes the right choice for once. If he does he may choose a sacrificial death that can never make up for the magnitude of his crimes, or he may get life in prison while his long-dormant conscience eats him alive. With the course he’s currently set himself on he will die defeated, unrepentent, ignoble and unmourned.
Without Finn, Rey, and Poe the Skywalker legacy is shit. It’s ashes and rot and failure. To erase two-thirds of what positivity remains in the Skywalker legacy for reasons that make no fucking sense is repugnant, reductionist, and yeah, racist. It goes against everything the sequel trilogy says it’s about.
L.J.'s Obsessions 