This.
For me, I honestly don't know what I even wanted from Luke going in. Whether he was optimistic or not, I didn't really care, and even though I still have some issues with his plot line and interactions with Rey, I was fine with it overall, more or less.
We've beat this horse to death, but yeah, it was the Finn/Rose and Poe/Holdo stuff that was often cringeworthy and the real reason TLJ falls short for so many people, myself included.
I have my issues with Abrams as well, of course, as I've noted here countless times, but at least his movies are never boring, and are never bogged down with condescending lessons. In that sense, even though I'm sure I'll have plenty of issues with Episode IX's plot, we should at least see the return of a fun adventure film with a relatively singular thrust. Rewatching TLJ a couple months back, I was surprised at just how boring it was at times, and never felt like a singular, cohesive narrative. For all his problems, Abrams never has that issue. His movies hum with energy, and I'm finding myself more and more excited for the clean slate he has to work with.
I'm hoping it almost like feels like TFA and TLJ were their own thing - like their own duology - and Episode IX ends up being something that's able to stand on its own. It'll of course focus on Rey, Kylo, Finn, and Poe, and finally wrap up their stories, but with no Luke, Leia, Han, or Snoke - and the setting sounding like it's going to potentially be years later - there's an opportunity for IX to stand out as something unique and almost it's own new story, one that not only that ties a bow on the sequel trilogy, but, as mentioned before, the Skywalker saga as a whole.
Actually, the more I think about it, there could be some nice symmetry when all is said and done...
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- Episode I = Set many years prior to Episode II, almost stands on its own in a way. Sets up many of the characters for the rest of the trilogy, of course, but is set far enough before that it feels relatively contained.
- Episodes II & III = Very much their own, singular story focusing on Christensen as Anakin.
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- Episode IV
- Episode V
- Episode VI
= A tradition trilogy that serves as the anchor/meat of the saga.
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- Episodes VII & VIII = Very much their own, singular story, focusing on the torch being passed to the next generation.
- Episode IX = Set a number of years after Episode VIII, could almost stand on its own in a way. Wraps up many of the characters from earlier in the trilogy, of course, but is set far enough after it that it feels relatively contained...
... enough so that it can also wrap up the entire saga as well. In other words, the room to "breathe" allows it to be able to focus not solely on wrapping up VII & VIII's plot lines since, frankly, the majority of those plot lines are already wrapped.
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(And yes, in a way, I just compared Episode IX to The Phantom Menace, but I still hold that TPM is the best of the PT, so hopefully IX can be the best of the ST.)
