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Anyway, Rian gets it, The Force isn't a superpower. It's something greater than that, greater than you, than all of us. Everything's connected by it. He considered having Luke do something bombastic like pull a ship down out of orbit or something, but said, "No."

the force has just, been in this endless loop in the lore of this "ARGH GOOD ARGH EVIL"thing, jedi VS sith, to the point that people think that's all it's about.

I'm convinced Rian knows what KOTOR II is. And KOTOR II..? KOTOR II is the best deconstruction of the Star Wars mythos that has ever existed.
Because it takes what we know about The Force, what it can do, and turns it on its head.
It's related to TLJ's interpretation but isn't a direct parent or sibling. Something like a cousin.
I wanna' point out Kylo Ren.
I want to state how significant he is, and how this isn't Rey's story, as much as it is Ben's story.
I've always been an avid defender of Kylo Ren as character, as a dark side user. I've always thought- and do think, he's the most compelling antagonist we've ever had. Not because he isn't Vader 2 (which is a theme), not because he's "torn between light and dark"
But because Kylo Ren is a study of every single thing we know about The Dark Side, and Rey serves as a direct counterbalance to him, which is important, because it shows that The Force is not good or evil, it has no agenda, it seeks balance above all else.
It is not benevolent or malevolent. It is completely amoral at the expense of all that are within it. It is that which defines nature, at its core.
Kreia hated The Force. She hated those that practiced such staggeringly opposing dogmas against each other, using millions as their pawns, in "Service to" or an attempt to "control" The Force.
To the point that she sought to try and find a way to find a focal point, a great echo, tear in the force, and rend it to the point that nothing could fix it, to destroy it.
And while her actions, nihilistic as they were, destructive as they would have become if her apprentice had not stopped her, there was credence to that which she stated.
Why is Rey as powerful as she is?
She is nobody. She shouldn't have a part in this story, but here she is. Serving as a counterweight to the grandson of Darth Vader, the son of Leia, nephew to Luke Skywalker.

This immensely powerful, troubled person- and why is Ben troubled? His grandfather left an irreperable thus far wound on the galaxy, he was incredibly powerful and evil until the last minute. His parents didn't tell him this, it was outed at him by others, and Ben knew what he was, who he was related to, and he knew he had power.

Skywalkers are very bad about that power, too. Very bad at applying it without guidance. They're forces of nature, to the dismay of all around them.
One of the most important lines in The Force Awakens, is Han and Leia's exchange about Snoke.
They refer to him not as supreme leader, but personally, one on one. "Snoke". They knew him. Ben knew him. Luke knew him. Luke was wary of him. What did Snoke do, so much, so thoroughly, to turn their child against everything they fought for?
It's not really hard to piece together.

He was afraid that Ben had already been turned by him, and in a moment of fear, took action.
These people knew Snoke personally, before he was a supreme leader. That's an extremely important detail that gets glossed over, even still.
Put yourself in Ben's shoes. You were related to one of the galaxy's most evil people, your parents never told you, and it's easy to see, Snoke saw that power. He saw a way he could use it, so he did.

That's why Ben is what he is now. Why he hated Luke. He saw somebody he trusted on the precipice of killing him- Luke definitely feared Ben as well! He couldn't stop him, it was impossible. Ben destroyed the temple, took a few with him, and left, with a mission to someday finish the job.

And he let that rage fester. Continued his training as best he could, did Snoke's bidding at the continued promise of power.
Snoke's place in the story has been had, long ago.
He's served his purpose. We know what we need to know. He's responsible, but not wholly, for creating Kylo Ren.
And Ben has surpassed Vader, in that he did kill his master. He now controls The First Order in his entirety.
That's... That's huge.
That's huge! Like, holy shit!
But there's so much more to cover..!
Luke, why he ran. God that's important.
Leia, Han, Luke. A triumvirate of broken people- one who failed to be a teacher, one who couldn't take the pressure and fracturing of his family for reasons Luke definitely never told them, and one who never really gave up on her son until much later. It's such a sad, sad, broken family.
Luke was trusted by Leia and Han to never let Ben become what Vader was. I'm sure he promised them repeatedly.
And he failed. He failed to the extent of moving to, in a moment of fear, without clarity, without the guiding hand he'd always had
Moved to kill Ben. He realized too late that he'd decided Ben had already been lost, and he couldn't tell Leia that.
How could he? How could he tell Leia or Han, "Yes, I was about to kill him. This is all my fault. I was scared, scared of this boy that was more powerful than me, than Vader, than Palpatine himself- this unstoppable force, that I moved to stop it before it was too late. I intended to kill your son, and I was the one who set him on this path."

He couldn't tell them that.
He couldn't tell any of the parents now without children, "I'm why your child who was going to be a Jedi, is dead."
Luke ran away from his failure. Turned his collar, erased his trail, and left. He never wanted to be found, and fled to the birthplace of The Jedi to die alone as a hermit.
He could not face his failure.
Not until  years later, some random nobody with The Falcon, Chewie, R2, and his lightsaber came looking for answers, looking for the legendary Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker.

He was never going to tell her any of that. But she had an undeniable connection to Ben Solo already.
And no, Snoke didn't make that.
No, Snoke found it and tugged. That's all he did.
"I've seen it too. An island." -Ben to Rey, during the interrogation.
remember when he learned who escaped Jakku? How BB-8 and Finn did?
Why did he care about "A girl" on Jakku..?
He knows who she is.
Ben knows exactly who Rey is.

"You have no part in this story. You come from nothing, you're nothing... Not to me. Join me. Please."
How about in The Force Awakens, how he never motions to kill her, only capture?
At the precipice of the cliff where they locked Sabers. Ben did not push though he could have.
"You need a Teacher! I can teach you the true nature of The Force!"
They're inextricably bound, and that's a huge fuckin' deal. TLJ expands upon that tie in every way it needed to, because the story is about them above all else.
And Luke didn't just... Die.
Luke faced his failure. Owned it, and in one fell swoop?
He denied Ben the revenge he sought, and went out on his own terms. He ensured the survival of those he loved, and saved what he'd fought for long ago, even though his inaction had left it weak, a pittance, fraction of what it once was.

He reminded Ben about Han, and how Luke will always haunt him the same way Han's death has.
And it has. Ben has tried time and time again to give himself to Darkness, he did not hate Han, as he told Rey (who he never did lie to, by the way). He's genuinely torn.

Even crazier? Rey didn't kill Ben when she had the chance.
She got up aboard The Supremacy long before Ben did and escaped without a single scratch, with both ends of Luke's lightsaber. She left him there alive, unharmed. She couldn't kill him, much in the way he could not kill her.
Now, Kylo Ren leads The First Order. Rey has the fate of The Jedi in her hands- and Luke, Luke tore the Jedi apart before her, exposed their horrible hypocrisies and flawed beliefs- and that will stick with her.

The Jedi, The Sith... They're gone, dead. Whatever's coming next won't be the same. I don't know what it will be, I don't think it'll be something inbetween- but it will be different.
All of that?

All of that is why I find TLJ so god damn compelling.
Yeah, Canto Bight was bleh.
Everybody agrees on that.
I liked The Resistance being the way that it was, on the run and so on, that all made sense to me, even how they ended up at Crait (I dissected post-hyperspace speeds before elsewhere.)
And that's why I have nothing but faith in Episode IX and whatever Star Wars films are coming next. The guys in charge, calling the shots, directing the films, they get Star Wars, they get how to turn it on its head, and make a really good story.
But it's gonna' be a good long time before people really start appreciating the layers behind Kylo Ren, the way The Force truly works.
And yeah, the sequel trilogy's made some dumb mis-steps. I could go on about the fucking new republic being SO retarded.
But, that's where I'll end this.