Why The Last Jedi Was So Devastating

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2017)

The best way I can describe this is to put Star Wars into the form of a relationship.
Star Wars and you were born around the same time and fell in love instantly. Everything was so exciting and new. You looked forward to every time you would be together with anticipation of learning new things about her and all the characteristics that made her so great. You couldn't wait to learn everything about her.
Then one day in 1983, after a very satisfying and exciting 3 chapters and 6 years, her parents took her and moved away. She was gone and all you had were the great memories. When you look back she may have had some minor flaws, but you were young, in love and looked past all of that. After all, she was your soulmate and would be what you'd compare all future relationships to.
You really missed her, but time heals all wounds. You start meeting a lot of new people. You have a few great one night stands (12 Monkeys, Contact, Stargate). Some tapped into your excitement, just to let you down on the second date (Predator, Jurassic Park). A couple you really liked and enjoyed multiple dates with (Alien, Terminator, Tim Burton's Batman series), but it still did not have the same impact.
Now it is 1999, you are entering college and start hearing rumors that your first true love is coming back! The butterflies form in your stomach. Your emotions are on high. The memories flood over you like you are standing under Niagara Falls. Of course, this is happening right after you met someone with great potential (The Matrix). It doesn't matter though, because your soulmate would be back soon and all could be right with the world again. As it turned out, that potential new love ended up devolving into a train wreck anyway (Matrix Sequels), so no big loss.
Finally your perfect match is back. Your excitement is at a fever pitch. You see her for the first time in 16 years and wow does she look great! She is visually stunning and at first you are mesmerized by her beauty.
Then you notice something. Something is different. Something just isn't quite right. But you ignore those feelings because you are just so excited to have her back in your life. And then she takes off again.
You spent the last 3 chapters and 6 years of your life in a strange mix of anticipation, excitement, confusion, frustration, satisfaction and disappointment. That is when it hits you. She wasn't really back for you. Sure, she wanted to see you, spend time with you and have you come see her multiple times over this period. But what she really wanted was for you to introduce her to new younger people she could charm and make them fall in love with her.
So now she is gone again. You begin to move on and meet new people, again. You have some great one night stands (Inception, District 9, and Cloud Atlas. Possibly my favorite one night stand over this time was Looper, which makes this all the more frustrating!) You get into some long term relationships that you truly enjoy (Marvel Universe, new Star Trek series, new Planet of the Apes series). You even meet someone who may just rival the same level of love and affection you once had with your soulmate when you were young (The Dark Knight Trilogy). You think, "there are a lot of great people to meet and I am ready to move on", so of course she decides it is time to come back into your life.
Now it is 2015, 10 years had passed since she was last around and you are willing to give it another go. Besides, she is working for a new company now, with new management involved who had done other things you like. You are hopeful this would only have a positive impact on the person she has become.
And it does. She is definitely a better person than when you reconnected in college in 1999. She is somehow even more visually stunning. She introduces new characteristics that grab your attention and drops some bombshells that pull you in. It hurts that some of her old characteristics are no longer with her, but you understand people need to grow and develop.
However, she is also infinitely more cunning. She plays to your nostalgia to get you to fall back in love. She pulls at your heart strings reminding you of the days you first met when everything was great and new. She makes you feel comfortable and familiar while sharing just enough details to keep you interested new traits. It is right in front of your face, but you are blinded because you want to believe the love is back. You are all in!
You have been back together for a couple of years now and have known each other for 40 years. Over this time you have grown fonder of the new characteristics she introduced to you. You want to learn more. Where did these new characteristics come from? What motivated them? How will they develop? How in the world did one characteristic get so strong so fast? You have all of these outstanding questions, but you have convinced yourself that your true soulmate is back. So the day has arrived that you are going to propose! You are back together and you have a great outlook for the future so that is the next logical step, right?
Now December 15, 2017 is here. It is time for the next chapter. You are excited and nervous, but you know this is the right decision. Sure you have questions, but you trust this person to be open and honest and not leave you hanging in the wind. You pop the question! And then the unthinkable happens.
You propose and she doesn't answer. She doesn't even give you answers to little questions, let alone big ones. You start thinking "did I make a mistake?" You have loved her for 40 years and invested a lot into her. Instead she makes you sit there for two and a half hours of needless distractions, minimal development and few answers. She is doing all she can to make you dislike the characteristics you loved about her in the first place. You are seeing things that are ridiculous to you. How in this universe could this be happening? It is like you died, were blown into space, somehow made yourself come back to life and fly back to safety just to get no answers in the end anyway. She couldn't be doing this to you.
And then it hits you again. You fell for the exact same thing. She was never really back for you. She wanted you to introduce her to new, even younger people to charm again. Except this time she decided there was no longer room for all the things you loved about her in the first place. She has now eliminated them so she could move forward with younger crowd without a care about how you feel. She doesn't care that she didn't satisfactorily answer any questions you have. All she really wants is a younger soulmate that will spend time with her and buy all of her things.
Were you blind to this before? When you reflect you realize most of her intentions were for you to buy her things. Except for the best date you ever went on in May 1980. That truly felt like it was for you!
So now it is time to move on until the next chapter. A chapter you will definitely go see because you have been invested for 40 years and it is hard to leave something behind that has been a part of your entire life. And also, I am a sucker.