Things In Star Wars: The Last Jedi That Only Adults Notice
Star Wars has always been a film franchise built on family appeal. The saga's creator, George Lucas, famously insisted that he always intended the series to be for children — adults happening to like it just made the whole thing more successful. As the franchise has matured and grown, and other filmmakers have joined Lucas in extending and expanding it, Star Wars has been infused with the ideas of creators who loved the saga as kids and held onto that love as they grew into professional writers, directors, and designers. While the family appeal remains, the Star Wars films are now made by adults who loved the franchise when they were kids — and each new entry in the series is permeated with plenty of things, from story details to jokes, that adults are quicker to latch onto than younger viewers. With that in mind, here's a look at a few things that might have gone over the kids' heads in Star Wars: The Last Jedi — things the grown-ups in the room almost certainly picked up on.
Mom jokes exist in a galaxy far, far away
All the Star Wars films are infused with humor, but few wear that distinction more proudly than The Last Jedi. It has jokes on top of jokes, even in the most tense moments — in fact, the first major action in the film starts with a gag. Technically, the first thing we see is the Resistance's evacuation efforts, but then Poe Dameron flies his X-Wing right up to the First Order flagship and says he has a message for General Hux.
Hux, who spends most of the movie getting humiliated in one way or another, is happy to take the call, but Poe doesn't really have a message. He just wants to mess with Hux for as long as he can. It's a distraction tactic to get more Resistance ships to safety while the rest of Poe's fighters get in the air, but it's also a very clear poke at Hux's ego. Poe knows he can keep him on the line just by irritating him, and it serves as both a clever piece of strategy and a funny moment to kick off the film.
Luke Skywalker has eaten a porg
One of the biggest laughs in The Last Jedi comes when Chewbacca, camped out next to the Millennium Falcon, raises a freshly roasted porg to his mouth only to be annoyed when other porgs look on in horror. It's funny, but a chorus of "awwwwwww" usually rings out from the audience when they see the looks on the surviving porgs' faces. How could Chewie eat something so cute? Well, the truth is he's probably not the only one.
As Rey tries to convince Luke Skywalker to train her, she follows him around his island on Ahch-To and observes him going about his daily routine, which includes catching a big fish with an even bigger spear, and milking a sea cow creature on the rocks beside the ocean. Because he lives alone, Luke has learned how to live off the land, and he's gotten pretty efficient at it. But when Luke was new to the island and still figuring things out, it's hard to imagine he never looked at one of those fuzzy little bird creatures and thought it might be a good idea to cook one over his fire.
That's right — Luke Skywalker has almost certainly chowed down on porg. And it was probably delicious.
Kylo Ren is a bad pickup artist
There's something extremely vulnerable about Kylo Ren, which we see creeping in during The Force Awakens and see even more in The Last Jedi, as he deals with feelings of inadequacy highlighted by Snoke's treatment of him. What makes him an even more compelling villain, though, is that he knows how to use that vulnerability to his advantage, particularly when he finds himself connected to Rey through the Force.
Kylo spends much of the movie acting like a bit of a pick-up artist, exhibiting just enough vulnerability — blended with casually callous behavior — to compel Rey to keep talking to him. Showing her what he looks like with his shirt off, then telling her doesn't have a "place in the story" and that she's "nothing," then following it up with "But not to me." It feels right out of the playbook of that sleazy guy who's been going to the same bar every night for a decade, only he's using it for Force conversion instead of just hooking up. Fortunately for the galaxy, Rey doesn't fall for it.
The Caretakers never asked for this
Porgs, giant fish, and space cows aren't the only creatures on Ahch-To. There's also the Caretakers, who labored peacefully for centuries to preserve the sacred Jedi structures on the island. We don't get to see much of them throughout the film, but what we do see makes it clear that the Caretakers had it made before the Jedi started showing up again.
Think about it: They had the run of a beautiful green island, their only job was to keep up some old stone buildings no one ever used, and they had all the fish (and, presumably, porgs) they could eat. Then some old cranky guy came along and sets up shop — but at least he was quiet and kept to himself.
Then along came this girl who caused nothing trouble. She yelled a lot, she shot holes in the walls, she sent rocks hurtling down a hill at the Caretakers, and she even broke up one of their parties (in a deleted scene that's well worth a watch). Those Lanai must have been looking at each other thinking "None of our ancestors said Jedi were this obnoxious." They probably threw a big feast the moment Rey took off.
Lifestyles of the rich and alien
The word "war" is right in the title of the Star Wars saga, which means the series tends to spend much of its time focusing on, well, war, and the ways in which its various characters connect to it. We haven't seen much in the way of its economics, aside from the Trade Federation plot that served as the launching point for The Phantom Menace. Royalty and slaves and characters from all walks of life have passed through the films, but they aren't sitting around counting money when there's a war to fight.
The Last Jedi breaks with tradition by taking us to Canto Bight, a glamorous place full of the ultra-rich, many of whom made their money by selling weapons to both sides of those star wars we love so much. In our brief time on the casino planet we see elegant outfits, yachts that go from water to sky, and even the Fathier races, all suggesting an entire class of uber-wealthy people jetting around the galaxy without a care. Which begs the question: What else do these people spend money on? Do they buy private moons like people on Earth buy private islands? Do they have hot tubs with hyperdrives? Do they own space sports teams? Whole novels could be written about the Star Wars equivalents of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
The trouble with porgs
For some fans, porgs are the cutest thing in the galaxy, worthy of the purchase of dozens of plushies, blankets, t-shirts and other merchandise. For others, they're the second coming of Ewoks — cute from a distance, but flat-out obnoxious when you take a closer look. For Chewbacca in The Last Jedi, they're definitely the latter, as the critters guilt him when he tries to eat one of them and move right into the Millennium Falcon, making nests in its walls and climbing all over its consoles. The porg invasion is a great bit of comedy, not unlike the multiplying tribbles of Star Trek, but think about the implications beyond those little moments. There's virtually no chance Chewie managed to root all of those porgs out of the ship before the final battle, and also no chance someone in the surviving Resistance doesn't find them super cute. Like it or not, porgs are likely going to follow the Star Wars saga wherever the Millennium Falcon heads next. Brace yourself.
The First Order having a laundry department makes perfect sense
Often in Star Wars, there isn't a major focus on logistics — you just want to get to the space adventures. Yes, a big plot point in The Last Jedi is the Resistance slowly running out of fuel as they flee the First Order, but most of the time, it's more fun to pay attention to laser swords and cool creatures. Still, we've gotten little glimpses of how the galaxy works on a practical level. The Force Awakens did this by revealing that Finn, when he wasn't out fighting as a Stormtrooper, worked in sanitation on Starkiller Base, which came in handy when he and Han Solo had to sneak around the place. This time around we get Rose, a Resistance maintenance worker, whose skill with machinery means she helps come up with the tracker disabling plan.
We also get...the First Order's laundry department, introduced in a clever shot that you think is going to show a spaceship until the very last second. It's not something you think about very often, and for kids it probably just passes by as a joke, but of course the First Order has a laundry department. Just like they have janitors to keep those spaceships nice and shiny, they need cleaners and pressers to keep those uniforms looking crisp. How else does Kylo Ren keep his capes in such good shape? He definitely doesn't clean them himself.
Luke isn't a great student
Luke Skywalker's Jedi training started with frustration, resistance, and ultimately abandonment. In The Empire Strikes Back he tells Yoda he can't lift his fighter out of the swamp, resists Yoda's advice to not take weapons into the Dark Side cave, and then leaves Dagobah even as Yoda assures him the best course of action is to stay and finish his training before he faces Darth Vader. He loses his hand and Han Solo for his trouble.
In The Last Jedi, Yoda arrives as a Force ghost to get one last crack at teaching his old student a lesson, and again Luke is unsure of Yoda's teaching. As Yoda calls down lightning to burn the sacred Jedi tree and the texts inside it (which were secretly swiped by Rey before she left), Luke gets angry when Yoda calls the Jedi writings "old books." Luke corrects Yoda: "The sacred Jedi texts!"
Yoda replies with a question: "Read them, have you?"
Luke can only scoff and start a sentence before trailing off. It's not the point of the scene, and it's only a small part of a much bigger moment, but one thing becomes pretty clear: Luke, at best, skimmed some of those books, or if he did read them, he's since forgotten what they say. Even after decades of study, he's still not great at Jedi homework.
BB-8, master of disguise
Sneaking onto enemy vessels and bases is a time-honored tradition in the Star Wars galaxy, just like getting caught when your sneaky plan goes wrong. The Last Jedi gives us its own spin on this when Finn, Rose, DJ, and BB-8 sneak aboard Snoke's flagship in an effort to disable the tracker that's allowing the First Order to follow the Resistance fleet. Finn once again uses his knowledge of First Order logistics to great effect, heading right to where the uniforms are kept to steal disguises. To mask BB-8, he just overturns a First Order garbage can and puts it atop the rolling droid.
At first glance, it's a decent temporary disguise, but BB-8 is almost immediately spotted by another droid, who alerts the First Order officers in charge and gets the gang arrested. The droid vs. droid spy game is a clever bit of storytelling, but when you really think about it, it's a bit strange that not a single First Order officer or trooper saw Finn and company walking around the ship and thought "Isn't that one of our trash cans?" Sure, if you're an officer you might not have time for such things, but Finn used to work in sanitation for the First Order. Surely someone else in the same line of work could've spotted a garbage bin scooting down the walkway.
Watch out for Broom Kid
One of the film's most inspiring moments comes when Rose gives her Resistance ring to a little stable boy on Canto Bight. Later, we see this boy and his friends, who are all pretty clearly child slaves, re-enacting the story of Luke Skywalker facing down the First Order on Crait, re-igniting the legend of the Jedi and spreading the word of the Resistance's endurance. It's a great moment, one made even better when the same boy walks outside to sweep up, Force pulls the broom into his hand, and grasps it like a lightsaber.
In the reality of the film, it's a nice little moment to let viewers know that the Resistance is still spreading, and that they will have allies as the fight continues. For kids watching, it's an excuse to go home, grab a broom and play Jedi themselves. If you're watching that as an adult, though, you're seeing a kid who has some proficiency with the Force and has realized that he wants to fight for the good guys. If you extrapolate out from there, it's easy to see those slave drivers back at the stable getting absolutely beaten to hell by that kid and his broom in the very near future.