I guess everyone who’s going to watch the closing chapter to the new Star Wars trilogy has already seen it by now. I do believe that the fans that were upset by The Last Jedi and who are proclaiming that Star Wars is dead to them will not go out and watch it despite how bad or good the film is. At the very least, a small portion of the hardcore fans who feel this way will.

I am not one of them as I did like The Last Jedi. But I do know that The Rise of Skywalker is a bad but enjoyable film. I’ve said as much in my SPOILER review of the film. One of the issues I had with it is how much stuff they tried to cram in one flick. Even with all of the plot weirdness, there were still some inconsequential questions that did pop into my head while I watched Episode IX.

Oh, since I will be talking about specific stuff that happens in The Rise of Skywalker… SPOILER WARNING!

Why is there a slug creature with Poe and Finn on board the Millennium Falcon?

This is a very quick “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of thing. It really has no bearing on the story and plot of The Rise of Skywalker. But… that’s kind of the entire point of these inconsequential questions lists.

Anyway, at the start of the Rise of Skywalker, Poe, Finn and Chewbacca take the the Millennium Falcon to a location to retrieve information from a mole that’s within the First Order. They do manage to get the information just in time as the First Order send out TIE fighters to intercept them. By “they,” I mean Poe, Finn, Chewbacca and a… slug creature?

I did do my due diligence and I found out that the slug creature is named Klaud. Apparently, he was brought into the Resistance by Chewbacca as a case of mistaken identity. He’s supposed to be a mechanic. Still, why would he be needed when they already have Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon? You know, the Wookie who’s been maintaining the ship for the past five films? Why is Klaud even there and how the heck can he fix stuff when he can’t even hold a spanner as he doesn’t have any hands?

Speaking of Finn…

What was Finn going to say to Rey?

One of the best things, in my opinion, of The Force Awakens was the partnership between Rey and Finn. I really like how the former Stormtrooper formed a bond with this scavenger of Jakku and how they got swept into this entire adventure. I totally got that the two formed a bond because of all of the stuff they went through. It’s strongly implied that the two have a strong connection with each other.

How strong it is, I guess we’ll never really know because Finn never says anything to Rey about it throughout the film. In fact, there is a moment, before the group is swallowed by quicksand, Finn was about to say something to Rey but he never gets to. It’s then brought up again when Finn and Poe are captured but, once again, Finn never says anything. So, really, what was Finn going to say? Did JJ Abrams forget about this seemingly major character moment because he had to stuff The Rise of Skywalker with so much plot points?

Speaking of plot points…

How exactly did Palpatine was brought back to life?

Let’s say that you haven’t watched a single trailer for The Rise of Skywalker. Just pretend that you managed to avoid anything mentioned about the upcoming Star Wars film that JJ Abrams was making to close of the entire Skywalker Saga. Now imagine walking into the theater and, after seeing the familiar “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” quote, the big Star Wars splash title text and John Williams booming soundtrack, you read this…

So, FYI. Emperor Palpatine’s back. That just comes out of nowhere! I guess JJ Abrams had to find a way to do bring a big bad guy after Snoke got smoked in The Last Jedi (always wanted to write that).

Even with all the spoilers that came out and all the warnings, in relation to the entire film, Palpatine’s return is right out of left field. What’s really weird is that it’s really Palpatine. He’s not a Force Ghost or anything along those lines. It’s the real guy. In fact, he’s the real person working behind the scenes to corrupt Kylo Ren/Ben Solo into doing his bidding all this time!

But, seriously, how the heck did he survive being vaporized into dust in Return of the Jedi?

Oh, they try to give some really vague explanations in The Rise of Skywalker. Maybe he’s a clone. Maybe he used some unnatural power from the Dark Side of the Force. Maybe it’s a hologram made by Jar Jar Binks and he’s been the puppet master all this time. Okay, that last one I made up. But, really, JJ Abrams? You bring back the main baddie from the Prequels and The Original Trilogy and not give a good explanation how the Lord of the Sith came back? For shame!

Speaking of the Ben Solo/Kylo Ren…

How did Ben Solo get to the Sith planet after his personal TIE Fighter was stolen?

I do think the final lightsaber duel between Kylo Ren and Rey was rather anticlimactic. The fight itself was pretty cool but the entire ending was rather unclear with what happened. Basically, Leia, Ben Solo’s mother… distracted Kylo Ren long enough for Rey to run him through with her lightsaber. Rather lame way to finish a fight, if you ask me.

Anyway, Rey heals Kylo Ren and steals his ship because she realizes she’s a Palpatine. Kylo Ren sees Han Solo, or at least, a memory of his father and decides to become good again. He throws his lightsaber into the water; kind of a dumb move because, hey, why throw your weapon away when you know you’re going to head down into a fight, right? But that’s not my question.

My question is how did Ben Solo actually get to the Sith planet?

It’s really weird because he just pops up on the Sith planet without showing us how he actually got there. I mean, there weren’t any other ships in the vicinity. Did he call a First Order Uber service? Would be weird to do since, by this time, Palpatine would have already felt that Kylo Ren turned his back to the Dark Side, right? I guess he can fly to the planet just like how his mother flew through the depths of space in The Last Jedi?

Speaking of Ben Solo’s mother…

Why didn’t Leia just give Rey her lightsaber instead of hiding it?

Oh, this is a big one. It’s not just the question above. Rather, it opens up an entire can of worms.

Okay, I can accept that Leia trained with Luke in the ways of the Force. That was very apparent when she did that entire Mary Poppins routine in The Last Jedi. Apologies to the late Carrie Fisher, but it still looks incredibly stupid.

It turns out Leia did more than just train. Apparently, she was trained enough to actually construct her very own lightsaber! You never see her wield it since she gave it to Luke for safekeeping because she knew that Rey was going to need it in the future. Strangely enough, this is a really weird plot point because, if Leia knew Rey was going to need it, why the heck wouldn’t she keep it so she could give it to her personally?

It also honestly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to give it to Luke for safekeeping in whatever planet Luke banished himself to because, you know, Luke kept the location a secret from everyone! Are you saying that Leia knew that, in the future, someone was going to come to her and that person would have the knowledge of how to find Luke? That’s a really big risk, don’t you think, General Leia?

Additionally, if Luke knew that the person who would find his hiding planet was sent by Leia, why didn’t Luke respect Leia’s wishes and just give Rey Leia’s lightsaber the instant they met? Sure, he doesn’t want to be a Jedi by that point, but does that mean he should be a dick and not oblige with what his twin sister wants especially since The Force told her to do so?

I know that this was cobbled together by JJ Abrams and he might not have the necessary scenes to have Leia give Rey her lightsaber. But didn’t they? After all, there were a couple of shots where you clearly see Leia hand over Luke’s lightsaber to Rey. Couldn’t they just CGI over Luke’s lightsaber and make it look like Leia’s? I guess that would open up another can of worms, such as why doesn’t Leia use her lightsaber throughout the other films. Even so, it’s just a really sloppy plot point just to make it so Rey has two ligthsabers.

Speaking of lightsabers…

BONUS: Why didn’t JJ Abrams ever explain how Maz Kanataa got Luke’s lightsaber?

This question isn’t included because it deals more with The Force Awakens.

In a pivotal scene in Episode VII, Rey finds Luke’s lightsaber that’s being kept by Maz Kanata. She has some frightening visions before snapping back to reality. Maz then explains the lineage of the weapon to Rey. But she never explains how she got her hands on probably one of the most legendary weapons in Star Wars history.

I waited for four years and three whole movies to give an explanation as to how a cantina owner got her hands on it. All that waiting was for naught. What the heck, JJ Abrams? Way to leave a fan hanging all these years without a payoff!

Do you have any other questions after watching The Rise of Skywalker? Let me know what they are in the comments section below!