Commentary on Proposed Decision Overturning Roe v Wade

 **the following is a guest post of a good friend and former college classmate/theatermate of mine.  He and I are furious and angry about the recently-revealed decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and are in the process of planning what next steps are necessary**

        In my first semester of law school, I recall a professor telling our class that the law was not like the social sciences, and that, "when you win, you're right." That perspective currently guides my approach to the practice of law and quite a bit more. That perspective was right when I first learned it six years ago; it is still right, even as it seems likely the Supreme Court will overturn Roe.

        There are two ways to approach the proposed decision in Dobbs if you disagree with it. First, you could accept despair, throw your hands in the air, and wonder where everything went wrong. You can point fingers at every single person, place, thing, concept, or group that you believe failed to protect a most fundamental right. You can even blame yourself for not doing enough. You can stew in that self-loathing for so very long, because the water is always warm.

        Second, you can decide that you need to win so badly that you re-evaluate why you are wrong. You accept the fundamental truth that, “when you win, you’re right.” You recognize you are wrong, because wrongness stems from losing. You can then recalibrate; what does it take to win? That question has objective answers; many people would rather keep losing because it is comfortable and familiar. To those who sneer at voting "blue no matter who"; stow it. What does moral purity get us aside from encroaching fascism? Do you talk to people outside your political bubble? Do you try to meet people where they are, and do the hard work to convince them that what you're offering is good? Do you learn what people actually want and learn how to give it to them? Have you considered that participating in a broken system might be better than abandoning it, because the effect of abandoning the system is the same as abandoning the people in it? Do you start worker cooperatives, or start a business so that you and yours can control your fate? Have you and your friends gone out to the woods to practice training exercises and solidarity like militias do, or gone into urban environments to build networks and spread your message? Have you tempered your messaging to be less inflammatory? You can do big things while speaking quietly.

        To those who blame the left in this country for this situation and think that there is some virtue in reflexive moderation; you run the country whenever the Democrats win. Your track record is not great. Have you considered that all of your condemnations of Republicans' procedural abuses are fundamentally misplaced, as the Republicans are showing you how to succeed in today’s environment? Have you considered their behavior might be inspirational, because they are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish their objectives? Have you considered that unflinching loyalty to decorum and tradition is a hindrance to providing for the welfare of the public? Have you considered that your high-minded principles are asymmetric to adversaries who seem intent on eroding our democracy? Unfortunately, your governments have not shown the ability to protect democracy nor address the needs of the public. Half measures cannot solve whole problems.

        Everything written above also applies to me. I know I have not done enough to fight fascism here or abroad. I had every opportunity to do so, and I took too few of them. We all have been contributors to this reality, and for far longer than many of us are willing to admit. Collectively, we have gotten so used to failure, so used to losing, that we have learned despair. Despair will not help us now, just as it has not helped anyone else at any other time.

        Instead, let us learn something more valuable. Let us learn how to win. Once we learn how to win, we can win. Once we win, we get to say what's right. When we get to say what’s right, it becomes easier to win again. The reason why "when you win, you're right" is inspirational is because it recognizes the necessity of something else separate and apart from right and wrong. Goodness is not rightness, nor badness wrongness. Neither goodness nor badness themselves determine our ability to win; however, they can have an impact on right and wrong. We should all fight to make what is good, right; however, to do that, we have to win. Winning is the precondition to make what is good, right. Let us learn how to win, before the lesson becomes much more costly.

Aaron M. Harmaty is an attorney who practices law in the State of New Jersey.

Death to Fascism. 

Decade Look-Back: Ranking My OWN Top Ten Picks!

        Well, well, well. I'm not sure what I expected to happen when I first started this small, very basic, and quite poorly-named site as a dumping ground for my efforts to turn into a film critic. But it's been a solid decade now, and here I still am, though both the content and amount of it have undergone significant changes in recent years.

        Regardless, one thing that has remained a mainstay are my listicles, especially my yearly Top Tens. And with a decade now behind me, I have a whole 10 of them to look back and reflect on. So, I figured, what better way to celebrate a decade of my musings that to go the extra mile and rank...myself!

        Yep. We're doing this. I am going to go back and take MYSELF to task for all my #1 picks so far. Which did I get wrong? Which don't hold up under the harsh lens of hindsight? Did I ever miss the mark entirely? LET'S FIGURE IT OUT TOGETHER!

        Just so the ground rules are clear in advance, I will consider this list from two angles. First, I will try to recapture what led to me picking each film that I did in a given year to see if, even then, my pick was justified. Second, I will consider if another film I saw that year would, in hindsight, have been a better pick, especially if one has ended up aging better in the intervening years. What I will NOT do is engage in an alternative timeline where I somehow saw every film on time, because that was just never in the cards for me (and still isn't). Meaning, any movies from a given year I had no access to then and only saw much later won't figure into this, since they would not have been able to make my lists to begin with. No sense in making things more complicated than necessary. That's what my crippling self-doubt is for!

        The rankings will be like a normal Top Ten list, meaning a lower pick like 9 or 10 means my pick was worse, with #1 obviously representing my best pick.

        I think this'll be fun.

Number 10: 2012

What I Picked: Lincoln

What I Should Have Picked: Cloud Atlas

        Figures. At the very bottom for my „Worst Best“ pick, we gotta wind it all the way back to the early months of this site, when I was but another young, fresh-faced, Roger-Ebert-Wannabe. As opposed to what I am now; a weary, aged, and beaten-down Roger-Ebert-Wannabe.

        See, with this being the first Top Ten list I'd ever done, I felt a lot of wholly self-inflicted pressure to ape all the „real“ critics I followed. And since many of them had Lincoln somewhere on their Best Of lists and nearly all of them roundly ignored Cloud Atlas, that meant pulling the lever for so-called „prestige.“

        Now, let me be clear- this is not a knock on Lincoln. It was and is a great film, definitely in the upper half of Spielberg's filmography, and Daniel Day-Lewis deserved all the awards. But was it the best film of that year? It is even MY favorite from that year? No and no. And the sad thing is, this isn't just hindsight- I knew that at the time. Even when I first did the list, a very clear voice in my head kept saying, „C'mon...you know Cloud Atlas is the real fave.“ But I chose to shunt that voice away and go with the safe „conventional“ choice, just like the Academy so often does. So yeah, this is all on me- I shoulda stuck to my guns, and this remains the one case where I very clearly made the mistake of not doing that.

Number 9: 2020

What I Picked: Hamilton

What I Should Have Picked: Corpus Christi

        Ok, so this will be the most complicated one here to explain to anyone reading this in the far future where the COVID pandemic and the GOP are but fading memories. For those of us who were there, no explanation is needed, but to sum up; 2020 sucked. Like, generational, emotionally scarring suckage. All the years of dealing with a Fascist, death cult of an administration, building into a global pandemic where said administration made every conscious effort to hinder relief and cause as much death and suffering as possible, was something so beyond sense and morality that it was literally traumatizing to those of us who had to bear witness.

        And as a result, I felt truly broken for most of the year. As if my entire being had gone into lizard-brain survival mode and shut off all capacity for emotion or feeling just to preserve whatever shred of sanity I had left. I spent the entire first half of 2020 feeling like I should feel something, but instead feeling nothing. You feel me?

        And then Disney dropped the live recording of the original, Broadway cast of Hamilton, and when I watched it, I cried. I cried and cried and cried. I remembered who I was, what I valued, that I am not just a film bluff but a motherfucking THEATER NERD, and that there remained beauty and power in the human spirit that would outlive the fuckery. Hamilton has its flaws, certainly, but it was exactly what I needed at that moment in time to get me through the rest of the single worst year I had experienced to date. And there was simply no getting around that. So no, I do not, and will never, regret picking this as my „Film of the Year“ when all was said and done.

        BUUUUUUUT.....yeah, no, a Broadway stage recording, no matter how expertly done, is not filmmaking. Hamilton is NOT a movie, and if it had dropped in any other year, or had 2020 been anything approaching „normal,“ I would not have spent even one second contemplating bending myself into so many pretzels to put it on my Year End list. So let's assume there exists a mythical alternate dimension where 2020 was slightly less shitty and Hamilton hits streaming in, say, December of 2019. Under such magical circumstances, Corpus Christi would have waltzed away with the top spot (although I could have made an argument for Totally Under Control).

Number 8: 2013

What I Picked: Asura

What I Should Have Picked: Inside Llewyn Davis

        Unlike the year before, by the time I came around to doing my 2013 list I had shed myself of the desire to be „conventional“ with my writing. Nonetheless, picking my number one came down to the wire, with my top two films just about dead even in my brain. In the end, I went with this oddball, independent Japanese animated film about a rapid, partially-cannibalistic child in feudal times for the very specific reason that I found it's ending incredibly emotionally resonant. I still feel that way and absolutely think Asura is a criminally underappreciated gem.

        However, while my reasoning at the time made sense to me and I can still get why I felt that way, as the years have gone by Asura has more or less stayed put, while Inside Llewyn Davis has vaulted ahead of it in leaps and bounds. There's just no denying the Coen Brothers when they are in top form. Not only has this long since established itself as my favorite of 2013, it even landed within the Top Ten on my Films of the Decade list from two years back. This is an all-time classic, and if I were to redo this list today, it would easily top the cake.

Number 7: 2016

What I Picked: 13^th

What I Should Have Picked: Swiss Army Man OR Silence

        My reasoning behind this pick, which came in the wake of the 2016 election and all the darkness that descended with it, was as follows; 13^th, the first documentary by Queen Ava DuVernay, long may she reign, featured the single greatest sequence in all of film from that year. Said scene was a supercut of one of the more odious pieces of audio from a GOP rally, where Trump openly called for violence against his opponents and reminisced about „the good old days,“ where uppity Blacks were treated much differently, set to a montage of black-and-white footage from Civil Rights protests where we see, in violent detail, precisely what Trump meant by „the good old days.“ It remains one of the most on-point and powerful pieces of documentary filmmaking I've ever encountered, and the entire film deserves to be considered a modern classic.

        However, while I think this was the right choice to make at the time and don't regret it, a single scene, no matter how good, doesn't necessarily make a film the greatest of a particular year. Plus, I think there is a slippery slope to picking number ones based on how topical a film is, because on that criteria alone, my lists would consist of documentaries and nothing else. While I do find outlets for that sort of thing- see my Films for the Trump Years collection- I want my Top Tens to be a little bit more fun and interesting, because we all need some escapism from time to time.

        Plus, when you get right down to it, 13^th just isn't my favorite film from that year anymore; my number two pick, Swiss Army Man, quickly supplanted it the more I contemplated its batshit brilliance. If you had asked me maybe a year or two later to redo the list, I would have switched the places for these two.

        However, now that even more time has gone by, another contender has entered the chat; the least-discussed Scorsese film from the 2010's, an adaptation of a Japanese novel about the trials and pains of spiritual and existential uncertainty, set in feudal Japan. With a subject matter and approach that strikes deep at my own personal background and current mindset regarding religion and faith, Silence quietly (heh-heh) snuck up on me until, when putting together my Decade List in 2020, I found myself comfortably slotting it into my Top Ten, way ahead of Swiss Army Man. If I were to revisit this year now, these two would be dead ringers for the top spots, and I'm honestly not sure which would end up on top.

        Sorry, my Queen. I beseech thee for thy royal pardon.

Number 6: 2017

What I Picked: Get Out

What I Should Have Picked: A Silent Voice OR The Last Jedi OR Thor Ragnarok

        This might be the year that got scrambled the most for me in the subsequent years, with lots of movies shuffling around in my head. Get Out is a masterpiece, was one of the year's best films, and was criminally under-rewarded at that year's Oscars. However, like with 13^th, I was once again being more topical with this pick than anything else. As great as the film is, the very things that make it great are also the reasons why the film is such a hard watch that I may never be able to sit through it start to finish again.

        But what else could have taken its place? A Silent Voice, Star Wars TLJ, and Thor Ragnarok all cracked the top 15 in my Decade List, so any of them would have been solid picks. Plus, I haven't done a full rewatch of Lady Bird yet and that is exactly the sort of film that might hit me way harder the second time around. It's tough to say, but at the time the most likely alternative pick would probably have been A Silent Voice, which would have meant a full half of my first ten #1 picks would have been animated works. I guess I'm nothing if not consistent (Narrator: He isn't).

Number 5: 2019

What I Picked: Jupiter's Moon

What I Should Have Picked: Jupiter's Moon....but maybe Parasite? Portrait of a Lady on Fire? The Lighthouse?? Little Women???

        Jesus Tapdancing Christ, 2019 was stacked. This honestly might have been, to date, the heaviest out of all the years I've been reviewing movies. There was practically zero breathing room between my top 3 at the time I made the list, and The Lighthouse and Little Women are no slouches either. I mostly stuck with Jupiter's Moon because it had the most I could relate to on a personal level, but looking back now, I could probably redo the exact order of my Top 5 a dozen different ways and still not feel satisfied. Which, granted, is about the best problem I could have as a film critic.

        And this isn't even including The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a heart-shattering masterpiece that never got widely released in Europe and STILL isn't available for streaming. It took an inexcusable TWO YEARS before I had the chance to see it and it immediately had me rethinking both this Top Ten and my Decade list. If this had made the mix on time, I truly do not know which movie would get the top spot.

Number 4: 2021

What I Picked: The Mitchells vs. The Machines

What I Should Have Picked: The Mitchells vs. The Machines....but maybe (one day) something else?

        I'm ranking this one a bit lower more out of a wariness of recency bias than anything else. It's only been a few months and, my initial surprise aside, nothing has yet led me to doubt this pick. That said, again, it's only been two months and there is still LOTS of stuff from last year I haven't had access to/time to watch yet, so there is still plenty of room for something that could have made my list to crop up. I suppose this is the one where I have to just shrug and stick a pin in it for now...

        ...but it WILL take a lot to supplant it, because Mitchells was legit great and there are STILL too many people sleeping on.

Number 1 (THREE-WAY TIE): 2014/2015/2018

What I Picked: The Tale of Princess Kaguya/Mad Max: Fury Road/Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

What I Should Have Picked: The Same. These picks were perfect and always will be.

        And now we get to the golden ones. These picks were all perfect then and they're perfect now; not only have these remained my unchallenged favorites from their respective years, they were all a virtual dead heat for the top 3 spots in my Decade list. They remain among the best films I've ever seen and are all-time personal favorites.

        Princess Kaguya ended up being the swan song of Isao Takahata, and what a note to go out on. From its eternal themes of struggling with societal restrictions, to its wholly unique animation style, to one of the best (and most underappreciated) Joe Hisaishi scores, to its devastingly emotional final moments, this remains one of the most profound experiences I have ever had in a movie theater.

        George Miller's return to the franchise that helped to establish his career, usually the sort of thing that so, so often ends in creative catastrophe (looking at you, Ridley Scott), was instead an absolute baller that took the world by storm. Not only did it make bank and waltz out of the Academy Awards with the most trophies, it provided an endless ream of meme and gif material to feed the internet forever. Oh, and it also allowed Charlize Theron to immortalize one of the greatest original characters of all time.

        And finally, in a world long overrun with comic book and superhero adaptations, practically drowning in studios aping each other to death, Into the Spider-Verse managed to outshine them all with one of the most engaging, memorable, and groundbreaking animation films to ever come out of an American studio, outshining nearly all the competitors to not only cement its status as (arguably) the best Spider-Man movie and one of the best comic book movies ever made, but an all-time great movie, period. I could watch Miles fall upwards into the New York City skyline forever.

Here's to the next 10 years.

-Noah Franc

My Top Ten Films of 2021

        With my first-in-awhile Best Soundtrack now finished, it's time for the big one! For, officially, the 10^th time on this site, we are about to go through my Top Ten favorite films of the previous year.

        Usual rules and disclaimers apply. While there were at least more occasions this year where I could enjoy a movie in theater, the shifts forced on the industry by COVID mean that things are still very fluid, so most of the movies I ended up seeing were either only availabe via streaming, or were quickly enough made available to allow me to see them. On the whole, I found it a pretty solid year, though the composition of this list remained a mystery to me right up until the end. And with that, away we go!

Honorable Mentions: Encanto, The Suicide Squad, Ushiku, Tick, tick….Boom!, In The Heights, The Matrix Resurrections

10. Passing (Rebecca Hall)

        Passing bills itself at first as a subtle, black-and-white arthouse commentary on race and the nature of identity in a discriminatory world, but at its most intense moments it veers straight into unremitting horror. Scenes of relatively innocuous, content, upper-middle-class life will be undercut with moments of raw, primal danger and the genuine fear that anything and everything terrible could happen at any moment. Which, of course, is the point, since that is the lived experience of so many minority and marginalized peoples all across America. And the strain that comes with that awareness, and whether avoidance or brutal confrontation is the best survival strategy, is precisely the sort of no-win scenario that can lead some like Ruth Negga's Clare to abandon their roots entirely in search of a place of real safety, even if it ultimately leaves them utterly adrift.

        Countering Ruth is Tessa Thompson as Irene, as compelling and radiant as ever in a role that might seem at first to hold something of a moral high ground. As the film moves forward though, and as we get to see more of her husband, a quietly brilliant performance by André Holland, her insecurities start to shine through as well, as well as the creeping notion that the stability in her own life she takes such pride in might only be so much window dressing.

9. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)

        I grew up watching my parents' used, two-tape VHS set of the original, iconic 1961 West Side Story film adaptation, and Officer Krupke was one of the first stage roles I ever got to play, so if there was anyone under the sun with two opposable thumbs and a virulent scepticism of any attempt at a remake, it was *pokes chest this guy.

        In retrospect, I guess if anyone was to prove me entirely wrong, it would have been the return of Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, because not only does their remake hold its own against the original, it also mostly succeeds (with one egregious exception) in adjusting the source material in some desperately necessary spots. This is most noticeable in the expanded focus on bringing us into the world of the Sharks and allowing us to understand and appreciate the family dynamic between Maria, Bernardo, and Anita. As much as the original will always hold a special place in my heart, its exceedingly White focus was and remains its biggest flaw, so to see a big-name, mainstream American production like this include whole scenes in Spanish with nary a subtitle was hugely important.

        An additional feather in the film's cap is the astonishing success of the cast, in particular Mike Faist and Ariana DeBose, in providing performances that never feel overshadowed by their predecessors. Trying to redo legendary performances like Russ Tamblyn's Riff or Rita Moreno's Anita is the sort of task that sinks many a movie and acting career, but like their forebears, Faist and DeBose are bona fide stars. Did this movie need to happen? A year ago I've have said “HELL no,” but now? Yes, we very much needed this.

8. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

        I don't know guys, there's just something in how absolutely controlled and minutely crafted every single frame of Anderson's films are that grabs me every time. While I get the critiques that this movie, at least on the whole, doesn't reach the sort of profound emotional depths of, say, Moonrise Kingdom or The Royal Tenenbaums, there's more going on here than I think most viewers gave it credit for. The cast is, as always, ridiculously stacked, but somehow it never feels overstuffed; each person gets what, in the end, feels like just the right number of moments for us to construct an entire lost world out of their persons and relationships to each other. It's definitely a tight balancing act and the fact that the movie exists at all is a testament to the incredible prowess of Wes Anderson and his collaborators.

7. Along the Sea (Akio Fujimoto)

        There is an incredible power in how quiet and downplayed Fujimoto is able to be in his filming style and in the performances he gets out of his cast, while still delivering heavy emotional blows as he tackles oft-ignored issues around living as illegal immigrants in Japan. Both this and his previous film, Passage of Life, are absolute masterpieces in this regard, capable of being so very minimal, while still bring across a sense of genuine danger that its characters can experience at any time, from any direction. In both cases there just are not any easy answers to be had, no possible refuge that is forever. Just very, very hard choices and a final scene that remains utterly haunting even though I have only seen each film once. He may be one of the most criminally underappreciated filmmakers in Japan today.

6. The Green Knight (David Lowery)

        There's not much at this point I can add to my thoughts on this film that I didn't touch on in my review. Dev Patel gives us, in my opinion, his finest performance to date in the best King Arthur adaptation we've gotten in awhile. Working as a slow-burn deconstruction of the nature of myth, and how and why we twist or alter the facts when conveying stories, we are pulled into a place of utter desperation when forced to confront the cold, hard facts of human mortality. Perhaps there is no belt that could truly prevent us from dying, but if there were, who among us can honestly say they would not be sorely tempted to take it?

5. Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

        This was the EVENT movie of the year, the love letter to the experience of the big screen that last year's Tenet wanted so very, very hard to be. I went in with zero prior experience of the Dune extended universe, but I am now all on board with Villeneuve's vision and very much hope he at least gets to continue this franchise up through Dune Messiah (casual moviegoers will fliiiiiiip...).

        Hans Zimmer returns in force and a powerhouse cast on par with West Side Story or The French Dispatch, plus one of the year's most immersive and fascinating production designs, carries us into the world that, now that I'm in the know, is so obviously one of the birth-mothers of Star Wars. I definitely get why this was considered “unfilmable” for so long, but now that it's finally here, it feels like this is exactly what a best-case adaption would look like. There is a grandeur to the desert, especially the sheer size of the great worms, that hearkens back to the earliest days of adventure epics like Lawrence of Arabia. This is so very much a modern film produced out of our era of IP-adaptations, but there is so much in it that is timeless that I do believe it will hold up better than most.

4. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)

        I dunno, man. I don't know how PTA does it. A barebones summary of what passes for “plot” in most of his movies would generally provoke a reaction somewhere along the lines of “....naw dude, that'll never work.” Yet here we are. Heaven help me, the film about a girl in her mid-twenties falling for a minor (an absurdly over-confident minor, but still) against the backdrop of the 70's oil embargo....is one of the best movies of the year and I can't stop thinking about it.

        Why is that? There's no one thing I can put my finger on. I am not of the time nor place to have the sort of drenching nostalgia PTA has for SoCal circa the Nixon/Ford/Carter administrations, but damn if the shots aren't so tactile they make me feel like I could reach out through the screen and touch everything. I very much AM an old-school rock person, so the music drops were right up my alley. Plus, a few hilariously on-point pieces of stunt casting aside (Bradley Cooper CAN act! Hey ho!), I especially dig it when an established director eschews mainstream leads and brings in amateur or unknown talents, people who actually look and talk and act like us grubby, non-celebrity peasants. And to top it all off, he even manages to work in a faux-action scene with an out-of-gas moving truck that the kids have to somehow have to move down a VERY steep road without killing anyone. It comes out of left field, it's the highlight of the entire movie, and it's frankly better than most of the money sequences in the year's ACTUAL action movies.

        Rock on, Anderson. Rock on.

3. Spencer (Pablo Larrain)

        The year's best Horror film, and yes, there is no other lable more fitting for the tight, extremely claustrophic and hauntingly psychological dive into a single Christmas experienced by Kirsten Stewart's Princess Di. Stewart has spent a decade now refuting everyone, including a younger, more arrogant me, who wanted to write her off for her association with Twilight, and this time she just might get to roll that choo-choo into Oscar Station. Or rather, she better (glares sternly at the Academy). Beyond her performance are a wealth of small moments between her and the staff she is surrounded with and, quite often, deliberately controlled by, touching on relationships that might, in other circumstances have been able to provide her with more direct support, but instead can only cheer her on silently.

2. Bo Burnham: Inside (Bo Burnham)

        Bo Burnham should have just titled this Noah's Deepest Fears and Anxieties; A Netflix Special, because that's basically what it is. As such, this was my frontrunner for most of the year for the top spot on this list. Buuuut....at the end of the day, even in a COVID world, having a Netflix comedy special here is stretching my (admittedly liberal) definition of a “movie” to its absolute limit. And given that I have already played incredibly fast and loose with my own rules once before (see Hamilton), I couldn't bring myself to invite the same angst into this site again.

        Neverless! This is still the most deeply personal thing I saw all year, and incredibly powerful time capsule of the early-COVID mileau and a cutting deconstruction of the cynical toxicity of current internet celebrity. The songs are nearly all gangbusters and the visual displays a lone person with a few lighting rigs is able to conjure up is nothing short of astounding to experience. It's a hard watch, but an absolutely necessary one.

1. The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Michael Rianda)

        You know, this might be the most surprised I've ended up being at my own #1 pick. And yes, this is coming from the man who has declared an animated film to be his Film of the Year no less than three times. Obviously, given the background of the people involved in this movie, it was pretty much guaranteed to land in my Top 5 no matter what. But #1? It never really consciously occurred to me as possible until I finally sat down to sort titles.

        And yet, at the end of the day, this just fits. It feels right. This funny and warm and odd film about a robot apocalypse that reminds a divided family just how much they need each other hit every note I could have ever wanted it do and more. Is it the BEST movie, with the tightest screenplay and most interesting, original story? Most definitely not. I have my nitpicks about the rather unoriginal story concept and the fairly empty treatment of the movie's “villain;” there was absolutely some narrative potential left on the cutting room floor. But at the end of the day, that's immaterial. As the film's central family reminds us, sometimes the messiest things are what touch us the most, what move us to remember why we love ourselves, our families, our friends. And especially in these dark times, that's important stuff.

        Also, it's concluding beat-drop of Hoppipolla hits SO HARD it's almost shameful and I still haven't forgiven them.

-Noah Franc

My Top (Five) Film Scores of 2021

    Well. We've all been having a bit of a time, haven't we?

    And in spite of it, movies are still being and stories are still being told. And hey, after the garbage fire that was 2020, 2021 turned out to be a pretty great year at the movies! Before getting to THE list, though (and it's coming soon), let's do something that I just didn't have the energy to do in 2020. Yes, it's finally time to get back to talking about music. Specifically, the best in film scores and/or soundtracks.

    Since 2021 featured an unusually high number of film adaptations of musicals, I am focusing for the purposes of this list on only music or songs written specifically for a 2021 film. Meaning, films like In The Heights or the new West Side Story or Tick, Tick...Boom! were not considered, though those were all excellent.

    Welcome back!

Honorable Mentions: Luca (Dan Romer), Encanto (score by Germain Franco, songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Joel P. West)

5. The Green Knight (Daniel Hart)

    The Green Knight just might take home the trophy of Oddest Film of 2021, as it grasps hold of the inherent weirdness in much Arthurian legend with both hands and refuses to let go. Daniel Hart's score, committed to sounding (as far as we know) like what Arthur and his knights might have had played for them at the Round Table, perfectly enhances the bleak and dreary atmosphere the camera drenches itself in. It brings us perfectly into place, and then, like the cinematography, keeps us bound in a state of perpetual anxiety over what will happen next.

4. The Matrix Resurrections (Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer)

    Don Davis' iconic work in the original Matrix trilogy remains, in my view, criminally underappreciated. As such, though there were many aspects of Resurrections that did an incredible job of expanding on the best of the original films, I took particular pleasure in seeing the themes and motifs from Davis' scores reworked into this reboot that most certainly didn't need to happen, but at the very least more than earned its keep.

3. Spencer (Jonny Greenwood)

    Given how singularly effective pretty much every film score Greenwood produces ends up being, it staggered me to learn that it took until Phantom Thread for him to get an actual Oscar nomination. Well, between his work in this movie and The Power of the Dog, he should definitely get his second nod within the next week of this writing. Spencer feels like someone took the saucy royal drama of The Crown and filtered it through several funhouse mirrors to produce an effect of pure psychological horror, and the relentlessly off-kilter sound of Greenwood's music hits all the right extra notes (pun intended).

2. Bo Burnham: Inside (Bo Burnham)

    This time capsule into what it felt like being an internet-oriented millenial in the first year of the pandemic is half sketch-comedy, half musical, and the songs are almost all solid bangers. The first few skew more light-hearted- „Content“ is the perfect opener, and songs about being a problematic YouTuber or the frustrations of helping family members get the hang of new things like Zoom Calls get plenty of laughs. But as the film progresses the songs turn darker, meaner, more hopeless. „Welcome to the Internet“ is, of course, an instant classic, and as someone who himself turned 30 right as the pandemic was breaking in Europe and the US, uh, yeah, you better believe „30“ hit me like a none-socially-distanced freight train.

    When you get down to real talk, though,. I think the hardest truths are to be found in „All Eyes On Me,“ which functions both musically and visually as a descent into the Dantean Hell that is modern internet celebrity and the toxicity of most of its fandoms, something I have had to grapple with on a very personal level over the past 4 years. It's a state of being that, for the moment, seems pretty devoid of hope, where the only place left to go is even further down.

1. Dune (Hans Zimmer)

    Ah, Hans. I've missed you. Even during the fallow period following Inception and the Dark Knight Trilogy, when people seemed ready to lay every over-used trend in modern film music at your feet, you kept chugging along, while I stayed on board the choo-choo.
And even still, though you were still producing great stuff (like the Interstellar score, which far outstrips the movie itself), I couldn't help but feel that ít had been awhile since we'd gotten a really great, instantly classic original work from you. Lo and behold, not only did Denise and his crew do the unthinkable and actually make a great Dune movie, you were there as well with what is easily your best stuff in years.

    Welcome back, my friend. Welcome back.

-Noah Franc

Star Wars, Episode IX: Duel of the Fates: Chapter Fifteen- The Epilogue

**for previous chapters, please refer to the Table of Contents**

        A red-and-orange morning on a forested corner of Onderon. Finn rose silently, stretching himself towards the ceiling as he stood up so as to wake up just a bit quicker. Rose would be calling soon and it wouldn't do to be late. He glanced outside for a moment, pondering the gentle light of the morning and letting the Force-feel of the planet flow around and through him, drawing it consciously into his mind in small waves. It was the first exercise he'd learned from Rey. Hard to think it had already been a year since they'd started.

        Outside was the semicircle of stone-and-thatch houses that he and Rey had so recently finished, about half of them already occupied by the first new students he and Rey had spent the past two weeks picking from across the galaxy, beings of all sizes and types and each with some noticeable level of Force awareness. Today was the first day that Rey would start their basic training.

        But first, time for an update on the other goings-on in the galaxy from his girlfriend.
Finn sat down at the small worktable in his own room and activated the comm tablet he had set into the opposite wall. After a short moment, the holographic receiver activated, bringing up a 3D image of Rose, speaking (he assumed) from her own room back on Coruscant. He knew his own upper body would now be visible on her end.

        Finn smiled. "Hey!"

        Rose smiled back. "Hey, you! Listen, this is perfect timing, Poe wrote me just a few minutes ago. He says he has something big and he wants us to hear it first."

        Finn started to suspect what it must be- Poe and Lando had been hopping around half the galaxy leading the hunt for Hux and his remaining ships ever since they'd resurfanced in the Outer Rim- but kept his excitement firmly in check in case he was hoping for too much. "Let's here it then!"

        Rose nodded and her shoulder moved with a gesture. Her figure moved slightly to the side and Poe's head, helmeted and clearly inside his cockpit, rose into view alongside her.

        Poe smiled, "Aw man, is it good to see your faces again."

        Finn's smile broadened, "You too. You and Lando alright?"

        "That's why I'm calling! I actually don't have much time, you can probably tell I'm in transit, so I gotta be quick, but get this; Hux is surrendering!"

        Finn felt his jaw drop at the same time as Rose's. For a split second, neither of them could speak.

        Rose came to first, "Holy shit, that's incredible! Finally! Does Leia know?"

        Poe nodded, "Lando's in communique with her right now. We managed to hole them up groundside on Gamorr about a week ago. Enough reinforcements came in that we outnumber them at least 3 to one. Hux tried to play staredown with us for about a week, but once we brought in a few Mon Cal ships that started bombing their perimeter he came around. Or at least the rest of his officers did. He commed Lando directly an hour ago and offered to discuss terms. We're heading to the rendezvous spot now."

        Finn was now more awake than he'd felt in awhile. Finally, he thought, it all finally ends. "That's....I can hardly believe it."

        "I feel ya buddy. But it's real. And once we wrap up here I plan to take a good, long vacation on your end. Gotta run for now though, I'll send you guys another message as soon as I can!"

        And with that, Poe tapped himself out of the call.

        Finn and Rose barely had a moment to turn and look at each other excitedly before Finn sensed Rey approaching rapídly, followed by a quick knock on his door.

        "Hang on," he said to Rose before he rose up to let her in.

        "I'm so sorry, I forgot Rose was calling today!" Rey said breathlessly. "Am I too late???"

        Finn grinned, letting his jubilation carry over into the Force. "No! You just missed Poe, but we've got the best news for you. C'mon!"

        Rey followed him back to the table where Rose was still waiting.

        "Rey! How are you?"

        "Nervous. First day of training. What's the big news Finn mentioned?"

        Once more Finn and Rose exchanged glances; "Hux is surrendering! Poe just told us, he and Lando are handling negotiations now!"

        Rey's face brightened as much as Finn's must have when he heard that. "Stars! You mean....it's really over??"

        Rose nodded eagerly. "Yep. And the timing couldn't be better. Just yesterday Leia and I helped finalize an election schedule for all the Core Worlds to send delegates for a full-time Senate. Within a few standard months the transition government can finally start handing over formal duties. Some delegations have dragged their feet, but I think the First Order finally being off the board entirely could be the kick they need."

        Finn's mood brightened even further. Things were falling into place. He had found his place.

        Rose continued, "I gotta run myself, Leia and I have another day full of meetings, but I second Poe; once everything is settled we're heading your way to properly celebrate."

        Rey smiled radiantly. "I can't wait."

        "I'll call again in a few days. And hey, Rey- good luck today."

        With that, Rose ended the call.

        The sun outside had fully risen over the horizon, and the first founds of the other students gathering in the clearing were already filtering in. Rey and Finn looked at each other.

        "Wow."

        "Yeah. Wow."

        Rey glanced towards the door, towards her first opportunity to train people who were basically strangers. Finn, she'd known, and that had made her feel a bit more at ease. This, though, felt like it would be a lot harder.

        "Hey." Finn's voice cut through her reflections. She turned back to him.

        "You're gonna be great. If you can teach this idiot," and with that, he jabbed his thumb towards himself, "you can teach anybody."

Rey had to laugh in spite of herself.

        "And you aren't alone this time. I'm here. No matter what." As he spoke, he clapped his hand on Rey's shoulder, giving it a reassurings squeeze.

        The nervousness still twisted around in her, but as always, Finn found just the right way to ease her worries. "Thanks Finn."

        She turned back towards the door and took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's get to it then."

        Stepping outside, her eyes moved over the figures assembled before her, eight in all. Two humans, a Bith, a Wookie, a Mon Cal, a Twi'Lek, even two Zabraks who had contacted her of their own accord...after Finn, her first real students. The new chance she'd been planning for, for a new Jedi order. And as of today, they had a genuine peace to fight for and protect.
Yes. As Leia had said almost a whole year ago; it was time for something new.

        "So," she began, hoping the evenness in her voice didn't betray her nerves, "For starters, thank you. Thank you for being here, and trusting me to help you find your ways in the Force. We'll start today with a simple meditation."

        With that, they each sat down slowly, forming a rough circle in the clearning. The slight chill of night was already warming away in the morning sun.  When everyone seemed settled, Rey continued, "Now, follow my lead, and focus first on your breathing. Let the Force flow gently flow with each inhale and exhale....and try to picture yourself between both the Light and the Dark sides of the Force. Imagine your body, yourself, being the balance between the two."

        "And when that image is fixed in your mind...breathe. Just breathe."

The End

Star Wars, Episode IX: Duel of the Fates: Chapter Fourteen- The Pieces

**for previous chapters, please refer to the Table of Contents**

        The deluge surrounded him. Flashing lights and intermingling comm transmissions, most of them simply the last gasps of despair from the commanders of ships that were falling in rapid succession like dominos, overwhelmed Hux's senses. It was as if the very air in the command center was restricting itself around him, taunting him, mocking him. He'd been so close to victory over both the Rebellion and Kylo Ren that he'd practically tasted it, but now...now, it was all ash.

        As another fiery orange explosion ripped across the viewport before him, Hux felt a tap on his right shoulder. He turned around to see Lieutenant Shenjo, his aid, promoted just before the battle, holding a datapad in shaking hands.

        "Sir," his hands notwithstanding, the voice was smooth and steady. Hux had promoted him for a reason, after all. "Latest reports in; the Palpatine Reborn, Star Crusher, and Order's Fist were able to fend off the Wookies and Mon Cals and are moving into formation near B-Station IV. Thrawn's Gambit is also still in communication, but they could not confirm they will reach us."

        Hux had sent an order not that long ago- though it felt like eternity- for every surviving capital ship to draw together around one of the only remaining Battle Satellites around Coruscant, so as to provide a more comprehensive defense of the rest of the fleet. He'd had no chance thus far to determine how much hardware they had left. He'd expected it to be bad, but after waking up that morning with a fleet of several dozen Star Destroyers and Dreadnaughts at his fingertips....to hear only 4 names read off made him feel for a moment as if the ship's gravity wells had briefly shut down.

        He almost managed to keep his voice as even as his aide's when he responded, "Understood. And the rest?"

        Lieutenant Shenjo motioned, almost apologetically, to the orgy of destruction spread out beyond their eyes. "Either already lost, sir, or so damaged that they can't maneuver to us without being eliminated completely. I believe General Dartly is trying to rally survivors on the other side of the planet, but..."

        He didn't need to finish the thought.

        Still feeling a rising nausea- perhaps the gravity wells had been damaged and no one wanted to tell him- Hux surveyed the fight before him again. An inkling appeared in his thoughts, a feeling more certain than any he'd felt before- if he'd had any sort of capacity in that regard, he may have thought it a premonition from the Force itself- that this was it. Kylo Ren was not coming back. Ever. And the First Order had thoroughly and completely lost Coruscant.

        The only option remaining was to somehow, someway, survive this catastrophe.

        His mouth still feeling as if it were filled with ash, he gave the worst order he'd ever had to utter in his entire career. "Signal full retreat. All forces that can escape planetside are to do so, the rest are to go underground."

        Even now, Lieutenant Shenjo responded as if he'd just been told the weather. "Understood. Destination?"

        Hux thought briefly. "Galvon 6 is our closest base. All survivors are to regroup there. What's left of High Command will decide further steps then."

        The lieutenant snapped briefly upwards in salute, then crisply moved forward, forwarding the orders in a crisp, matter-of-fact tone. Hux, however, did not hear him. The sounds once again faded into a muddled wall of indistinct noise. Only one conscious thought was left to him in his utter misery:

        Damn you, Kylo Ren. Damn you to Hell.

***

        This odd, lightsaber-esque ax Finn had picked up sure was coming in handy. He and Rose had been able to reconnect with Jannah and, with her using a few delayed grenades, they'd already taken out a second Knight, with Jannah and Rose combining their efforts to maneuver him into a position for Finn to cut him down from behind. Now, a third- this one with some sort of strange cannon welded to his shoulder in lieu of a right arm- was staring him down, firing again and again. Yet, with the Force swirling around him, a clarity he'd never before felt in his life, it was all too easy to bat away each blast, the strength and quality of the blade absorbing the kinetic shock, so that only a momentary warmth of the plasma as it passed by ever reached Finn.

        He'd just started to weave his way towards this next opponent when a strange ripple seemed to pass through the very air around him, stopping him in his tracks. He immediately knew it wasn't just him; the Knight that had been so focused on him suddenly stumbled back as if struck, then glanced up into the sky. This was something in the Force. Even with his mask and heavy clothing, Finn could feel the shock radiating off the enemy. Then, even more inexplicably to Finn, the Knight simply turned and vanished into the tumult behind him.

        Too caught off guard by this to try and pursue, Finn turned to see Rose emerging from the debris she'd been using as cover to support him. She was also clearly at a total loss.

        "Did he just..."

        "Yeah. There was something....in the Force, I think..."

        At this, Rose's voice turned sharp. "What?? Was it Rey?? Is she ok?"

        Finn shook his head, still trying to make sense of the shifting sensations within him, "I don't..."

        But that thought was promplty interrupted by Jannah's voice, cutting in on the transmittors they'd been using to coordinate. "Finn! Rose! We did it! The First Order is in full retreat!"

        They briefly glanced at each other in shock before looking up across the plaza, still smoking from its pockmarked blast craters. Through the shifting clouds of smoke and steam, they saw ships marked as First Order rising back up from the gloom, in some cases in such an apparent hurry that figures still clung to hatches and doors only half-closed. One by one, each one attempted to turn to a vector to flee into space, but there were quite a few that were rapidly too shot up by groundfire- or, in a few cases, by assorted atmospheric ships that Jannah's people had been able to capture on the fly during the battle- to escape. These collapsed back groundwards, usually in pieces and all in flames.

        Jannah's voice broke through the moment, "We caught a bit of the last transmission from the First Order. Hux has called for a complete retreat."

        Finn could feel immediately this was true, but he still hardly dared allow himself to believe it. Everything had been so stacked against them and so much had gone wrong. Rey was still missing. But it was real. They'd done it. They'd won.

        Rose, her voice thick with emotion, was the first to collect herself despite the welling tears in her eyes. "Jannah, meet us at the entrance to the Temple. Bring a ship with solid comm gear. We have friends fighting up there and we need to contact them asap."

        Jannah's voice was also shockingly husky as she responded. "You got it. On my way."

        Their comms fell silent. Rose and Finn finally looked at each other, their eyes burning. Finn felt the largest smile of his life break out across his face.

        Without a word, they rushed into each others arms, squeezing tightly as if to keep the whole galaxy at bay, a beacon of love and light that had, for the moment, banished all darkness from the world.

***

        The fireball that ripped sideways across the curve of Coruscant's surface as the Fist of Vader was torn in two was a thing of marvelous beauty. Poe tucked that image away into the back of his mind, knowing he would revisit it again and again til the day he died.

        This pleasant reverie ended when his comm crackled back to life and he heard the voice that, other than perhaps that of Rey, Finn, or Rose, he had been the most desperate to hear.

        "Still alive, flyboy?" It was Leia, clearly exhausted, but with the same strength and confidence he'd always admired her for.

        "Leia! General! Thank the Force! Are you ok, what happened?"

        Leia chuckled, still sounding weary, and, now that Poe thought about it, a little sad. "It's...a bit much to explain, but that can wait. For now, I want you, Lando, and the others to return to the ship. It's time for a new gameplan."

        "Ay-yay." Indeed it is, Poe thought, as he steered back towards the center of the rebel fleet, time for something new.

        They sat around a command table in a room at a short remove from the main bridge. A Mon Cal commander, having transferred over as a liason after the battle had started, was finishing a summation of both casualties and estimates of how many First Order ships were believed to have escaped, using his webbed fingers to move projected images across a display screen.

        "In total," he concluded, "I estimate that we've seen at least 30 or 35% of Rebel- or, I should say, Allied- ships lost or damaged beyond repair and at least that in personnel lost, though these numbers will almost certainly grow over the next few days as we regroup and take stock."

        He paused for a moment, allowing all a moment fo reverential silence for those who had died today before continuing. "On a more positive note, the First Order has definitely lost significantly more manpower and, of course, control of Coruscant itself. For all the fighting strength they had on hand, we caught them at just the right moment and they could never consolidate; four Star Destroyers were able to make it to hyperstace, in some cases with scattered smaller craft alongside them, but at least 20 of their capital ships are wholly destroyed or disabled and any survivors captured. I estimate casualities in both ships and crew to be least 60%, though again, that is likely an underestimate."

        Poe looked at the faces around him, mostly seeing relief or happiness that the battle was won, but always tempered by at least a little grief over how hard this victory had come. After another moment of digestive silence, Leia finally spoke.

        "So, that's where are now. The question is- what next? Do we pursue the First Order right away, or start with pacifying Coruscant?"

        A powerfully built man with graying hair, the flamboyant color of his uniform identifiying him immediately as a commander from Kuat, was the first to speak. "I say pursue. We have assumed too often that the First Order had been set back only to see them rise again, stronger than before. Now is our chance to wipe them out for good."

        "With what ships?" This response came from a small, but powerfully dignified woman Poe knew had led the Corellian units in the fighting. "Our system sent everything they had available on short notice. I want to finish the First Order as much as anyone but rushing in with our noses still bloody could just as easily lead to disaster. We don't even know yet how many of our surviving ships are even able to still fly, let alone fight." Here she glanced at the Mon Cal to confirm her suspicions.

        He immediately nodded, blinking his large eyes as he did so. "I'm afraid I must concur. Our forces are as spread out as the First Order was. Even at breakneck speed, we are looking at at least a week just to assess the damage from this day, much less effect repairs."

        Leia took all this in silently, then glanced at Lando, who didn't even need a verbal prompt to offer his thoughts.

        "Well," he began after a moment's reflection, "you know me, Princess; I'm always ready for a good gamble if the prize is right. But..." and here his usual sardonic smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "...I also know from experience how much you can lose when you go up against the wrong odds."

        At this, Leia's mouth curved into an amused smile as well.

        "So I say we stay and regroup first. No use beating the First Order now if Coruscant is left to chaos."

        Leia nodded definitively. "Then that's what we'll do. Let's consolidate our ships in the space over the government district and select a mixed group of forces and personnel to take the reigns planetside. I suspect there's more than enough work there waiting for us."

        Everyone sitting or standing in the room quickly started to jump up and move to their respective stations or ships. Po, however, needed to know something urgently before he could think about anything else.

        "General Leia," he rushed up to her, noting that she was a bit slower in rising from her chair than she used to be. He had to brush that concern aside for the moment, though. "Have you heard anything from Finn? Or Rose, or Rey?"

        At this, the weariness that had endlessly creased Leia's brow lifted entirely. "As a matter of fact, yes. Just before our little meeting here started I got a transmitted message that they are at the Jedi Temple and that they're ok. It seems they found us a whole bunch of friends on the ground ready to help us out."

        Po nearly fell to his knees as he felt the built-up worry and tension of the past few hours leave his body in a rush. For the first time in his life, he began to see the possibility of real peace ahead.

        "General," he said, straightening himself again. "Permission to be part of the landing party headed for the Temple."

        Leia's smile broadened. "Permission granted, flyboy. Now get out of here."

        Po didn't need to be told twice. He turned and rushed back to the hanger bay where he'd left his ship, Lando and Chewie close behind him.

***

        Rey remained crouched on the ground, her hands on the dirty and shredded garments left behind when Kylo- Ben- had vanished. Her left hand trembled slightly, but within she just felt...numb.

        "I...I thought...even now, maybe I could still save him.."

        A shimmer in the corner of her eye finally made her turn away from the macabre sight, and she saw the figure of Anakin standing to her left. When he spoke, his voice was firm, but still soft with compassion.

        "There is no forcing anything on a Jedi, or a Sith. Ben didn't want to be saved. Chose not to." He leaned forward, close to Rey. "This is not on your shoulders, young Rey, and you can't afford to be weighed down by unearned guilt and shame."

        To her right, Anakin's voice was joined by that of Yoda. "A new world to help create, you now have."

        Finally, Rey felt the numbness start to slip away. Grief, yes, and sadness were still there. But also the serene peace that comes with accepting that some things simply are, and must be.

        Slowly, wincing slightly at the aches and pains throughout her body from the fighting, she brought herself to her feet, her lightsaber held loosely at her right side.

        She turned around, where the Jedi Masters had once again formed a semi-circle before her.

        "Thank you. All of you. I won't forget this. And I promise you, the Jedi will go on."

        Gentle smiles, followed by another chuckle from Yoda. "So important, the Jedi are not. The work to bring peace, justice, safety to all, hm....these are what make life worth living."

        Now even the sadness was being pushed aside from a swelling happiness within Rey, the sort of purpose she'd always wanted for her life, and now finally had.

        Somehow, without knowing how she knew, she sensed that it was finally time for her to return to Coruscant.

        She looked again at the wizened faces before her. "Will....will I ever see any of you again?"

        It was Luke who answered, "Not like this, no. But, like the Force, we will be with you. Always."

        "Thank you," Rey whispered, feeling a wind pick up around her, knowing that was the final goodbye. The wind turned into a rushing light, as both the Jedi and the Mortis itself faded away from her, and she found herself momentarily suspended in a blank, white space, entirely alone.

***

        Rose and Finn were helping to organize aid stations to gather all the wounded, regardless of uniform, that still filled the plaza in front of the Jedi Temple. The usual cries and sights and smells of death and injury surrounded them, tempering the joy inside them somewhat, a sobering realization that there was bitter work to be done now to rebuild.

        A ship touched down on one of the few spaces available, carrying a few limited medical supplies local residents had collected on the fly. Finn agreed to help unload, while Rose went to seek out Jannah again to see if she needed anything. Her path took her across the front steps leading up into the frontal atrium of the Temple and she paused a moment to gaze up at it, taking a moment to let everything that had happened this long, long day simply wash over her.

        She was about to turn back around to continue to the other side when a sudden flicker of motion drew her attention, a figure that suddenly started to emerge from the shadows within. Her spine stiffened and her mind sharpened in focus, suddenly filled with worry that one of the Knights, or something just as sinister, had taken refuge there and was about to try and wreck some sort of vengeance just as they'd began to relax.

        Her worry dissipated almost instantly into sheer joy when the figure resolved itself into Rey. Clearly bruised and battered, but whole and alive. In that moment nothing else mattered. "REY!" She cried out in relief, dashing up the steps two at a time to grab her in a hug so fierce and desperate they both nearly went tumbling back down towards the plaza.

        For a moment, neither could speak. Finally, Rose pushed Rey back to arm's length. "WHAT happened?? Where were you, where did you GO???? We were so worried!!!"

        Rey winced, a mixture of both physical pain and emotional embarassment at the worry she knew her strange trip to the Mortis must have caused. "It's....a really long story, but I promise, I'll tell you all everything."

        She then glanced over Rose's shoulders and only then seemed to take in the enormity of the battle wreckage spread before her. "What happened to you guys here? Where's Finn?"

        Rose didn't miss a beat. "Long story. I promise, you'll hear it all too. But...Rey, we won."

        Rey had already sensed this after her battle with Ben, but hearing such news from a best friend always gave it far greater meaning. "I know. I...." her voice faltered only slightly, "I stopped Kylo Ren."

        "Figured it was something like that." Rose's eyes then lit up as she realized she had the chance to break the day's biggest surprise to Rey. "Hey, speaking of which- come with me." Forgetting all about her original goal of finding Jannah, Rose grabbed Rey's hand and pulled her down the steps as fast as they could managed- with the adrenaline wearing off, Rose started to feel as beaten up as Rey looked- and back towards the landing zone where Finn was still sifting through crates with other volunteers.

        Before either of them spoke, Finn's shoulders straightened and he wipped around, his face bursting into the biggest grin at what he saw. "Oh my God, REY!" The bear hug that followed was only slightly more painful than Rose's, but no less welcome.

        It was only after Finn had also pulled back that it hit Rey like a Star Destroyer ramming a Golan Battle Station. Not only could she sense him through the Force, she could feel him sensing her!

        "Finn...you..." she couldn't even bring herself to finish the sentence.

        "Yeah...I know..." he looked like he could barely breath from excitement. "I think it was your disappearance, and the Temple....something I'd felt for a long time, but couldn't understand, and now...." his thoughts overwhelmed his mouth and he once again lapsed into silence.

        He paused, took a deep breath, then stood taller and prouder than Rey had ever seen. "Rey...I'd like to be your first student. I'd.....I want to become a Jedi. I think I'm meant to."

        Tears began to slowly trickle down Rey's face. "Yes. I think so too."

        The moment was then interrupted when Jannah suddenly appeared from behind Finn, holding a comm device in her hand. "Hey! We just got a message from an Allied ship. They need a slightly larger space to land, but they've got a lot more and a lot better supplies than what's here!"

        A short while later, the cruiser Rey recognized as coming from Leia's flagship had touched down, with crew quickly exiting the craft to start organizing. The best part, though, was seeing the person disembark she'd sensed as soon as the ship had breached the atmosphere. She, Finn, and Rose raced forward as one and grabbed Poe in a fierce group hug, one that he reciprocated with equal fervor.

        "I knew. I knew you'd all do it." His voice cracked with pride.

        After a moment more, they pulled away from each other. Poe glanced at each up and down, then smirked; "you all look like hell."

        That was enough to break the tension, and for awhile, as the rush of post-battle recovery spun around them, they simply laughed and laughed and laughed.

        Evening. The sun setting over the skyline of Coruscant, brilliant red and orange and purple light reflecting in waves off the concrete, glass, and transparisteel of the many towers and turrents that had survived the day's fighting intact. Typically, the onset of night would mean no reduction in the light and noice and bustle of the galaxy's largest metropolis. Tonight, though, it was all more muted than anyone living could remember, even more than the day the Empire had first fallen.

        Leia reflected on all this, on the years gone by and the friends, foes, and family lost along the way, as she gazed out of the room she'd been provided near the Senate building. Once more, she'd arrived on the cusp of a victorious army, with the means and mandate to recreate a galactic government. Last time, she'd lost one family, but had been lucky enough to find, and later grow, another. This time, she was all that remained; husband, brother, and son, all lost to the darkness of war.

        "All gone..." she murmured to herself, her eyes still taking in the city before her.

        "You know that's not entirely true," a gentle voice behind her said. Her face slowly slid into a smile as she turned around to see the faint form of Luke on the other side of the room. He, too, was smiling, his face filled with a peace she'd not seen in him for years. "The ones we love are always with us."

        "Ah-hah," she responded, "which of the ancient texts did you pull that one from?"

        Luke put on a mock show of injured pride; "Careful there. You should know better than to tease a Jedi Master."

        She returned the joking sarcasm, "And you should know better than to pick a fight with your own sister."

        The smile returned, "Fair enough."

        A pause before he spoke again, "Thank you. For helping Rey in the Mortis."

        Leia felt her expression grow heavier with the memory. "It wasn't just Rey. I suppose...I wanted to see Ben once more. Even if I knew there was no saving him. I really have forgiven him."

        Luke's expression grew more somber as well. "I'd always somehow hoped that, maybe, he would one day forgive me. I don't suppose he ever did."

        Now Leia's tone turned admonishing, "Oh come now. Enough of that."

        Her thoughts returning to what was to come, Leia, turned back towards the window. "I just wish I had a clear picture of what comes next. We had one chance already and failed. What needs to change this time? So that no one has to pay this sort of price again?"

        Out of the corner of her eye, Luke moved up alongside her, taking in the last vestiges of color slowly slipping over the horizon. "Rey asked me the same thing in the Mortis. I don't have any more of an answer than you do. But she's not only strong, she's wise. Well beyond her years. The other Masters and I watched as she searched on her own through the Force. And after she overcame her own darkness against Ben...I do believe that if anyone can find a new path for the Jedi, she can."

        Leia nodded, heartened by this. "And she's got good friends around her. Like we had."

        "Yeah...I think they're more than ready."

        Leia didn't say anything else, only nodded. For longer than she could track, she and Luke simply stood their, silently, side by side, watching the last rays of light fade and night finally come to this corner of Coruscant.

        The next morning, Rey entered Leia's room, glad to have the chance to speak with her alone before everyone would arrive for the planning session. They hadn't had a chance to speak one-on-one since the events in the Mortis.

        Walking through the door, she first say C3PO, a tray with assorted used dishes held stiffly in his arms.

        "Oh! Master Rey! Good morning!"

        "Morning, Threepio. Is Leia already up?"

        "Yes. She waits for you in the living room. May I offer you anything?"

        "Nothing, but thanks."

        Threepio shuffled off towards the kitchen and Rey continued to the next room, where Leia was standing by the window. Rey walked over the join her, and before either said anything, they gave each other a tight, comforting hug.

        "Leia, I....I'm so sorry....your family..."

        "Rey," her voice, even though it was tinged with sorrow, was still so warm and welcoming, "it's okay. Really." She pushed Rey back to arm's length, her hands on her shoulders. "Ben made his choices. There's no changing that. I meant what I said in the Mortis. He was, is, and will always be my son. But this is bigger than any one family. We have another chance for peace, and we need to make the most of it."

        Rey fought back a short wave of tears and nodded. "Leia...how did you reach the Mortis yourself? How did you find me?"

        Leia was contemplative for a moment before answering. She lowered herself down onto a chair, motioning for Rey to do the same. "You know, I don't think I'll ever fully understand it myself. Just...a feeling, quite sudden, that you needed me. And I just...followed the feeling. And then you were there. You and Ben."

        Rey yearned to ask more, but held back, not wanting to add any more pain to what Leia must already be suffering through. Instead, she simply took Leia's hands in hers. "Well....thank you. You were exactly the person I needed."

        Leia's smile returned, more radiant than ever. "Of course, my dear. Anytime."

        She stood up then, her manner turning official as she moved towards the door, summoning Threepio as she went, "And now, I think you and I are running late. We've got a lot of things to figure out."