Star Wars has become the next General Hospital.

[vulcanlogician]

Like there weren't plot holes in IV-VI...

[KevinM1]

I haven’t seen The Last Jedi yet, but, no, the Empire wasn’t soundly defeated in Return of the Jedi. The top two figureheads were killed, but that alone doesn’t mean utter defeat then and there.

In The Force Awakens, it’s pretty clear that:

1. There’s a new Republic
2. The First Order grew from the ashes of the old Empire
3. The Republic doesn’t believe that the First Order is a credible threat
4. The Resistance - led by Leia, who has seen this shit before - is a splinter group, mostly operating without Republic approval
5. The seat of the Republic’s government, with presumably most of its leadership, was taken out by Starkiller Base
6. Ultimately, things are going down a familiar path because too many people refuse to learn from history

[Chad32]

That's kind of my beef too. They want their underdog story, so no matter how many victories the rebels win, the empire is never on the back foot. there's always some other army, or planet destroyer, or whatever.

[KevinM1]

That's kind of my beef too. They want their underdog story, so no matter how many victories the rebels win, the empire is never on the back foot. there's always some other army, or planet destroyer, or whatever.

That’s more of a gripe about how human psychology and storytelling works than something Star Wars specific.

[Chad32]

Maybe. It just seems to me they're trying to remake the old trilogy, instead of making something new. As for Star Wars specific, I don't like how Han abandoned his family, and Luke almost murdered a kid because he was in danger of going to the dark side. The guy that managed to redeem Darth Vader went on to almost murder an innocent boy in his sleep.

[ignoramus]

Disney, can you please stop making Disney movies for once in your life!
How about a bit of blood for you know, authenticity!

or maybe they don't bleed anymore in galaxies far far away...

[Ravenshire]

Just got back from viewing Ep. VIII. Not sure yet just what to think. I do know this, though. "Star Wars" has ended. I'm sure Disney will continue to crank them out every year as long as the profit margins are high enough, but these films really just don't feel like Star Wars films, much the same way that Discovery doesn't really feel like Trek. Sure, they've got all the set pieces and lore to draw from, but that something, that "it" that even the prequels had in some measure seems to be missing.

[Aroura]

I and my two oldest sons saw it this past Thursday at 12:45 PM, and the theater was nearly packed for the daytime showing.  Other than a single scene (which, for the sake of spoilers, I'll describe later on), the film was a disappointment.  In Episode 6 (Return of the Jedi), the Empire had been soundly defeated, but in the next (#7), they had regrouped with hordes of troops and WMDs ("Weapons of Mass Destruction").  An episode later (this one), the Republic gets reduced to a dozen or so fighters on board a rusty, old ship.

What's up??  Is the Republic a bunch of incompetent boobs who can't govern?  Is that why no one shows-up to help them?  Geesh, they were in control of whole star systems with virtually unlimited resources and they couldn't get their act together?!

But, the "show" must go on, and parents like me will be pestered to keep watching (and, paying!)

I also found there to be a good amount of rubbish in this film, it certainly isn't my favorite. That being said, I enjoyed more than that Holdo scene you mentioned.

I'm also glad that we don't get too much politics on screen, that was some of the worst shit in the prequels.  What we get is enough. As Kevin says, you know in TFA that there are 3 factions. The New Republic, which is what took over and was ruling for the last 30 years since the defeat of the Empire.  then there is the First Order, which are like a terrorist splinter group that isn't fond of the democracy that is the New Republic.  Then there is the Resistance, which takes the First Order as a serious threat, while the New Republic doesn't seem to.
That's all in the movies, and enough explanation to go on with.

If you are actually curious about the details of the politics, like exactly how the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire, why no one in the New Republic except for Leia and a handful of her closest allies seem to take them as a serious threat, and why the New Republic is a failing government in the first place, there are whole books about it.  Which is just where that kind of background detail belongs, imo, not in the movies.

I've read 2 of them, and can answer your questions if you really care?  I mean, if you are just upset that 100% of all information isn't in the movies, then I can't help you.

A quick breakdown for anyone who is interested:
The New Republic began, after defeating the Empire, as a fractured group, into a left and right sides.  Sound familiar?
The left wants to keep the Republic as democratized as possible with all worlds having representatives and equal say.
This results in a lot of wheel spinning and not much getting done, though, as rarely can enough representatives agree on anything to actually DO something.
The right wants to centralize power in the senate, and many in the right idealize the old Empire as a good idea, just with a bad leader. Many even collect war artifacts from the Empire.
The far, far right start to maneuver to destabilize the Republic further, while building up weapons and armies in secret, with the idea of stepping in once the Republic falls into chaos.
Leia, as a very well respected and powerful senator, discovers their plots, and plans to find proof, bring it to the senate, and stand up to the far right, basically stopping them from furthering their goals.
When they realize what a threat she is, one of their number reveals she has some serious dirt on Leia.
They reveal to the entire senate the Leia is Darth Vader's daughter, and that she has hidden this bit of info from everyone (basically, only Han, Luke and her know.  She never even told their son.)
This removes her as a legitimate threat, she is no longer trusted by the majority of senators, so she organizes the few who still do trust her into the Resistance, knowing that the far right wing group will continue to grow, and to hopefully prevent them from ever taking power.
The far left and right continue to grow, build their armies, and fight each other behind the scenes for another 10 years.

Here is about where we can insert The Force Awakens.

There you go. 

[Anomalocaris]

If only Luke, Han, and she knew, and it took Darth Vader till the exceptional circumstances of his dying day to find out, then how did someone else come to reveal it without knowing it?  

Yes, someone probably came up with 16 act play to explain that too.

[Brian37]