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tomeandflickcorner · 6 years

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Star Wars: Episode 5- The Empire Strikes Back

While it could be argued that A New Hope was a basic mythical style adventure set in a futuristic environment, the first sequel really seemed to up the ante quite a bit, with the stakes becoming much higher. And while that potentially icky love triangle was still more or less present, it did start to lean more strongly into one direction.

Even though it’s not directly stated in the movie, three years have passed since the Death Star was destroyed. But because Darth Vader survived to tell the rest of the Empire about its location, the Rebel Base on Yaven 4 had to be abandoned. As the text crawl informs us, the Empire have been chasing down the Rebels across the galaxy ever since then, forcing our heroes to constantly be on the move.

At the start of this movie, the Rebel Base is currently located on Hoth, a planet that’s constantly covered with ice and snow. I do wonder how Luke managed to settle into such a cold environment, as he’d spent his entire life on a desert planet. But while it’s never established how long they’ve been stationed on Hoth, I guess he might have had time to adjust to the drastically different climate.

Anyway, the movie opens with Han and Luke, who are surveying the area surrounding the Hoth base, searching for any signs of life only to find nothing. After setting up a few scanners to continue searching for any lifeforms, Han heads back to the base. But Luke opts to take the scenic route back, as he’d witnessed what he believes to be a meteorite hitting the ground a short distance away. Unbeknownst to him, the ‘meteorite’ is actually one of the Probe Droids that Darth Vader has been sending out to locate the Rebels, on account of the fact that he’s now searching for Luke. There’s something I have to say about that, but I’ll hold off on that for now.

Before Luke can actually go investigate the site where the Probe Droid landed, the Tauntaun (a bipedal lizard-goat creature) he was riding starts to freak out. Seconds later, Luke is attacked by a giant yeti-like creature called a Wampa, resulting in Luke getting knocked out. I wonder why Luke’s Tauntaun didn’t smell the Wampa until he was right on top of them. Also, wasn’t it just mentioned that Luke and Han were specifically looking for any signs of life? So why didn’t their sensors detect the Wampa’s approach? Were they just looking for signs of human life? I guess that would make sense, as the Rebels already knew there was some form of life on Hoth. After all, they had managed to domesticate a team of Tauntauns, which were native to the icy planet.

Back at the Rebel Base, we see Chewbacca in the middle of performing repairs to the Millennium Falcon, which was apparently damaged in a previous battle that occurred off-camera. When Han returns from his scouting mission, he promises to give Chewbacca a hand in a moment. But first, he approaches General Rieekan to give his report on how he didn’t pick up any life signs during his scouting mission. Han then announces that he’s planning on leaving Hoth and can no longer stay and assist the Rebel Alliance, on account of the fact that Jabba the Hutt is now out for his blood. It turns out that Han never used the money he’d gotten for helping to rescue Leia in A New Hope to pay back his debt to Jabba. So he’s going to have to get that taken care of ASAP or Jabba will start sending bounty hunters after him. Apparently, Han’s already had a run-in with one such bounty hunter on a planet called Ord Mantell, during an adventure that I think was explored in one of the Star Wars novels I never read, and he doesn’t want to push his luck any further. General Rieekan expresses his sorrow to see Han leave, but wishes him the best.

However, Leia, who had been within earshot of this conversation, doesn’t take the news as well. Instead, she all but runs after him, trying to convince him to stay, stating that the Rebel Alliance needs him, as he’s proven himself to be a true asset. But Han isn’t swayed and starts to challenge Leia, telling her to just come out and admit the real reason why she wants him to stay.

Yeah, this movie really puts the petal to the metal in regards to a potential romance between Han and Leia. Han is convinced that Leia had developed genuine feelings for him during the past three years, but it constantly discouraged that she won’t allow herself to admit it, even to herself. While I suppose it could be argued that Han is coming on too strongly, I have to disagree. But to explain why, I’m going to go off on a brief tangent, so you’ll have to forgive me for that.

The way I see it, the whole relationship between Han and Leia has what Anakin/Padmé lacked. Yes, there’s a bigger age gap between Han and Leia then the one that existed between Anakin and Padmé, but my main issue with Anakin/Padmé had nothing to do with their ages. (Not really.) With Han and Leia, they’ve pretty much spent the past three years getting to know one another. It wasn’t as if their interactions in this move were the first time they’d seen each other since the end of A New Hope. No, they’ve had three years of shared adventures and experiences under their belts. In addition, while I never got what Padmé ever saw in Anakin, I can see exactly what would draw Leia and Han to one other. With Han, he was a complete loner when we first met him. He was completely used to calling all the shots and felt he could only count on himself (and maybe his best friend, Chewbacca.) All of a sudden, here’s this young woman who might look fragile and delicate, but has both bark and bite. Someone who can clearly hold her own in a fight, and most importantly, isn’t afraid to challenge him and put him in his place. Chances are, Leia seriously impressed Han without even trying. As for Leia, think about what her life might have been like before meeting Han. To everyone around her, she was the daughter of a respected senator and his wife. She probably spent her whole childhood having to live up to everyone’s expectations by following Bail Organa’s example. Especially in regards to their secret connection to the Rebel Alliance. Simply put, Leia most likely spent her entire childhood being molded into a great leader. And when Bail Organa died when Alderaan was destroyed, everyone must have immediately turned to her, expecting her to take over her adoptive father’s role. After all, Bail was one of the founding leaders in the Rebel Alliance. Imagine how it must have been to have so many people turning to you for guidance when you’re only 19. You can’t even take the time to properly mourn for your home planet, or the people you considered your parents. Now, all of a sudden, here comes Han. And unlike everyone else, he doesn’t humbly defer to you. He actually talks back to you and isn’t afraid to argue with you. Simply put, Han is probably the first person Leia has met who doesn’t treat her like royalty or an esteemed leader. He treats her like an actual person. I imagine that is both confusing and refreshing for her at the same time.

So that’s why I don’t think Han is out of line when he challenges Leia to just come out and admit that she has feelings for him. Because Leia is just so accustomed to putting the needs of the Rebellion before her own, she is in danger of becoming incapable of basic human emotion. Han probably knows that’s no way to live. And I have to say I agree with him. For starters, what would Leia do once the war ended if she hadn’t learned to let herself let go and focus on herself once in a while? Han probably knows that Leia would be a lot happier in the long run if she stopped making the needs of the Rebellion her only priority. (This is made even clearer in a deleted scene.) So of course he’s going to be blunt in his attempts at getting her to open up.

On a side note, I do have to chuckle a bit in regards to those random Rebels who are walking by during Han and Leia’s confrontation in the hallway. They don’t even stop and look back at these two arguing. It makes you wonder how often this sort of thing happened during the three year time jump. By this point, the other Rebels are probably just shaking their heads every time they see Han and Leia fighting. There might even be secret bets going on over how long it’s going to be before those two just get a room together.

Either way, Han and Leia’s most recent spat has to be put on hold when word gets around that Luke hadn’t returned to the Hoth Base. When he finds out about this, Han is greatly concerned for his friends, as night is approaching and nights on Hoth are dangerously cold. In order to find him, Han decides to set off on his own, despite the warnings from the other Rebels about the rapidly dropping temperatures outside. As such, he heads off on a Tauntaun to begin searching for Luke. And after an hour or two goes by with no sign of either Han or Luke returning, Leia has no choice but to give the order for the shield doors to be closed until morning. This is a rather hard-hitting scene, as we can appreciate how difficult this situation must be. Leia knows that the chances of Luke and Han surviving for the night out on the frigidly cold planet are very slim, but she knows she can’t risk a search party until morning, or put everyone in danger by leaving the doors open overnight.

Meanwhile, Luke has woken up within the Wampa’s cave, where the Wampa was busy devouring Luke’s Tauntaun. He manages to escape with the aid of the lightsaber Obi-Wan had given him in A New Hope. It had apparently fallen off his belt when the Wampa hung him up from the roof of the cave. Which was really convenient. What if it had fallen off when Luke was being dragged through the snow on the way back to the cave? Regardless, Luke manages to free himself from the ice cave, even wounding the Wampa when he attacks. (By the way, when did Luke learn that trick with summoning the lightsaber into his hand? I don’t remember Obi-Wan getting to that particular lesson before he died.) But Luke then proceeds to run out of the cave and out into the night. While this might seem like a bad idea in hindsight, I can understand it, as Luke was in a high stress situation at the moment, and he had very little time to come up with a good plan. And he probably had no idea how far he was from the Hoth Base. Nevertheless, he begins trying to make his way back to the base, but eventually, the dropping temperatures prove to be too much for him and he collapses from the cold and exhaustion.

At that moment, Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost appears before Luke. Obi-Wan instructs Luke to travel to Dagobah and seek out Yoda, who will continue Luke’s Jedi training. Okay, two things. First, Obi-Wan claims that Yoda was the one who instructed him. This is a pretty big retcon, as it completely ignores the fact that the prequels told us Obi-Wan’s master was Qui-Gon. But I guess this could refer to the fact that Yoda instructed Obi-Wan on the ways of Force Ghosts. Second, why is Obi-Wan waiting until now to send Luke to find Yoda? It’s been three years, after all. Why wait until Luke was dying of hypothermia? What if Luke hadn’t made it out of his predicament? That would put a damper on the plan to have Yoda continue Luke’s training. Then again, I guess it’s possible Obi-Wan knew that Luke would soon be saved, because Han appears on the scene seconds later. After making sure that his friend is still alive, Han, in an attempt to help warm Luke up, deposits him inside the body of the Tauntaun, who chose that moment to die from the bitter cold.

We then cut to morning, when a small Rebel shuttle is deployed to search for Han and Luke. And what’s the name of this Rebel shuttle? Rouge Two. That name is rather bittersweet when you know the story of Rouge One. Although, it does present the question of what this particular pilot did to earn the name of Rouge Two. Given what happened with Rouge One, being called Rouge Two is probably a huge honor. Either way, the Rouge Two pilot manages to find Han and Luke when Han is able to radio up to him. Not that I’m complaining, but I do wonder how Han managed to survive the night. I doubt there was enough room for him in that dead Tauntaun, too. Granted Han mentioned to the delirious Luke that he was getting a shelter put together, but what was he using to make that shelter? And how did he manage to keep himself warm through the night?

Anyway, Han and Luke are both brought back to the Rebel base, where Luke is immediately given medical attention. Under the care of the Medical Droids, he soon recovers from his hyperthermia, as well as the injuries he received from the Wampa attack. (I’ve heard people say the Wampa attack was written in to explain the facial scars Mark Hamill got from his real life car accident, but I’m not sure if this is true or not.) As Luke is recovering from his ordeal, Han, Leia, Chewbacca 3PO and R2 all come to check up on him. During this scene, Han pretty much continues the earlier ‘argument’ he got into with Leia, stating that he thinks General Rieekan’s decision that it would be dangerous for any ships to leave Hoth at the moment was just an excuse, and that Leia really just didn’t want him to leave. This assumption exasperates Leia who, in what I think was an attempt to knock Han down a few pegs, kisses Luke on the mouth. Which is REALLY gross when you know that those two are brother and sister. George Lucas did know about that plot point when he made this movie, didn’t he? Or did he just plan on Luke having a twin sister and hadn’t yet decided on having Leia be the long-lost sister? If it’s the latter, then it probably would have been smart to have included more female characters into the story. You know, so there would be other candidates who could have been the sister?

But there’s no time to really dwell on that, because the overall plot kicks in again at this point. The Imperial Probe Droid that Luke had mistook for a meteorite earlier in the film has taken notice of the Rebel base’s exterior and has begun sending a transmission back to the Empire, notifying them about it. While one of the Imperial Officers was ready to dismiss it as just being a smuggler settlement, Vader’s Force Senses enabled him to realize that it was indeed the Rebel Base they were looking for. Thankfully, the Rebel Alliance’s radio contact team managed to intercept the Probe Droid’s transmission, which puts them on high alert, especially when 3PO, who was in the room at the time, informs them that the signal they intercepted was most likely an Imperial code. Their suspicions are confirmed when Han and Chewbacca head back out to investigate and determine the existence of the Probe Droid. While the Probe Droid activates a self-destruct mechanism when he’s tipped off that the Rebels have spotted him, the Rebels realize it might be too late, and that the Droid had already informed the Empire that the Rebel Base was on Hoth. Their fears are proved to be well founded when an armada of Imperial ships appear on their radar. As such, they begin the excavation, with a fully-recovered Luke joining the team of Rebel pilots charged with fighting against the approaching AT-AT Walkers in order to give the others the chance to evacuate.

As such, we enter into the first action sequence, with the X-Wings fighting the AT-AT Walkers while the rest of the Rebels evacuate in transports, with the transports leaving two to three ships at a time. Although, as much as I love the design of the AT-AT Walkers, I do question the practicality of utilizing them in the attack on the Hoth Base. I get that the Imperial armada managed to drop them off on the planet surface so the Imperials and Stormtroopers wouldn’t have to traipse across the snowy surface of the planet, but wouldn’t ordinary tanks have been more practical? Either way, the attack on the Hoth Base begins. While Luke and the other pilots manage to take out all the AT-AT Walkers (even though Luke’s rear gunner is killed in the process), the Imperial forces still manage to infiltrate the Rebel Base, prompting Leia to order a full-scale evacuation. Even so, Han, whose departure was delayed by him and Chewbacca having a prolonged difficulty in finishing their repairs to the Millennium Falcon, has to nearly drag Leia out of the control room to get her to her transport. Because Leia had apparently refused to leave before the other Rebels had a chance to get away. However, on the way to her evacuation transport, the attack on the surface of the planet causes one of the tunnels to cave in, blocking Han and Leia’s path. As such, Han has no choice other than to get Leia off the planet on the Falcon, with 3PO tagging along. Because this movie kinda sets up the status quo that 3PO predominantly accompanies Leia while R2 is mostly seen with Luke. Kinda ironic as this is more or less the same setup that occurred with Luke and Leia’s parents. The female gets 3PO and the job as senator/political leader and the male gets R2, along with the position of skilled pilot and Jedi. (And yes, I can see how this can come off as rather sexist, but I’d rather not go into that at the moment.)

As for Luke, after he’s finished taking out the AT-AT Walkers and then gets the evacuation order, he declines from following the rest of the fleet to their designated rendezvous point. Instead, he decides to reroute his X-Wing to venture to Dagobah and locate Yoda, as Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost had decreed. And it’s at this point the movie splits off into two separate subplots. While Luke’s subplot involves his journey to Dagobah and his training under Yoda, we’re also following Han, Leia, Chewbacca and 3PO as they try to evade the Imperial fleet that end up tailing them when they attempt to escape Hoth.

Admittedly, the fact that the Imperials are so focused on the Millennium Falcon is a bit head scratching. Because the opening text crawl makes it seem as if Vader is aiming to track down Luke. So why would he go after the Millennium Falcon? I suppose it’s possible that he might think Luke was on that ship, as he probably remembered seeing it during the Battle of the Death Star and concluded that Han and Luke were friends. But wouldn’t his Force Senses have tipped him off that Luke was not on board?

Then again, it becomes clear later on that Vader hadn’t yet figured out that Luke was his long-lost son until he is personally contacted by Emperor Palpatine at a later point in the movie. But this does make it a bit more confusing. Why would Vader be apparently so interested in Luke if he hadn’t already suspected that Luke was his son? Was it just that he was intrigued by the young man on account of how he sensed Luke’s strong Force Sensitivity during the Battle of the Death Star? Also, in the scene when Emperor Palpatine is telling Vader that he suspects that Luke is Vader’s son, it’s rather weird how he and Vader are talking about how Luke is the son of Anakin Skywalker, as if Anakin and Vader weren’t the same person. Cinematically, I understand why they had to do that, as nobody was supposed to know that Vader was Anakin at this point in the movie, but once you do know about that particular twist, it just makes the dialogue really odd. Either way, Emperor Palpatine’s master plan is to capture Luke and force him into turning to the Dark Side, thereby turning Luke into a Sith Lord like him and Vader. Which is slightly odd, as it was established in Phantom Menace that there could only be two Sith Lords at any given time- a Master and an Apprentice. So, if their plan is to turn Luke into a Sith Lord, doesn’t that mean that they both know either Vader or Palpatiene will have to get killed off? I suppose it’s possible that the Emperor plans to kill off Vader in favor of Luke and that Vader thinks he can overthrow Emperor Palpatine and take over as Luke’s master, but even so.

Anyway, in the Millennium Falcon crew subplot, Han quickly discovers that the ships’ hyperdrive unit was somehow damaged as well, which prevents them from making the jump to lightspeed. (Seriously, how was the Millennium Falcon damaged? They’ve been trying to repair it throughout the entire movie so far.) So Han has to quickly scramble to repair the hyperdrive on the double so they could get away from a pair of Star Destroyers. But before he could make much progress, they find themselves in another spot of trouble. Because the Imperial ships have chased them right into the path of an asteroid field. In a desperate attempt at escaping their pursuers, Han decides to fly into the asteroid field, stating the Imperial ships would be crazy to follow them. Despite 3PO’s pessimistic outlook on their chances of successfully navigating through an asteroid field, Han manages to dodge the asteroids before deciding to land on a particularly large asteroid. (Yeah, just try to tell me that Han doesn’t have some degree of Force Sensitivity. 3PO had just stated it was almost impossible to navigate through an asteroid field. And Han managed to do so in a ship that Spaceballs not only compared to a Winnebago, but one that was apparently already heavily damaged.) The Millennium Falcon ends up taking refuge inside a rocky cavern inside the asteroid. There, they hope to evade detection from the Empire so they can finish the repairs to the ship.

It’s during this ship repair scene that 3PO is actually somewhat useful for once. Being a Droid, he can plug himself into the ship’s computer and get a full system’s diagnosis in order to determine what exactly needs to be fixed within the hyperdrive mechanism. While it’s made somewhat clear that he isn’t quite as adept in this area as R2, since Protocol Droids were not designed for this sort of thing, he still shows a willingness to do his best. And yes, there is one moment when 3PO comments on how the Millennium Falcon’s computer has a peculiar dialect. While I doubt George Lucas and his staff had thought up L3 at this point in the franchise, I still appreciate that line now, as it’s a reminder that L3 lives on in some form. Although, that does lead to the question as to whether or not the Millennium Falcon can be considered somewhat sentient.

However, because the ship is essentially dry-docked until further notice, this means Han and Leia are forced to closely interact with one another. Which, in typical romance novel fashion, leads to them sharing a rather well-timed kiss. While it isn’t outwardly stated, it does become clear that Han’s earlier assumptions that Leia had developed feelings for him wasn’t too off the mark, and that her outward hostility towards him was pretty much just the result of her trying to deny her feelings. It’s possible that her upbringing in being constantly looked to as a leader led her to believe that, if she ever did look for a romantic partner, it should be someone respectable. Almost like a modern-day prince. And Han clearly comes across as the exact opposite of a suitable match. That’s probably why she was so determined to push him away. Because she knows that’s not the sort of man she’s supposed to end up with. Nevertheless, she is still drawn to him and doesn’t pull away when he moves in to kiss her. In fact, the extended version of the scene shows she even instigates another kiss when Han pulls away. However, the moment is spoiled when 3PO barges in, completely ignorant to what he’d just walked in on. With the spell broken, Leia quickly retreats to try and deal with her conflicting feelings, as she’s now probably feeling even more torn between what she wants and what’s expected of her.

While Leia is off reflecting on things, she spots something flying past the cockpit windows. When one of the flying creatures initiates the closest thing this movie has to a jumpscare, a startled Leia hurries off to inform Han of what she saw. Instantly on the alert, Han steps outside the ship with Chewbacca and Leia accompanying him. As a result, the three of them discover the flying creatures are a group of Mynocks, which I guess are like space lampreys with wings. When a whole flock of them appear, Han starts shooting at them, but that, for some reason, causes a tremor in the cave. That’s when Han starts to figure out that things aren’t what they appear to be, and he ends up shooting at the ground to test his theory. Simply put, they didn’t land the Millennium Falcon inside a cave, but in the gullet of a space slug. (So, there are Mynocks living inside the mouth of a space slug? What kind of weird symbiotic relationship is this?)

In any event, now that Han has figured out that they’re inside the gullet of a space slug, he hurries Leia and Chewbacca back inside the ship, taking off on the double. They manage to fly out of the space slug’s moth in the nick of time. However, this once again gets them back into the situation they were before, with the Imperial fleet chasing them. And because the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive still isn’t working, they’re pretty much sitting ducks. Thankfully, Han once again gets a brilliant idea. His plan involves pretending to charge at the lead Star Destroyer and then land on the top of the ship. This apparently enables the Millennium Falcon to avoid being detected by the Star Destroyer’s radar, as the signal from their ship blends into the Star Destroyer. This plan ends up working like a charm, although it did result in the death of Imperial Captain Needa, whom Vader held personally responsible for losing the Millennium Falcon.

While they’re tethered to the side of the Star Destroyer, Han announces to Leia the next stage of his plan. Utilizing his knowledge of Imperial procedure, which we now know he’d gained from the time he’d spent enrolled in the Imperial academy, he plans to take advantage of the fact that Star Destroyers typically empty their garbage compartments before jumping to lightspeed. Han plans to blend in with the debris and wait until the Star Destroyers leave. After that, they’ll be free to head off without any further trouble. The only issue is that they’ll need to find a safe port to finish the repairs on the Millennium Falcon. When they start scanning the records of nearby planets, Han notices that his old acquaintance, Lando, is in the vicinity, on a planet called Bespin. The planet’s records indicate Lando now owns a tibanna gas mine there. Han decides that, even though Bespin is a bit of a distance from their current location, their best bet is to head there, because while Lando can’t exactly be trusted, he knows the man is no friend to the Empire. And so, once the Star Destroyers jump to lightspeed after jettisoning their garbage into space, just as Han predicted, the Millennium Falcon begins the journey to Bespin. Although, while I’m not sure when this addition was put in, we do see the Millennium Falcon is now being followed by the Slave I, the ship that’s owned by Boba Fett. There was an earlier scene when Vader had hired a team of bounty hunters to track down the Millennium Falcon. And Boba Fett, who had previously been hired to track down Han for Jabba, was among them.

Meanwhile, Luke and R2 have arrived on Dagobah, which is an unpopulated swamp-covered planet. Because the planet has no settlements, and is covered by a heavy blanket of clouds, Luke pretty much crashes his X-Wing in the middle of the swampy lake. He does manage to make it to shore, though. Even though R2 has a brief spot of trouble with some kind of aquatic beast. (Yes, I know the prequels were made years afterward, but seriously, did R2 completely forget that he could have simply flown to shore?) After cleaning the gunk and saliva off of R2, Luke sets up camp, where he admits to R2 that he almost thinks he recognizes his surroundings. Which I guess is meant to imply he had Force-induced premonitions of coming here.

Out of nowhere, Yoda suddenly appears before them, although the Jedi Master does not make his identity known at first. Instead, he takes on this whole act, as if he’s just some crazy old Alien living there. (It does present the question as to whether or not R2 recognized Yoda, though. His behavior during Yoda’s initial appearance in this movie suggests not, but shouldn’t R2 have at least noticed that he was at least the same species as Yoda? What are the odds that there were two individuals of that particular Alien race on the same planet?) Anyway, from what I can gather, the reason why Yoda was putting on the whole act at first was so he could test Luke, and figure out if he had the right sort of temperament to undergo Jedi Training. Unfortunately, Luke ends up failing that test by displaying he has too much impatience. In disappointment, Yoda finally drops the act and starts communicating with Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost, stating that he doesn’t believe Luke can be taught. However, Obi-Wan continues to vouch for Luke, by stating he’d been just as reckless and whatnot as Luke had been when he’d undergone his Jedi Training. Luke, upon realizing that the little Alien had been Yoda the whole time, begs for a chance, insisting that he’s not afraid. To which Yoda states ‘you will be.’

Despite Yoda’s reservations, he begins Luke’s Jedi training sessions. Which appears to involve Luke running around Dagobah’s surface with Yoda clinging to his back. Though Yoda does give him a lecture about the dangers of the Dark Side, stating that while the Dark Side is quicker and more seductive, a true Jedi must use the Force for knowledge and defense, never to attack. At some point, however they end up at this cave that apparently contains concentrated Dark Force energy. Yoda informs Luke that he must enter the cave, in order to undergo another test. Luke proceeds to do so, but he refuses to heed Yoda’s statement that he won’t need his weapons inside the cave.

Once he’s inside, Luke finds himself face to face with Darth Vader. Immediately, Luke activates his lightsaber and proceeds to battle Vader. The fight ends quickly with Luke decapitating Vader. But when part of Vader’s helmet explodes, exposing the face beneath, Luke is shocked to see his own face within the mask. Obviously, this was meant to be taken as a lesson, with Luke being shown that he could easily end up just like Vader if he’s not careful. But I do wonder if this was also meant to be a subtle bit of foreshadowing as to who Vader really was to Luke. Either way, Yoda seems to sense what happened within the cave and is visibly crestfallen. Which I guess means that Luke failed his test. It’s hard to determine what Luke was supposed to have done, though. Maybe it was the fact that his first instinct was to attack Vader upon seeing his image that made him fail the test. I did notice the Vader hallucination only activated his lightsaber after Luke did.

Nevertheless, Luke’s Jedi Training continues. This time, Yoda has moved on to the lesson of exploring the telekinetic aspect of the Force, by having Luke lift rocks with his mind. Unfortunately, the lesson is interrupted by R2, who franticly informs Luke that the X-Wing is sinking into the swamp. (Exactly how long has Luke been on Dagobah at this point? And why did the X-Wing only start to sink now?) Upon seeing his ship sinking, Luke starts to worry about how he’s supposed to get his ship out now. To this, Yoda pretty much rolls his eyes and is all ‘haven’t you been paying attention to me? I’ve literally just been instructing you how to lift things with the Force, remember?’ So Luke decides to take a stab at using the Force to lift the X-Wing out of the swamp. (With Yoda delivering his iconic line of ‘Do or do not. There is no try.’)

Unfortunately, while Luke’s attempt at pulling the X-Wing out with the Force seemed to be working, he gives up almost instantly, as he can’t get over his preconceived notion on how the X-Wing is simply too big to lift. Not even Yoda’s reminder on how powerful the Force can be gets through to him. Luke just simply refuses to even try, stating that what Yoda is asking of him is impossible. Once again, Yoda is visibly disappointed in Luke’s inability to get it. And, to drive the point home, Yoda effortlessly pulls out the now-submerged X-Wing, placing it safely on the solid ground.

Have to say, it’s almost embarrassing how much Luke is messing up in his training sessions with Yoda. While I know it was probably done this way to make Luke appear more human and we had to see him struggle a bit, it also makes it a bit problematic. Like, is this guy really the person who Obi-Wan and Yoda were investing all their faith into? Is he really their best chance at restoring peace to the galaxy? If so, that’s really worrisome. Then again, they also thought an arrogant whiny brat like Anakin was their prophesized Chosen One, so I guess it makes sense.

Anyway, Han, Leia, Chewbacca and 3PO eventually arrive on Bespin and make their way to Cloud City, a series of buildings suspended above the clouds by anti-gravity boosters or something. Despite a rather cold welcoming, they’re eventually allowed to land. Shortly after landing, Lando comes out to greet them personally, along with a few of his staff, including a cyborg named Lobot. At first, Lando appears to greet Han with hostility, but this is quickly shown to be an act. (I do wonder if this is the first time Lando and Han have seen each other since the events of Solo, but maybe we’ll get that answer on a later date.) Once he drops the fake hostility, Lando greets Han like an old friend, even though Han starts showing a bit of jealousy when Lando pours out the charm upon noticing Leia.

As Lando proceeds to show Han, Leia, Chewbacca and 3PO around, he goes on to explain that he obtained the gas mine in a gamble, but it’s been a relatively successful business, despite a number of problems ranging from supply issues to labor disputes. However, during the impromptu tour, 3PO breaks off from the group when he encounters another Protocol Droid and overhears an Astromech Droid within a side room. He ends up going to investigate, for reasons I can’t really understand. So there were other Droids roaming the corridors. So what? It’s not as if Droids like 3PO and R2 were rare. But the movie had to get 3PO alone somehow, I guess. Anyway, when 3PO heads off, he stumbles into a place he wasn’t supposed to be in, resulting in an unseen figure shooting him into pieces.

Meanwhile, on Dagobah, Luke ends up getting a premonition during another training exercise. He ends up seeing a vision of Han and Leia being tortured on Bespin’s Cloud City. When he tells Yoda about his vision, Yoda informs him that he’s seeing the future, but goes on to say that even he cannot tell if Han and Leia would die, as the future is always in motion. Yoda tells Luke that he could help them if he went to find his friends, but doing so would destroy everything they had fought and suffered for. Despite this, Luke finds he can’t concentrate on continuing his training as his vision is plaguing him. He ultimately decides to travel to Bespin in order to help Han and Leia. As he’s preparing his X-Wing to leave Dagobah, Yoda and Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost attempt to talk Luke out of it, stating that his training isn’t complete and only a fully trained Jedi Knight has any hope of defeating Vader and Emperor Palpatine. Obi-Wan goes on to state that if Luke chooses to face Vader now, then he will do it alone, as he and Yoda won’t be able to help him. In the end, Luke decides that it’s worth the risk, as the lives of his friends are on the line. As such, with the promise that he will return to complete his training later, Luke sets off for Bespin, leaving Yoda and Obi-Wan to watch his departure in despair. At this point, Yoda states that Luke isn’t their last hope, as ‘there is another.’ Which is obviously meant to set up the reveal that Luke has a twin sister. Though if they were thinking Leia could have been their Plan B, they totally botched that one, as nobody has even informed her that she’s Force Sensitive yet.

Back on Cloud City, Han, Leia and Chewbacca have noticed 3PO’s absence, prompting Chewbacca to go looking for the Droid. He ends up finding 3PO’s scattered pieces inside the mining facility’s junkyard and manages to retrieve the broken Droid from the little pig men who work there. There’s also a small scene at this point with Han and Leia, which pretty much only exists to show that Leia is much more receptive to Han’s affection since their big kissing scene, as she allows him to kiss her forehead. (There was even an earlier scene when she willingly kisses his cheek upon seeing his plan on blending in with the Imperial garbage was working). However, Leia makes it clear that she doesn’t believe Han will stick around, as she fully expects him to head off on his own again once he’s done escorting Leia to rejoin the rest of the Rebel Alliance.

Before Han could confirm or deny Leia’s assumption, or Chewbacca could start working on putting 3PO back together, Lando stops by the suite that he’d loaned them. He invites the group to join him for a drink. On the way to the dining hall, Lando informs Han, Leia and Chewbacca that his mining operation is not under the Empire’s jurisdiction, but is small enough to not be noticed. Nevertheless, there is still the possibility that the Empire would eventually find out about Lando’s mining business and shut them down. But Lando states he’d just made a deal that would ensure the Empire would never set foot on Bespin. The details of that deal becomes clear when Lando opens up a door, revealing that Vader himself is waiting for them. It turns out, because of Boba Fett tipping them off, Vader and a squadron of Stormtoopers had arrived on Cloud City before the Millennium Falcon did. As such, Vader had bribed Lando into betraying Han, Leia and Chewbacca to the Empire.

On a side note, props to Han in this moment. His first instinct upon seeing Vader is to move in front of Leia and fire his blaster at the Sith Lord, despite the fact that he probably knows by now that this wouldn’t accomplish anything. But it’s the fact that that was his first instinct that what makes this moment admirable. He’s probably learned by now that Vader had personally tortured Leia while she was imprisoned on the Death Star, and also was among the men who forced her to watch as her home planet was blown up, and therefore moves to shield her from Vader without thinking. Gotta love it.

Despite Han’s best efforts, he, Leia and Chewbacca are all taken prisoner, being confined to a prison chamber. While he’s confined, Chewbacca takes the time to start reassembling 3PO, which is how we learn that the reason why he got shot into pieces in the first place because he’d stumbled across the hiding Stormtroopers earlier and they didn’t want him to warn anybody of their presence prematurely. Anyway, Vader and the rest of the Imperials proceed to torture Han (and maybe Leia as well, even though we don’t see what they do to Leia). As Han is being tortured, Vader assures Boba Fett that he can have Han once the Empire is done with him.

Lando, however, is clearly starting to regret betraying his old friend to the Empire. Especially when he’s notified that Han will eventually be turned over to Boba Fett, who plans to deliver him to Jabba, and that Leia and Chewbacca would not be permitted to ever leave Cloud City again. He ends up visiting the three prisoners in their cell to explain that the Empire wasn’t really after them at all. Instead, Vader is simply using Han, Leia and Chewbacca as bait to trick Luke into coming to Bespin. (I guess this is why Vader was so insistent on following the Millennium Falcon into the asteroid field. He knew the people on board were Luke’s friends and that he was sure to come rescue them if he knew they were in danger.) Upon hearing the details of Vader’s plan, Han lunges at Lando in rage, only for Lando’s bodyguards to beat him back until Lando breaks up the confrontation. Before leaving the cell, Lando apologizes not being able to do more for them, but insists he has too much at stake to risk angering Vader.

However, it’s then discovered that Vader intends to turn Han into a Guinea pig. His plan is ultimately to force Luke into this carbon freezing chamber, which will essentially encase him in carbonite until further notice. But since the process has never been used on a human before, Vader plans to test it on Han first. Lando is visibly shocked upon hearing this, but ultimately does nothing to prevent it, as he’s fearful of what the Empire would do if he tried to interfere. When Han is brought into the chamber where the carbon freezing takes place, Chewbacca tries to fight back, but Han urges him to stop, telling his friend that he should save his strength as Leia will need him to keep her safe. Reluctantly, Chewbacca listens to Han. But before the little pig guys from earlier drag Han onto the platform to be lowered into the carbon freezing chamber, he’s able to share one last kiss with Leia, who finally admits that she loves him. And while I think there are some people who might give Han flak for simply saying ‘I know’ instead of returning the sentiment, I think it makes more sense this way. Throughout the movie, we’ve seen signs of how much Han cares for Leia and how he largly tries to put her first. So, in that moment, he probably realized how distraught Leia must have been, especially since she’s picked now to come out and say that she loves him. He must have realized that she was saying it now because she was afraid he’d die without knowing how she really felt. If that’s the case, by saying ‘I know,’ he was reassuring her that he’d always known, and that she didn’t have to feel guilty for not telling him sooner.

Ultimately, Han gets encased in carbonate. And because the monitors fixed to the sides of the carbonite block indicate he survived the process, Vader orders that the chamber be reset for Luke. Vader then proceeds to instruct the Stormtroopers to escort Leia and Chewbacca to his ship. An order that shocks Lando, as Vader had previously stated that Leia and Chewbacca were to be left alone. When he tries to remind Vader about that, Vader simply announces that he’s changed his mind.

Before anything more could be said, notification arrives that Luke had just arrived at Cloud City. As the Stormtroopers escort Leia and Chewbacca (who is now carrying the partially repaired 3PO), Vader gives orders that Luke is to be led right into the carbon freezing chamber. So Luke, despite Leia’s attempts to warn him, walks right into Vader’s trap. The two begin a prolonged lightsaber battle, with the occasional intermission. Yeah, there are quite a few moments during this battle where Luke gets shoved into the carbon freezing chamber but escapes at the last possible second by performing a Force fueled jump, or when he gets sucked out a window. There are a few moments like that, in which the movie is trying to drag it out and move the battle to a different location.

While all of this is going on, Lando has apparently decided that Vader had gone too far. As he’s walking through Cloud City with the Stormtroopers escorting Leia and Chewbacca to Vader’s ship, he secretly signals Lobot to rally together Lando’s staff. These men end up ambushing the Stormtroopers en route to Vader’s ship, allowing Lando to try and get Chewbacca and Leia to safety. However, they’ve both too angry at Lando over what happened to Han to accept his help, with Leia doing nothing to interfere when Chewbacca tries to strangle Lando. It’s only when Lando manages to inform them that they can still save Han if they can reach the East Platform before Boba Fett leaves that they decide to ease up on him. Taking advantage of this information, Leia and Chewbacca both race off, leaving Lando gasping for breath. Unfortunately, while they are joined by R2 (who got separated from Luke) along the way, they don’t make it in time and can only watch helplessly as the Slave I takes off.

However, while they have failed to prevent Boba Fett from taking Han away, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando and the two Droids now have to deal with the fact that additional Stormtroopers have apparently figured out that Leia and Chewbacca have essentially escaped, as they appear on the scene and start to shoot at them. To get away, they have to fight their way to where the Millennium Falcon is docked. Along the way, Lando manages to send out an announcement through Cloud City’s P.A. system, informing the population that the Empire has taken over the city and that they’d better get out before more Imperials arrive. As a result, a whole bunch of people start running through the halls of Cloud City, which probably helped give Lando, Leia, Chewbacca and the two Droids cover as they made their way to the Falcon. (Try and spot the random extra carrying the ice cream maker during this scene. This guy is apparently so iconic, te fans gave him an elaborite backstory.) Eventually, Lando, Leia and the others manage to make it to the hanger where the Millennium Falcon is waiting, with R2 managing to hack the door to the hanger bay open. (Though 3PO, who is still strapped to Chewbacca’s back and has been making pointless comments the whole time, dismisses R2’s attempts to warn them about something being wrong with the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive.) Once R2 gets the doors open, they are able to take off on the Falcon.

Now, I have to pause for a moment to talk about Lando. In spite of everything, he’s actually a rather likable character. Sure, he did betray Han and the others, but it’s still made clear that he’s not doing this because he’s a bad guy. And as things progress, you can see he’s seriously regretting his actions, especially when Vader’s intentions with Han and Leia become clearer. And in the end, he makes a valent attempt at redeeming himself. In short, Lando is an iconic grey character. And he even seems to have been cut from the same cloth as Han. Remember that Han had this whole ‘look out for number one’ approach at the start of A New Hope. But he eventually turned himself around and slowly started to emerge as a heroic character. Well, now we’re seeing a similar progression with Lando. The only real difference is that we didn’t get to see the moment when Han ultimately decided to come back and join in the Battle of the Death Star. With Lando, we can see the moment when he decides to officially start fighting back against the Empire.

Of course, while Lando, Leia, Chewbacca and the Droids were escaping on the Falcon, Luke’s battle with Vader was continuing on. It ultimately ends up on, you guessed it, a long platform over a large gaping chute. The lightsaber battle comes to an end when Vader slices off Luke’s hand (which is not too dissimilar as to how Anakin lost his hand in a battle with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones.)

As the injured Luke tries to stagger away from Vader, the Sith Lord tries to coax him into surrendering and join forces with him. Only for Luke to adamantly declare that he’d never join Vader. But Luke is thrown for a loop when Vader reveals the truth- that he is Luke’s father. The revelation is devastating to Luke, as he can sense the truth of Vader’s words. However, in spite of the shocking revelation, Luke still refuses to accept Vader’s offer to pledge his allegiance to the Empire. Instead, he allows himself to simply fall off the platform. Thankfully, Luke’s fall doesn’t prove to be fatal, but it does result in him ending hanging from some kind of thin pole affixed to the underbelly of Cloud City. I could be wrong, of course, but I’m guessing these poles serve as part of Cloud City’s anti-gravity generator that keeps the city hovering over the clouds of Bespin.

Obviously, this presented a problem, though. Luke is still no doubt in serious pain from getting his hand chopped off, so he’s not going to be able to hang on to this anti-gravity pole forever. Thankfully, he manages to remain collected enough to call out to Leia through the Force. Because of the twin bond they currently don’t know they have, Leia is able to hear Luke’s call. She convinces Chewbacca and Lando to turn the Millennium Falcon around so they can go back and save Luke. They manage to do so, with Lando being the one to get Luke into the ship, where Leia is quick to help stabilize Luke’s injuries until they can get him somewhere for proper medical attention.

However, once Luke is on board, the heroes once again find themselves with the issue of how to escape the Imperial Star Destroyers. Especially since, as R2 tried to warn them before, the now-repaired hyperdrive unit was subsequently deactivated by Vader’s forces. (Insert more useless commentary from 3PO, who continues to be more of an annoyance than an asset.) Thankfully, R2 manages to switch it back on in time, allowing Lando to make the jump to lightspeed. Luke, on the other hand, is unable to focus on how they were lucky to escape with their lives, as his thoughts remain on the knowledge that Vader was his father the whole time. And he’s left wondering why Obi-Wan never told him the truth about the matter.

An undetermined amount of time later, our heroes have finally managed to rejoin the rest of the Rebel Alliance, who now reside in some space station somewhere. There, Luke is able to receive proper medical treatment, with a Medical Droid fitting him with a highly advanced prosthetic hand. As Luke adjusts to his new appendage, he joins Leia, R2 and 3PO (who was finally put completely back together again) at the window looking out into space, where they watch as Lando (who has apparently officially joined the Rebel Alliance) and Chewbacca take off in the Millennium Falcon. Their plan is to track down Jabba and Boba Fett in order to find out where they’ve taken Han, in order to formulate a plan to rescue their friend. Before leaving Lando gives them his word that he and Chewbacca will signal them the moment they find Han and then meet them at an established location Tatooine. And it’s on that note, the movie ends.

While it might have been a gutsy move to end this movie on such an obvious cliffhanger, they probably knew at this point that they were going to make more Star Wars movies, considering the original film was an instant hit with audiences. Although, this did pretty much set up a pattern that continued with the other trilogies, with the second film in a trilogy always ending on a cliffhanger. (Although, The Last Jedi’s ending was a different kind of cliffhanger, for reasons I’ll discuss on a later date.)

As for the reveal that Vader was Luke’s father, I gather this was a huge shock for audiences at the time, as the prequels obviously didn’t exist when this movie first premiered, and there was nothing substantial to suggest it prior to that moment when Vader came out and revealed it. However, I honestly cannot remember how I reacted to that when I first saw the movie. Of course, I was probably around three when I first saw it, and by that point, I was able to watch the movies on a VHS tape. It might have been possible that I’d already been spoiled by the time I watched it, or I was too young to really grasp why that was such a big deal. I just don’t remember being shocked by it.

Also, it actually did surprise me how much I found myself loving Han/Leia during the rewatch I did in preparation for this review. Not that I was ever opposed to the pairing, of course. I guess I just never was that invested in it before. But this time, I found myself simply loving their dynamic. Maybe I was just noticing the numerous similarities to Captain Swan, my ultimate OTP, this time around. Because there were a LOT of parallels going on here. Either way, I can now safely say I’m a Han/Leia shipper.

Next week is Return of the Jedi. Which is probably the most interesting of the films, to say the least.

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#star wars #star wars episode 5 #star wars: the empire strikes back #star wars review #star wars franchise

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