It sounds like some of my brothers and sisters in Christ are torn on their desire to please the Lord through being lawful citizens and their desire to please the Lord through showing mercy to the immigrants.
My heart hurts a lot in this time, and that’s knowing where I fall on this issue. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you.
Here are some facts about the situation and some evidence of God’s heart that I hope helps you understand what is going on:
Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers.
You have to stick the landing.
Not only is it the end of an ambitious episode of Rebels, not only is it the end of a particular Rebels arc this season, but it’s also the end of an iconic Star Wars character and an iconic rivalry.
Maul’s impact on the Star Wars canon has been incredibly important from the get-go. It’s his appearance that reveals the presence of the Sith. It’s his actions that thrust Obi-Wan and Anakin together as Master and Padawan. It’s his “death” that cleared the way for Palpatine to start eyeing up young Skywalker.
In his return with The Clone Wars, his impact increased, though in a different manner. Try as he might, he never quite reached the scale of threat as Dooku and Sidious, but his effect began shaping the galaxy around the movies, adding nuance and depth to the events we saw in theaters.
A refinery blew this morning in the city where I work.
As of this writing, there have been injuries but no fatalities, and there is an ongoing evacuation of the surrounding area.
I drove into work this morning with no knowledge of the event, living across a bridge in a neighboring town. The first I heard was from a coworker at the college library, who asked me to keep families of the victims in prayer, and from there the news grew.
A companion post to an essay for Eleven-ThirtyEight
On one hand, I feel bad for Ewan McGregor. I mean, I’m allowed to change my hairstyle and get in shape without thousands of people interrogating me about my career path. For Force’s sake, let the man grow facial hair without demanding he fulfill all our fan-based desires.
On the other hand, I too am belting out a scream of “Kenobi” to rival even Darth Maul’s vocal acrobatics. I really, really want that Obi-Wan Kenobi movie.
“Plato’s Stepchildren” is best known for two things. It is the episode with the famous, (almost) first interracial kiss on TV between Kirk and Uhura. It is also hella weird; Kirk slaps himself dramatically (as only Shatner can), spends some time as a horse, and Spock does the flamingo dance, I think.
…This is starting to sound like a Snark Wars recap…
But I digress.
“Plato’s Stepchildren” is also my favorite episode in the Original Series. I unironically love it, because this episode stars the best one-off character in the entire show: Alexander. He’s a rare one-off character who gets a proper arc and agency within said arc.
Unmarked The Last Jedi Spoilers in this installment.
No other portion of this episode has been broken down quite as much as the final lightsaber duel. A thousand think pieces and YouTube videos have been made talking about Akira Kurosawa and the parallels to Qui-Gon’s death. As such, there’s not nearly as much that I can add to the conversation beyond what has already been said. Well, not as much in comparison to every other part of this close read. God willing, this installment might actually stay beneath 4,000 words.
So let’s start with a common topic broached when discussing this fight – classic filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
