Or, how I learned to accept “The Rise of Skywalker.” Spoilers ahead…

“Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.”

Those words from Kylo Ren, especially given the context of the film in which they’re said, would lead one to expect that — despite all evidence to the contrary — the Disney trilogy of Star Wars movies would end up taking a different narrative tact than the two Lucas trilogies.

Anyone who’s seen “The Rise of Skywalker” can tell you that’s obviously not the case.

The thing is, we should have known this.

Perhaps the most important plot point in “The Last Jedi” is the assertion that Rey is nobody, with no ties to any of the major characters of the Star Wars saga. And with that, we can believe that the Force can be used by anyone.

Of course, “Rise” changes all that to make Rey the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, thus narrowing the “important” characters to a couple select families.¹

Here’s the thing: the entire “Star Wars” saga — the movies created by George Lucas and the ones created by J.J. Abrams and even Rian Johnson — are based on so many coincidences and familial ties that we shouldn’t have been surprised when Rey’s family connection was revealed.²

Consider:

• Obi-Wan takes an infant Luke not only to the planet where his father grew up, but gives him to the couple with whom Luke’s grandmother used to live, and in the same home.
• Luke ends up with the protocol droid his father built as well as the astromech droid that Anakin used as a pilot.
• Chewbacca saved Yoda’s life when the Emperor turned the clones against the Jedi.
• The Millennium Falcon ends up on the same planet as Rey, plus Poe gets the map to Luke Skywalker on the same planet. And, of course, Jakku looks a lot like Tatooine, doesn’t it?

If you take a step back and really analyze the whole series, you see just how shaky the whole structure is.

But if you allow yourself to accept “Star Wars” for what it is — escapist entertainment — and let go of what it could be, the series as a whole becomes easier to accept.

Could “The Rise of Skywalker” been a better movie? Absolutely. It could have been less rushed, the story could have been more in sync with what came before, there could have been actual stakes for the main characters, there could have been better explanations for any number of questions (and questionable plot points), there could have been a less obvious reference to “Avengers: Endgame,” etc., etc.

But it is what it is. And given the way every movie seems to get remade eventually, maybe in 30 years we’ll be seeing the Skywalker saga reinvented.

I mean, let’s hope not.

The list

What better for this week’s list than to rank the Star Wars movies?³

Here they are, from best to worst:

1. The Empire Strikes Back

One could argue the point that without the first “Star Wars” movie, this one and the others don’t happen. But “Empire” edges out “A New Hope” because of a number of factors: better writing, better action and special effects, bigger stakes, and we get a broader view of the Star Wars universe. Still the gold standard.

2. A New Hope

Where it all started. Forty-plus years later, I can still remember that I missed the Falcon’s escape from the Death Star because I had to go to the bathroom. Saw this at the late great Stardust Drive-In Theatre.

3. Rogue One

Great visuals — not every “Star Wars” movie needs to take place on a desert planet. Cool characters and great new quotes — “I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.” And Darth Vader showing why he was so feared.

4. The Last Jedi

So, here’s where I start second-guessing myself. For the moment, I’m putting “The Last Jedi” this high because of the way it subverted a lot of the expectations one would have about a “Star Wars” movie. At the same time, some of those subversions are done away with before the movie even ends, with Luke projecting himself to Crait to “walk out with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order” and Kylo’s whole “killing the past” thing not holding up.

5. Return of the Jedi

When I first started writing this, I had “Return” a couple spots lower, because of 1) the Ewoks, and 2) Vader’s face turn and apparent defeat of the Emperor ended up meaning nothing thanks to “Rise.” But the first act, on Tatooine, is still really cool.

6. Revenge of the Sith

Another one I bumped up the list. I know it’s not cool to like the prequel trilogy, and there are a lot of issues with those films — mainly that we know what’s going to happen to all these characters, so there’s not a lot of suspense. Still, compared to the movies below it on my list, “Sith” has fewer issues for me? I guess?

7. The Force Awakens

Way too much of a rehash of “A New Hope,” and the scenes on the freighter with the space gangs and the Rathtars felt like they should have been in a different movie altogether. But at least the Emperor didn’t rise from the dead…

8. Solo

It’s not really that great a movie, but at least we got more Han Solo. So it’s got that going for it…

9. The Phantom Menace

Ooh, talk about your hot takes! I know that “Phantom” has been universally decreed the worst of the prequel trilogy, but the lightsaber duel with Darth Maul facing Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan beats the lightsaber fights in “Attack of the Clones” for me. Yes, even the one where Yoda is bouncing around against Count Dooku. Plus, Darth Maul is a much more badass name than Count Dooku.

10. Attack of the Clones

OK, I swapped “Clones” and “Rise” a number of times here. I guess it comes down to this — and I know this is contrary to what I wrote above — but expectations were much higher for the “final Skywalker movie” than they were for the second prequel film. And “Rise” didn’t, well, rise to the occasion.⁴

11. The Rise of Skywalker

Just a few of the things that don’t work:

• If you’re going to kill Chewbacca, then kill Chewbacca. Don’t act like he’s dead and then trot him out two minutes later with “oh, there was another transport.”
• C-3PO’s brain was wiped before, at the end of “Revenge of the Sith.” He turned out fine then, why should we have been worried so much this time?
• Why didn’t they just give Poe a vest to wear since he’s a ripoff of Han, anyway?

NOTE: This list is likely to grow. You’ve been warned.