@ebeth good points.

the empire parallels are many. i actually groaned at the opening crawl because, like, it was 90% describing ESB, and we just came off the previous film brazenly aping ANH.

but the film was decent. i enjoyed it more than TFA.

i think it's tragic to lose carrie fisher when we did; she played a major role in this story, and i just read she was originally intended to bottom-line IX. leia's become my favorite character. what a loss.

i also felt luke was shortchanged, not the major player i wanted him to be in this trilogy