the scene immediately following galenâs death is so important to me because it lays bare all the very deep ways in which jyn and cassian are flawed, and more importantly it demonstrates the way that their struggles are so similar but happen for opposite reasons.Â
jynâs in shock because she literally just watched her father die in her arms, but she says some things that are very, very indicative of the fact that she has trouble seeing past her own self-preservation. itâs about cassian killing her father. itâs about his lying to her. and sheâs selfish to a fault. when cassian says âyouâre not the only one whoâs lost everything,â he is calling jyn out, because sheâs unable to see past the gun and recognize that the trigger wasnât pulled. she doesnât recognize the way her life as a drifter has privileged her with the luxury of deciding who and what to care for and about. she may have lost everything, but all she lost was hers to begin with. and thatâs why she cares about losing it.Â
on the other hand, in this same scene, we see that if cassian has one flaw, itâs selflessness. because it is possible to be selfless to a fault, to give of yourself so completely that you lose the ability to stare in the mirror and recognize what you see. thatâs cassian. heâs imprisoned by his selflessness. he gave himself to the fight for the majority of his life, and in doing so, he surrendered a lot of his agency. jyn suggests heâs âno better than a stormtrooper,â which again is harsh because he didnât pull the trigger and sheâs too absorbed in the magnitude of her self-righteousness to realize the gravity of that, but it says a lot about who he has become. he follows every order even if it makes him so angry he can barely handle himself. he canât afford to be selfish because his survival is defined by his ability to give what is demanded of him.Â
AND THE BEST PART, the reason why this is THE BEST STAR WARS MOVIE OF ALL TIME, is that these are people who do not fall by virtue of their flaws, but by the correction of them in each other. this is a story about the broken mending the broken. the rebellion â you could even argue cassian himself, in that iconique âi couldnât face myself if i gave up nowâ scene during which i cried approximately 3 gallons of tears â teaches jyn the possibility of finding a home in a cause. and jyn, simultaneously, convinces him to be selfish, for once, to go against orders, to take what he has known all along is right.Â
they absolutely destroy the idea that heroism is about some great honorable sacrifice. itâs not. itâs about giving and taking.Â
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