New Empire vs New rebellion in the sequels: Biggest mistake?

[Elfdart]

A thought has just occurred to me. Perhaps instead of having one director across all three films, they should have had one writer across all three films - a quick glance at Wikipedia tells me TFA was Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan and JJ Abrams, TLJ was just RIan Johnson and ROS was Terrio and Abrams.

Is it any wonder the ST wound up being a crapshoot when in addition to different directors, you had five different writers working on things.

It stems from something I've thought for a while now - we always like to talk about how xyz director did on such and such a film when they can only work with the script/story they have been given. You can take someone like, say, Spielberg or Cameron and give them a rubbish script/story and you'll still get a bad story, though one that's at least filmed well. Give a great script to a mediocre director and you'll get a good story at least.

Frankly I'd have been happy with Abrams or Johnson directing all three films if someone else had done the script - the fact that Kasdan was involved with TFA is surprising given how good a job he did working with Lucas on ESB and ROTJ.

Writers don't have authority in films. They get overrided by directors all the time. So you need someone who can hold the directors in line, and that's basically the producer/suits of the company, which in this case is Kennedy.

But in order to hold the directors in line, you need the producer to take an active interest in the creative vision of the entire trilogy...which was not something Kennedy ever seem interested in.

Indeed. There's a very old joke in Hollywood about the blonde starlet who was so dumb ("How dumb was she?") that she tried to get more lines by blowing the writer.

[Elfdart]

Anyway, I think neither Edwards nor Howard bring anything spectacularly new to the table, but they did make movies that were entertaining and action packed which is a helluva lot more than any SW movie has done for me since the OT. Rogue one more than Solo but I don't think my personal likes or dislikes about those two movies have any real bearing on this thread.
Not much more I have to say about it. All SW movies have something I like, somethings I don't and it really just boils down to are the good bits good enough so I overlook the stuff I don't like. Actually to be honest I have a hard time thinking of anything I like about the Rise of Skywalker... and I'm not rewatching it to see if there is something. As to Lucas... his track record for me is pretty 50/50 so yea maybe it would be better if he was still in charge but at this point it's a bit of a should've, would've, could've.

-Gunhead

I thought Rogue One was fun, but just empty calories really. Solo is OK as long as you can block from your mind that the main character is the same Han Solo that Harrison Ford played. I haven't watched Rise of Skywalker and I'm not in any hurry to do so.

[MKSheppard]

I thought Rogue One was fun, but just empty calories really. Solo is OK as long as you can block from your mind that the main character is the same Han Solo that Harrison Ford played. I haven't watched Rise of Skywalker and I'm not in any hurry to do so.

Solo's big problem is that Ehrenreich doesn't really look enough like Harrison Ford, among other things.

The main issue is, that it needed more time to "cook" in the development shed. Disney's as much to blame; they wanted a Han Solo spinoff to fill a slot in the release schedule; whereas Lucas took nearly 20 years to get ready for the Prequels.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'd just as soon have Jerry Sandusky coach my nephew's Little League team.

The whole reset of the milieu is bad, but it's just a symptom of a much larger problem:

Star Wars is George Lucas, and without him, they've got nothing. The setting, the characters, the story are all distilled from Lucas' imagination, life experience, likes and dislikes, his worldview, his daddy issues and even his weird fixation on midgets. What did Abrams, Johnson, Edwards or Howard bring to the party?

I don't know who Jerry Sandusky is and I'm too lazy to google him.

Coach who raped a bunch of kids.

Yes, Elfdart is comparing Rian Johnson making a movie he didn't like to serial child molestation.

Yes, its as tasteless as it souunds.

[Darth Yan]

Even Lucas needed guidance. Marcia Lucas helped, as did Kasden.

Lucas is an idea guy but he has trouble with dialogue and characters. It’s why the prequels had a good idea but flawed execution.

But yes. Kennedy’s a good producer but you need someone with passion and as is she’s a suit

I mentioned Doomsday Clock a while back. While you can argue whether or not Watchmen needed a sequel it was clear that Geoff Johns respected it and as such for all its flaws it also felt relatively faithful (characters who were in character, world building that had strong points). In short Johns at least tried to do it honor rather than crank out shit for a paycheck

[ray245]

Even Lucas needed guidance. Marcia Lucas helped, as did Kasden.

Lucas is an idea guy but he has trouble with dialogue and characters. It’s why the prequels had a good idea but flawed execution.

But yes. Kennedy’s a good producer but you need someone with passion and as is she’s a suit

I mentioned Doomsday Clock a while back. While you can argue whether or not Watchmen needed a sequel it was clear that Geoff Johns respected it and as such for all its flaws it also felt relatively faithful (characters who were in character, world building that had strong points). In short Johns at least tried to do it honor rather than crank out shit for a paycheck

You need someone with a clear creative vision from the get-go, and shut down directors if they fail to be on the same page regarding creative vision.

[The Romulan Republic]

I think some allowances do have to be made for differing directorial styles and ideas. No director with any talent and integrity is going to want to work on a Star Wars film if they're effectively stuffed into a creative straight-jacket. Major plot points and themes, however, are something everyone should be on board with, and if there is going to be misdirection/twists, that needs to be set up carefully, not as one film clumsily retconning another at the last minute.

Granted, the OT made up a lot of stuff as it went (the revelation of Vader being Luke's father, which largely defined the last two thirds of the trilogy and ultimately the entire Saga to some extent, was not in the original plan, nor was Leia being Luke's sister). But that may be more luck, and its probably better not to wing it if you can help it.

For example, the following is an outline, for the ST, of more or less what I think everyone should have been on the same page about:

1. Who is our primary antagonist? Is it Kylo, Snoke, or Palpatine?

2. Who is our primary protagonist? (They actually do seem to have been pretty consistent on this one)

3. What is Rey's background? Is she a Skywalker, Solo, Nobody, or Palpatine?

4. Is Ben/Kylo going to get a redemption arc?

5. Are we going to ship Ben/Rey? If so, have we written the characters in a way where that will be convincing, and not undercut either character's development? This also goes for any other ship involving the main protagonist.

6. Are we going to kill off Han, Luke, and Leia (obviously, this might have been changed by Fisher's death)?

7. Why is Luke absent at the start?

8. What is our overall approach to the Force, and the theme of Light vs Dark? Do we take a traditional dualistic approach? A revisionist moral relativist approach?

9. Related to the above, what is our overall approach to Star Wars' history? Are we making an homage, continuation, or deconstruction?

10. Related to the above, what fan base are we making these films for? Are we trying strictly to appeal to older OT fans/"purists"? Are we aiming for positive critical reception and awards? Are we trying to make kids' movies/family films? Are we trying to broaden the audience to new demographics? If so, who? Are we trying to make films that have something for everybody (I think this is what they were trying to do, but its probably the hardest to pull off successfully)? And how will what we are doing in all of the above appeal to the group/groups in question?

[Lord Revan]

Yeah with the "making something for everyone" it's really easy to end up making something that appeals to no-one

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah with the "making something for everyone" it's really easy to end up making something that appeals to no-one

And there, in a nutshell, is the problem, I think: that the people in charge didn't really have a game plan beyond "Make Star Wars movies the fans will like, make lots of money." As a business plan, that doesn't sound bad on paper, but its not so much a bad creative plan as the absence of one, and it ended up hurting the business end of things because people could tell the films were incoherent and pandering, not to mention ugly shit like cutting a POC because racists predictably whinged about it loudly on the internet.

Almost any game plan would have been better, if they'd had the will to stick to it.

[ray245]

I think some allowances do have to be made for differing directorial styles and ideas. No director with any talent and integrity is going to want to work on a Star Wars film if they're effectively stuffed into a creative straight-jacket. Major plot points and themes, however, are something everyone should be on board with, and if there is going to be misdirection/twists, that needs to be set up carefully, not as one film clumsily retconning another at the last minute.

Granted, the OT made up a lot of stuff as it went (the revelation of Vader being Luke's father, which largely defined the last two thirds of the trilogy and ultimately the entire Saga to some extent, was not in the original plan, nor was Leia being Luke's sister). But that may be more luck, and its probably better not to wing it if you can help it.

Marvel managed to do it. Lucas managed to do it with the OT. All it takes is for a producer to have a clear vision and communicating it clearly to their directors. It's fine to change things as you go along, but you still need to have a broad vision of what you want the movies to be about.

10. Related to the above, what fan base are we making these films for? Are we trying strictly to appeal to older OT fans/"purists"? Are we aiming for positive critical reception and awards? Are we trying to make kids' movies/family films? Are we trying to broaden the audience to new demographics? If so, who? Are we trying to make films that have something for everybody (I think this is what they were trying to do, but its probably the hardest to pull off successfully)? And how will what we are doing in all of the above appeal to the group/groups in question?

A good business strategy would be to expand Star Wars to a new generation, and let the OT fanbase whine about it. Because while the OT fanbase might whine very loudly on the Internet and threaten to boycott Star Wars, they will still watch the movies in the cinema. The people that won't are the people who aren't Star Wars fans. A good strategy will be making Star Wars films that is actually accessible to an audience that have never seen Star Wars before.

And there, in a nutshell, is the problem, I think: that the people in charge didn't really have a game plan beyond "Make Star Wars movies the fans will like, make lots of money." As a business plan, that doesn't sound bad on paper, but its not so much a bad creative plan as the absence of one, and it ended up hurting the business end of things because people could tell the films were incoherent and pandering, not to mention ugly shit like cutting a POC because racists predictably whinged about it loudly on the internet.

Almost any game plan would have been better, if they'd had the will to stick to it.

It's not even a good business plan on paper. It's plain short-sightedness because they want to maximise profit for Ep 7, but that comes at the expense of losing more money for Ep 9.

A good business strategy would be one that actually grows your business in the long-run. You eat some loss in the short-term, and gain more of it in the long run.

But they didn't even execute the short-term plan well. What the OT-fans want to see the most is Luke coming back as this awesome Jedi master...which is something they didn't really get. Neither did they use the opportunity to actually develop the new characters well enough that they can stand on their own either.

How much spin-off material can they really sell with Finn, Rey and Poe?

[The Romulan Republic]

Its hard for me to envision a satisfactory way forward simply because I don't want to recognize RoS as part of continuity, but I do think you could tell interesting stories with the new characters. Just fill the gaps the ST should have filled.

Rey: How does Rey build a new Jedi Order? DOES she? What identity does she forge for herself? How does she deal with the emotional after-effects of dying, being resurrected, and Ben's redemption/death (while remembering that he was also someone who abducted her and tried to kill her and her loved ones)? Or of being a Palpatine? You know, literally everything the final film should have been about.

The bad news with Rey is she has no coherent arc. The good news is a subsequent work could still tell that story, if it was motivated to try.

Finn: He's the one I've got the least for, because his growth feels complete to me after TLJ, and they pretty much dropped the Rey or Rose romance plots. It would have been nice, as some have suggested, seeing him inspiring other First Order soldiers to revolt, the logical continuation of his arc to that point (from First Order soldier, to frightened deserter, to being committed to Rey and Poe personally, to committing fully to the cause of the Resistance). But it seems a bit late to do that now. Maybe make him someone working to free others who have been enslaved, whether by the FO or others, but making the black guy's plot be all about slavery feels a bit stereotypical.

Poe: Show Poe struggling with the duties of a political administrator and leader- a hotshot pilot now risen to the point where he's piloting a desk. Show him struggling with the same decisions Leia and Holdo had to- whether to send people to their deaths or not. And finding it harder to do so because he knows that he'll have to stay safely behind at HQ while they go to their deaths on his orders, and that bothers him far more than being in the thick of the fighting would.

You can give him and Finn a romance to make the shippers happy too, since they pretty much threw Rey/Finn and Rose/Finn aside (and I'm willing to bet this was another thing done at least in part to appease racists- having the white woman get together with the black man is a no-go if you're trying to appease those people).

Rose: Address the fact that Rose was sidelined in-universe. Have Rose trying to figure out how she fits in compared to all these legendary heroes around her. And show that she is worth every bit as much as they are.

These are, of course, just some possible ideas.

[ray245]

Its hard for me to envision a satisfactory way forward simply because I don't want to recognize RoS as part of continuity, but I do think you could tell interesting stories with the new characters. Just fill the gaps the ST should have filled.

Rey: How does Rey build a new Jedi Order? DOES she? What identity does she forge for herself? How does she deal with the emotional after-effects of dying, being resurrected, and Ben's redemption/death (while remembering that he was also someone who abducted her and tried to kill her and her loved ones)? Or of being a Palpatine? You know, literally everything the final film should have been about.

The bad news with Rey is she has no coherent arc. The good news is a subsequent work could still tell that story, if it was motivated to try.

Finn: He's the one I've got the least for, because his growth feels complete to me after TLJ, and they pretty much dropped the Rey or Rose romance plots. It would have been nice, as some have suggested, seeing him inspiring other First Order soldiers to revolt, the logical continuation of his arc to that point (from First Order soldier, to frightened deserter, to being committed to Rey and Poe personally, to committing fully to the cause of the Resistance). But it seems a bit late to do that now. Maybe make him someone working to free others who have been enslaved, whether by the FO or others, but making the black guy's plot be all about slavery feels a bit stereotypical.

Poe: Show Poe struggling with the duties of a political administrator and leader- a hotshot pilot now risen to the point where he's piloting a desk. Show him struggling with the same decisions Leia and Holdo had to- whether to send people to their deaths or not. And finding it harder to do so because he knows that he'll have to stay safely behind at HQ while they go to their deaths on his orders, and that bothers him far more than being in the thick of the fighting would.

You can give him and Finn a romance to make the shippers happy too, since they pretty much threw Rey/Finn and Rose/Finn aside (and I'm willing to bet this was another thing done at least in part to appease racists- having the white woman get together with the black man is a no-go if you're trying to appease those people).

Rose: Address the fact that Rose was sidelined in-universe. Have Rose trying to figure out how she fits in compared to all these legendary heroes around her. And show that she is worth every bit as much as they are.

These are, of course, just some possible ideas.

The point is there isn't that big of an audience demand for new stories of those characters. You can still write stories about them, but how many people will be interested in buying their novels and etc?

[chimericoncogene]

Ahsoka Tano was so broadly loved that a cartoon character got a friggin' novel.

[Civil War Man]

And there, in a nutshell, is the problem, I think: that the people in charge didn't really have a game plan beyond "Make Star Wars movies the fans will like, make lots of money." As a business plan, that doesn't sound bad on paper, but its not so much a bad creative plan as the absence of one

My favorite quote regarding plans like that is a line from the character of Benjamin King in Saints Row 4: "That's not a plan, that's a goal."

The point is there isn't that big of an audience demand for new stories of those characters. You can still write stories about them, but how many people will be interested in buying their novels and etc?

Also, even if there was an audience demand for more stories with these characters, several of the actors, particularly Oscar Isaac and John Boyega, have signaled a distinct lack of interest in reprising their roles, so Disney may not even be able to tell those stories outside of books unless they have enough of the actors still locked into contracts or they do some mass recasting. The problem with the former is that with some notable exceptions, an actor's performance tends to be negatively impacted if they are miserable throughout production, and the problem with the latter is that if you have to recast most or all of the roles, you may as well just tell a story with different characters.

[ray245]

Also, even if there was an audience demand for more stories with these characters, several of the actors, particularly Oscar Isaac and John Boyega, have signaled a distinct lack of interest in reprising their roles, so Disney may not even be able to tell those stories outside of books unless they have enough of the actors still locked into contracts or they do some mass recasting. The problem with the former is that with some notable exceptions, an actor's performance tends to be negatively impacted if they are miserable throughout production, and the problem with the latter is that if you have to recast most or all of the roles, you may as well just tell a story with different characters.

And this is why I think the whole set up for the Sequel era is financially damaging to Disney. Their entire strategy revolves around having an entire era to build upon and to explore. But they done it in a way that no one cares about the era and its characters.

Even their sequel era cartoon aimed at kids didn't do too well either. So they might end up losing not just the older generation of fans, but also losing the opportunity to gain fans from the kids today.

[The Romulan Republic]

And there, in a nutshell, is the problem, I think: that the people in charge didn't really have a game plan beyond "Make Star Wars movies the fans will like, make lots of money." As a business plan, that doesn't sound bad on paper, but its not so much a bad creative plan as the absence of one

My favorite quote regarding plans like that is a line from the character of Benjamin King in Saints Row 4: "That's not a plan, that's a goal."

The point is there isn't that big of an audience demand for new stories of those characters. You can still write stories about them, but how many people will be interested in buying their novels and etc?

Also, even if there was an audience demand for more stories with these characters, several of the actors, particularly Oscar Isaac and John Boyega, have signaled a distinct lack of interest in reprising their roles, so Disney may not even be able to tell those stories outside of books unless they have enough of the actors still locked into contracts or they do some mass recasting. The problem with the former is that with some notable exceptions, an actor's performance tends to be negatively impacted if they are miserable throughout production, and the problem with the latter is that if you have to recast most or all of the roles, you may as well just tell a story with different characters.

I think there's room to use a TV show, even an animated one with different voice actors, to fill in the gaps and follow up on the ST. The Clone Wars did a lot to rehabilitate the Prequels' reputation with the die hard fans, IIRC. Then maybe in 10 or 15 years, when the anger has died down and nostalgia's had a chance to set in, the actors will feel more inclined to come back.

I don't blame them for wanting to stay away, though, especially now. I wouldn't even if the ST scripts were pure gold. Star Wars is a huge thing that can take over an actor's whole life and career, and most actors don't want to be defined by a single role. And in addition, the fan base is so fucking toxic. Why subject yourself to that if you don't have to?

Star Wars does seem to have a particular pattern though of driving actors away. Alec Guiness only wanted to be in one film. Harrison Ford was asking to be killed off since RotJ. Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best were driven out by the viciousness of the fandom toward their characters and them personally in the Prequels. And now the ST. Part of that is no doubt just the usual fatigue, or not wanting to be type cast, or not regarding Star Wars as "serious" films- but part of that is certainly the toxic fanbase, especially in the last couple decades.

This is what the fandom gatekeepers are doing to Star Wars. Far from "honouring" the OT or protecting its purity, they're gatekeeping so well that they're driving the talent away.

[The Romulan Republic]

There is a pattern with Star Wars, though: Every new film, you have a group of die hards who hate it and say it ruined the franchise. A few years go by, and it becomes, if not loved, at least accepted, for the most part. New works build on it and strengthen it, give it depth. And then eventually the next era of the franchise begins, and those films are denounced for ruining the franchise, and people star talking about how the previous films were so much better.

I bet you the same thing will happen again, and in ten or twenty years we'll be talking about how the ST was so good and how the new films are ruining it- although I do think TLJ and Rogue One will age better than any of the other Disney films, much in the way that RotS is widely regarded as the strongest of the Prequels.

[Patroklos]

When it comes to future story telling you guys are forgetting that the ST arc did not book end the setting, just specific characters.

All of the badguys in RoS with the exception of Kylo were new inserts of that movie, and the only FO asset lost is a single Star Destroyer. Essentially, the bad guy situation is exactly the same at the end of RoS as it was opening of RoS minus Kylo. The good guy situation is still underdog, but now with a united and motivated ragtag good guy fleet. Two forces primed to duke it out.

This is a perfect setup for continued storytelling. Or at least it would be if the movies that got us there inspired more than eyerolls or yawns or both from the audience.

[The Romulan Republic]

It is actually. The RoS changed so little that a new film could, theoretically, tell the story that should have been told in RoS, except for Kylo.

Which shows what a pointless and disjointed film it really was.

[Galvatron]

All of the badguys in RoS with the exception of Kylo were new inserts of that movie, and the only FO asset lost is a single Star Destroyer.

They lost more than one. At least two of the three ships shown being destroyed at the end of TROS were Resurgents (over Bespin and Endor, but maybe not the one at Jakku). I think that was clearly meant to illustrate that the First Order was being toppled all over the galaxy, not just at Exegol.







That last one looks more like an ISD (which means it was probably a Xyston). Or am I mistaken?

[The Romulan Republic]

The middle one looks a lot like someone repeated the Holdo Maneuver. Nice.

It doesn't erase the many ways the film shit on TLJ, or shit on Anakin's story by bringing back Palpatine in the flesh, or especially the racism of things like making Poe an ex-drug dealer or most of all cutting Rose's role.

But that is a nice shot.

[Patroklos]

I did forget about that montage, good catch. Why would anyone be fighting over Endor? Or Jakku? As far as we know on screen only a single rescaled ISD-I made it out of bullshit planet, so I guess that's it.

And that callback to TLJ essentially destroys the desperate rationalizations as to why that wasn't a universe breaking canon retcon, which was either 1.) The shields of Raddus made it possible and Holdo didn't actually expect what happened to happen 2.) Holdo was just that awesome that only she could pull the maneuver off or 3.) it was just stupid luck.

Now it's just a thing anyone can do on cue. Including the FO? Well, it doesn't look like capital ships are a thing in SW anymore. Or planets for that matter, no reason it wouldn't work on them either.

[Galvatron]

It doesn't erase the many ways the film shit on TLJ, or shit on Anakin's story by bringing back Palpatine in the flesh, or especially the racism of things like making Poe an ex-drug dealer or most of all cutting Rose's role.

Meh. Whether I liked it or not, LFL's old canon policy forced me to accept Palpatine's return decades ago and that was long before Anakin was turned into some prophesied savior by the prequels.

In either version of events, I disagree about Palpatine's survival undermining Vader's sacrifice and redemption. Simply killing the Emperor was never a redemptive act since he had expressed a desire to do that anyway (which is why he wanted Luke to join him in TESB), plus it was an established Sith tradition for handling succession.

As I see it, Luke had just emphatically rejected the dark side of the Force even though doing so had basically sealed his fate. He had just thrown his lightsaber away and was no match for the Emperor.

Vader could have then just watched impassively as Palpatine fried Luke to death, secure in the knowledge that he would remain as the Emperor's apprentice and de facto heir in an everlasting Sith dynasty.

That's when Vader made the choice that would redeem him: he knowingly and willingly sacrificed his own future and his own life to save his son. That's the true culmination of Vader's arc, not the temporary death of Palpatine.

In my opinion.

[The Romulan Republic]

I did forget about that montage, good catch. Why would anyone be fighting over Endor? Or Jakku? As far as we know on screen only a single rescaled ISD-I made it out of bullshit planet, so I guess that's it.

Its an attempt to ape the Special Edition of RotJ's ending, obviously, and try to wrap up in a montage what they didn't in the film.

And that callback to TLJ essentially destroys the desperate rationalizations as to why that wasn't a universe breaking canon retcon, which was either 1.) The shields of Raddus made it possible and Holdo didn't actually expect what happened to happen 2.) Holdo was just that awesome that only she could pull the maneuver off or 3.) it was just stupid luck.

Now it's just a thing anyone can do on cue. Including the FO? Well, it doesn't look like capital ships are a thing in SW anymore. Or planets for that matter, no reason it wouldn't work on them either.

You're ex-military, yes? Then you should be aware that military technology and tactics evolve. Then someone comes up with a counter to them. To suggest that the Holdo Maneuver was a one time thing that could absolutely never be replicated no matter what... just because would surely be far more absurd than to recognize that, yeah, someone invented something new.

And no, it won't render capital ships irrelevant, for a few reasons.

1. Capital ships are still useful as mobile bases for starfighters and planetary assaults.

2. Capital ships are still useful for planetary bombardment once you've gained orbital supremacy.

3. Its questionable how much gravity wells still affect hyperdrives in the current canon, but to the extent that they do, that will limit the effectiveness of this maneuver. Potentially all this means is that interdictors just became way more tactically important.

4. You may very well need a big ship ramming in order to create the effect, at least on that scale.

Its probably a difficult maneuver. It probably wouldn't be used often. But its good to see it acknowledged, not just brushed under the rug.

Personally, I like the idea that the Star Wars universe isn't static, although the "purists" obviously disagree.

[Civil War Man]

You're ex-military, yes? Then you should be aware that military technology and tactics evolve. Then someone comes up with a counter to them. To suggest that the Holdo Maneuver was a one time thing that could absolutely never be replicated no matter what... just because would surely be far more absurd than to recognize that, yeah, someone invented something new.

I think one of the problems people have with that explanation is that in-universe hyperspace travel has been a ubiquitous part of galactic society for thousands of years, yet Holdo is apparently the first person to figure out how to weaponize it. If hyperdrive were a recent invention, or much less commonplace, I could easily see it as Holdo cooking up a new tactic, but it's about as fundamental to Star Wars society as the wheel is to ours. It would be like an alternate history Earth where last year Mattis becomes the first person in human history to figure out that a country could use vehicles to bolster the fighting strength of their military.

Not to say that the attempt at a hasty retcon was any better. As I've heard pointed out elsewhere, that whole "one in a million" throwaway line completely re-contextualizes Holdo's sacrifice as cowardice, since she surely would have been aware of the astronomically low odds of success, which means she would be aware that she would much more likely just be running away and leaving the rest of the resistance behind to die while she saved her own skin.