SW-TLJ: My problem with Holdo

I think I’ve spent a good chunk of the last three or four months trying to wrap my mind around why it is that the character of Vice Admiral Holdo so bothers me. No one element really stands out, and really, individually any of my complaints quickly fall before a basic argument of ‘that’s realistic’, or ‘that was the point of the character’.  Yet, the more I think about it, the more I find myself bothered by her and her actions, and I am left with the opinion that she even brings down the film some measure.

The Numbers

So, lets start with the numbers. If you go to the transcript of the movie and search for “AMILYN HOLDO”, you see 16 hits. In total, this is a character with a total of sixteen lines in a film that is creeping up on three hours. A screen time breakdown at IMDB.com shows she had a total screen time of 5 minutes and 15 seconds. So again, this is supporting character with limited dramatic impact on the story (and to be fair, so was admiral Acbar, but he was seen as a wildly popular figure, so I’m not knocking anyone on the numbers alone).

How do I go about this other than to say “I don’t like her”? I mean, I don’t, but how do I objectively quantify that for the purposes of conversation.

Really, the more I think about it, I think it is the contrast in story telling methods between the original trilogy and the newest installments.

The conflict was from without, not just from within.

From a stylistic standpoint, this is the first thing that strikes me. In the original trilogy, we don’t have open descent within the ranks. We have talk, we have opinions, we have banter, but not once do we see the major, or even the supporting players in the rebellion coming to blows (verbally or physically) over a situation. At the battle of Yavin, we see very tense rebellion pilots sitting through a very detailed briefing. Sure, its not all roses and candies, (“that’s impossible, even for a computer!”, Wedge Antillies) but its clear they all agree what has to be done. At the battle of Hoth, with an imperial mechanized force baring down on them, we see Leia herself directing the pilots as they make their escape. And at Endore, we see the rebellion command staff shift gears and go on a desperate offensive only a few seconds after realizing they had flow right into the teeth of an imperial trap. When Luke was lost on Hoth, there was no debate about what had to be done when it was time to close the doors, and when the rebel commandos were captured on the ground on endure, Hand and Leia  (who’s whole relationship across two movies was characterized by squabbling) instantly worked together to regain the upper hand.

Also there wasn’t really that much descent on the imperial side. Yes, Vader kept a short leash on his subordinates, but even then we didn’t see open conflict between officers. Probably the closest thing we see to a fight within the ranks is in TESB when the naval staff are arguing as to if the image of the Hoth base is even worth investigating. And lets be fair, that conversation lasted only a few seconds and didn’t really shape the plot much at all.

But what do we have here in TLJ?

First of all, the real indicator that we were in a different age with different people is when Poe and Leia argue over the original dreadnought run. That right there was a whole different dynamic than what we saw three decades ago.

And then, we come back and revisit that sticking point when Poe first meets Vice Admiral Holdo.  She’s dismissive, and condescending to him. That carries over later on when Poe leads an armed mutiny against her. These are the types of things that were never have even been hinted at in the original trilogy, and here we see it as a centerpiece of the action.

Now, speaking strictly objectively, we also see this starting off the last act of Rogue One, when the rebellion more or less ignored the orders of the leadership and set out on the mission that would make the whole plot of ANH possible. To be clear, I loved Rogue one, and have said several times that “its not a Star Wars story. Its a war story set in the Star Wars universe,” and as a war movie fan, that works for me on so many different levels.

But when we come back to Holdo, she serves as an abrupt, confrontational figure within the ‘good guys’ themselves.  She’s dismissive, condescending, and generally antithetical to the type of ‘good vs evil’ story frameworkset down by the original trilogy.

We don’t know the plan.

One thing I can say about the original trilogy is that it showed you its hand early on in the game. Really, the only times where there was a plan and we didn’t know it, it was with Han, and I believe that was deliberately done to show his rebellious attitude about situations. But with the main story, we are there in the room with the pilots for the briefing on the original Death Star, we hear Leia spell out the escape plan during the defence of Hoth, and we have a detailed layout of the strategy being used over and on Endore. Even the prequels go to great lengths to give us an idea of the plans going forward. Its only when Palpatine makes his final move to consolidate power in ROTS are we really caught without a clearly defined path forward, and even then, we soon have a direction when Yoda explains that he has to go into hiding after the latest events.

TLJ, however, elects to build tension for its middle two acts (depending on how you break the movie down) by not telling us the plan. And more to the point, the only thing the movie does tell us is that Vice Admiral Holdo is the one with the plan., and she’s ‘playing her cards close to her chest’, to put it politely.

Objectively, this thematic style could, and has worked in various movies, games and books. I won’t knock it because it is valid and it has its positives.

But for me, at least, it doesn’t work here, because is so separates me, the viewer, from the narrative methods of the Lucas written stories, and positions a presumptively friendly character between us and the solution.

Holdo’s attitude stinks

When it comes to character chemistry in the original trilogy, Lucas has a very clear idea of who should be smarting off to who, and really, the sharpest words were exchanged between people who were already shooting at each other usually. The closest thing we have open insults between good guys are when Leah calls Han a ‘scruffy looking nerf herder”, and even that comes off with comedic results thanks to Han’s “I don’t care’ personality. People talk favorably about the ‘good guys’ and poorly about the ‘bad guys’. The dialogue in these films is clean, fun, fast, and in line with the story where insults are saved for people we would probably be shooting at anyway.

The writing in TLJ, however, shows us our hero (Poe Dameron) butting heads with the Vice Admiral while Holdo insults, demeans, and alienates Poe and us.

Really, two things about her choice of engagements bothered me here.

She more or less blows him off during their initial meeting, at first reminding him of his recent demotion, and then telling him that he and people like him are the last thing the resistance needs just then.  Sure, she’s within her rights to do this, but the hour when the resistance has its back to the wall is not the time anyone should go out of they way to antagonize one of their best starfighter pilots, and by extension many of the starfighter pilots of the fleet.

Secondly, when Holdo does elect to respond Poe’s demand for answers, she does so by weakly invoking Leia.

Holdo: “When I served under Leia, she would say, hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it....”

If you look at the words here, the way she phrased the question, she’s accusing Poe Dameron of giving up, of not having hope. What she needs is for people to trust he, but for whatever reason you want to infer, she doesn’t ask for that, or demand it, or even address it.

Rather than engage Poe with an admission that she needs to say something to him (and the fleet), she turned the whole situation around and treats everyone like itsd their fault that they don’t believe in her, even though we are not given any real reason to believe she’s actually capable of pulling them out of this.

While Poe’s shoot-from-the-hip, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants personality may well not be what the fleet needs just then, neither is Admiral Holdo’s condescending, 'you are the problem here, not me" attitude.

The Vice Admiral’s actual military conduct is lacking, a lot.

You don’t have to be a career military officer to see that there are some major logic gaps in Holdo’s conduct in the film.

First of all, why is she event talking to Poe in the first place?

Now, if you’re not following me on this, hear me out, because its not small.

The first thing Holdo does in her conversation is remind Poe that he was demoted. Now, the movie doesn’t say all of what ranks are between “Commander” and “Captain”, but I think it’s safe to say it was more than ‘a few’ steps.

So here is why she shouldn’t even be talking to him.

If he actually was bucked down a full rank, that should have meant he lost his job. As in, the starfighter wing, or group, or squadron he was in charge of, that would have been taken over by his executive officer and he would have taken the next slot, if there even was one. Holdo should have looked at him and told him to go through his commanding officer.

This isn’t a small deal. In the middle of a crisis is NOT the time for junior officers to jump the chain of command.

But what does she lose by engaging him, especially since she’s blowing him off or talking down to him?

Well, the answer there is, a lot. The fact is that time is a commodity in the military, and when a superior officer is willing to give you their time, that in itself says something. By continuing to talk to Poe, she’s in effect recognizing that he’s still the most important fighter pilot in the fleet, and completely undercutting the impact of the demotion. In fact, that is probably part of why Poe was able to win over the mutineers he did.

On top of that, never once does she put her foot down and invoke her rank. There is a marked difference between saying “I am in charge” and “you don’t deserve an answer from me”. Both are categorically true, especially in a military setting. But one is about legal power vested in a superior officer, the other is about putting the onus of compliance on the crew, a crew who are largely already following her, blindly, and with death nipping at her heals.

Princess Amidala took the reigns of control and lead from the front as she fought to retake the palace in TPM, and Leia knew how to establish command of a situation with her own innate force of personality. Love or hate either of them, there was no question who was in charge, and if in doubt you could just ask them.

Holdo, however never even says that she actually has a plan, Poe tells us when he finds out for himself and confronts her about it.

In short, she's not a leader, and she clearly doesn’t comport herself like a senior officer, either.

She's Juvenile

The last moments of Holdo's fleeting screen time show her being cornered by Poe and a number of other resistance officers who drawn down on her, forcibly taking command of the ship in what they believe is a better shot at saving their lives. The mutiny is put down when Leia emerges from the hospital and stuns Poe.

In the next scene we see two orderlies carrying an unconscious Poe Dameron onto a shuttle. As they do, a smiling Vice Admiral Holdo comments. "That one's a troublemaker. I like him."

I found "I like him" to drip with the type of two-faced politicking of schoolyard politics of old. I was left wondering 'where was this respect or admiration when you were egging him on or talking down to him?" To me, the whole scene smacked of 'lets smooth things over with the boss" more than any honest admiration.

And if there was honest admiration, where the hell did it come from?

Wrapping up

In the end, my problems with Holdo as a person are admittedly ones of personal opinion. But that being said, I don't like her. I don't like her attitude, the way she handles the situation, or the way she engaged with Poe Dameron (and believe me, I'm hardly any sort of fan of Poe either). I'm sure she would have thrived in a more professional military setting where loyalty if cooked into the equation and people are as expendable and obedient as you need them to be. But in an insurgent confederation of different ships, races, skill sets and people, iron-fisted, "I said so, that's why" edicts from the top echelon of the movement hearken to the very attitudes the resistance is trying to do away with.

Was there likely a Holdo in the background of rebel or resistance battles before this? I'm almost certain there was. But here, the writer chose to point Holdo at us and make her part of the story, breaking away from convention and narrative benchmarks established decades ago.

Creatively, it is the director's decision, and I don't claim any right or power to change it.

But as a viewer, I can say I noticed, and that I didn't care for her part of the story at all.