Desert, Stormtrooper.
“There’s been an Awakening…”
Is the Force with him?
The Force Awakens –
Not only about Rey but
Also about Finn.
Raiding a village
One trooper’s helmet is marked
by a bloody hand.
Panic takes over.
Disoriented by the
Destruction and Death.
Villagers murdered
but one stormtrooper does not
fire his blaster
On the Destroyer,
FN-2187
removes his helmet
A reprimand from,
chrome armored Captain Phasma
“Submit your blaster…”
Wanting to escape,
FN-2187
frees a prisoner.
TIE Fighter stolen.
The two exchange pleasantries:
FN becomes Finn.
Back to Jakku but
their Fighter is hit, crashes.
Finn is ejected.
Desert Wanderer –
Stripping armor, leaving his
old life in the sand.
Happabore water,
disgusting but thirst quenching.
No germs I suppose?
A woman attacked.
Finn comes to the rescue but
she doesn’t need help.
A daring escape.
Finn and the woman named Rey.
BB-8 as well.
A ship that’s garbage.
Commandeered by Finn and Rey.
Finn takes a turret.
Finn and BB-8
have a little back and forth.
Thumbs up in the end.
Releasing Rathtars.
Finn is almost eaten but
Rey will rescue him.
Confronting Solo,
Finn explains he’s a “big deal”
Han sees right through it.
Kanata’s Castle –
Maz discovers that Finn’s a
“….man who wants to run.”
Confronted by Rey,
Finn shares his story, his truth –
enslaved as a boy.
Conditioned to be
a First Order Stormtrooper
but he made a choice.
First Order attack!
With an iconic weapon
Finn enters the fray.
Declared a traitor.
Finn and a stormtrooper fight.
Han lends his support.
Finn and Poe embrace.
Their bromance takes shape as the
two become close friends.
Haiku Addendum:
I was rooting for them to
be a hot item.
Mission with Solo:
Take down the Starkiller shield.
Maybe use the Force?
Finn’s Starkiller job:
He was in sanitation.
Han is none too pleased.
Finn’s real mission is
to find and rescue Rey but
She doesn’t need help.
Resistance attack.
Finn and company look on
as battle rages.
Diminishing Light.
Two friends watch as Han Solo
is killed by his son.
Dark, snowy forest.
A hate-filled, bleeding monster.
Finn ignites the Light.
Bested by the beast.
Wounded but not mortally.
Finn will Awaken.
Actor: Boyega –
Fucking hates racists and I
fucking hate them too.
Check out these other Haikuesday 2.0 posts:
The Imperial Talker 
I always look forward to your Haikuesday posts but I really loved your “Desert Wanderer” one here. It so fantastic! I also love the nods to Rey not needing his help :). The whole “ignites the Light” was great, too. Oh, and also I am obviously so with John Boyega and you.
What I guess I’m saying is you were extra on with these and I love it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I felt like the “Desert Wanderer” was appropriate given that he is not only shedding his old self but he also, quite literally, has no idea where he is going. I am thinking of playing with Finn wandering the desert a little more in a future post, reading some mysticism into it and elevating the religious dimensions of the physical/spiritual transformation he undergoes in the desert.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I say you should go for it because that sounds like something I’d REALLY like to read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Finn was my favorite of the new characters, his good nature and loyalty won me over. Add in how awesome John Boyega is IRL and this was a great and timely read about him!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, he is one of my favorite characters from the Sequel Trilogy as well. It’s just too bad they sidelined his story and didn’t develop it the way it was initially planned (we can blame Rian Johnson for some of that).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m all in for blaming Rian! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, IT. Great breakdown.
On Tue, Jun 2, 2020 at 6:15 AM The Imperial Talker wrote:
> Imperial Talker posted: ” Desert, Stormtrooper.”There’s been an > Awakening…”Is the Force with him?The Force Awakens – Not only about Rey > but Also about Finn.Raiding a villageOne trooper’s helmet is markedby a > bloody hand.Panic takes over.Disoriented by theDestruction and Death.V” >
LikeLiked by 1 person
Appreciate it, Gary!
LikeLike
Wow IT this is really something. I love how you worked through the entire film with the main or most important scenes, it really brought things back for me. Specifically, this part:
The Force Awakens –
Not only about Rey but
Also about Finn.
I NEVER thought about that concept until now. And it’s totally true! I overlooked this completely because I was only thinking about both Kylo and Rey, in particular, Rey’s introduction to the Force. But yes, Finn was most-likely finding his way as well, it’s just not obvious that’s the case and it seems like JJ wanted for that to happen all along.
You’ve inspired me again to write something about this whole scene. Even though Finn is my least liked character in the trilogy lol… I can separate my personal views when I need to 🙂 Thanks again for a great post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry for the delayed reply but thanks so much for the comment! I am glad to hear I inspired you to go back and take a look at the scene again. Honestly, one of the really disappointing aspects of the Sequel Trilogy for me (and for many other fans) was Finn’s erasure. He went from being one of the main characters in The Force Awakens to being sidelined in The Last Jedi so the relationship between Rey and Kylo Ren could play out. I was disappointed by this because Finn’s “awakening” is just as important as Rey’s in TFA, and I felt like Abrams set him up for some solid character development following TFA but it got tossed for a different narrative by Johnson.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No worries! Yeah, I’d agree with that for sure. It was pretty obvious that JJ and Rian had very different views for where they wanted to see the sequel trilogy end up. While I don’t particularly like Finn as a character all that much, I do think part of that is because of the way he was written. In the last film, he was like Rey’s little lacky – he had no real substance and no real goals in the that film other than to follow Rey wherever she went. His backstory would have been interesting to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was just rewatching TROS yesterday (I had not seen it since December and I am working on a new post about it) and I completely agree with your assessment that Finn is just a little lacky in the film. Any substance he COULD have gets tossed aside and overshadowed by Rey. It is really unfortunate because Abrams so obviously teases Finn’s force connection, with Finn hinting at the thing he needs to tell Rey. But like, it is a little nuts he doesn’t just come right out and say it. Establish at the beginning of TROS that Finn has a connection to the Force then build it up. Instead, it is just cryptic and difficult to wrap your mind around, discussed and alluded to in vague ways until he has his conversation with Jannah. And even then, it is confusing and really underdeveloped.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, while I’ve never really been a fan of Finn as a character, I do think there was unused potential there to make his character a lot better than it was. I mean reducing him to Rey’s follower was stupid, especially if he was supposed to be force sensitive. Bringing that back into the film just made it all look disconnected.
LikeLike