I posted this on the Rancor Pit, but as per this discussion of Ep 9, I decided to repost it here:
Episode VII: Plagiarize the Past
Episode VIII: Let the Past Die
Episode IX: Why Not Both?
Yeah, that's the best sum-up of the Sequel Trilogy I've seen so far.
My personal sum up is kinda like this:
Episode VII: It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't so much like ANH.
Episode VIII: It wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't kill off Luke.
Episode IX: It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for those 2 dozen plot holes.
Once I heard that J.J. Abrams, who has never really impressed me with his storytelling abilities, was doing Ep 9, I hoped against hope that he would be able to pull off an Ass Pull that would at least make the ending of the Skywalker Saga not suck.
And he actually succeeded (for once). After all, Ep 9 didn't suck (much), but
it wasn't nearly as awesome as it should have been.