Andre Braugher as Steed or Chandler.

This might seem odd.

But what about Levar Burton as Uriel?

Had a thought. What separates the Trilogy from the case files.

Answer: what if Butcher is planning to expand the point of view beyond Dresden. We see it in short stories.

Plus that way our trusty narrator is no longer safe.

Would you be willing to expound on that or direct me to where you have previously detailed that theory?

[Link]

This is where I strongly disagree with you. The scene of the accident is described as Harry having been hit in the back of the car.  So if there was actual damage to the back of the car, that isn't a fake accident. 

I seem to recall Murph or Harry noting that they couldn't tell if there was any new damage.

Could be wrong, though.

Now, back onto the topic of Cowl:

Yes, someone working with Justin who already knew about the Word of Kemmler existing inside the skull could have deduced that Dresden would have the skull.

I guess.

I still think that the textual Doylist cluebat is the big deal breaker. Harry spends a lot of time flashing back to Justin in this book. I don't think that's typical, and it's not really THAT relevant to the plot. Flashing back to Harry meeting BOB, sure, and flashbacks with Bob and Justin, sure, but we don't get those.

So there's that. Plus mentioning Harry's dead mentor in the big necromancy book and pointing out that Justin was the disciple of a powerful necromancer and had that guy's notes... Lots of clues that Justin isn't D-E-D dead in the book that introduces Cowl.

(As for where Kumori is during White Night... Elaine is in White Night and Cowl is preying on her people. Maybe Kumori has reformed?)

I still think that with minor changes you could group three books into a season and get a decent season every time:

Season 1 (StF, FM, GP) - Insert Bianca into Fool Moon and you got a big bad.

Season 2 (SK, DM, BR) - Insert Thomas into Summer Knight and you have a Thomas season.

Season 3 (DB, PG, WN) Add Cowl into Harry's PTSD in Proven Guilty and call it a day.

Season 4 (SmF, TC, Changes) - Thread Peabody into Small Favor and call it a day. You've earned it. Plus, Changes makes a hell of a finale.

Season 5 (GS, CD, SG) - Pretty solid through line that puts Harry back together by the end of the season. Mostly.

(click to show/hide)

The action was fun, but no, it didn't influence the plot at all. In fact, Poe, Rose, and Finn's sideplot had literally no impact on anything.

(click to show/hide)

The introduction of Holdo as Leia's replacement, aside from being sudden, was made worse from the fact that she clearly had an axe to grind against the Heroes of the Rebellion.

Was she wrong, though? I thought the movie did an excellent job showing us she was right about a protagonist we had grown to love.

(click to show/hide)

I like the idea that her perspective on Poe was that heroics can lead to needless sacrifice, but the way she demonstrated that was withholding information for literally no reason at all other than "ell oh ell, Poe is a dumb jock." He outright asks her if there is a destination, if they are headed somewhere or just running without direction. He is pleading with her to give him a reason to go on. Her response is "Leia would say have faith," with the "JERK" at the end of it unsaid, but, in my opinion, implied.

(click to show/hide)

In short, the entire internal strife among the Rebels is completely and utterly Holdo's fault.

(click to show/hide)

Add on the fact that this whole movie seemed determined to undermine the acts of heroism we've had for seven movies. Luke's a hero of the Rebellion, but most of the characters (especially Rose, who couldn't seem to utter a single line without preaching in a terribly written attempt to make her seem deep, wise, and strong) would probably find his actions from the original trilogy stupid and risky.

It's almost like you understand the movie. And they would have thought that because those actions were that. The problem is in mythologizing those actions and then acting on that myth.

(click to show/hide)

Nor can the characters from the previous movie, which were bright spots—Poe and Finn, namely—have zero impact on the plot of the next one. If you removed them from this movie, literally nothing changes, except it's 45 minutes shorter.

 

(click to show/hide)

Hell, Finn's motivation doesn't even make sense. He wants to ditch the beacon to Rey somewhere, right? So he makes it off the ship to a planet that's decadent (where the film stops to tell you a Very Special Message about Animal Cruelty and War Profiteering is Bad Guys, Okay?) but relatively safe, and just... keeps the beacon with him. While he goes onboard the flagship of the First Order. He could've just tossed it into a trash can if that's what he wanted.

It's almost like he wanted to see Rey again. Jesus, you pick that as what doesn't make sense? It makes perfect sense! The motive is clear!

What.

What.

First of all, [suspicious]Holdo is almost certainly a lesbian[/suspicious].

Second of all, I like the implication that Rey's parents are actually [suspicious]nobodies, unimportant except someone (maybe even the Force itself!) may have used Plagueis's technique to conceive Rey or augment her Force connection[/suspicious]. Makes it true... From a certain point of view.

Hades had a chat with Harry, why?

Otherwise, Harry night not have taken the other artifacts, concerned about that blowing back on him from Hades. Hades probably gives each champion a pep talk like that. Kind of a Congrats, take the thing and get out thing.