sum1

I don't know. I got the impression that in the OT Han outgrew smuggling, so I don't see him backsliding like that. I see it as more likely that he'd be working for the Resistance. In general I see the Force Awakens take on the character (bad parent, went back to smuggling, broke up from Leia) as something of an insult to the character. I think the writers saw him as something less than he'd become by the end of ROTJ.

a new hope

I think that's oversimplifying it.

sum1

I think the film oversimplified it.

a new hope

I don't think so, they gave us the dialogue with Han/Leia to explain why their lives turned out the way they did. Han wasn't a bad father, he was a father who didn't know how to handle a son with the force going to the dark side (mostly Luke's fault there), also the break up with Leia was due to the situation with Ben takings it toll on their relationship, which all led to him going back to smuggling. I don't like it but I think they explained it well. For a movie with very little focus on our original 3, that part of the storyline got a good amount of focus.

sum1

I don't think it was done well and I think your interpretation of it can only come with looking at Han in a charitable way. People who are less charitable will see what I described. Like new viewers.

Karma Police

Han wasn't portrayed as a bad parent or judged for going back to smuggling for that matter. There are many parents who can't handle their children going down the wrong path, they feel like they failed them and weren't able to protect them. They feel guilty and sometimes regress, doesn't mean they are bad parents or people, it just means they are human.

sum1

It looked pretty damining to me, the way it was portrayed.

a new hope

To me there was nothing but compassion for Han and Leia in that storyline. If anyone got a raw deal being portrayed around Ben it was Luke in TLJ.

Karma Police

Han and Leia were never judged by the narrative, we know they tried everything to help Ben.

wickedrum

I wouldn't assume otherwise

a new hope

They are our heroes after all

sum1

To me it looked like Han was pretty throughly shafted by the story. Bad dad, ran out on Leia, went back to smuggling of all things. It was a pretty far fall from what the end of ROTJ led us to expect. I would have preferred if the new films had been set a century or more after ROTJ, after the trio had lived out their happily ever after and died after long lives. I didn't like the new films messing up what ROTJ left us with. I had no need to see the original trio back in their original roles, because I knew it wouldn't be done right, and it wasn't. In that sense it was like Indy 4, which was disappointing, or Bladerunner 2049, which sidelined Harrison. As a general rule, I don't think you can drop a story and successfully come back back to it decades later.

a new hope

I'm really thankful we got to see the trio one last time as their characters and all the behind the scenes stuff we got between them made me happy, I can understand what you're saying but I think it's worth it even if you dislike the story, if you can put the script aside and focus on the epicness of Mark, Carrie and Harrison together again

Karma Police

I wish we got to see more of them, both individually and together but the franchise is for a new generation, so they obviously focused more on the new characters.

Han and Leia still loved their son and didn't give up on him. Leia said she knew there was still light in him and Han attempted to talk to his humanity.

crash landing

Well gonna need to take time to the recent cause loads of discussion