Is it just me that doesn't like Jaylah?
-
kyliesca — 9 years ago(December 18, 2016 09:32 AM)
I quite like Jaylah actually, I think she was a good addition to the team, but I agree that her character wasn't exactly necessary. I feel the same way about Carol in Into Darkness, I don't dislike Carol, but she wasn't necessary either.
-
lexob9 — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 02:10 AM)
my thoughts exactly. Carol's role in Into Darkness was not necessary so i thought that her introduction was a set up for her to become more stable crew member like Uhura or Bones. but that didnt happen in next film so it was just a big waste
now the same happened with Jaylah. in addition, she seemed even more annoying than Carol and even more underdeveloped and she even looked ugly. actress that plays Jaylah is more attractive without makeup than what they transformed her into with makeup
its interesting whats the reason for this. too little time between films to get the story ready and develop all the characters properly or any other reason -
Pumba74 — 9 years ago(December 20, 2016 12:00 AM)
She was ok but yeah end of the day her entire character was basically there to help them get off the planet. Her story added nothing to the movie. Her parents were killed by whoever the villain was, big shrug. It didn't connect to anything else.
I don't see them bringing her back there is zero reason to. -
kyliesca — 9 years ago(January 02, 2017 09:40 PM)
No she didn't kill him, she had to bail out of the fight in order to catch up to Kirk so they could both be beamed back onto the Franklin together and escape the planet. Based on their fight, it seems like she wasn't strong enough to beat Manas anyway.
I wonder whether Manas knew that Krall and his army had lost their battle to destroy Yorktown and that Krall and his minions were all killed, Manas was the only one who remained on the planet and did not join the battle, it's difficult to believe he didn't, he would've found out somehow. -
thumperdude — 9 years ago(January 30, 2017 11:57 AM)
I think you may have missed something. Jaylahs back story fits in perfectly with the plot of Beyond and even emphasizes it. She may have been unnecessary but certainly not useless.
The entire theme of Beyond is unity. The movie opens with Kirk attempting to unite two worlds and failing miserably. In fact, the first 20 minutes or so of the movie is all about teams breaking up.
Next, we see Uhura and Spock breaking up. Meanwhile, Kirk is feeling very discouraged and down and thinking of a father he never got to meet. He decides to apply for a promotion to Vice Admiral and take a desk job. He doesnt tell Spock. Spock meanwhile has decided he wants to leave Starfleet and continue the late Ambassador Spocks work on New Vulcan, but he doesnt tell Kirk. Another team breaking up.
Kirk: We make a good team, dont we?
Spock: I believe we do.
Krall (Captain Edison) has been marooned on Altamid for over 100 years. Starfleet never found him, and he and his ship and crew were most likely presumed lost with all hands. Between time, isolation and whatever other forces were at work on Altamid, Krall feels abandoned, betrayed, forgotten and obsessed with an overwhelming desire for vengeance. He and his swarm attacked and destroyed Jaylah's fathers ship years ago and the crew taken and killed a little at a time until she was the only one left. She survives by hiding in the U.S.S. Franklin and scavenging. But by herself she cannot restore or fly it. She needs the help of others, but doesnt know who she can trust and is afraid to place her life in anyone elses hands.
Krall, meanwhile, is employing Divide and Conquer tactics on the Enterprise crew.
You believe that unity is your strength. It is your weakness.
Krall probably never realized how badly he proved himself wrong. His attack drones were living proof of it, as they flew in a swarm, like a hive mind, and working together they tore the Enterprise to shreds in a matter of minutes. But after the Franklin sent a signal to break up their communication, it made them all separate individuals and their advantage disappeared immediately.
I have no doubt that Jaylah and her late ship crew probably have heard that same speech from Krall in the past, and in their case they may have come to believe him, which is why Jaylah is the only survivor.
When Spock is gravely injured, he keeps trying to convince McCoy to leave him behind, and McCoy refuses to abandon his crewmate and friend.
When Kirk and Company discuss infiltrating Kralls base to free the Enterprise crew, Jaylah is immediately terrified and wants to go back to being on her own again. But Scotty explains to her that shes part of a crew now and that they are stronger together than apart. You cannot break a stick thats in a bundle. But she needed to decide to rely on her new teammates, place her life in their hands and vice-versa. She decides to stay part of the team.
In the end, she is accepted into Starfleet Academy and becomes part of a family again.
Spock finds a photo of Ambassador Spock on the bridge of the alternate Enterprise standing with his crewmates. He had wanted to live as Ambassador Spock did, and he just now realized, Ambassador Spock lived with his crew. He decides to remain in Starfleet and he and Uhuru reconcile their relationship.
Kirk also realizes he belongs on a ship with his family and withdraws his application for promotion.
The movie is almost entirely themed on the strength that is found in unity. And while youre correct that Jaylah wasnt a necessary component to the plot, personally I enjoyed watching her transformation from a lone wolf, relying on scraps to survive, into a part of the team, and was finally able to do better than simply survive, but to prevail over her circumstances with the help of her new friends.
Yes, these movies serve to flesh out the main characters, but they're already pretty well developed now. I saw them as useful in providing Jaylah (who knows how long she's been marooned) a living example of how a team looks out for each other and doesn't not abandon. They left the planet together or not at all.
That's how I saw it anyway. -
kyliesca — 9 years ago(February 04, 2017 12:17 AM)
While I do think Jaylah was an unnecessary character, but she was far from "useless", although I don't think her character necessarily needed to be there in the first place, but she was without a doubt a huge help to Kirk and his crew. I mean, they crew would not have been able to leave the planet if Jaylah had not guided them to the USS Franklin to begin with, and they probably would not have been able to save their teammates without Jaylah's help in infiltrating Krall's base that only Jaylah was familiar with. So she did help the crew in many ways, so yes she was not "useless".
-
Yorick-6 — 9 years ago(February 04, 2017 09:28 PM)
She was kind of the opposite of Krall. While Krall was a Federation officer that fell to the frontier, she was someone from the frontier that ended up embracing the Federation. He abandoned his Federation starship, she adopted it as her own. The last shot of Krall is him, alone in the darkness of space, with his Starfleet badge falling off; the last shat of Jaylah is her on the station, surrounded by her new family, excited that she's going to be entering Starfleet academy.
thumperdude's post on the theme of unity is also a worthwhile read.