The moment Luke threw away his old lightsaber and walked away from the plot.
I’m a fair man. I gave the sequel trilogy every chance. I had my issues with the Force Awakens. I thought Kylo Ren losing so handily to Rey was ridiculous, and I thought Rey was heavily underdeveloped as a character.
But Finn’s arc looked promising, and if Rey’s OPness could be properly explained, I was still willing to hear out the logic of the trilogy.
But when Luke threw away his lightsaber, I was flabbergasted. The crowning moment of the previous movie, the moment that, to me at least, truly felt the most like Star Wars, literally got thrown away like trash. And the movie only got worse and worse. There was no explanation for Rey’s talent or abilities. Finn’s character development devolved, got built up again, then got trashed for a grade-school kiss from out of no where. Actual child slaves got left in bondage, but freeing space horses that are only going to get captured within weeks makes it ‘worth it’. Luke promises 3 lessons, and gives two. Admiral Akbar getting yeeted without warning. Leia turning into superman. Admiral gender studies ruining all established lore regarding hyperspace. Luke coming back, only not really, and he to dies from Force Skypeing.
By the time I left the theater, I had turned to the damned dark side. There was no excuse for how bad The Last Jedi was. It retroactively turned The Force Awakens from mediocre to awful. How could I ever watch The Force Awakens again, knowing what Luke does in his first scene of the next movie?
I never gave anything Sequel-related my money, after that. Never saw Rise of Skywalker. The plot summary was enough for me to know I’d hate it regardless of how much apologizing it tried to give. The Last Jedi took a giant dump on the franchise, and Episode 9 was just a slow-motion trainwreck. We could all see it coming, and couldn’t do anything to stop it.