Empire
Empire
I’m eleven and watching Empire Strikes Back for the first time.
I see the following scene on the screen:
The chamber is impossibly hot. Steam hisses from grates in the floor. Snake Guy is being led by stormtroopers toward the carbon-freezing platform. He’s carrying a burlap sack that is moving. The stormtroopers are deeply uncomfortable with the sack.
STORMTROOPER #1: “Sir, you need to put the bag down.”
SNAKE GUY: “They ride with me.”
STORMTROOPER #1: “Into the carbonite?”
SNAKE GUY: “They’ve been in worse.”
Leia is being held back. She breaks free and runs to him. Snake Guy looks at her like she’s making a scene at the grocery store.
LEIA: “I love you.”
SNAKE GUY: (already stepping onto the platform, adjusting the sack) “Yeah, that checks out.”
Chewbacca roars. Snake Guy points at him.
SNAKE GUY: “You. Big guy. Hold these.”
He reaches into the sack and hands Chewie two snakes. Chewie, who has fought rancors, takes a step back. The snakes seem fine with Chewie. Chewie does not seem fine with the snakes.
SNAKE GUY: “The brown one bites but only if you’re being weird about it. Don’t be weird about it.”
Darth Vader raises his hand. The machinery begins to engage. The platform starts to lower.
VADER: “You are being frozen in carbonite for transport to—”
SNAKE GUY: “Yeah I don’t need the briefing, helmet.”
LEIA (rushing forward, passionately): “I love you.”
SNAKE GUY: Pshaw.
The gas begins to rise. Leia is crying. C-3PO is explaining the statistical likelihood of survival to no one who asked. Lando looks away.
Snake Guy, sinking into the gas, looks up one last time. He seems annoyed that everyone is so upset.
SNAKE GUY: “I’ll be out by Tuesday.”
The carbonite slams shut.
Silence.
Ugnaught workers approach the frozen slab and tilt it upright. Snake Guy is frozen mid-shrug, one hand slightly raised as if he was about to make a huck.
The sack is frozen with him. If you look closely, two small snake outlines are visible in the carbonite, coiled comfortably, apparently asleep.
LEIA: (whispering) “He didn’t even say goodbye.”
CHEWBACCA: (holding two snakes, deeply confused)
C-3PO: “I believe, Princess, that was his goodbye.”
The brown one bites Chewie.