Barry had very strong opinions about a lot of things. Nobody would be surprised to know that. Those opinions could be about anything from doing the right thing and saving people and believing they could be better to which Star Trek movies were worthwhile and which were crimes against humanity. And he had very particular opinion on the order in which to watch Star Wars movies when having a marathon. Which he and Len were doing because the new movie had come out on DVD and his boyfriend - and wow was it weird to think of Len in terms like that and he really hoped Len didn't think boyfriend was an immature term but nothing else really fit because lover sounded ridiculous and significant other sounded cold and partner meant something else to Len and would have poked at wounds that weren't quite healed - was almost as much of a giant nerd as he was.
"The thing is," Barry said, "Episode I has it's merits, but not if you're watching the movies for a coherent storyline. There's too many extraneous threads that don't connect to the other movies. Episode I assumes this is Anakin Skywalker's story, and it isn't. It's Luke's. The prequels create a parallel between Luke and his father, but Episode I weakens that. So if you're watching for a narrative, it's best to leave it out. Plus it cuts out most of Jar Jar Binks and we can agree he's really unnecessary. And obviously, if you watch the prequels first, you're destroying the plot twists. You already know Anakin Skywalker is Luke's father. You already know who Yoda is before Luke meets him. So you start with IV and V. But if you watch VI before the prequels, you lose out on the twist regarding Palpatine. And you also don't really appreciate Luke's strength as a character. So VI has to come last if you want the story to have the most impact. Well, obviously VII would come last now, but you know what I mean." He knew he was rambling, but Len didn't seem to be complaining.
Oh. Wow. Yeah, he definitely wasn't complaining. Barry took a shaky breath, eyes slipping close as Len's mouth moved against his neck and the thief pulled him closer. But he knew what he was doing, and he wasn't going to let him distract him. Still, he could have the best of both worlds. Moving so that he was on top of Len, legs on either side of his hips and hands resting against his chest, he took a moment to kiss the other man, okay...a long moment, and then continued.
"Right," he said. "Where was I. Oh. The whole point of Luke's journey is that he faces the same anger that his father did. So you see Luke grow as a Jedi. You see him lose people he loves and you see him face anger and the temptation of the dark side. And you see, at the end of Episode V, that he's left with the question of how his father became Darth Vader." Right. What was his point? Maybe getting this close to Len had been a bad idea because god was his boyfriend distracting. His hands had wandered under his shirt during his explanation and he kept pausing to kiss Len or let Len kiss him. But he had a point. He did. "And then you watch Episode II and III, not Episode I because I already pointed out it's extraneous but also because then you're entering Anakin's story when he's the same age as Luke and you can really appreciate the parallels. You see him become corrupted and give in to all of his anger and lose himself. And you see how Luke could do the same thing. So, finally, you watch Episode VI and you see Luke almost give in. But he doesn't. And the story is more meaningful that way." He grinned. "Plus you're not left wondering who the heck that old guy...or Hayden Christensen if you're watching the redone version, is with Yoda and Obi-Wan."
He bit his lip, looking down at Len. "So," he said. "Are we going to keep arguing this, or are you going to admit I'm right?" He was pretty sure that either way, they were not actually going to get around to watching the movies just yet.