Delusions of Grandeur: Regarding Return of the Jedi

I completely, unashamedly love Return of the Jedi. Whenever I bring that up, people feel obliged to point out that it's the worst entry of the original Star Wars trilogy. In response, I usually just politely smile and nod while making the mental note to remove that person from my Christmas card list.
Look, I get it: Ewoks being these adorably primitive teddy bears that take down the what the Emperor himself dubs as legions of his "best men". Luke's plan to free Han Solo from Jabba's Palace doesn't really hold up under scrutiny; also the entire Jabba's Palace aesthetic feels like the only-in-the-80s love child of Mad Max and Labyrinth. Han Solo fools a scout trooper with the old shoulder-tap trick. None of this makes sense.
And that's kind of why I love it. I was at the perfect age when I first saw Return of the Jedi so the idea that a race of spear-wielding Teddy Ruxpins taking down the Empire's best and brightest never phased me for a second. Luke fighting Jabba's goons at the Sarlacc Pit is perhaps the single most enjoyably swashbuckling scene in the entire franchise; the moment where we truly see how far Skywalker has come from being that whiny farmboy in the original.
For the most part, the action is really what sells Return of the Jedi for me. The escapist opening on Tatooine. The speeder bike chase through the forest moon of Endor. The real showstopper is the finale that sees three different battles occurring simultaneously and on varying levels of intimacy and scale. The most epic is the space battle led by Lando piloting the Millennium Falcon in the most impressive space battle in the entire series. On the ground, there's Leia and Han fighting Stormtroopers in the woods and apparently the Empire didn't think camo armor was a good idea.
The most personal fight Luke's rematch with his father on the Death Star all under the Emperor's gaze. The entire original trilogy is Luke's coming of age story, embracing that Jedi destiny while flirting with the possibility of following his father's footsteps and embracing the dark side. The vision Luke had on Dagobah in the previous film comes back in a big way here: He dresses in all black, he has no problem straight up threatening Jabba with his life, the first thing he does on screen is Force-choke pig guards. It's only when he refuses to kill his father and his tunic opens slightly to reveal the white shirt underneath that we remember that deep down he's still that good-hearted farmboy from far, far away.
So what doesn't work for me about Return of the Jedi? Even as a kid, I thought Boba Fett goes down like a complete sucker. He had been built up as the most intimidating bounty hunter in the galaxy and he's ultimately taken down by a blind guy with a stick who isn't even trying. I've had people argue with me about that plot point even when it's Right. There. On. The. Fucking. Screen. There's also that one scene of an Ewok getting blown to smithereens with the added attempt to stir pathos like "this is the real cost of war" and it's like, we totally get that but nobody really cares so let's keep things moving along. Han doesn't get that much to do in the final act largely because he was originally planned to be killed during his rescue attempt on Tatooine so you get the feeling they don't quite know what to do with him.
For the longest time, I thought Return of the Jedi was it. We'd still get Star Wars books, comics, and video games (The first Star Wars video game I ever owned was actually Super Return of the Jedi for the Game Boy...that shit was difficult) for eternity but new movies? That was over. My mom got me a German chocolate forest cake the year the Special Edition came out (with its fucking terrible musical sequence) with Luke dueling Vader from the climax as a topper; still have it. Little did I know, two years later, more Star Wars was coming to the big screen. I should've been careful what I wished for.

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