They’ve been very hush hush about him in the new canon (if I’m not mistaken, his brief appearance in Battlefront II might be his only out of film appearance). But I don’t see the issue. He was clearly Snoke’s right hand guy like Vader was to the Emperor, and he could pretty much kill anyone who stands in his way (as is demonstrated with Hux).
Darth Vader eradicated an entire organization of trained force users. In his previous life, he was a war hero. Darth Vader had clout to lead the Galactic Empire should he chose to. What has Kyle Ren accomplished? I’m not saying he hasn’t proven himself worthy of the position he now holds in some off-screen way, but they’ve done nothing on screen to give him the position other than kill Snoke to impress a girl.
I never said they were equal in terms of accomplishments. But who knows what Kylo Ren has done, I imagine a fair amount. Either way, Snoke put him at his side, and his power is evident. I don’t see the issue.
Unrelated, “kill Snoke to impress a girl” is incredibly off base.
I liked the movie and will watch it over and over again, just like all other Star Wars films. I just think the progression of the story in the last two films has been actually worse than the prequel trilogy.
I think you need to watch both these films and the prequels again, and see how off base you are.
The prequels has bad dialog, dated CGI and was bogged down in irrelevant republic bureaucracy but the core arch of the main character was clear: gifted slave child falls in love with a royal, only to have his love be forbidden by those who raise him. Because of the secret nature of his love, he falls victim to dangerous promises to protect the life of the woman he loves. He reaches the pinnacle of his craft, only to fall from grace due to his insecurities. In the end, his mistakes and arrogance are what lead to her death. He is forced to live out his life a damages, shell of a man both physically and emotionally.
What is the story arch of Rey’s character thus far? Due to the condensed nature of these two films, she hasn’t been given any space to grow. The easiest way to accelerate character growth is to have them overcome a struggle or defeat. She hasn’t been defeated in any way. I don’t see what her character has left to do in this trilogy other than to kill Ben and as best I can tell, she could walk up to him and do that at any time should she chose.
I don’t know why I even have to explain this, but Rey is a scavenger from Jakku, a nobody who hopes to someday be somebody when her parents return. She learns it is time to move on and help the Resistance and train to learn, yet she finds doing this is not so easy as she finds these new heightened feelings confused and only exacerbating her unresolved desire to reconnect with her parents and fulfill whatever her destiny is supposed to be. But, what she comes to terms with is that her parents were nobody, and that’s okay, because it means she can create her own destiny and find her own family, in the Resistance.
As to what next, unlike the PT we don’t know where this is going (which is a good thing). Also, unlike the PT, her arc is believable, unlike the PT where first of all Anakin and Padme’s romance is a bit creepy because of their ages in TPM, and second of all is incredibly creepy and in no way believable because of Anakin’s portrayal in AOTC, and his eventual fall to the dark side is rushed and sloppily handled in ROTS.
As for Rey’s struggles, just watch the movies again. Why hasn’t Rey killed Ben yet? No idea. There definitely wasn’t a scene in TLJ where she tries to do just that yet can’t.