TLJ has none of that mystery because it picks up literally where the previous installment leaves off, and that’s J.J.'s fault because he just had to have his dramatic ending and couldn’t tell a complete story
Rian wasn’t forced into anything by JJ, especially not making TLJ to pick up right where TFA left off, mere seconds later.
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Rian was definitely forced to do certain things based on the way things had played out in TFA, but a lack of a time jump isn’t one of them.
I haven’t actually seen TLJ, but I can’t even imagine how jarring a time jump would be given the way TFA ends.
Pretty much this right here. The style of the scene set the expectation that the audience would be shown what happens next. As I mentioned in my earlier review, I actually enjoyed Luke’s saber toss because it was like Rian thumbing his nose at the overdone cliffhanger.
And don’t get me started on what TLJ ignored from TFA. All we heard from cough apologists cough after TFA was that all the mysteries were a big setup for some great reveals in the next installment. The truth is likely that J.J. had no idea what any of those reveals should be (again, he likes throwing a lot of balls in the air and letting other people catch them) and Rian had no desire to be saddled with filling in all those holes.
Killing the past seemed to be not just Kylo’s driving force, but Rian’s. Setting aside some of the junk storytelling in TFA provided a few of the best moments in TLJ.
I think that while Rian pretty much had to finish this scene, there was no reason he couldn’t have focused on Rey’s story and her lessons for a substantial amount of time before getting back to the spaceship chase plot. It would have solved the problem of the time jump for me, as well as building suspense for the plight of our other heroes as we and Rey get a fragmentary understanding of their danger through her communication with Kylo.