Again, we know this. Everyone in the galaxy should know this, since they lived it for a thousand generations. Furthermore, the audience knows this. That’s one reason (beyond the execution) that the Leia scene and the Casino planet rankles some people I expect - these are things we already know and are on board with, delivered in so slipshod a way as to actually do harm to the narrative and make the audience question their acceptance of these things.
It might give some that feeling, but that is not what I got out of it. I find the Leia scene to be important and enjoyed the casino planet as something new and different and yet at the same time a call back to the original cantina scene - only this time the scum were well dressed. There really isn’t anything about TLJ that I didn’t enjoy. The flaws of TFA are gone or ignored and the end product is something I can enjoy watching over and over again. Best Saga movie since 1983. I think the story is well written and the film well directed.
I first found the Casino scenes a bit disorienting but on second viewing I warmed up to it. It also broke up the space chase which would have been boring to watch for 30 minutes with cut scenes from TFO and the resistance.
I really liked the Leia scene in that it demonstrated a powerful force user react purely out of survival instinct. Thinking back on it I wouldn’t be surprised in Rian filmed it that way to pay tribute to Fisher.
That scene with Leia was one of the earliest things leaked about the story so I doubt he changed it along the way.