At the end of The Force Awakens, Finn had made some progress, but this arc was far from over. He cared about Rey enough to overcome his fears and accompany Han and Chewie to Starkiller in an effort to rescue her. But he wasn’t honest about his reasons for going. He exaggerated his knowledge of Starkiller because as he told Han, he was just there for Rey. He didn’t care about the Resistance, or their cause.

Finn meets two people in The Last Jedi who have a profound effect on him. Rose is in agony over the loss of her sister, yet is still holding to her ideals and devoted to the Resistance. She has lost everything but will simply not quit. Then in stark contrast he meets DJ who has no convictions at all. Finally the light bulb comes on and Finn takes a side. He faces off with the embodiment of his greatest fear in Phasma and pronounces himself “Rebel” scum. He is fully on board now and is a different person by the time they reach Crait.

Finn is so gung-ho, in a display reminiscent of Poe’s previous unwillingness to follow orders, he tries to take on the First order all by himself. Rose saves him because she believes the way to win is not by throwing your life away, but by living to fight another day, obviously informed by the loss of her sister.

Poe learns to respect authority before he can be in a position of authority and a true leader. Rey goes from seeking to identify herself through others to being comfortable with who she is and understands her place in the galaxy. There is just so much character development and wonderful storytelling. The Last Jedi is a great movie.