With the Knights of Ren apparently actual characters in this, I assume that the TIE attacking Rey is piloted by such a Knight since it’s quite clearly not Kylo’s design.
It’s just that a lot of people are assuming it’s Kylo in that TIE, which I don’t see at all.
JEDIT: As for bringing Palpatine back in some capacity, I don’t hate it, and have argued in the past that it makes a lot of sense to have the big bad from the first six episodes cast a shadow long enough to cover the entire saga.