I posted this on Hal’s thread, should have put it here:
A big picture fix that is improbable but not impossible would be tweaking a few lines about Palp’s resurrection to reframe him as Sith Incarnate, rather than Palp Alive again. In other words, the reason he was brought back was not his own power (he still dies in ROTJ), but the power of the Sith/Dark Side and he operates now as little more than a puppet of the Sith spirits. It is implied enough in the movie (that he was a corpse not a person); I wish he spoke more in terms of “we” like Gollum to hit that home.
The weird thing is, isn’t this the implication from the film? That there is one Sith spirit that possesses one host after the other? I think it is kind of muddied by making Rey a Palpatine and focusing on his bloodline, and trying to say the saga is about the Skywalkers vs the Palpatines. Sheev Palpatine is merely one stepping stone for the past millennia of Sith Lords.
I actually think the idea of replacing instances of “I” with “we” is a simple idea that would help remind the audience of that concept. You just would have to find a good sample of him saying we. I think Palpatine calls Rey “weak” at one point. Maybe that could fit, not sure.
Sorry, late to reply; yeah, like I said the film implies it but fails to lean heavily on the imagery, when Star Wars usually makes it very clear - as usual, JJ tells you about everything you need to know, just tucked away in throwaway lines rather than meaningful themes. I think they could have saved a lot of confusion and anger when bringing Palp back, if they made it clear he still died in ROTJ but is here as a corpse based on the sheer will of the Sith, where ultimately Palp’s bloodline is the Sith and Rey’s is the Jedi, not actual bloodline.