But then again - if they flip him at the end of the 1st act, her falling for him FOR REAL suddenly becomes a lot more possible, too.
I totally get all of your points, Broom Kid. I think they’re really fair. This is why I think, like you said, that seeing Rey and the real Ben interact in a non-confrontational way would’ve allowed for that romance to take hold for audiences who weren’t really sold on it (or even saw it) in the last two films.
I imagine them starting to work together before they get to the Death Star (or the Death Star equivalent), and their fight could’ve related to some tension that still remained between them. It would’ve been very similar to how couples in romances tend to have a falling out halfway through the movie, only to get together by the end of the film.