I think Palpatine was the best idea. It really ties in to the Flash Gordon origins of the saga. Ming seemed to die more than once and he always came back. In the 1980 film, it ends with someone picking up Ming’s ring and Mind laughing. Having Snoke be a Palpatine puppet and having Palpatine back feels similar, but more epic. In ROTJ we didn’t see him die, but here we did. I think they did a good job of finding an ending for the saga that tied things together and had that epic feel that Star Wars has always had. In 1977 it was a farmboy against the empire and the farm boy won against all odds. Starting things of that way really required something special. Had they laid the groundwork with a cohesive story instead of writing this in installments, they could have crafted a much better villain. Darth Plaugues the Wise for instance. But they didn’t. Without laying a better foundation in the previous two films, Palpatine was the best villain to come in and finish off with. It feels very mythic to me. And I like that about Star Wars. It is a modern myth and should be a bit larger than life without being campy like Flash Gordon was. I think TROS nailed it and the reason they did was because they brought Palpatine back.
You’ve made that point before, but I still disagree with it. Flash Gordon was the basis of Star Wars, but over the years it’s mostly moved beyond that. Bringing villains back from the dead is almost always cheesy as hell. And I’m pretty sure we did see Palpatine die in ROTJ, in a very similar way he died in the new movie.
I agree that Darth Plagueis would have been a much better villain though. I was one of the big believers in that theory after TFA came out, because it just makes so much sense. To bad the other two movies didn’t take that idea and run with it.