kewlfish said:
one of the big complaints that many people had was that Palpatine showed up too early. It’s really gonna be picking the lesser of two evils - Palpatine shows up right away and out of nowhere, or gratuitous, flashy music video fight scene that makes no sense

It’s only “too early” if the buildup was meaningful and substantial, though. The problem with Palpatine showing up is that he’s showing up at all, and that’s not a thing you can really avoid in any cut of this film. The “lesser of two evils” comparison is really the best way to frame it. If you can prolong the “wait” to see him from one minute to two, and make the Mustafar minute a little more coherent, that’s cool as hell, and the work done on that front is SUPER-impressive, especially for how fast it’s being turned out.

But I don’t think that extra minute being added to Mustafar is really addressing the “too early” complaint. Palpatine’s appearance as “reward” for the viewer’s patience and attention is an idea that doesn’t have a lot of merit to it anyway. Him showing up isn’t really a “payoff” in the dramatic sense of the term, especially not as applied in this story. It’s the setup. There’s not as much reason to prolong it in that case. What you’re really prolonging is the beginning of the story. And you need him for that story to begin. The comparison to a marathon runner upthread is a good way to frame it: Rey and friends will have to run that marathon, and the drama is in their doing so. Starting with a villain meet-up doesn’t really shortchange anything dramatically. You don’t need to see the bad-guy completing the heroes later quest first. Especially when the completion of that quest is essentially a “music video” on fast forward.