But, like, why would Snoke bother to take credit for bridging their minds then? What does he get out of it? Is he just trying to brag about how powerful his is (when we see him do loads of other powerful things in this very scene anyway)? Does it prevent them from finding out about the Dyad (until Kylo just “knows” in the next film anyway, so whoop dee doo, that was worth it.)?
Plus, I don’t like the idea that both Snoke’s plan and Palpy’s plan only were able to happen because they could exploit this random-ass Dyad connection. That feels lazy. And convenient. (Two terms used to describe any quality story.) At least it Snoke does it, it gives him some agency in the story.
Plot wise, we have an established fact - Snoke bridged their minds. It’s yet another thing that TROS tries to retcon.
Yep. Retconning their communications to be just a feature of the dyad undermines that reveal; in TLJ, Rey learns the truth, that her entire encounter with Kylo Ren was a trap set up, she was so unprepared she got her ass kicked by Snoke and Kylo had to help her.
And thematically, it serves to make Rey less important as a character. She’s not powerful because of her strength of character, or because of the choices she makes, or because of how she responds to a situation. She’s powerful because she’s a mythical Dyad! Look how special she is, arbitrarily! It could’ve happened to anyone, but it makes Rey special. Why didn’t Poe become a Dyad when Kylo probed his mind? Because he’s not born special. Hey kids, do you want to be important? You’ve gotta be born as a Dyad then. You weren’t? That sucks.
It’s the same reason why I don’t like Rey Palpatine. It makes her special because of what she is, not who she is. At least if she “becomes” a Dyad along the way, that’s mitigated somewhat. If she’s born a Dyad AND a Palpatine, she becomes a double-chosen one. How compelling. Factor that in with undoing yet another Last Jedi ret-con, and that’s the value of making them “become” a Dyad.
Rey being special or otherwise was never the point; one of the most common misconceptions I’ve seen regarding the ST. The point was that Rey needed to overcome her toxic core belief that she is inherently worthless which she’s developed ever since she was abandoned (which she does in TRoS), and the point of the reveal in TLJ wasn’t whether she was nobody or not, the point was that she needed to stop caring about her parents because they were toxic people who thought she was worthless. Her being a Palpatine drives her toxic core belief home, when she stabs Kylo Ren she becomes convinced that, because of her lineage, she’s inherently a bad person who will do no good, she’s destined to become evil the way her grandfather was and no one will give her the value she desperately wants, which Luke refutes by reminding her of how Leia trained her regardless of her bloodline.
EDIT: Removed mention of ST fans.