Eh, it’s just a nosy old lady who probably remembers when Owen and Beru lived there.
EDIT: It’s also worth noting that having her ask “Rey who?” is meant to mirror the Aki Aki girl from earlier in the film (the one that asks for her family name).
I’ve spent so much time now in the version of this film where I’ve cut out most of Terrio’s “characters saying things that other characters have already said” style of trying to imbue writing with meaning and import that I forget sometimes just how awful the script is lmao.
That’s a brilliant way of explaining it; just because the Old Lady™ is referencing what the kid said, it doesn’t make either line any less awkward or cliché. What other instances of referencing earlier lines have you found? There’s that time where 3PO’s “emotional” farewell speech is just copied from a line Poe says earlier, the whole thing with Finn having “a feeling” just like Jannah had “a feeling,” and Poe’s motivational speech to the Resistance (“The First Order wins by making us think we’re alone. We’re not alone.”) just aping off of what Keri Russell told him earlier. (There’s also Keri Russell’s “There’s more of us” followed by Lando’s same line, but to Terrio’s credit, that feels more like an attempt at setup than self-plagerism.)
It is a weirdly direct way of asking the question. “Rey whOOo?” It’s aggressive.
That’s why I’d like to remind everyone that we do have the right audio in the right tone to have her snappishly answer “None of your business, that’s who!”
“Make it so.”