Hal 9000 said:
And I wonder if we can do any better of a line for Poe about the Final Order fleet than “Each ship has been modified with dreadnaught-tier laser cannons.” I think if it had been in the theatrical I’d have rolled my eyes real hard. Perhaps something like, “Our forces (or The Republic’s forces) are completely inferior,” or “We couldn’t hope to challenge them.”

I completely agree it can sound like overly expository dialogue. I do think however that the cannons need to be explicitly referenced in some measure to set up why they’re important to destroy in the final act. If not referenced, then I think it might be necessary to reinstate the destruction of Kijimi scene plus its aftermath, to set up the importance of the cannons (which I would be cool with, although I know a lot of people don’t like it).

On another unrelated note, I had a thought about the dessert chase scene when Rey, Finn and Poe split up right after the cut of “They fly now!”. I think it might be useful to add an AI line of Rey screaming “Split up!” or something to that effect since right now they do so without any verbal communication. It works as it is, but I think it might be further reinforced by Rey telling them.