Exactly. And as I pointed out on page one–which ties into your point about Ben and Rey being the opposite of the unhealthy side of love we saw with Anakin and Padme–there is how Rey and Ben are the OPPOSITE of unhealthy and toxic. IMO, it’s just been very misrepresented.
Rey fell for BEN, not Kylo. She saw through Kylo, wanted to save Ben from the darkness he was lost in. But she realized at the end of TLJ that she couldn’t save him. He could only save himself. We saw awesome, healthy, NON-TOXIC-NESS on display because Rey walked away from Kylo when he wouldn’t stop being, well, Kylo, and continued to embrace the Dark Side. Unlike Padme who continued to reach out to a clearly too far gone Anakin.
Rey, OTOH, continued to want nothing to do with Kylo throughout TRoS. And when she saved his life, she let him know that she wanted to take BEN’S hand, not Kylo’s. And that was like a LIGHTBULB going off in Ben’s head. He could be loved as Ben Solo, something that he hadn’t realized. He didn’t have to be this dark, brooding bad boy, essentially. He didnt have to be like Darth Vader to be loved. He could try and be a good guy. That is who Rey wanted, that is who she cared for… the guy who had good in him.
Remember she had seen inside his head in TFA, she knew what his childhood and teenage years – where he had been manipulated and abused emotionally, mentally, and physically by Snoke. That was who she was reaching out to, the guy who, like her, was looking for a place to belong.
And in the end, BEN made the choice to reject Kylo Ren and save himself, and then go and try to help save the galaxy. He made the healthy choice and it was only at that point that Rey accepted him because he had rejected Kylo Ren.
TLJ, again, set this up beautifully – which had actually started in TFA. So, yeah, it’s like poetry, it rhymes, and brings the whole saga full circle. Removing the kiss, the romance removes this important strand that weaves Anakin/Padme throughly to Ben/Rey. In TFA, Kylo/Ben said he wanted to finish what his grandfather started.
What his grandfather truly wanted was to save the woman he loved. In the end, that’s what Ben/Kylo did. He saved the woman he loved. He, in fact, finished what his grandfather started. But, again, the romance, the kiss is needed to complete that poem.