Would you have been happier if he just snapped Finn’s neck with the force and then proceeded to decapitate Rey with one swift swing of the blade? Powerful villian wins. Roll credits.
He should have done what he ended up doing to Finn anyway but without getting hit by him. I mean, imagine Han or Lando walking up to Vader with a lightsaber and actually getting in a shot.
I thought fight with Rey was handled pretty well until the end. He wasn’t trying to kill her, because he wanted to train her or he had a crush on her, whatever the reason he was just playing around and it worked. I thought it was going swell, and then Rey momentarily used The Force to fight him off, and that was great.
But that should have been it.
Her ability to fight him off – as dictated by the rest of the story – should have been very limited. There was a deus-ex-machina ending to the fight with the ground opening up and separating the two of them. But was it to save the weaker one, Rey? No…for no reason whatsoever she proceeds to kick his ass and then the deus-ex-machina saves HIM! Preposterous.
This ending was clearly dictated by the “we have to have the good guys win at the end” mantra rather than have it be dictated by the rest of the script. It’s just bad storytelling. If you want this ending to work, you need to go back and re-write Kylo’s character and make him not as strong in the rest of the film.
Weak cosplaying Kylo getting his butt kicked by Rey at the end – that works.
Strong Kylo beating Rey and her getting saved by fate – that works.
Strong Kylo getting beat by untrained Rey – doesn’t work.