because TFA negates the victories and outcomes of the original trilogy
Disagree. If for no other reason that we haven’t seen how everything happened or what will happen going forward.
This has become the fallback position for things that aren’t adequately explained in TFA.
Based on what we know now, the Republic has been crippled — if not destroyed — because they failed to maintain vigilance against the same type of enemy they encountered in the past, Leia is running the Rebellion (excuse me, the Resistance) from a basement, and Han is a loser who went back to smuggling because apparently he couldn’t cut it as a hero and father. And Luke is Ben now, except he has a sad, so he went to Ireland on holiday.
I actually like that these heroic characters went on to experience tragedy in their lives after experiencing both crushing defeats and epic highs, but it seems to be in service to the retread rather than genuine storytelling. What I didn’t see, what there wasn’t enough of, was HOW and WHY these characters we love ended up as they did. Punting it to the next installment is lazy, and I bet we don’t get answers to a lot of these questions.
And Jay, I also provided a serious response to the “Bad Parents” thing, you may have missed that.
For what it’s worth, I also assumed failed parenting played a major role in Ren’s situation. You don’t stab your dad through the chest with a lightsaber without holding some serious resentment toward him, and it’s not hard to picture a nomad like Han having difficulty settling down and raising a kid.