daneditor said:
OK, I’ll put it another way: why does the audience need to know how Snoke discovered the news? And is it worth the entire rathtar scene just for that piece of exposition?

Well there is a lot of things that aren’t explained in this film so I don’t see how it would be advantageous to add to the list. Also what about Chewies injuries?

Besides, I think the rathtars really damage the movie and would be much better cut altogether.

If it had absolutely no impact on the plot I’d agree with you completely. It’s the worst part of the film but still essential.

It screws with the pacing to have an action scene there. The escape from Jakku only finished a couple of minutes earlier. The film needs a breather with a bit of quiet character stuff with Han. Then onto Maz.

The time between the escape from Jakku and when they run off to the Rathtars is 6:50 seconds. I think that’s plenty of time before the scene even happens. I didn’t even bother factoring in Han trying to talk his way out of the jam he was in before Rey accidentally released the Rathtars.