Han in SW wouldn’t have believed in a kid who descended so far into evil. Especially enough to risk his life to save him. He may have been a scoundrel with a heart of gold but there’s nothing to indicate that he was entirely a good person at that point. The Han in ESB and ROTJ is a different story though.
Also what does the audience need?
Han was also risking his life in TFA for the sake of the galaxy, at least that’s how I saw it. Remember, Snoke is using Kylo Ren’s power. Without it, that weakens The First Order, and with it, it makes them that much more dangerous.
Han risked his life to fight for the Rebels and his new found friend, Luke in ANH. If Han somehow had a son in ANH that he had raised for a while, I think it’s pretty likely that he’d also risk his life to bring him back. He risked his life for Luke in ANH, but he wouldn’t do it for his own son?
As far as what the audience needs, I don’t know exactly with the case of Star Wars. But I’d imagine it’s something to do with challenging material rather than comfortable, predictable cliches. But unfortunately the studio is working with a lot of limitations. The original cast are all senior citizens now. Harrison Ford presumably wanted his character to die. They have a lot of baggage from the negative legacy of the prequels. They spent 4 billion just acquiring the rights to the material, so taking creative risk is practically irresponsible in financial terms. I believe even Abrams explained that they made TFA similar to ANH and the OT so the audience can get familiar before they add new stuff in Ep. 8 and 9. So I get all the decisions they made for TFA. However, I can’t fully enjoy a movie if I’m rationalizing all the cliches based on what ensures Disney’s investment.