Critics also act like there was no explanation for how he is still alive after blowing up in a reactor shaft shortly before the second Death Star blew up, except he straight-up confirms he’s died before, and his main motivation is literally to possess Rey if she were to kill him in anger so he wouldn’t be trapped in that shitshow of a clone. Put two and two together, and one can infer that he transferred his spirit to this clone after Darth Vader killed him in anger.
Actually you have some of the details mixed up here. Palpatine wanted Rey to strike him down with her anger and hatred and a desire for revenge because striking him down with those negative emotions is what would complete the Sith ritual and allow his spirit to transfer into Rey, but Rey refused to feel hatred toward Palpatine:
"Palpatine: The time has come! With your hatred, you will take my life and you will ascend.
Rey: All you want is for me to hate, but I won’t. Not even you."
And we can infer that if Luke or Vader had killed Palpatine out of hatred in RotJ, it would have ostensibly allowed Palpatine to transfer his spirit into Luke or Vader, respectively. This is how the Sith have been passing down their spirits from Sith Lord to Sith Lord for generations, and thus is why all the Sith (at least, the ones who successfully killed their master and became Sith masters themselves) exist in Palpatine.
When Vader killed Palpatine out of love for his son, it broke the cycle and Palpatine just straight up died, temporarily bringing balance to the Force. Palpatine’s later revival in a clone body was a separate thing that occured later.
