Spoilers Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Grading & Discussion

[David cgc]

When a male character nervously asks an attractive female character of roughly his age if she has "a cute boyfriend," that's cinema for "attraction on his part."

Well, yeah, but that's completely counteracted by the signaling of their totally platonic, if not completely disinterested, attitudes towards each other. Things like Finn begging Rey to run away with him, Finn bluffing the Resistance so he can make sure Rey gets rescued despite the risk to his own life and having to face the First Order even though he wanted nothing more than to get as far away from them as possible, Finn's monomaniacal obsession with keeping Rey safe even when she wasn't anywhere near him in TLJ, and Rey making sure Finn gets a last message from her before she faces likely death at Snoke's hands. Nothing romantic in that, not like if Rey had looked at Finn and demanded he put on some damn clothes, or Finn kept getting in her face and talking about how he could take what he wanted from her in a threatening deadpan, or he got in a big fight with her trying to steal one of her things after murdering all her friends to ensure she'd have to stay subservient to him and him alone. Now that's romance!

 

[fireproof78]

Well, yeah, but that's completely counteracted by the signaling of their totally platonic, if not completely disinterested, attitudes towards each other. Things like Finn begging Rey to run away with him, Finn bluffing the Resistance so he can make sure Rey gets rescued despite the risk to his own life and having to face the First Order even though he wanted nothing more than to get as far away from them as possible, Finn's monomaniacal obsession with keeping Rey safe even when she wasn't anywhere near him in TLJ, and Rey making sure Finn gets a last message from her before she faces likely death at Snoke's hands. Nothing romantic in that, not like if Rey had looked at Finn and demanded he put on some damn clothes, or Finn kept getting in her face and talking about how he could take what he wanted from her in a threatening deadpan, or he got in a big fight with her trying to steal one of her things after murdering all her friends to ensure she'd have to stay subservient to him and him alone. Now that's romance!

Well...when you put it that way...

No, I can still see small hints of possible romance between Finn and Rey. Do I think it is still up to audience interpretation? Yeah, probably. Would I be upset if they did? Yeah, because romance doesn't need to be in a Star Wars movie!

 

[Xerxes82]

Finn strikes me as that kind of person “Rey, I forgot to tell you, I think... I have the Force”

It was this, and the movie wasn't particularly subtle about it. Right down to sensing her "death" through the Force at the end of the movie. Finn 100% has the Force with him. Rey and Finn are the Luke/Leia of the ST.

Best guess as to why he's being so coy about it? He doesn't want to pile on. Rey already has a ton of weight on her shoulders as the film opens, and Finn would be wary of adding to that list. Not realizing that having someone to share her burdens with, as well as the joy of connecting to the larger galaxy through the Force, would likely be good for Rey, who has serious isolation and abandonment issues.