Looking over a few comments here, and I got to say I agree a lot with Trek_God 1 when it comes to Finn and Rey. In other threads I've talked about the chemistry between Boyega and Ridley and how it should've been built on in the films, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. And like Trek_God 1, I saw Rose as a character created to sidetrack an idea of a Finn/Rey romance as The Last Jedi wanted to build instead on the connection between Rey and Ren, despite it being far more problematic. I got zero chemistry from Finn and Rose and that last kiss on Crait after she stopped him from maybe saving the Resistance felt forced and coming more from her than him. Finn had eyes for Rey. When they reunited and hugged, that had more emotion than any 'romantic' scene between Finn and Rose. (Nothing against Kellie Marie Tran, like most of the sequel actors, she had to work with what she was given. One of the positive things about the sequel trilogy was how good the casts were. It's just they were in mostly bad or lackluster films, and I'm saying this even though I liked TROS for the most part).
There was also some speculation that how Rey and Dameron met at the end of TLJ might hint at something, but TROS created two potential new love interests for Dameron and Finn to clear the way for Reylo, but Abrams, wanting to please everyone, also made sure to kill Ben off right after their kiss so that anti-Reylo fans would not be angered.
Also agree with Trek_God 1 about how racially regressive the depiction of Finn's character was, which I've also written about in other threads. Looking at the demographic breakdown of TROS moviegoers opening weekend, only 10% were African-American. If the inclusion of Finn was supposed to broaden Star Wars appeal where African-Americans were concerned, then Disney failed. (Though to be honest I would have to look back into the older films' demographics to see if 10%, which sounds paltry, is actually an improvement.) The point I am getting at here though is that Finn's depiction especially in The Force Awakens was not endearing and IMO has not helped build inroads with African-American customers (of which I am one). Boyega is a very good actor and it's a shame he was saddled with such a pathetic character. I was happy to hear that Boyega advocated for his character behind-the-scenes, and I do think TROS handled him the best of any of the movies. I wish they had started him off the way he was in TROS, albeit with zero shouting Rey's name.
I actually liked the inclusion of Palpatine as the big bad, even though I was afraid they would mangle him like they had other iconic characters (I had a similar fear for Lando). But for the most part I was okay with Palpatine. I saw it as a case of they had written themselves into a corner. Just when Snoke got interesting, Rian Johnson killed him off. And from The Force Awakens, once Ren took off his helmet and had that temper tantrum he ceased to be a legit threat. And I couldn't buy him leading the First Order any more than I could Anakin leading the Empire (after seeing how he was depicted in the prequels, and I liked PT Anakin a lot more than Ren). Hux was always overdone and then Johnson made him into a joke character that Abrams just ran with in TROS. Pryde, was a bit too dastardly as well, but I would've preferred him, a bit more matter-of-fact though, as the main general from Episode VII on instead of Hux. He was a bit more believable in the role. Palpatine tells the audience instantly that this is a real threat. Abrams just went overboard with the Sith Fleet and all that Sith Eternal stuff. He didn't need all of that.
Granted Palpatine's plan made little sense, and the parts that did, sometimes needed more explanation (to the audience) and then were over explained (to Rey; why tell her what would happen when she struck him down?) Also, if he could create Snoke clones (why were there a vat of them?), why not just clone another body for himself? I was also okay with him having a son, but of course I want to learn more about this, and see how the novels and comics are going to make this work. What was this guy doing during the Galactic Civil War? Was his son not Force sensitive? If he wasn't, why did he let him live? And if he was, then what was the point of bringing Luke over to the dark side to be his apprentice when he had his own son that he could've groomed since birth to take on that role? Did Vader know about this kid?
Even though Ren was weak main villain, he was probably the best developed new character in the sequels, and Adam Driver did a good job with what he had to work with. But still, by the end of Episode VII I never bought this guy as a real threat and it took him three films to finally sort of beat Rey, so I felt there was little danger to the story's protagonist, from Ren. But Palpatine, yeah, now he's a threat.
I just had a thought. Okay, even though I liked Palpatine's inclusion in this film, and he's my favorite Star Wars character, but why not just bring Snoke back? He was more germane to this trilogy than Palpatine. And TROS showed he could be cloned. Why not just have another clone body for Snoke (perhaps a younger, stronger one?). The whole thing about "The Dead Speak!" at the beginning of the opening crawl could've been used for a resurrected Snoke. Further, if Snoke is back that would threaten Ren's hold on the First Order even more, because there had to be some Snoke followers still in the First Order. I guess Disney/Abrams didn't feel bringing Snoke back would get disgruntled fans back.
They could've even kept the Rey Palpatine thing with a resurrected Snoke. And it might have been more 'believable' to have had Snoke behind this secret fleet all this time.
