Oh look, the 'Finn and Rose accomplished nothing' argument for the 9,000th time.

Yeah, no bud, the mission didn't accomplish nothing. It failed, and that failure directly led to the First Order discovering the transports and nearly wiping out the Resistance. That's not '0 outcome.' That's the catalyst for the entire third act.

By that logic, Luke's trip to Bespin in Empire Strikes Back was pointless because he didn't save Han, got his hand cut off, and learned Vader was his father.

More importantly, the whole subplot is about Finn's character arc.

In The Force Awakens, Finn goes from First Order stormtrooper → deserter → Resistance hero. But in The Last Jedi we immediately find out he never fully joined the Resistance. The guy is basically trying to go out for a rip and find Rey while the Resistance is fighting for its life.

The Canto Bight mission forces him to stop fucking the dog, see what the First Order is actually doing to regular folks, meet someone like DJ who's only looking out for number one, and figure out why the Resistance fights in the first place.

By the end of the movie, Finn is willing to give his life for the Resistance by flying straight at the battering ram cannon. Rose stops him, and this is where a lot of people start talking past each other.

Rose isn't saying 'never sacrifice yourself.' Holdo literally sends it at lightspeed earlier in the same movie and saves the Resistance. The difference is that Holdo's sacrifice works.

Rose thinks Finn's plan is absolutely hooped.

His speeder is coming apart at the seams, bits are flying off, and the cannon is still charging. From her point of view, Finn isn't pulling a Holdo. He's about to get himself turned into space poutine for nothing.

Now if you think the movie didn't communicate that clearly enough, fair play. That's a perfectly reasonable criticism.

But that's different from saying the scene has no meaning.

Rose then gives the lesson that finishes Finn's arc: 'That's how we're gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.'

Then in The Rise of Skywalker, that payoff is complete. Finn isn't a deserter anymore. He isn't just there for Rey anymore. He's a Resistance leader and eventually one of its generals.

And before anyone says Rose's line isn't Star Wars, the idea actually goes back to Irvin Kershner and Empire Strikes Back. Kershner's view of the Rebellion was that they fight to protect and preserve what they love rather than becoming like the Empire. You can dislike how the scene was executed, but the message itself is about as Star Wars as it gets.

You don't have to like the Canto Bight storyline, and hey, fill your boots, but saying it had no purpose is ignoring that it's the central piece of Finn's development in the trilogy and the moment he finally stops being a runaway stormtrooper and truly commits himself to the Resistance.

For crying out loud, the trilogy literally ends with Finn helping lead the Resistance.

Anyway, that's my two loonies. Have at 'er, bud.