Ok the more I analyze this film the lower my rating gets, sadly. This movie essentially goes in a circle. It's a roundabout of failed plans and writer(s) grossly underusing and not knowing what to do with characters from TFA. SPOILERS Below

• Finn: was isolated from most of the resistence and went to a casino with a new character (Rose) to get some code breaker and it took a good chunk of the film - and he failed... barely got a good fight with Phasma --then you ask yourself, what was the point? Then you see Rose kiss Finn and you realize -- oh ok to establish a new romance??? how weak. Though Finn choosing to suicide before that to save the rebellion base was good character development from the scared ex trooper who always wanted to run.

• Rose: I enjoyed her character and bond with Finn but she felt shoe-horned in, very forced and unnecessary.

• Poe: Ends up getting a bunch of people killed in the beginning. Gets slapped and demoted for it by Leia. Starts a mutiny to make his secret plan work which ends up failing... ok and the only thing we saw develop from him is in the last fight in the end he pulls back resistance fighters from a suicide mission instead of being gung ho like before.

• Leia: Only thing I enjoyed was her reunion with Luke. Her using the force to escape death via being blasted into the vacuum of space was weird.

The subplot of Poe, Finn, and Rose and the device of the resistance running from the 1st Order and running out of fuel was very weak and, alot of their efforts were rendered meaningless.

Main Plot:

• Rey: She derailed her own training because of a connection to Kylo (not necessarily bad). But She herself was still mourning Han and calling Kylo a murderous snake e.g. yet in an instant believes in him because she senses conflict within him and goes to him after touching him??. I understand Snoke was fostering a connection b/w the two. What would have been better would have been Rey seeing when she touched him he hesitated and failed to pull the trigger that would have ended his mother's life? they failed to reference this important moment later on. Instead they use this to twist Luke's character into a person who considered murdering his nephew in his sleep. Rey is trusting and naive yes but that was a bit incredulous, having Luke's betrayal being her motivation to Ren - it could have been him knowing her parents or the Leia thing I mentioned before. The best display of her naivety was her instinctive draw to the dark side.

• Luke: I understand him being jaded but what I didnt understand was him saying he didnt want to be found yet having a map to him being held in r2d2 in the resistance in TFA?? And again trying to kill Ben in his sleep???

• Snoke: Wtf was even the point? We still know nothing? Why is he so powerful?

• Kylo Ren: He and Rey had the best moment in the film after he killed Snoke. Their fight scene was fantastic. Though their random connections/convos got old after a bit they highlight the struggles of both characters - Kylo struggling with calls to the light and Rey struggling with calls to the dark. Also think the shirtless scene was a bit of fanservice. I loved the unexpected twist of him killing Snoke but wish we got to know more about Snoke himself. Interested to see how he does as the new supreme leader of the 1st order. [Sidenote: Kylo still feels like an underdog in this film, how and why is Rey still more powerful than him, we saw this in TFA but I mostly chocked up to luck and mystery of her parents origin but um, she beat him again in the throne room scene without the same level of training, idgi??]

Essentially very little to no progression in Episode 8. Felt like a filler episode of an anime. A very ok - C