I agree that Kylo was wounded and was likely not as effective as he could have been. However, he was also beating Rey despite being wounded. Up until she closed her eyes and heard the word force. Then she fucking destroyed him. Which should not have happened. I understand the desperate times thing, but honestly?

Other than that, the initial failure of the New Jedi Order through Kylo is something pretty believable. In the expanded universe, something similar almost happened on Yavin IV. The ghost of Exar Kun almost destroyed the NJO with Kyp Durron and the Sun Crusher. Anyway, expanded universe aside (may it rest in the force), seduced by a master, Kylo upholds the rule of two and has an interesting storyline. He actively rejects the light, seeking to be corrupted. This is an interesting plot point, because normally the dark seeks a jedi out. To have a goal of corruption makes him interesting because he is a departure from the norm. He recognizes the light inside him, and while he is angry and lost as most Dark Jedi are, he seeks to destroy the light. Not with the goal of making good fall, but to make himself pure.

Now on to Rey.

People use Luke as an example of a Gary Stu to counter Rey's Mary Sue. A few problems with that: Obi Wan taught Luke some rudimentary force techniques, such as sensing a target. Nothing crazy, but he could block a blaster bolt, and ultimately (with Ben's guidance) used the same technique to get the timing down for the targeting of his proton torpedoes and thus helped coin the term TRD (trench run disease). A very simple force enhanced timing technique was used. Nothing more. He was not a God who succeeded in everything he tried. Even with Yoda's instruction, he was hasty and fucked up by facing Vader at Bespin. Between Ep.V and Ep.VI , there are a few years in which he discovered a lot of hidden Jedi lore, including a few holocrons, that were able to further instruct him. The Jedi Temple on Coruscant was raided, but some of the librarians were able to smuggle them out. They held not only teachings, but entire simulations of the Jedi counsel. These simulations, while obviously not the real thing, held the personages of the masters of the counsel, among other Jedi Masters, and were able to instruct him in the ways of the force and he learned enough to lead a desperate battle against the Emperor that ended at Endor. Through his training, he had the strength of will to succeed.

A poor scavenger slave is somehow miraculously able to pilot a ship she thought was scrap through the wreckage of star destroyers to evade TIE's, even pulling a fucking mid air stall that let a disabled, locked, stationary gun blow it to shit. An amazing sequence, don't get me wrong (the fucking aerial sequences blew my goddamn mind), but completely fucking unbelievable. I understand her knowledge of mechanics from scavenging that let them not die from coolant poisoning, but come the fuck on. Pulling shit apart and flying shit are two very different things. She wasn't even a service tech who would move them around.

Finn, on the other hand, I thought was done somewhat well. He came from a developed remnant of the crumbled Empire that had turned into a second Empire calling itself the First Order. He was a stolen child who obviously didn't have a lasting brainwash. He was able to recognize wrong and fight it within himself, but lacked the strength to fight it in others. He found something worth protecting in Rey (yay friendship), and did what he could to protect his only friend, but until the assault on the Starkiller he was terrified of the death he saw inflicted on and had done to others and sought to run from it. When he realized that to fight death was to make death itself flee, he found a noble cause to fight for. Not the best character in the world, but it's believable.

But Rey? Fuck Rey.

That turned into a bit more of a rant than I expected.






Oh. And CPT. Phasma. That character had no goddamn point. At all.