I thought they pulled out all the stops to hint that she’s Luke’s daughter over Han and Leia.
I figured the surprise would be if she turned out to be their daughter instead. Wouldn’t there have been more of a reaction from Han if he picked up a girl with her talents and about the right age from the planet where they left their daughter?
“Hey Finn, I heard you got Poe to jack it.”
“No, I said I got Poe’s jacket!”
There just has to be a good “dark side” and “light side” joke in there too.
Because he’s Luke FREAKIN’ Skywalker! 
I feel like whatever is coming next, it has to be ANYTHING other than another killer planet. And I think that’s what this episode was all about–one last embrace of the past before flushing it all out. And the First Order actually did accomplish what the Empire never fully got around to: removing all vestiges of civility by taking out the central governing planet and its population (at least, I was getting a Coruscant vibe from that planet they blew up, anyone else?).
I wasn’t really clear on that either till I confirmed (wookiepedia) it wasn’t coruscant, but the hosnian system.
Absolutely. All the leaders of the First Order we saw were young and inexperienced; I felt like they were using a huge killer planet to say “we’re as good as the Empire! Even better!” (and yes, I agree with others that the Death Star clone was probably heavily encouraged by the producers, but I’m justifying it here, because it was handled creatively). Whatever comes next will likely be small, stealthy, and deadly effective. My guess: the Knights of Ren guerilla-attacking everywhere.
According to other books and materials, what we saw was the destruction of the Hosnian System, specifically Hosnian Prime, the new Republic capital and the home of the Republic senate. I really have no idea why they didn’t articulate such a simple and vital piece of information in the actual movie; it’d certainly have made that scene more impactful if someone had said “they just destroyed the home of the Republic!” or anything, really.
I thought they mentioned it was the seat of the new republic before firing… shrug
They did, but it was quite the throwaway line. mumble mumble Hosni-mumble
What @japhroaig said. The First Order guys were throwing out lines like WE SHALL DESTROY THEIR SENATE and I think I remember someone saying Hosnian rutabaga rutabaga seat of the Republic rutabaga but there was no big horrified payoff afterwards like we had with Alderaan. It was very rushed and could’ve used some clarity.
EDIT, now that I think about it: Why didn’t Leia step out of her ship and give some helpful exposition, i.e., “Boy, are we fucked. That death ray just blew up the Senate and killed [person running the Republic] as well as destroyed the whole Republic fleet. So our little galactic police force is all that’s left.”
I was hoping one of them would bang a shoe on a desk.
SCENE: Int. Hosnian Senate Chamber. Onscreen captioned text reads HOSNIA, THE CAPITOL PLANET OF THE NEW REPUBLIC (NOT CORUSCANT).
Chancellor: “Well, my fellow New-Republic representatives, it’s been 30 long years but it’s finally come down to this. All in FAVOR of restoring peace and democracy to the galaxy?”
Thousands of Senators, Including Adorable Representatives from the Puppy Planet: “YEA!!”
Chancellor: “All opposed?”
Lone Grumpy Looking Senator in Dark Hooded Robe: “NAY!”
Chancellor: “So ruled!” (Raises gavel to make vote official…)
SCENE: Ext. Senate building as Interstellar death laser vaporizes capitol Independence-Day style just before the rest of the planet explodes.
Star Wars Episode VIII: Attack of the Puppies
I can’t quote the bit I am replying to as I can’t get it to work on my iPad, but I did have an insight into the Force being a lot like Terry Pratchett’s Narrativum. It flows, has strong currents and patterns, but if you know how you can reshape the story. Turn it from a dreary morality tale into a story of heroism. Turn the tragedy into a comedy, and the Force will flow to its new Climatic point. It is why classic Star Wars was a chain of cliffhangers. To use the Force? Find a role and subvert it. Steer the plot to meet your needs.
This is the danger of the dark side, by the way: raw force can get you through the current, but wading through like that causes turbulence and eddying it disrupts, exhausts, and sets you up to get knocked down and swept away. Instead of Dirty Harry, the hero who gets things done, you find out you’re the villain after all. The goal of the Jedi then was to feel the current and work with it, not against it.
Try simply selecting the text in the comment you wan to quote as if you’re trying to copy it and a button to quote that selection will appear. I just found out this week myself.
Sent from my iPhone
My wife just spent fifteen minutes filling my ear with some internet nonsense opining that Rey’s last name is actually Kenobi. Sounded legit, from the accent down to the fighting style. (I mean, Boyega adopted an American accent, so why did Ridley have an accent that sounds like the only ANH character with a British accent who wasn’t Imperial or a Goldenrod? Hmmm?!)
Whatever. Kenobi having a long-lost granddaughter (or, hell, even grand-niece) is no more a stretch than her being Luke’s offspring. But we’re not meant to know yet, so all the evidence is either circumstantial, red-herring, complete and utter fabrication… or true. I’ll find out in a couple years. Good enough for me.
