In the beginning of TLJ, Finn has two goals - GTFO out of the wider war and get to Rey.

By the end of the movie, he realizes that the FO MUST be fought and that he needs to be part of that, while also learning through Rose that getting himself killed in that fight isn’t the best way (a parallel to Poe’s arc about…

Not to mention that Rose had some hero worship and admiration for Finn going on before they met. He then turned out to not be the person she thought, a person she then saw and helped him become. Their bond -and her apparent feelings - is obviously more than just two work acquaintances stuck on shift together. 

Johnson started something really interesting with his Wuthering Heights in Space love triangle, and I’m sure if he had been able to, he’d have finished it out with Rey ending up with good man Finn over bad boy Kylo. Think Phantom of the Opera or Dracula as well. Or, he would have had Finn not want to be second fiddle…

First of all, that’s bullshit. They clearly bond through that plot. Secondly, they’re on screen more than enough for the audience to understand that if they’re not intent on hating the film. Third, she never “confessed her love.” She says they’re saving what they love, meaning all of the people that make up the…

Exactly. I was actually fine with Rey ending up on her own, strong and on a journey of self discovery — its a Jedi thing to do and fits Disney’s vision of Rey as a feminist symbol for young girls. But Disney made it very obvious they didn’t want even a hint of romantic interest between Rey and Finn and were trying to…

I feel like that’s a huge issue. Rey and Poe had good chemistry, to the point where I thought they’d shock everyone and pair THEM up. But the main heroes needed to have some moments together, which is one of the few things Rise of Skywalker did right 

Yeah, JJ started this shit by turning Finn into a slightly less offensive clown by the end of TFA. Instead of leading a Stormtrooper rebellion, he reveals he was a janitor, does some awkward Office humor and gets yeeted.

Totally ok and I happen to like TLJ but to say he's playing into the hands of toxic fans is taking it too far in my opinion

I don’t disagree with anything you said. But I’ll say that if you’re upset that Rey and Finn were separated, isn’t that on Abrams and not Johnson? Johnson gets so much crap for simply responding logically to the things Abrams set up.

Reading the GQ interview I get the feeling Abrams and co. told Boyega he was going to be more intrinsic to Jedi aspects of the trilogy, or some other similar high expectations, that never came to be and I certainly don’t blame him for having hard feelings if he was mislead. If anything that speaks to how mishandled…

Phasma was another character who was underserved. I can’t imagine Gwendoline Christie was anything but nonplussed about her character’s treatment.

I’m very glad he followed up with Knives Out, so that most people who like to bash him can just kiss his ass. TLJ was the best of the new sequels, in my mind, by leaps and bounds.

It’s bad faith to conflate Johnson with Disney and not Abrams and you know it.

Man, I might hate Trevorrow, but that’s actually exactly what Finn’s arc should’ve been.

I think what happened was he thought the series was making him Ridley’s love interest, and he maybe blames Johnson for ending that and pushing the Rey/Ren story. So while Johnson did give his character an arc and something to do in the movie taking a lot of the running time, it was a “side” thing, not a “star” thing.

I actually felt they tried to nip Poe/Finn shipping by giving them each a female character they could feasibly be into.

...It didn’t work.

My guess would be that Abrams bounced around some ideas that Johnson’s story conflicted with. That doesn’t excuse ROS, but he seems to be giving Abrams a pass on that one ‘cos he wasn’t supposed to be making that episode.

I disagree with Boyega’s criticisms of TLJ (like, really dude, that’s the movie of the three you’re gonna trash for giving you nothing to do? Really???) but I do appreciate his ability to completely give zero fucks about shit-talking Disney.

Hell, in Dual of the Fates, Finn actually has his own subplot surrounding organizing starting an uprising of former stormtroopers on Corascant. Abrams pretty much scrapped all of it for Finn shouting Rey;s name and having him needing to tell Rey something that he never bothers to tell her in the film.

I wonder his exact grievances with The Last Jedi. If anything I thought Johnson gave nuance to Poe (hotshot flyboy to dangerous arrogance to balanced leader) and Finn (being too foolhardy and self-sacrificing in trying to save others), while introducing Rose in the first place.

It was Abrams’ RoS that blatantly and…