Why do you think Finn and Rose were broken up in between TLJ and TROS?
I’d say it results in a few things
Racist toxic assholes who harassed Loan Tran won and JJ and Terrio kowtowing to the racists and sexist assholes for reducing Rose altogether
The popularity of Finnpoe/Stormpilot and Finnrey overshadowed Rose as a character and her possible relationship with Finn. The tie in novel just showed that the author preferred Finnpoe and wrote Finnrose out of the picture because of that. And….it was all FOR NOTHING! Finn and Poe did not get together and Finn and Rey did not get together. So Finn and Rose were broken up for absolutely nothing, the racists won and Finn ends up alone. It’s as if someone was afraid of an interracial relationship between a black man and a asian woman.
John Boyega. I am not referring to his “not being able to handle it” comment about KMT as John has apologized for it. After TROS, he has obviously shown visible disdain for TLJ and TROS. Clearly he viewed Finn’s dynamic with Rose as a downgrade to the kind of character he was playing in TFA. He has shown that he prefers Rey and Poe and obviously shows he did not view Finn’s time with Rose very highly.
I just think it’s a real shame. I like their dynamic very much. I do still feel like there are internalized racist overtones with how Rian wrote them and it could have been written better, but I still like Finn and Rose together. These are two characters who lost their families to The First Order. We could’ve gotten a scene of Finn and Rose talk about their families in TLJ. Finn would say he was taken from his family by The First Order and never really knew them. Rose empathizes with Finn’s trauma and acknowledge that they are both cut from the same cloth. Rose and Paige lost their family and home and Finn lost his family and home, they have something in common and a reason to fight for The Resistance and against The First Order. Could’ve just cut the hostility altogether if you just let the characters empathize with each other.
Finn has shown throughout TLJ that he does care about Rose. He listened to her vent about the atmosphere of worlds like Canto Bight, he cared about making them hurt, cared about Rose’s attachment to Rose’s twin pendant, cared when Rose crashed into him and cared enough to carry Rose and cover her up when Rose was knocked out from the crash. Rose was enamored by Finn’s courageous actions from TFA. Escaping the First Order and leading The Resistance into destroying Starkiller Base. But, ultimately disappointed after discovering that he wanted to escape. Rose was in mourning and thought it was a dishonor to her sister. But ultimately they decided to work together and get along better and become close. Rose is obviously infatuated with Finn and wanted him safe after Phasma’s defeat and cared enough to save him from a pointless sacrifice. She kissed him because she loved him. Finn and Rose care about each other and it could’ve been more if they were allowed to.
Finn and Rose had chemistry and excellent potential for a relationship. There was no reason whatsoever to kill the potential. It was simply to please the Finnpoe/Finnrey crowd and to appeal to the racists and sexists who harassed KMT.
Instead of just passing off the kiss as a “heat of the moment” in the tie in novels and dismissing their relationship, Finn could’ve simply just kissed Rose back and they embrace each other.
What should have happened in TROS is that Finn and Rose are sent on a mission to start a Stormtrooper Rebellion. Just imagine Finn goes to Hux’s flagship and Rose helps using her skills to help Finn to broadcast a signal to every Stormtrooper. I think it could be something like this. “My name is Finn, I was FN-2187, a Stormtrooper. Like every one of you, I was taken from a family I will never know. I was raised to do one thing… but my first battle, my friend Slip died and that death marked me and made me realize We are people and we have a choice. I wasn’t gonna kill for them. I had nothing to fight for. Until I met my friends, they gave me a name, a purpose and something worth fighting for.(cue Finn smiling at Rose) So I am here to tell you. You have a choice. You are people. You do not have to kill for them anymore. Take back your lives and fight the people who took your lives away from you. I am giving you the one choice they never gave you and choose for yourselves. You can either storm this very room and kill us or you can take back your lives. The choice is yours.” Then we get a very emotional scene of Stormtroopers led by Finn’s last surviving Squad member, Zeroes removing his helmet and tossing it to the ground and then we see hundreds, to thousands of Stormtroopers ripping their helmets off and tossing them to the ground. Officers DEMAND they put their helmet back on and kill The Resistance scum, but they don’t. It happens. Rebellion. Finn and Rose have successfully led a Stormtrooper Rebellion and together burn The First Order from the inside out and Rose could say something that calls back to TLJ. “It was worth it, though. To tear them up, make ‘em hurt.” Finn would embrace Rose in a kiss and say “Now it’s worth it.” And you could’ve had the conclusion to Finn’s story by having Hux at Finn’s mercy. Hux is begging for his life, saying he will call for The First Order’s complete and unconditional surrender and giving Finn and the rest of the Stormtroopers info of their families and planets. But the defected Stormtroopers want blood. All the Stormtroopers who left the First Order because of Finn are telling him he has to kill Hux while Rose is telling him killing Hux will not be right. Finn makes the decision to spare Hux. Finn tells his brothers and sisters “that’s how we’re going to win this war not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.” Inspired by Rose, Finn let’s go of his past and takes Hux in alive so he can answer for his crimes.
It wouldn’t change anything if Rose were in the mission with Finn, Poe and Rey. Finn, Rose and Poe is a more believable trio than Rey, Finn and Poe. Rey seemed to largely annoyed by Finn and Poe’s mere presence all movie. Seeing Finn, Rose and Poe together would’ve just been good, and wouldn’t it make more sense to use Rose’s mechanical skills to get 3PO to learn the Sith language to decipher the Sith dagger? And really, why was Finn just given a new dynamic with Jannah? They pretty much erased Finn’s ENTIRE NARRATIVE by making Jannah a new Stormtrooper who rebelled and was not inspired by Finn’s defection. Could’ve had Finn and Rose hug, forehead kiss her goodbye and kiss her after the battle was over.
But no, they deliberately left Rose out of the adventure. They just had Finn pat her on the shoulder. It came off as a giant middle finger to the fans of their relationship and their dynamic. Then Finn is back to being someone who is just clingy to Rey. The entire point of Finn’s character arc in TLJ is that he needs to live for more than just himself and Rey. He learned that Rey is not his only reason for being. So not only was Rey’s character horribly regressed, it was Finn. He was right back to screaming WOOOOO and REEEEEEYYYYYY. Good fucking god. No wonder everyone now ships Rose with Hux. You gave up a connection to Kylo from Jakku, gave up on trying to resolve the fact that Poe killed Slip and changed Finn’s existence and gave up a Stormtrooper Rebellion.....FOR FUCKING SPACE HORSES. So stupid
They could be more than their past, their trauma and build a future together. Finn could finally move beyond Rey. Finn could take Rose’s last name and get both first and family name from his friends and loved ones. Finn Tico. Now that’s a big deal.
