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Supreme Leader Snoke - who *is* he?

I have several reasons to believe he is none other than the now-infamous Darth Plagueis, the very Sith Lord who Palpatine had believed he had killed. Perhaps, this was all part of Plagueis' plan - to appear to let Palpatine become the "ultimate evil", and lie dormant for literally almost 60 or 70 years, waiting for the perfect time to become the actual ruler of the galaxy. There are two major reasons I believe this. 

1 - We learn in ROTS that Darth Sidious appears to have been Darth Plagueis' apprentice, while he is recounting the tale to Anakin. There is one major problem with this story - and it has always bothered me - and that is the fact that if Plagueis was really as strong as he claimed to be, couldn't he have sensed Palpatine's betrayal? Would he not have some sort of ancient Sith Secret that would somehow keep him alive? Or, perhaps, the body wasn't actually Plagues...

2 - During the first scene in which me meet Snoke, the VERY SAME music that is playing in the background is the music that was playing while Palpatine was recounting the tale to Anakin in ROTS, although it appears to be a slightly slower tempo. This could be J.J Abrams' attempt at a subtle hint, as he quite likes to do that!

Most of the internet seems to agree that this could be the case, but there are several people who also seem to think Snoke could somehow be a future Rey? Which... I really hope not because that would be ridiculous....

Rey - A Skywalker?

In the now-defunct EU novels, we know that Han and Leia had two children. In this movie, we know that they have at least one child - Kylo Ren. Now, we know logically that Rey has to somehow be related, since she is so powerful in the Force. My personal feeling, though, is that she is in fact somehow the daughter of Luke, who may have had a brief relationship with someone sometime after the fall of the Fist Empire, and perhaps had to leave them in order to go train his new Jedi Apprentices. Once Kylo Ren betrayed Luke and the other Jedi, Luke went into hiding - Han says he felt like it was all his fault, but what if he left in order to save Rey? And perhaps he purposefully left her on Jakku as that would be the last place anyone would look - that is, until the First Order finds out Poe Dameron went there and set the whole new story into motion!

Why do I think she's the daughter of Luke specifically? Well, for one she has a stuffed doll that is wearing a Rebel Pilot's outfit. Secondly, the lightsaber of the Skywalkers calls to her. And finally, if you look at the one scene where she is sitting up against that fallen AT-AT unit, the Rebel helmet she has appears to be a beat-up one that looks remarkably similar to the one Luke wears in A New Hope. 

now here are the reasons I think she may not be the daughter of Luke

First, it would be pretty obvious, and kind of a cheap shot at the whole lore of Star Wars... it wouldn't offer any new substance to the universe and is far, far too easy to predict. Secondly, who would Luke have met, and since abandoned, and why would the mother then abandon Rey as well? From what we can tell Rey has been abandoned on Jakku, all by herself, since what appears to be the age of 5. Why would both parents abandon her? It doesn't make any sense, unless we eventually learn the mother died in childbirth? Which would just be another parallel, and again offer nothing really new to the story.

is Han *really* dead?

My personal feeling is that yes, Han is dead, for good. He won't come back as a Force Ghost since he had no knowledge of the Force, and he will have literally had to survive a stab wound, a LONG LONG fall, and a planet collapsing in on itself and exploding. If this seems impossible, that's because it pretty much is. 

That being said...

We sure thought Luke's lightsaber in Empire was a goner. It and his hand fell to the bottom of Cloud City, and seemed to disappear forever. Yet, it shows up again in this new movie. SOOOOO what if Han somehow managed to fall into a vent that let him contact a ship somewhere and save him? Maybe he had a way of contacting Lando? Perhaps Lando was outside the whole time, in secret, just in case something went really, really wrong?

It seems to unlikely, and any explanation they would have for him surviving any of that would feel way too far-fetched for me. Plus, Harrison Ford has wanted Han to die since 1980 - and he finally got his wish. 

I don't even care that it was largely  recycled from the old films, I don't care if they recycle all the new three films from them.

Visually it was pleasing to see them mimic the look of the first ones too.  
(yes, I am one of those old film fan people, hate me)

I really liked all the scattered wreckage from the empire/rebel battles.

I did have to laugh sometimes though, "I wish it was a deathstar..." -shows stupidly gigantic megadeath star... which still comes down to an open hole... and a father/son confrontation scene on a walkway over a seemingly bottomless pit... hmmm
I'm not hating on it.  the deathstar got a minor eye roll, but all in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable starwars experience with some really funny bits.  -not even chewy can deny Han Solo's record for reliability.
I thought the lead actors were well chosen, however am not sold on Kylo Ren yet, unless they are depicting the bratty early stages of a villain that will come to fruition later in the series.  I just thought he was a little weak and toothless.

One other little laugh that I had was at the end when Luke is standing with his back to rey and pulls the dramatic turn around.  It is just a funny thought as he is strong with the force and would have clearly known she was coming.  He was all like, "New Jedi chicks comin over, so I gotta leg it to the top of the cliff and stand with my back to her so i can be all mysterious as I turn around all like "hey baby"". -hey family has never stopped him before.

I also liked the plot theme dancing around 'the droids they were looking for' whilst never actually uttering the famous phrase yet the viewer thinking it and waiting for it.

I was grinning from ear to ear from beginning to finish.  Good job Disney.

I loved all the references to the originals (Episodes 4,5,6). 
Effects and battle scenes are amazing. 
The scale of everything is phenomenal. 
And I don't care that the physics of the fighter craft doesn't work and all the other things that the purists are complaining about. It's pure escapism and it's done to perfection.

Like that weird alien woman when they landed with the Falcon on that planet.
Who was she, why was she acting so important, why did she have Luke's lightsaber,
how come she knows Han Solo? No one knows. They tried to make her seem all
"mystical" and knowledgeable but instead she came across as a sad attempt at a
replacement for Yoda.

Why did the light saber suddenly magically become "attracted" to Ray? She isn't in
the bloodline of any Jedi.

This all felt incredibly forced. There was no reason to land on that planet in the
first place. Their motivation was unclear.

Him killing his dad felt absolutely pointless. His goals were unclear, his purpose
was unclear, his relations were unclear. Terrible character.

Who's that new sith lord? No one knows

The whole thing with the death planet was laughable and completely pointless.
There was no build-up, it just appeared in the middle of the film and started
destroying planets for no reason.

Then, the whole thing with The Resistance destroying the death planet
was retarded. There was no planning, there was no strategy or anything. They
just went "herp derp I guess we have to attack this crap pew pew lazers"
Not to mention all of the plot holes, such as the death planet charging its
weapons with an ETA of 30 minutes but them still being able to somehow
disable the shields, place all of those bombs and blow up the thing.

Revealing Kylo Ren's identify and parents, and killing HS is already quite a huge story progression.

I really want to know who Maz is and I have a feeling we'll find out in the next
film. I'm betting she was somehow a resident of Cloud City/Bespin and that's why she
has the lightsaber of the Skywalkers. She even says that the story of how she obtained it is
"another story for another time".

Starkiller Base was indeed quite a bit of a .... rehash. But I still loved it, and the explanation for it does make sense. 
The First Order WANTS to be more powerful than the Empire ever was, so logically to prove that they are they would
figure out a way to construct a Death Star-like weapon into a planet. They targeted those planets in particular because 
that was where the New Republic was located. Now, once again, the Republic is all but destroyed... you'd think they'd
come up with a better governing system that would have a proper defense mechanism!

In my opinion, Han Solo's death was necessary to the story, not to mention Harrison Ford has wanted him to die since 1980,
when he started taking on other movie roles.

It was necessary because Kylo Ren is afraid that he will never amount to the power of Vader - and in order to prove that not
only is he quite the formidable villain, he is quite possibly more powerful than Vader, and way more evil, since he killed his own father in cold blood.

I still think Han may, somehow, still be around in some way... but it would be a stretch to bring him back alive.

I like the way at the beginning it sounds like he will say anything to get out of his position... then he disappears...probably dead.  Then there is that amazing feat of star-wars piloting that was genuinely impressive -Turns out it was non other...

He had star power that would indicate further place in the later story.

The best bit for me was watching the force awaken in the girl, and the best scene for me was when she turned the tables on the bad guy when he was trying to read her mind :) Good film imo.