I think the idea might be that there's something inside Finn that makes him recoil from slaughtering villagers (as opposed to harming someone who's trying to do you harm in a battle), something that the "programming" storm troopers get couldn't stamp out. We may well learn about his past and learn where that thing in him comes from, who put it there. It's when the order to kill the non-resisting villagers gets handed down--that moment--that you see him realize not that he doesn't want to do it, but that he can't do it. There's a difference between being a soldier and being a murderer.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to just assume he headed in a different direction than Finn did and found transport offworld at another village.

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts there's a deleted scene showing Poe's escape from the wreckage and getting off of the planet.

Anyone got any ideas about this enigmatic map? Who drew the map? Why? Why was it in two pieces? How did Max have it? It's like JJ had a script meeting: let's make the map the MacGuffin...great idea!
But then then they forgot to fill in the details/context.

I'm going back and forth on whether to rate this movie higher than RotJ. That one had an incredible climax mixed with a wildly uneven everything else, while TFA, for me, is a mostly awesome everything else mixed in with a half-lackluster climax. I think TFA has the edge in that, in RotJ, all the interesting character action happens in the throne room, whereas TFA is filled with nothing *but* interesting/endearing characters. We forgive RotJ largely because of one sequence (well, two, the space battle and the throne room are distinct), while imo TFA only has one sequence that needs forgiveness (the almost-afterthought of the fighter attack on Starkiller Base). And even though it's a major flaw, I can already tell on the rewatch that'll matter less because I'm so eager to experience Rey and Finn and Poe and Kylo again.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's one aspect where the Prequels were better than Ep7, and that's the score. The prequel scores had some great new themes e.g Duel of the Fates. I couldn't detect any iconic new themes. It was more a copy-and-paste rehash. I'll have to hear it some more.

Even the Hobbit scores, also paling in comparison to LOTR, had a few good new cues (Misty Mountains, Starlight), but so far the Ep7 score leaves me cold. Williams is old though.