Ooo I like that added twist!
I was actually very happy with the Han Solo death scene. But... I was watching the movie 100% through my 10 year old (at the time) son's eyes.
It was predictable to adults. But my son never saw it coming. Anything else may have been too confusing for kids. Think of how simple the original Star Wars was. Adults get annoyed by predictability, kids crave it.... to a certain extent.
That's a good point. Although I think it would have been more interesting if he'd had to kill Leia instead, since she's the one with the Jedi bloodline. And it would have been a nice twist to bring in the mother/son relationship as opposed to the father/son relationship.
As an adult, I find it hard to buy that Kylo Ren has chosen the dark side because of his grandfather. It's like, doesn't he know that Luke saved Darth from the dark side at the end of the original series? You'd think that would be a pretty big part of the family history to pass down. Lol! However, I'm far from an expert on the subject so could very well be missing something.