Alright, finally home, cooled down from this bullshit weather, and fed. Couple of points:

• Poe defying orders: Poe's parents are both rebel fighters, and his mother was a rebel pilot. He was always disillusioned with the way the Republic handled the Galactic Empire, so it makes sense that his distaste for their inaction against the First Order makes him more likely to defy orders. He became General Organa's most trusted pilot, hence why he was sent on the mission to Jakku in the first place. It makes sense that his motivations and position of trust makes him annoyed that his abilities aren't being utilised.

• Leia's space walk: Leia is, in fact, Force sensitive. Being a Skywalker, daughter of one of the most powerful Force users in history, makes her very powerful. She was never formally trained by Luke or Yoda, because being trained to use her powers would have revealed her presence to Vader and Sidious. But she has the same raw power and instinct that Anakin and Luke both have/had, which she's used in both the movies and the other sources.

Also, Jedi can survive in the vastness of space - Jedi Master Plo Koon and General Grievous both survived periods of time in space. So have others I can't recall the names of. The Force can be used on instinct alone as well, and doesn't require training to use, only to master.

• Getting sucked into space: It's pretty well established that force-field technology exists. For an era where space travel is common among tens of millions of planets (to the degree that people go to whole other star systems via light speed for holiday), it stands to reason that ships contain force-fields to protect parts of the ship like hangars, so smaller ships can pass in and out. Otherwise they'd need to fill the hangar with oxygen and blast it out any time pilots go in or out. Force-fields would kick in automatically in the case of a breach.

• The girl in the bomber: Same thing. Force-fields would protect the pilots, while allowing the bombs to pass freely.

• Luke and Rey: Luke was afraid to train her, because he trained Ben, and Ben went nuts and formed an entire sect of people to take over the galaxy; something that Luke fought to stop from happening again. He was hesitant to train her, which is why he went to a forgotten island in the middle of nowhere in a planet in the middle of nowhere, so he could die in peace and take the whole Jedi thing with him. He reluctantly agreed, but then Rey started showing the same signs of interest in the dark side, and he freaked out again. She left because she's impatient and time was of the essence. She envisioned that she would seek the famous Luke Skywalker, give him his lightsaber, and he would fly back with her to defeat the First Order by way of sick Jedi flips and lightsaber moves. Remember how she flipped out when she met Han? She's idealistic. She had ideas, then got pissed when it didn't work.

That's a reflection of young Luke's training. Yoda also said he wouldn't train Luke because he didn't know if his character would allow him to be a strong Jedi or fall to the Sith. That's why Leia was kept secret as well, in case she was needed if Luke turned or failed.

• The mind link shouldn't come as a surprise. Every new movie introduced a new power of some kind or another, but there hasn't been a new movie in 10 years, so people seem to think the current list of powers are stuck in amber, while each new movie gave us something new. Jedi and Sith can sense things, and have visited each other in visions. Vader sensed Luke's presence, and Leia could sense when Luke was in danger or okay. She sensed Han's death. She and Ben could sense one another's presence - she pleaded to him and he stopped himself from taking the shot on her ship. The mind link is really only an advanced version of that between a Skywalker and another powerful Force user, aided by Snoke, who is also powerful. Mind links like this have also been seen in the comics and books.

• Casino city: Yeah, I agree. Seemed a bit out of place within the movie, but I suspect that part of it was to establish Finn and Rose as prime characters moving forward. Rian said he wanted top inject something a bit light-hearted into the movie to distract from all the sombre tones.

• Luke's projection: Like I mentioned above, it's a) a new power, and b) an advancement on prior abilities we've seen before. And as we can see, it was pretty taxing and sapped the last of Luke's power. A Force power called 'Doppelganger' has been seen in other sources, and also includes the ability to manipulate things via telekinesis. Also, it was kinda hard to spot, but both Threepio and Leia seemed to know that Luke wasn't there. Either he could manipulate his doppelganger to make it kiss Leia, or it was pretend.

• Rey's fighting prowess: She grew up scavenging on Jakku, and demonstrated some fighting ability in The Force Awakens. Makes sense she'd have a little ability under her belt from that. She also seemed to take training pretty seriously. Add in raw talent from her Force sensitivity, and she could fumble through a scrap.