Spoiler, click to toggle visibilty
Also, Phasma was an utter disappointment and so inconsequential to everything.
Spoiler, click to toggle visibilty
Yeah that was really lame and disappointing. She could've been completely excised from the movie and it'd barely change! Hopefully she'll actually shoot her rifle in the next movie, assuming she was able to escape that trash compactor before the planet exploded.
Spoiler: SPACE DIPLOMACY PART 2 (click to see content)
OK so I did some cursory research and apparently the exact relationship between the First Order, the Resistance, and the New Republic was spelled out in other materials (still think they could've made it a lot more clear in the movie itself!). The First Order has some sort of armistice with the New Republic, with the Republic occupying most of what was once the Empire, and the First Order scurrying around on the edges and the Outer Rim. The Resistance is an independent band of freedom fighters that exists solely to combat the First Order, and they're officially not affiliated with the Republic, although they do get a support from them in secret. That's not public knowledge, and many of those inside the Republic's government consider the Resistance to be deluded trouble makers trying to set off another intergalactic war, needlessly; and specifically they view General Leia as a stuck in the past, never having gotten over the end of the war against the Empire. Of course, Leia was absolutely right, and the First Order had been planning on breaking the armistice all along.
So I mean, that's all pretty interesting! I'm sure there are dozens of people who agree with me!