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I wasn't overly fond of that race either.  I agree it didn't seem to serve much of an actual purpose. Everything on that casino planet kind of falls into that, but the race especially.

Except for Kylo killing Han.  I still don't like that it happened..yes I know it worked for the story and all that, but I don't like it.  I was actually sitting in the theater thinking no no no, don't go over there..don't get that close to Kylo when I watched it the first time.  Because of Kylo killing Han, I don't want to see him follow the same redemption arc that Anakin did..he killed Harrison Ford..that is unforgivable.  LOL.  Yes I know it is a bit..irrational, but that's how I feel..at this point anyway.

I went in to the movie almost certain - like 99.9% - that either Rey or Luke, or even both, would turn to the dark side.  I'm glad that didn't happen. 
Rey does seem to be able to..hmmmm....I guess tap into the dark side to learn things without having to give in to it.  That she can explore into the dark some without being turned..like in that cave or pit or whatever on the island.  She does seem to be able to balance the light and dark sides.  She is a bit like Luke was with Anakin/Vader insisting that there is still good to him despite what he's done.  She did have me sort of hoping she was right despite my feelings before the movie started that Kylo had gone too far when he killed Han. 

I absolutely didn't expect Kylo to kill Snoke..or for Snoke to die at all for that matter.  That worked well..and it did seem like Kylo had flipped back for ..oh all of 2 minutes.  It is kind of disappointing that we didn't find out a little more about Snoke before he was killed...like how did he become in charge of the First Order to begin with?  Who trained him in the force because he clearly was pretty powerful with the force.  I do wonder if he will be back somehow or at least mentioned or something.

I was kind of 50/50 before seeing the movie that Luke could die.  I didn't want that to happen of course, but I wasn't exactly surprised either.  He better be back a force ghost.  That would be so wasted if he isn't.  It made me so happy when Yoda's ghost showed up.  Though I do wonder, since when can a force ghost do what he did?  Though Yoda was very powerful when he died and he's had years to figure out how to do more as a force ghost. 
I wasn't disappointed that Luke projected himself either.  I think that shows just how powerful a Jedi he was that he could do that..and sustain it for so long.  Though I didn't know Jedis could do that..at least I don't remember any other jedi doing that.  I liked how once all the dusk settled, he just brushed off his shoulder.  Yes Luke was a bit..mopey and was fully in grumpy old man mode for a lot of the movie, but he was there when it counted.  I did like that he and Leia had their reunion.  It did make me a little teary knowing Carrie is gone.  Of course a few other moments did too.  I really thought when Leia got sucked out of the ship that she was gone then.  I know some people had issues with her surviving that and getting back on the ship.  I'm ok with that. 

I do wonder how things are going to work out regarding Leia and the next movie.  I had read and heard before that there was a plan from before The Force Awakens for each of them to have a bigger part in one movie each - Han, Luke, Leia.  So I don't know how that will be handled.  I'd be ok if they did CGI like they did in Rogue One, but evidently they already said they wouldn't do that.  I don't really want to see Leia die either...but I also kind of don't want it to be something where in the next movie, oh by the way, Leia died..or just have it mentioned in the opening crawl.  The character deserves better than that.  I've read that some people think she should have been the one to stay behind on the ship and then done the light speed through the First Order ship.  While that would have worked in some ways, then Luke and Leia wouldn't have had their reunion.  So really, I'm glad she survived the movie.  I just don't know what to expect with her story for the next one. 
I did read a little something online somewhere that people think that the original plan was to have Leia bring Kylo back to the light side in the next movie.  I could see that being the plan..though like I said, I'm not sure I want to see Kylo turn back after killing his father.  So..I guess I'm conflicted about that.  Though I have thought since the last movie that Kylo really wasn't fully dark like Vader.  I think that for the most part Kylo could only tap into the dark side powers by having his...temper tantrums.  He used temporary anger instead of it being more natural like it was for grandpa Vader.

The first 2 episodes were good overall, though I did have a bad feeling with Kate vanishing and Rick left to scramble to figure out what was going on...especially once it was more clear that she lied to Rick.  I am fine with a new big bad..dragon...whatever they want to call this person.  Really it sort of makes sense since it was said before that someone else with even more power than Bracken was probably involved to some degree.  So ok, fine.  Even though it would have been nice if they thought up something that wasn't tied to Kate's mom.  But whatever.  The more I think about it, the more I think that the writers decided to bring up her mom's murder in some way again because they screwed up so bad with Rick's disappearance last year...and people generally liked the story tied to her mom's murder.  It is just kind of ..aggravating.  But that I could deal with.  But Kate's dumbass decision to leave Rick to protect him?  No.  Complete and utter bullshit. 

I agree that she was back to her old self for the most part.  Once she realized how dangerous these people or person - or whoever the hell it is - are, her first instinct is to lie to Rick and keep secrets.  It is like she regressed.  And frankly, her drive to get justice for her team - that she only worked with for a few months over 2 years ago before she was FIRED because she didn't go along with the bullshit - seems a little...odd to me too.  She hasn't been in contact with those people, and now she is going to risk her life and potentially ruin her marriage over them?  That just seems a little...off to me.  I could see her being that...obsessed on catching the person in charge if it was someone from the 12th that got hurt or heaven forbid killed.  But ok, whatever.  She could have talked to Rick about the situation and what she learned from Rita there near the end of the second episode.  They could have figured out a plan to work on it together.  Rick helped her go after Bracken before..and in secret.  Rick would have been damn helpful.  But no...she chose to lie to him and trust Vikram, a complete stranger.  I don't like him and don't trust him.  Maybe he is what he said, but I don't trust him.

I didn't exactly think that Rick taking Kate back made him a doormat.  He did stand up to her a bit and he called her out on her bullshit.  I didn't like what Kate did at all, but I'm ok with him taking her back.  If that hadn't happened, the separation shit would have carried into the next chunk of episodes and it went on entirely too long as it was.  Yes their making up was rushed and there are still issues that need to be addressed - hopefully that will happen - but I damn sure didn't want to have to wait out the winter break with everything still up in the air and come back to more of Rick not knowing what was going on while Kate was sneaking around with Vikram.  All her lies ultimately served no purpose.  She and Virakm have gotten exactly no where with their investigation.  No freaking where.  Basically they are still as clueless as they were at the end of episode 2.  Rick basically figured out all kinds of stuff in just like...hmm..seemed like maybe 24 hours or so once he realized something else was going on.  That almost annoyed me more than anything else, that it took Rick so freaking long to start looking for the story so to speak and start investigating a bit on his own.  He normally picks up on that stuff so quick, though I guess since Kate dropped her bombshell of leaving, he can be sort of excused.  and I guess we don't know for sure how much time passed for them. It was like 8 weeks for us..could have just been a few weeks for them.  Still annoys me though.

I saw several interviews with the new showrunners since the...disaster happened.  They kept saying they were trying to shake things up...get back to the tension there was back in earlier seasons...nonsense like that.  It is too late to go back.  They are married.  Deal with it instead of screwing with them.  It was mentioned somewhere about how some fans complained that it was boring last year once they were married.  I wasn't bored.  I was fine.  Just once again people who can't or just won't write for married characters.  I'm so sick of the mentality that most writers seem to have - heck even some viewers - that it is boring if a couple is happy and not breaking/making up constantly.  I hate that crap.

I more than kind of miss Marlow and Terri.  Though I still don't like their decision to make Rick vanish on the way to the wedding...and how that was resolved sucked. 

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if the show isn't picked up again either.  It almost seems like the writers were trying to ruin the show so it would be cancelled.  Let there be a hunt for a new bad guy/woman/group whatever.  Just let Rick and Kate deal with it together.  And give Lanie an attitude adjustment.  Really not liking her that much so far this year.

I kind of want to see Kate get in trouble at work over this secret investigation.  She's using NYPD resources for her....well...bascially vendetta.  Somehow I don't think that will go over well if they find out.  And it seems like someone has to find out at some point.  The bad guy/woman/group was able to track a redacted memo at the AG's office.  They surely have much better security than the NYPD.  So it stands to reason the bad person/group will find out what Kate and Vikram are up to, and it will trickle down to the NYPD finding out.  Kate was asking questions about the drugs tied to that one guy...umm...Vulcan.  The connection between him and Bracken became known I believe..and Kate wasn't exactly being careful about asking about that..just called up narcotics and asked questions.  How the hell is that keeping an investigation secret?  It just doesn't make sense.  And Kate going to crime scenes and stuff...doesn't fit with her now being a captain.  But guess we aren't supposed to care about that.  Just more that aggravates me.  It is like they wanted her to be promoted - and there did seem to be the big push late last season about what she was going to do with her career - but they don't want her just at a desk.  Which is what a captain does.  It is like whoever decided to make her a captain didn't think it out to the future consequences...what to do on the show when she's stuck at a desk. 

I'm not happy with the season so far either.  Not at all.  If the end of the last episode, when they made up, was supposed to be the pay off for this, it fell way short.  Worse than the mess of Rick's disappearance.  Teh showrunners kept saying that once the resolution came out, it would all be worth it and we would all go back and rewatch and enjoy the first episodes, knowing the ultimate outcome.  Ummm...no.  Hell no in fact.  There are several episodes already that I never want to watch again.  For the ones I will watch again, I'll fast forward through some bits.  The stuff in some of those episodes still sucks.  And that giant stinking mess they made left a shadow hanging over all the episodes.  I couldn't even go back and rewatch earlier seasons like I woudl before.  I frequently watched the reruns on TNT.  This mess turned me off so much I couldn't...it was like the current mess made it painful to watch the good stuff because I knew how horribly horribly wrong it would go.