I think the end result of the back story is that it was so hamfisted and failed on every single beat that it was better off if they had never been made--if those movies were the only option. Vader was far, far, far better with an undefined origin after those disasters.
My buddy tried convincing me that Kylo is a compelling villain with this video, but I ain't buying it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR1e4idmvWY
On paper, sure, it makes sense, and I know that JJ is trying to show the growth of a villain (Kylo) as well as the growth of a hero (Rey), whereas the originals only showed the growth of a hero (Luke). But in the movie, it fell flat imo. I think there should have been two changes:
1. Kylo
only reveals his face when Han asks him to take off the mask. Then it would have gone from this dude with a scary voice the whole movie to a young kid with a dad, which would have had more shock value because then you see it's a kid with a struggle (a situation in which I would be much more apt to accept his young, unscarred looks), whereas when he took off his helmet in the interrogation room, all I could think about was that his hair should have been in an Herbal Essence commercial
2. It should have been
both Han & Leia trying to talk some sense into Kylo. Then he should have moved to stab Han, but Leia jumped in front of him & died instead. THAT would have been shocking, because when Han died, I thought "wow, why would the director do that" instead of "why did Kylo Ren do that, he's so bad!". If he had killed his
mom OTOH, holy crap! Even bad guys don't kill their moms! And that would have given Kylo more of an opportunity to choose the dark side...Han holding Leia as her last breath escapes, Kylo looking on, frozen & mortified in shock, but then seeing Ren clamp down on his feelings and decide well, this is where I've gone completely over to the dark side. That would have been an amazing way to develop him as a villain...not just because he killed his mother, but because he decided that he was unrepentant about it...and that moment was when he made the choice, so you could have seen the birth of a true villain.
And maybe,
maybe just to top it off, as Han stares at him in horror & disbelief, Kylo straightens up, makes eye contact with Han with the thousand-yard stare of a man who has crossed the line physically & mentally and is now committed to his (evil) cause, takes a fighting stance, whips out his lightsaber, and
beheads Han...and both Han & Leia's body falls into the endless pit as Kylo stands there, chest heaving, firm in his decision that he is now
completely on the side of darkness. Meanwhile, Rey & Finn stare on in disbelief, cementing their knowledge that Kylo is in fact a horrible bad guy. This is basically what Vader brought to the table for audiences...he was a Real Bad Dude. He looked scary, he talked scary, he acted scary...he did things that made you realize who he was. I didn't get that vibe from their development of Darth Emo in TFA, whereas the method above would have made me go HOLY CRAP! And be super excited to see how he behaves in the next one now that he's past his questioning-himself phase.
But of course, they would never do that because, after all, this is Disney. That's why Mars Needs Moms tanked - Disney is for kids, and kids don't want to see their moms taken away. But can you imagine how
awesome that kind of ending would have been? Number one, Kylo would BE a bad guy now, not just an emo whiner throwing hissy fits with his lightsaber (which was the whole problem with Captain Phasma, she never did anything super awesome or evil, and was a total pushover when she got taken hostage). Number two, it would have immortalized Han & Leia both in the canon & IRL. It would have given both of them an amazing ending & wonderful "out" - they each died a hero's death trying to save their son, but now they're not stuck being old actors in a revamped movie franchise. The fans would be ecstatic about their roles because they performed well, were written well, and really added to the movie...a movie that wasn't afraid to kill off people we love (and do it in an awesome way). As it stands, they killed off Han, who was really the heart of the original movies, and nobody really cared that Kylo did it...we were all just miffed that they took out Han in the very first new movie!