ST Why was Finn never suspected of being a spy?

Does anyone else find it curious that not one person suspected Finn of being a spy?

*BB-8 just straight up tells him where the Resistance base is without knowing who he is
*Han knows Finn is lying about his identity, but he never follows up on that suspicion
*Finn eventually confesses that he used to be a stormtrooper, and everyone at the Resistance base welcomes him with open arms and tells him how brave he is

I mean, should Leia be wondering why there is a former stormtrooper there, and all of a sudden the FO is showing up?

 

I've always just enjoyed Star Wars movies for what they are. The amount of nitpicking and ripping apart of the movies on here is incredible at times. None of the movies are perfect, infact very far from it and I guess that's part of the appeal (for me at least). I sometime get the impression a lot of people on here just look for things to hate about these movies.

 

Good question.

Answer: Leia.

I suspect that Leia's force abilities or whatever could have led to her picking out a traitor.

Poe didn't have a choice and was gone by the time he ran into Rey and Han.

 

Han didn't really seem to care about the reistance. I think he could read Finn and tell he was genuine. It was also pretty intense in the cantina scene when Finn's outburst displayed he was truly terrified of the First Order.

The BB-8 thing didn't really make sense though. Yes we know that in SW droids are essentially people and develop little quirks, but how could a programmed machine storing top secret information divulge that info to a stranger who says "pretty pleeaase?"

 

Yeah I remember thinking it was weird that BB-8 was so willing to trust. But there were were so many other plot conveniences and weird coincidences in the movie that I just forgot about it.

 

The thing is, JJ and Kasdan must have known how big of a plot hole it was, so they put one of the funniest gags in the movie right on top of it to cover it up.

 

Yes. Thank you for posting this. It seems with the age of the internet these films are constantly picked at. ( I have been guilty of this as well) I understand they are only movies but I'm sure to many here they hold a special place in our hearts and childhoods. This new movie has a huge uphill battle trying to please the OT peeps, PT peeps and new fans. It was a great film but a flawed one.....But aren't all good films this way?

 

There isn't one Star Wars film that doesn't have a plot hole of some kind.

 

It was unnecessary though, they could have simply had BB-8 tell Rey where he needs to go. It's feasible that he would have the programming/formula to weigh risk vs reward in terms of completing his mission. But to have him state that it's top secret and he can't tell anyone and then tell Finn because he wants to impress a girl is nonsensical. I guess R2 is the only droid who knows how to keep a secret.

 

TFA has a special kind of plot holes. They're all patched with humor.

 

The average fan wouldn't even think about the majority of some of the "plot holes" some people have stated on here.

Continuity - fine
Dialogue - good
Cinematography - excellent
action scenes - fast paced and fairly exciting
characters - well developed and relatable

If the only thing someone can find wrong is about how a fictional robot doesn't suspect a fictional person of being a spy for a fictional faction then i'd say the movie has done a fairly decent job.

 

That is great that you think all those points are good.

But I thought we were discussing the narrative logic there.

 

As opposed to a another film where someone find something wrong with a real robot??

Just because films are fiction doesn't mean there isn't a certain aspect of realism governed by the laws of whatever universe the writers create. If they don't make sense they don't make sense. The fact that it is fiction doesn't change that.

 

I'm glad they didn't go with the "you're a spy" trope.

He just rescued there best x-wing pilot and delivered the map to Luke Skywalker. I't would be very tiring if the resistance didn't trust him when we as an audience know he's a hero.

 

No but the fact that people would use things like that to try and criticise the movie rather than pointing out the positives is just silly.

 

I wouldn't have been suprised at all. In ANH the Empire lets Leia, a top Rebellion leader, escape in order to follow her back to Yavin. To think that they would allow a pilot to escape in order to plant a spy within the resistance makes complete sense.

I haven't really seen anyone on here bashing the film or saying it was bad, weak etc. The consensus on the forum seems to be that it was at best amazing and at worst good. If there is anywhere for SW buffs to point out the weaknesses that exist in the film it's here.

 

Because Finn is so strong in the Force that he is mind-tricking everyone

 

i like that idea. i do hope it comes up after he heals, as I doubt he will be the same.

 

I hold the same point of view, but to be fair to the OP, I think this is a valid question. I thought it myself while I was watching it.

My take is that it is a bit of an oversight BUT the viewer knows he isn't a spy, and for the Resistance to start grilling him on his allegiances would have been pointless and slowed the pace. Also, events had kind of overtaken that. Even if some thought he was a spy, they had the small matter of Starkiller base to take care of.

 

There are some movies where someone with a plot infiltrates a group and lives among them to get close to someone who becomes admired, and then there is the sudden betrayal or execution of the plan. That aspect really doesn't feel genuine. Maybe everyone thought a spy wouldn't be so obvious. Instead of pretending to be a defecting stormtrooper, a spy would pretend to be someone completely unrelated to the First Order.

 

You just answered your own question. Han knows and so does BB8. So yeah, they did suspect. What's Finn gonna do? The FO has bigger fish to fry, namely planets of the New Republic.

 

At the resistance base, Finn had both Poe and Leia's ex vouching for him.
Hans took the group to somebody who could've figure out if Finn was being shady.
BB8 though? I guess bb8, Finn and Rey went through enough together that the robot figured out that it could trust him.

 

This was explained. He had Poe's jacket and BB-8 called him a thief initially. (only the audience knows he's a former trooper )

Unfortunately, this is a movie not real life so you can't spend 30 minutes of screen time exploring how BB-8 came to trust Finn.
But esentially, the hand wavy way the film did it is that once Rey knocked down Finn and BB-8 zapps him, Finn gives BB-8 the name of his master, Poe, and that gave him a pass.

Before anything else could happen, the next action set-piece starts and Finn/Rey/BB-8 escape together to the Falcon. Reinforcing again Finn is not out to turn them in to the first order (again, Rey nor BB-8 knows Finn is a former trooper at this point)

The film later reinforces this with their escape via the Falcon and one of the first line out of Rey's mouth after their escape into space is to tell BB-8 'it's ok, you can trust him, he's with the resistance'

So actually, I take it back... they did spend 30 minutes setting that up.

Plot hole? Only if you want it to be.

 

I had thought that. When I read MSW's stuff I thought (what a cool idea it would be if NOBODY but Rey trusted Finn and everyone thought that he was just trying to get information about the Resistance and he had to prove himself.

Truth is he gave them a lot of information. He found out that Poe's droid was on Jakuu but BEGGED not to go there. If he was truly a spy he'd be very eager to go to the planet where Poe's droid was in order to find it and obtain it. Poe was apparently rescued by Resistance fighters and probably relayed that information to Leia that Finn was okay.

Would have made a nice plot point, but the movie was already so packed they probably couldn't fit it in.

In the recent Abrams/Kasdan interviews, Abrams explained that he wanted to take time to explain a LOT in the movie, but LK stopped him and told him he didn't need all of that. LK told Abrams to trust the audience.

The movie did a great job at sticking to the action. The little things like this can be filled in by ourselves.

 

Let's not forget that a good number of the OT's Rebellion were former Imperials so it's not really that big a stretch that there are at least a handful of defectors from the FO working for the Resistance.