Before that, though, let's set up a parameter or two.
I am an OG Star Wars nerd, but I've never been hard core. I don't have collectible toys, I don't have minutiae memorized, and I haven't read all the stories that are out there in the Expanded Universe (almost none, actually). I did have a best friend in 1977 who's father worked on the movie, so we were into it from before it was released. I saved the serialization from the newspaper and a SciFi mag from back in the day, I was also gifted some stuff, like a towel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and a set of Ralph McQuarrie concept art prints, but that's about it.
So I come to this with a lack of some info and a wealth of other info, armed with an English Major's predilection to rely upon the story (movies) itself and nothing else to critique and source my ideas from.
The Force, this energy that surrounds us and all things, that moves through us, manifests in different ways for different folks, apparently. Not all Jedi are adept at the Mind Trick, for example, much less catching force lightning and balling it up and throwing it back at you.
More than once discussing the new movie with it's new astral projection/corporeal force ghost/Force FaceTime incidents, I've argued that the progression to new and different force abilities was established as described above and explicitly introduced by Yoda in Revenge of the Sith when he says the Qui Gon has found a way to communicate from the other side and that he has training for Obi Wan in his exile. Unprecedented as far as we know, maybe even a quantum leap of Jedi/Force knowledge/ability, if you will. On a side note, sad that the ability to cheat death that Anakin sought was to be found in the Light after all, not the Dark, as the serpent promised (it's all a metaphor for our Judeo-Christian stuff, right?).
For me, then, it's not at all difficult to accept these exceptional, rare Force talents, unrefined yet powerful, come upon this newer, more powerful version of the kind of communication that Luke and Leia clearly had, that Ben felt when Alderaan was destroyed, that Yoda felt as the Jedi were being slaughtered. To discover that this new Sith leader found a way to connect Rey and Ren, to create the link that they used isn't unprecedented, it's a natural evolution. They are the two most powerful that Luke ever encountered.
Now, the new bit that inspired this rant is another quantum leap. Yoda had years to work out the force ghost thing, as did Obi Wan based on Yoda hearing Qui Gon from beyond the veil. Years to train.
Anakin (Darth) got there in a day. One day. The force is strong is his family, after all.
Rey gets swept into the stream and discovers power unrealized. She and Kylo quickly get this connection that who knows how long it took Snoke to figure out and magnify it.
But guess what? Luke strides right past their momentary manifestation and, after having Yoda manifest bodily and hit him in the head (again), pulls the biggest trick of all so far. Not surprising that it cost him his mortal form, is it?
One last thing I also like: the Jedi were blinded about what truly bringing balance to the force was, they thought it was to "end the Sith" but there is more to it, right? Luke says that Rey went to the dark and wasn't afraid of it. I would suggest because (like Harry Potter) she is good, she isn't tempted at all, but rather seeks to know but not use or profit from it. She is balanced.
I'm intrigued with where the story is going, and that's a good feeling.
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