The only thing the Canto Bite storyline did was setup one of the most important shots in the movie, the stable moving the broom with the force, that JJ Abrams then all over and disregarded.
I heard a really interesting tidbit from an internet movie show talking about 7-8-9, Star Wars didn't have a Kevin Feige directing the writers and directors about where the movies were supposed to go. Instead, these last three movies just felt like Riian Johnson and JJ Abrams trying to undo what the other had just done.
Yeah, forgot about that shot, and it was very cool to think that like Rey, you could come from nothing to be the next great hope for the universe... until as you say JJ decided to reverse that.
Was actually discussing this with another friend this morning and yeah, they need a Feige like figure, I think it will end up either being Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni. I hope it is Favreau as I want Filoni to keep running/writing either shows or movies.
I do think that getting away from the Skywalker family and how attached people are to those characters from the original trilogy will be good as we don't have preconceived notions for what unknown characters would do.
anyway, back to the original topic!