Very true. Everyone who disliked the movie always seems to get lumped together by those defending it, and vice versa.
Something I’d be interesting in hearing from others is this: of the people who liked TLJ, was it because of the ways in which it, in Rian’s words, “subverted expectations?” Or was it in spite of this? Personally, the subverting in various ways and undoing of some of the groundwork I felt was laid in TFA made me like TLJ less, not more. I like TLJ in spite of its flaws, but there are a lot of things I would have done differently.
I can't speak to anyone else, but I liked it at least in part because of how it subverted expectations.
When the sequel trilogy was announced, I was cautiously optimistic. The franchise was out of George's hands, and while I've since come to think that ROTS isn't as bad as I'd originally thought it to be, the rest of the PT is...not that enjoyable to me, and I maintain that George is a better idea man than he is a writer or director. Producer/exec producer? Absolutely! Top notch! Writer or director? ...not without a good crew of "No" men and a really, really good editor. (ahem)
My original ideal scenario would have involved the story moving several generations into the future and picking up from there. When they announced that the OT cast would return for the ST, I was...a lot more cautious. I recognized that including the OT characters would mean that there was a very high likelihood that they'd end up being killed off or retiring into obscurity. Basically, the "happily ever after" ending of ROTJ would have to be undone in order for there to be any real story to tell. Although I didn't like the idea, I accepted that this was the new direction of the franchise and reconciled myself to it.
I watched and mostly enjoyed TFA. I enjoyed it as a return to form for the franchise, I loved the new cast, and I was okay-ish with what happened to the old cast (I spoiled myself on Han's death on purpose, just so that I'd be prepared for it). However, I did have my criticisms, and one of the biggest was that the film hit a LOT of the beats of ANH. It wasn't a mirror image of the film, but it was clearly an homage, complete with yet another superweapon planet-killer thingamajig that had to be blown up by a bunch of plucky X-wings. There was enough new and different, though, to grab my attention, and I looked forward to seeing where they'd go with it. But what I really wanted, more than anything else, was to break with the familiar and break out of the mold of the previous films. I did NOT want the story to become "ESB mk. II," with Ep. IX being "ROTJ mk. II." I didn't want the franchise to turn into an endless series of iterations of the OT until the end of time (or the franchise). I wanted things to evolve.
While Luke was jarring, especially given who we last saw him as in ROTJ, I thought the character fit, and I thought it was absolutely the best performance that Mark Hamill has given that I've seen (admittedly, I've not watched Corvette Summer, and it's been a long time since I saw Slipstream...). Hamill may also have been jarred by the tone of the character, but he knocked the performance out of the park and completely sold me on where Luke was. When I watched the film -- both in the theater and on home media since -- I never feel as if it's "Mark Hamill as Luke." It feels like "This is Luke, if these events happened to him and if he made these choices." And that's entirely due to Mark, Rian's direction, and the writing. I get why people find this characterization jarring, even shocking, but I think it fits if you can accept the critical moment at the Academy between Luke and Ben as something likely to happen.
So, I really enjoyed how TLJ moved things beyond the expected outcomes of ESB. I don't see them as simply "flip the script" moments, either. I think they all hold together well for the story that Rian Johnson was trying to tell, and I think that story is probably the most interesting exploration of characters that has appeared in the Star Wars universe so far. I think it's very artistically managed, as well, with Rey and Ben sharing polar-opposite paths and being driven by polar-opposite impulses, each coveting what the other has (until Rey breaks the cycle...I think). I also liked that the film ended at what feels like a beginning, rather than a natural path to an end. I liked that the story doesn't feel like it can be neatly wrapped up with a single film, and I really, really, REALLY hope that they don't try to do so. I liked how this was accomplished by dispatching Snoke and Ben assuming power, after we've grown to sort of sympathize with him and want him to turn back to good. When he and Rey unite to fight the Praetorian guard it is one of the most thrilling moments in a Star Wars film that I've seen (yes, even with the wonky editing). I'm rooting for them both, and I feel Rey's crushing disappointment when she realizes that he's done this not because he's ready to turn to the good, but because he's still hell-bent on destroying the past as if it will give his life some kind of meaning.
I liked -- no, LOVED -- that Rey's quest for her parents is ultimately a red herring of sorts, and that the true meaning of that search is Rey's search for easy answers, a path, and someone else to determine her fate for her...which she eventually rejects when she chooses to chart her own course. I think that's an incredibly powerful choice and an incredibly powerful message. Finally, I absolutely love the underlying message of the film that anyone out there can be a hero if they rise to the occasion, and that it's not a question of birth or destiny, but rather of will applied to circumstance. Again, I think that's an incredibly powerful message, and one that kind of gets muddled with both Anakin and Luke. In a way, I think this is an unexpected turn as well, because we've become conditioned to expect that the hero will be some hero of destiny with the blood of powerful Jedi in their veins or whatever. Like, everyone expected (still expects?) Rey to be a Kenobiwalker or the reincarnation of Anakin or a gender-bent clone of the Emperor or whatever, and I love that that's just...not the case.
And finally, I thought Luke's death was just beautiful. It's a really moving send-off, but one that, for me, wasn't really tragic. Not exactly. It's sad, but fitting. Plus I don't think we've seen the last of him. I'm not sure it subverted expectations, except insofar as his death wasn't abrupt like Qui-Gon or serene but in the midst of combat like Obi-Wan (although it's closer to Obi-Wan).
Anyway, that's why I liked how it subverted certain expectations.