Why do so many think Kylo was trying to kill Rey?

I've seen this criticism a lot on the internet. "No way Rey could beat Kylo! She barely knew how to use the force!"

The movies set up very clearly that Kylo is not only injured physically, but also a trainwreck emotionally when he goes to fight Finn and Rey.

He's obviously trying to turn her to his side while he's fighting her, not kill her. That's why he offers to train her when he thinks she has no choice but to submit with her back to the chasm.

She manages to tap into the force big time at that point and completely catch him off guard by attacking him with a lot more power than she had shown up until that point. (Very similar to Obi-Wan killing Darth Maul in TPM) Luckily for Kylo, she only wounds him badly instead of killing him.

Why do so many people seem to get this twisted? The movie sets the whole scenario up for her to get extremely lucky.

 

I think she progressed quickly learning a mind trick, but Kylo sort of pushed her into learning that in defense.

I think it would have bothered me if Rey had time to formulate any sort of plan while Kylo was attacking her. She's fighting ferociously and it is pretty clearly a losing effort on her part and was taking all her focus. To me, Kylo was arrogant, and was in control of that fight. He thought he would have no trouble getting her to surrender without injuring her. Up until he pauses at the end giving Rey her opening.

Remember, Kylo even manages to get hurt by Finn, who either doesn't have force powers or doesn't have them on the scale as Rey does. I think once again, Kylo is too arrogant, and while not trying to turn Finn, is still toying with him a bit. I think Kylo enjoys the feeling of power of dominating an opponent. Then Finn manages to get a hit in since Kylo is more hurt than he'll admit to himself. At that point, Kylo clearly stops playing, and lays a world of hurt on Finn.

 

Damn, I had forgotten that until you mentioned it. And I thought it was obvious from just the fight and the scenes with Han immediately before it.