Originally posted by Emperordmb
Was Palpatine any different in Episode 5?
Snoke had considerably more screen time than Palpatine, and frankly happened to be even less memorable than the Emperor. Though, granted, that's partly because of how memorable Vader is, so anybody he bows to is a going to draw attention. Kylo Ren doesn't have that sort of standing, so someone he bows to isn't going to attract as much attention.
Still, Palpatine in Episode V wasn't a blatant ripoff of something else, at least.