– Spoiler Review –
Star Wars Resistance‘s “The Core Problem” tentatively explores some background on Starkiller Base while making a collision with the events of the sequel trilogy unavoidable in the remaining episodes.
As I’ve mentioned in a number of reviews this season, a lot of the reveals the show has made about the First Order’s plans in the Unknown Regions and their usage of the Colossus have felt like a narrative spinning its wheels, pulling viewers along enough until the show catches up to the timeline of the sequel trilogy. “The Core Problem” is the more intriguing of First Order secrets because it seems to show an initial test of Starkiller Base, evidenced by the planetary system Poe and Kaz visit on a quick mission missing its star, but the planets with their cores ripped out makes me wonder if they were either testing the firing system within other planetoids before installing it at Starkiller or if the coring is the result of a weaker test blast, like how Rogue One revealed the Death Star had been fired before, though only as a single reactor ignition, so the destruction here was Starkiller’s equivalent; it only makes sense one would want to test even the most basic of systems in your fancy new superweapon to see if they were capable of working. UPDATE: According to Resistance Rewind‘s “The First Order’s Plan,” the cored out planets were due to them testing the firing system in the different planetoids. While both possibilities are intriguing, it still feels like it won’t matter much in the long term as we know Starkiller base will be destroyed relatively shortly, but a handy detail from this episode’s Bucket List reveals the planetary system might be important to characters we’ve already met on the show: the symbol on the moon’s temple were Poe and Kaz explore is the same symbol as the one on Eila and Kel’s bracelets, the two children rescued by Kaz from First Order pursuit back in “The Children from Tehar.” Did Poe and Kaz visit Tehar and the reason Kylo and the FO slaughtered the village was due to them being witnesses to the test firing of Starkiller? Or is it a religious related symbol, potentially Force-related, practiced by many in the unknown regions, and therefore the moon might not have been Tehar but at least there’s the connection to why they have a bracelet with the symbol. If being witnesses to Starkiller’s test is the only reason why Kel and Eila were being hunted, which Phasma’s words in “The Children from Tehar” seem to backup, it’ll be a little disappointing, as “Bibo” offered a potential suggestion Eila was Force-sensitive and I was hoping Kylo had come to destroy their village due to them. While she still could be Force-sensitive, having it only end up about them being witnesses makes this scenario fit some of those other reveal problems, as it won’t matter much because Starkiller won’t be important in a few more days anyways. I appreciate how the show has been digging into FO operations in the Unknown Regions, but here’s hoping any continued investigations feel a little more significant, though this one was a nice tease of what’s to come.
When I say Starkiller won’t be important in a few days, I’m not even kidding, as Poe arrives on the Colossus this episode to pick up BB-8 as he goes on a very important mission for General Leia on Jakku! Yes, we’re a day away from the beginning of the sequel trilogy, aka The Force Awakens, so we know Starkiller will be destroyed very, very soon. This means a number of exciting things are ahead for the show, like how the story and characters will intersect with what we know has happened so far and/or even what will happen in Episode IX, but for now it brings an important change: CB-23 replaces BB-8 and becomes Kaz’s droid! Honestly, having BB-8 on the show, while explained plausibly that Poe loaned him to help keep an eye on the young spy Kaz, still felt like it was done to have a recognizable/popular droid in Resistance AND give Poe an extra excuse to stop by the show a lot, while it’s blatantly obvious CB-23 could’ve done the exact same job as BB-8 and Poe still could’ve visited. CB really is just as capable as BB, proven on every occasion we’ve met her, and the idea of having more female-coded droids is a welcomed plus for Star Wars, especially after the awesomeness that was L3-37. In the end, don’t get me wrong, I love BB-8, but there isn’t a good reason why CB shouldn’t have been on the show from the start, though she’s finally the lead droid so it’ll be nice to leave that portion of the show behind. This also means we’ll have less Poe on the show, who largely served as a crutch to save/help Kaz, and his absence will force Kaz to rely on his friends and step up, potentially leaving his bumbling antics behind (like how Ezra aged a bit from season to season in Rebels, even if it took him a long time to learn some lessons) and figuring out his place in the fight against the First Order. We’ll also have less Phasma, if she is truly dead from the events of TLJ, which means the other FO villains will have to fill in such a void on the show, which would be beneficial as they’ve barely gotten much screentime/been developed much, like how Major Vonreg was in this episode but didn’t speak a single word…either he’s not going to survive for much longer or having Gwendoline Christie and Oscar Issac is what is holding up more voice appearances from other non-main cast characters. As we head into the sequel trilogy timeline, it’ll also be exciting to have the show left to its own devices, as it can now deal with events from the films and forge its own path into this largely unexplored era, especially if there’s a one year or more time jump between The Last Jedi and Episode IX, instead of being unable to uncover anything the films did.
Here are a few other things:
- Tam’s problems with Kaz sneaking off all the time can no longer be ignored going forward, as if he not only sneaks away while the First Order has the place locked down and returns with a brand new droid, someone as smart and bright as her won’t go quietly into the night when Yeager doesn’t offer any explanation besides she doesn’t need to know. The war will be coming for them soon and her needing to know will be unavoidable soon.
- Charles Soule is a sly devil, as he hid a reference to this show in the pages of the final arc of the Poe Dameron comic! Spotted by NumidianPrime in a panel from issue #26, where Poe begins to tell his version of events from The Force Awakens, Poe mentions he had to make a detour to pick up BB-8 aka an important aspect for “The Core Problem.” I completely overlooked it but I love how it was hiding in plain sight the entire time!
- It’ll also be intriguing to see if the show will cover how the galaxy seems to react to stuff like the Hosnian system being destroyed, the Resistance almost being snuffed out, and the reemergence of Luke Skywalker/the hope of the Jedi.
- Love the new probe droid’s design, from the new armor and it having kids of its own.
Star Wars Resistance‘s “The Core Problem” seems to take care of some core problems for the show and pushes us towards the beginning of the sequel trilogy…and all the exciting events within.
+ CB-23 taking over for BB-8
+ Sequel trilogy events are within sight
– Really highlights the core problem of BB-8 instead of CB from the start
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
STAR WARS RESISTANCE REVIEWS:
Season One – Ep. 1.1/1.2: “The Recruit” | Ep. 1.3: “The Triple Dark” | Ep. 1.4 “Fuel for the Fire” | Ep. 1.5: “The High Tower” | Ep. 1.6: “The Children From Tehar” | Ep. 1.7: “Signal From Sector Six” | Ep. 1.8: “Synara’s Score” | Ep. 1.9: “The Platform Classic” | Ep. 1.10: “Secrets and Holograms” | Ep. 1.11: “Station Theta-Black” | Ep. 1.12: “Bibo” | Ep. 1.13 “Dangerous Business” | Ep. 1.14: “The Doza Dilemma” | Ep. 1.15: “The First Order Occupation” | Ep. 1.16: “The New Trooper” | Ep. 1.18: “The Disappeared” | Ep. 1.19: “Descent” | Ep. 1.20: “No Escape” – Part One | Ep. 1.21: “No Escape” Part Two