– Spoiler Review –
Star Wars Resistance returns for the second half of its first season, fresh off a season two announcement and enthralling mid-season trailer, with “Bibo,” a fun, self-contained episode that hides some secrets within.
Synara’s latest scavenger haul doesn’t bring anything helpful for Kaz and Team Fireball, instead it brings Neeku a stinky, nasty jelly-blob looking pet he names Bibo,* which causes havoc in Yeager’s garage. Yeager eventually threatens Neeku to get rid of the thing, but Neeku would rather go with it then abandon it, which sparks a chase as the little creature escapes once again. But a giant tentacle creature (UPDATE: rokkna) approaches the Colossus, obviously in search of its kid, which the characters take awhile to figure out, and Neeku must make a difficult choice: the platform and its citizen’s safety or his own needs/wants. Of course he makes the right choice, returning Bibo to its mommy, but his dilemma and the unwillingness of his crew to support him points out some glaring inconsistencies on Team Fireball’s part. When Neeku makes good on his threat to leave with Bibo rather than stay if Yeager won’t let him, Tam rushes off to help her friend despite Yeager’s orders, as she asks him why helping Neeku is against the rules when they go out of their way to help Kaz, who has done far less for the team than Neeku over the years. It was not something I thought the characters would be so aware of, but I’m happy Tam is, as Kaz getting all the attention because he’s the main character makes sense for us viewers, but how does that feel for the characters within the show? It always seemed a little odd how important Ezra Bridger from Rebels became in the eyes of the Rebellion, even though there were more seasoned people around, and in a way this episode deals with such criticisms by showing the characters’ awareness of such an issue, as Tam will always end up helping Kaz, but it doesn’t mean she hasn’t picked up on Yeager’s favoritism, which stems from Poe’s request to help the young Resistance recruit.
Back in “The Children from Tehar,” we were not only introduced to the titular children, Eila and Kel, but also the maintenance workers for the Colossus, the Chelidae (one of my favorite new alien species of this era). Both return here, but the time spent with the kids is FAR more interesting. Eila and Kel are holding onto Bibo after he gets away when Neeku is mad about Yeager’s decision, and they ominously warn Bibo is a sign of things to come. Of great interest is the fact that Eila has been having recurring dreams, days in advance, of Bibo’s mother’s coming, which to me smells a lot like Force vision, making me believe Eila, at the very least, is actually Force-sensitive. Was that why Kylo Ren was on Tehar personally, looking for more Knights of Ren recruits or to take out any more Force-sensitives, or was it mere coincidence Eila is, and it was a typical raid by the First Order to get more children for its stormtrooper program? This episode didn’t have this moment with the kids, with the hint of Eila’s potential, just to add some ominous flavor to the episode, the giant shadow beneath Kaz and Synara as it approaches the Colossus did that, which makes me believe this moment was to help foreshadow Eila’s future importance to the show.
Also of interest, Synara gets a call from her pirate boss, Kragan Gor, and he reveals to her that the pilots who saved her are part of the Resistance. The picture Kragan shows her to identify the pilots is from one of the chaotic moments with the Kowakian monkey lizards in “The Signal from Sector Six” episode, so she can’t wait make out who is in it, but she immediately starts pressing Kaz about the pilots who rescued her, a cover story Kaz came up with when she awoke on board the freighter with Kaz and Yeager. I’ve really enjoyed how quickly they’ve dealt with her duplicitous nature, as it was only an episode after Kaz found her and we learned she was a spy for the pirates that her dual nature brought conflict to the Colossus. Knowing the pirates work for the First Order, the idea that two people who saved her were Resistance would be of great interest to the FO, as if they can confirm the station is harboring known Resistance agents, it could give the FO a reason to attack or to send one of their agents to investigate. Things will heat up once again with Synara in January 27’s episode, “The Doza Dilemma,” but, as somewhat obvious here and mentioned in that episode’s synopsis, she’s come to enjoy life on the station and those who have befriended her, like Tam and Kaz, so she’ll be a little more conflicted in the next incident. For now though, Kaz’s attempts at lying about not having secrets, when Synara confronts him, was rather funny.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the giant tentacled creature return towards the end of the season, much like the Space Whales and wolves of Rebels or crystal foxes of The Last Jedi were around to help the good guys in their time of need, because nature always seems to favor the heroes and Neeku’s actions could create the bond needed to bring the sea creature back in a time of need. I’m also guessing this because there’s a shot in the new mid-season trailer which shows the creature again that was not in this episode, and since it included a submarine plus there is more underwater action coming up, it’ll return plus I wonder if it could link into whatever happened to Reaper Squadron? Only time will tell, but consider me officially hyped for the rest of the season.
Here are a few other things:
- *I don’t know if this is on purpose, by Bibo is one letter away from Bilbo, the first name of Frodo Baggins’ cousin, Bilbo Baggins. Frodo was played by Elijah Wood, who was marketing to return in this episode as his character Rucklin! I could be stretching, and Rucklin’s return is minimal here, at best, so it could’ve been coincidence more than anything.
- Reaper Squadron, hey? It seems this is the very first time we’re hearing about Reaper Squadron, a clone squad who must’ve fought on Castilon during the Clone Wars, and now I’m very curious to learn what brought them all the way out to Castilon and if the giant tentacle creature is what brought them down…or Separatists. I’m assuming we’ll learn one day, but for now, a fun little mystery uncovered and waiting for an answer.
- Really enjoyed the aerial action involving the Aces fighting the creature, as we got a cool moment with Freya, and Kaz got to show off his skills helping Griff, but still wish we’ll get to know these Aces more at one point.
- What a mid-season trailer, hey? Looks like the series will escalate quickly, including finally bringing us up to the events of The Force Awakens/The Last Jedi, in a way which might forever change the future of the show. Count me in!
- During the show’s winter break, Resistance did something unusual and had several shorts up on the Disney Channel YouTube to help pass the time. I’ve collected them all here: “The Rematch,” a friendly flight between Kaz and Torra goes haywire; “Buggle’s Day Out” Torra’s dog-like creature has it’s Baby’s Day Out moment; “Sixty Seconds to Destruction” is notable for the first time we hear Bo Keevil speak!; “The Need for Speed” focused on Torra/Hype Fazon during a race, which of course Hype wins; In “Unmotivated,” Hype’s astromech does not go quietly into the night; “Bucket’s Quest,” finds Bucket looking for, well, his bucket; What’s in the “Treasure Chest” Flix and Orka get from Synara? Bombs, of course!; Flix and Orka have fun, “When Thieves Drop By“; Neeku can’t hold onto “Neeku’s Reward” for long; “Dart and Cover” sees darts go wrong, again; “The Search for Kaz” allows us a BB-8 POV!
- The “Bibo” Bucket’s List is stacked with neat info, like Bob Bergen, a frequent Luke Skywalker voice actor, voiced Bibo, the detail that went into creating a new background alien, and that Bibo and his mom are called rokkna.
Star Wars Resistance‘s mid-season one return, “Bibo,” might be too many tentacles for most viewers, but it’s well worth it for the nuggets hiding within.
+ Mystery around Eila
+ Synara’s new conflicts
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. 1.13: “Dangerous Business” | Ep. 1.14: “The Doza Dilemma“ | Ep. 1.15: “The First Order Occupation” | Ep. 1.16: “The New Trooper” | Ep. 1.17: “The Core Problem” | Ep. 1.18: “The Disappeared” | Ep. 1.19: “Descent” | Ep. 1.20: “No Escape” – Part One | Ep. 1.21: “No Escape” – Part Two