That would be an interesting way to keep Neeku fitting into the show after they go inevitably dark as this First Order storyline progresses and we sync up with the events of TFA and TLJ.
If there's a First Order spy then it's either a droid, the bartender lady or it's something along the lines of "Delta Source" from the old Thrawn trilogy. Making it one of the main characters doesn't make a lot of sense at this point and would probably feel cheap and we don't know the Aces well enough to care if one of them turns out the be a turncoat. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's definitely Buggles. A diabolical mastermind if ever i laid eyes on one! Incidentally... Nice to see they're continuing to push the First Order plotline. Oh and because I'm a sucker for translating aurebesh, the locations marked on that map are Jakku, Takodana, Twon Ketee and Yavin. They may just be easter eggs, not intended to have anything read into them, but I suppose they could have some importance to the FO. They're all backwater system, one of which Kylo will after all be taking a trip to in the near future and another the FO have a spy embedded. Not sure how the other two could figure into it. Maybe Han Solo is currently on his rathgar hunt on Twon Ketee and the FO are tracking his whereabouts? Not much to watch on Yavin though, only a small colony on Yavin 4 and whatever scraps of the Death Star that the surviving Alderaanians never got to salvaging.
Would love for Neeku to end up being the spy. It's a great idea. But sadly, I don't think it's possible. Neeku is the character that kids can relate to; additionally I don't think that Disney has introduced a character with autistic leanings for the first time to later turn heel for plot twists. He also acts as a bit of a narrator at times, bolstering plot points - again, this might be simply for younger viewers to latch on to the story a little easier. It's difficult to tell what age group Disney wants to hit with this show. In the episode Bibo, Neeku asserts himself for the first time and threatens to quit working for Yeager. Bascially, Neeku is responsible for the survival of the entire platform in this episode as he decides to return Bibo to its mother, saving the platform from destruction. Best case scenario Neeku hardens a bit after the Hosnian attack. Speaking of which... we've got the last few episode titles and air dates and there's no gap between episodes which is great: Sunday, March 3 - "Descent" (#120) Sunday, March 10 - "No Escape: Part 1" (#121) Sunday, March 17 - "No Escape: Part 2" (#122) (Season finale) Source: http://cabletvt.powerrangermail.net/index.php/topic,6280.0.html?PHPSESSID=kgEwTbVv9tWaehYELBiJu0
Holy Otoh Gunga! Is it just my imagination, or was there a significant animation upgrade in this episode? It seems like there were tons of great perspective shots, and some really nice moving camera shots. All in the same old Resistance style of course, but it felt like this episode was just done with so much more flair. Or actually, more style. I kind of liked the tiny little glimpse we got into the stormtroopers. And the threat of reconditioning. It was a nice addition to what we saw in The Force Awakens. And yeah, this definitely moved the story along too. As many folks had hoped, the second half of this season has indeed shown a marked improvement. Was anyone else expecting something to come of that wave from Kaz when he was walking by Buggle's room? I mean Torra's room.
I didn't notice that, but I'd call that direction or cinematography rather than animation. I guess there was some pretty good character animation with Kaz's body language in the armor -- perhaps a bit too clownish, but it was always clear that the guy in the armor wasn't a typical Stormtrooper. Although it's annoying how ill-equipped this show is to cope with wardrobe changes in its 3D models. They had to have Kaz walk clear out of the shot for some moments just to take his jacket off. And the contrast and color saturation are still turned up way too high.
I can't help but wonder if we'll be seeing less (if anything) of BB-8 from here on out. I mean on the one hand, he's basically the show's co-star and the only regular to have an already established brand recognition. So just from a marketing/merchandising perspective it make sense to keep him around in season 2. But from a storytelling/lore perspective, it's going to feel weird seeing him portrayed in the movies (especially EpIX) as Poe's loyal companion, but really he's been away babysitting Kaz for like 90% of the time. It'd be like if R2 had spent the few years between ANH & ESB hanging out with Sabine and Zeb or something.
To be honest, I've been thinking all along that it would have been better and have made more sense to have given Kaz his own BB droid. Chopper worked out great even though he wasn't R2.
Depends on where they go with this. The assumption is that they will go out in become an active Resistsance fighter squadron after they leave the planet. If that's the case, than sure, Kaz will need his own astromech for the long haul, rather than borrow BB-8 (What about Kaz's C4 unit from his old T-85 X-wing?)
Like I said, it would feel odd to have BB-8 stick with Kaz post TLJ, but looking at it objectively just how much time is Poe likely to spend in an X-Wing from then on out? They're clearly building him up to replace Leia as the leader of the Resistance, and that means he probably won't need his astromech quite so much. On the other hand, it would make a bit of sense for Poe to give BB-8 to Rey, but then what happens to R2? As a side note, I also can't help but wonder what happens to Threepio once Leia is gone...OK, now I'm getting a little depressed! Other random musings: I wonder if season 2 will feature the survivors of Black Squadron, or even some of the character that originated in the Poe Dameron comics? If the Colossus is as I suspect going to take off and form the core of the new Resistance carrier fleet, then it'd be logical that they at least show up once.
So something interesting, in the Poe Dameron comic Poe mentioned he needed to make a detour to pick up BB-8 before going to Jakku, we see him do that in this episode.
Sleemo's star wars blog found episode blurbs for the final episodes of season 1: Sunday, March 3 — “Descent” With secrets exposed, Yeager’s crew must evade relentless troopers hunting them down and find a way to reach the Resistance. Sunday, March 10 — “No Escape, Part 1” Kaz, Neeku, Torra devise a plan to free their friends, but it’s upended when Kaz bears witness to the full might of the First Order. Sunday, March 17 — “No Escape, Part 2” With Neeku’s help, Kaz comes up with a risky plan to rid the Colossus of the First Order once and for all. [ source: Disney Press ] Hmm. What is Kaz going to bear witness to? Does anyone think Tam is going to support the First Order? She seems oddly sympathetic towards them. I suppose that feeling may change soon.
So with part 1 of the finale apparently being set halfway through TFA (if Kaz bears witness to what I think he bears witness to) and last week's taking place the day before Poe went to Jakku, these next few episodes really take place in a small timeframe, don't they?
This week's episode wasn't as strong as it could've been, but that's more the fault of the previous episodes up to now. It had several recurring background characters arrested by the First Order for protesting it, and we were supposed to be worried about their fate, but it would've been easier to worry if they'd actually been established more as characters rather than just fixtures of the setting. I know Hype Fazon has been played up fairly prominently in a couple of episodes, but not many. And Aunt Z has just sort of been there in the background. No surprise to see Captain Doza plotting with Yeager to resist the First Order. I've been expecting him to turn on them for a while now. I'm puzzled by Torra's accent here. Up to now, the actress (Myrna Velasco) seemed to be doing an interesting sort of code-switching thing -- she normally speaks with a "standard" American accent when interacting with most characters, but when she's with her Mexican-accented father, she speaks with that accent. (Although presumably Captain Doza's portrayer Jason Hightower assumes a fake Mexican accent to match Velasco's genuine one.) That's something a lot of people in multiethnic or multilingual communities do -- use the "standard" language or dialect out in public and their family's language or dialect at home. But here, she was using a Mexican accent throughout, even with Kaz and the others.
the trailer for the second of the season showed the Colossus going under water, so I assume that's what next week's episode 'Decent' is going to show.
Surprise, this week's episode ended on a cliffhanger. Pretty unusual for this show, and it's obvious that the remaining episodes of the season are all part of the same fight-the-First-Order storyline, so now we're getting to the point where it's all just one big story. Which I don't think anyone here would complain about. It's what we've been expecting from this show since the timeline details about it were revealed. Missing from this episode: the little floor buffer guy.