Change is afoot in Star Wars: Resistance! We’ve finally gotten some movement on what was disappointingly turning out to be a slow final season. Read on and beware: the spoilers are strong with this one.
1. We’ve reached a turning point!
Last week’s double episode felt like change was in the air, but you never know with those wiley showrunners. Lucky for all of us, my intuition was correct, because boy oh boy did we see some movement this episode! One of my main frustrations with this season is that it’s felt very stale for a large portion of it. There’s been too many hijinks-of-the-week episodes with no bearing on the larger storyline and several missed opportunities to explore some interesting nuances in favor of introducing unnecessary new characters (#JusticeForTam). Which is to say, watching this show was really becoming a drag on my weekend — which is unfortunate for so many reasons! Listen, Resistance is no Clone Wars, and there’s a reason it’ll be ending after two seasons, but it’s cute and fun at its best, which is more than enough for me; not everything needs to be award-worthy/life changing for it to be worthwhile. Plus, Dave Filoni is one of the best things to come out of 21st century Star Wars. So it was getting pretty disheartening watching this show stagnate week after week… until now! Dare I say I’m… optimistic? That feels a bit too enthusiastic given what’s come before, so we’ll settle on cautiously optimistic for now. Sound good?
2. Doza joins the fight
Up until this point, Doza has been pretty actively avoiding joining the Resistance (the Colossus has spent what feels like an exhausting lifetime floating through space, avoiding everyone and everything) in the same way that he apparently avoided joining the Rebels way back when. To his credit, he has never tried to discourage anyone from joining up themselves, case in point his Resistance/Rebel Alliance wife Venisa, but he’s been pretty clear that his allegiance begins and ends with the Colossus and its inhabitants.
Still, I guess being doggedly pursued across the galaxy by the First Order wears on a guy, because this week has him singing a different tune. First, he helps Venisa and her Jade Squadron of X-wing pilots on a Resistance mission, not only letting them use the Colossus as a temporary homebase both before and after, but by loaning out three of his Aces to help (not surprisingly, it’s Kaz, Hype, and Torra). While all of this is pretty out of character for Doza, it’s easy to write it off as a husband helping out his wife. And indeed, I’m sure it started out that way, but by the end of the episode Doza admits that he’s done running from the fight. He agrees to let Jade Squadron stay and offers his full support to the Resistance.
This is exciting for a few reasons. First, as noted above, it hopefully ends some of the plot stagnation the show has been cursed with. Second, it opens up the opportunity for some new, old faces — Poe, anyone? Third, Venisa is staying, and so help me if I don’t have a soft spot for some quiet, tender Doza love moments. They’re cute, dammit. Sue me.
3. Good riddance, Galek
Another big change this episode — Lieutenant Galek is no more. Her TIE fighter is shot down during the battle between Jade Squadron and Agent Tierney’s meddling star destroyer. There’s no love lost there, as her b-character role was almost solely to scold Tam for existing, but it’s a bold choice considering practically no one ever dies on Resistance. More interestingly, it opens up the position of squad leader, which Tierney swiftly awards to Tam. Rucklin’s pretty pissed about it and understandably, since the mission was a partial success thanks to him. Frustrated, he points out that everything always seems to go Tam’s way, after which she looks thoughtful. Could it be that she’s slowly realizing that the First Order is using her? I doubt the thought has crossed her mind until now, she’s been too mad at Kaz and Yeager to notice much of anything else, but I wonder if she’ll start scrutinizing her time on the star destroyer going forward.
Continued below4. Conflicting messages
Speaking of Tam, it seems like no one on the Colossus can decide how to feel about her. A few episodes back, Yeager told Kaz in pretty certain terms that Tam had made her choice and they had to move on. This week, however, when Venisa tells Yeager that she saw Tam, he clearly still cares about her. He looks simultaneously shocked and concerned, wanting to know how she’s doing. It’s not surprising, but still a little confusing after his talk with Kaz; he was so decisively straight about it, as if the whole debacle was in the past. It’s clearly not.
Will there be a heartwarming Yeager-Tam reunion in the future? Fingers crossed.
One person who seems to have made up her mind about Tam, however, is Tierney. Is it authentic, or is she playing a part? It’s unclear, but at least on the surface she seems sincere through the two pep talks she gives her. Apparently Tam reminds her of herself. Is it true? Who knows, but this budding mentor-mentee relationship might muddy the waters once Tam decides to defect back to the Colossus.
Speaking of which, during the fight against Jade Squadron, Tam eventually takes off her helmet when her TIE goes haywire. Is it symbolic, unmasking the trooper to make her appear more human? Perhaps…
5. My favorite pastime: ripping on Kaz
My favorite pastime, and apparently everyone else’s favorite pastime. This week’s digs are delivered by Hugh Sion, Kaz’s friend from his time with the New Republic Navy, who shares a few stories over the airwaves while Jade Squadron and the Aces are en route to Dantooine. Hype loves it, of course, as does seemingly Norath and probably everyone else — god knows what sort of hijinks Kaz got up to at the Academy — much to Kaz’s annoyance and my delight. Who doesn’t love a gentle ribbing every now and then? Kaz is a klutzy excuse for a spy, but at least this show is self aware about that.
