This week, Tam and Kaz have a reunion of sorts in the midst of some Colossus-fueled nostalgia and General Hux acts like a spoiled brat, but what else is new. Onwards with the spoilers!
1. More Tam, please!
I know Tam’s arc is kind of the b-plot to season 2, but I really wish Resistance would explore more of it. After all, who doesn’t love a good redemption story? I’ve been feeling very Brideshead Revisited about Tam’s side of things lately, which is obviously way too heavy for a kid’s show, but my point is that her story has depth. We can only watch the good guys struggle with surface conflicts for so long; there isn’t much to explore in the good vs. evil narrative, because we have no doubt in the black and white of that premise. Kaz, for all his goofy faults, is a good guy with a heart of gold. On the flip side, the First Order has no goal other than power, the well-being of the universe be damned. It’s a dichotomy as old as time, and one that Star Wars has spent decades exploiting.
Tam, on the other hand, exists in this very realistic gray space where she’s sometimes good, sometimes bad. Watching her so clearly grapple with her own doubts and decisions is infinitely more interesting than whatever shenanigans the Colossus is getting itself into. I wish they’d show more of her, especially knowing that we’re inevitably working towards a future where she turns coat again. I really want to get inside her head before that happens, but maybe that’s asking too much.
2. Kaz the spy
This week, Kaz and Neeku have been sent on a covert mission to steal a component from a First Order refueling station that’s the same model as the Colossus. Why, you ask? Well, it turns out that the Colossus’ component is two hours away from failing, which means that everyone on board is two hours away from dying a slow, painful radiation death. Fun!
We meet the two in the middle of their mission and let’s just say that Kaz’s techniques are questionable at best. Whenever he talks to someone from the First Order he makes his voice deeper, because why? Who knows. I’d say also that having Neeku along for the ride makes him pretty conspicuous, as does CB-23 who is painted black to try and camouflage him as a First Order droid, as if no one could see through the comically poor job they’ve done making him look like he’s the product of a 5 year old’s coloring book. I mean I guess it does work fairly well, because no one really questions them for most of the episode, except for Tam who literally within the first minute is convinced she saw Kaz based on the tone of his voice and the way that he walks. Once they finally rendezvous with the Resistance, Kaz should really consider taking a lesson or two on espionage. (If only Rogue One hadn’t killed off Cassian Andor. Sigh.) I mean, his response to Rucklin recognizing him is basically “Kaz, who?” which… isn’t a great contingency plan, and almost gets them captured/killed.
3. Regrets, Tam’s had a few
But anyway, back to Tam. Time on the Colossus lookalike is clearly making her nostalgic; she keeps bringing up Yeager and the crew, but more fondly than anything else. Even her run in with Kaz seems to spark a bit of the old fondness — she ends up being the sole reason they escape capture (though not necessarily because she’s forgiven Kaz, but because she doesn’t want the entire Colossus to die on her watch) and she later lies about it to Rucklin with nary a second thought.
For the first time ever, we also get verbal confirmation that Tam misses the Colossus. She keeps bringing it up unabashedly, though you have to wonder if she’d be so forthright if it wasn’t Rucklin she was discussing it with. Still, a lot of her earlier anger seems to have dissipated.
Unfortunately, this seems to be playing right into Pyre and Tierney’s hand. The two discuss how to use the day’s events to their advantage and have Tam help them destroy the Colossus. I’m curious exactly what their plan is and how Tam figures into it. It’d be great if we could get some more insight into this, though I have a feeling we won’t really until the plan is pretty much in motion.
Continued below4. Finally, some real action!
Kaz shoots two troopers in this episode! Two! I honestly almost couldn’t believe it. We’ve spent so much of this season dancing around violence that when it happened, I almost had to rewind the episode to confirm that it actually happened. I mean, sure, he might have just stunned them, but I like to think that when faced with the threat of getting caught, Kaz just said screw it and shot two people square in their chests. This is a war, after all. There’s no shame in reminding the audience of the realities of that once in a while.
Lucky for Kaz and Neeku, the stormtroopers are just as bad shots as they ever are. Despite being shot at in fairly close range by at least half a dozen of them, none of the troopers hit their marks. (I honestly wonder sometimes if Obi Wan was being facetious in A New Hope when he remarks on the accuracy of the Imperial stormtrooper. I wouldn’t put it past him.)
5. Hux needs to calm down
General Hux makes an appearance this episode, with poor Kaz having to play along with the man who destroyed his home world or else blow his cover. It’s a somewhat short, but meaningful exchange, though nothing really comes of it beyond Kaz’s clenched fist and hate-filled stare. I would’ve really liked to see Kaz punch him right in his smug, stupid face, but it’s probably good that he has more self control than I do.
The only purpose Hux seems to serve beyond that scene is to whine and scream like a bratty child. Honestly how did he ever get so high in the ranks with an attitude like that? I know the answer is nepotism (if you’ve read the “Aftermath” series by Chuck Wendig, then you know Hux’s father played a fairly critical role in the rise of the First Order), but that’s just so unsatisfying. The least he could do is pretend to be halfway competent and stop throwing temper tantrums like the male version of Veruca Salt that he is.
