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Five Thoughts on Star Wars: Resistance’s “The New World” and “No Place Safe”

By | January 14th, 2020
Posted in Television | % Comments

This week’s Star Wars: Resistance was a double feature with episodes 15 and 16 airing one after the other. While things sort of ended slightly where they began, there were a lot of interesting developments that made “The New World” and “No Place Safe” more enjoyable than the last several episodes that ran before. Why is that? Read on, and beware of spoilers.

1. Welcome to water world

It would appear the crew of Resistance heard my previous complaint about too many sand planets in the Star Wars universe, because this week’s new episodes both take place on the water planet of Aeos Prime. It was honestly so refreshing (no pun intended) to look at! A new planet also means new natives, this time in the form of the Aeosians, who are briefly enemies before Kaz shows them the true powers of love and friendship, or whatever. The Aeosians, while a fun edition to the universe, are one hundred percent just copies of the Zora from the Legend of Zelda games. They even carry trident-type spears! Unlike the Zora, though, they seem pretty well equipped to live on land despite their fish-like appearance. They travel using krakavora, an animal that can both swim underwater and fly in the air, which I like to think of as a slightly more impressive duck boat.

My point is, are they the most original thing in the world? Not really, but they’re a great addition to the universe. Just the fact that the characters are surrounded the entire episode by blue instead of tan (or floating aimlessly in space) makes it feel so much more interesting than the previous several episodes.

2. Spreading out those storylines

One of the things I do always appreciate about Resistance is its commitment to the ensemble cast, which is difficult considering how often they add new characters to it. In “The New World,” Kaz’s buddy of the week is Griff Halloran, member of the Aces and former Imperial. Griff isn’t a main character, so it’s interesting getting to spend some one-on-one time with him, particularly as he’s used somewhat as a foil to Kaz in episode 15.

Kaz seems to be having a small crisis of fate, questioning whether he should settle down on Aeos Prime with the rest of the Colossus or continue to fight with the Resistance. Would anyone notice if he stopped? Griff is able to offer Kaz a little insight in that regard — he defected from the Empire at the urging of Doza after realizing how evil it had become. Unlike some of the other former Imperials we’ve known in the Star Wars universe, Griff decided not to fight against the Empire, a decision he supports to this day. The way Griff sees it, defecting but not joining the Rebellion spared him his life, and the Empire fell anyway. Would it really have mattered if he joined the fight? It gives Kaz a lot to think about.

Cut to “No Place Safe” when Kaz decides to rejoin up with the Resistance. He had already revealed to Yeager at the end of “The New World” his renewed desire to fight, but it isn’t until episode 16 that that feeling quickly translates into him leaving the Colossus. It’s sad, but like the introduction of the water world, it also feels like movement. Resistance has been languishing in stagnant filler mode for weeks now; this felt like a turning point… at least until Kaz managed to screw it all up. But more on that in a minute.

3. Neeku is my favorite

Honestly, I know I said I appreciate that the writers involve all of the characters, but I could watch Neeku goofily putter around for hours. So amusing, so earnest! He’s the only character I find consistently delightful week after week. It might be because he reminds me slightly of a puppy, especially in the way he relates to Kaz, but who’s to say?

When Kaz announces he’s leaving the Colossus, Neeku spends a ridiculous (but understandable) amount of time wailing and clutching his best friend. When Kaz gives Neeku his first racing trophy, his “most prized possession,” Neeku seems overwhelmed by the sentiment while simultaneously insulting the trophy’s condition. And then, when Kaz returns to the Colossus later to warn them about the First Order approaching, Neeku won’t stop hugging him even through the holotransmission to Doza. It’s adorable watching Kaz try to deliver this serious message while also trying to peel Neeku off of his body at the same time. This dynamic is good. Please give me more.

Continued below

4. Another Kaz-tastrophe

I like to think that “No Place Safe” refers to Kaz and not the Colossus once again being found by the First Order. After making a big to-do about leaving to meet up with the Resistance, Kaz is immediately spotted by a First Order probe droid. To his credit, Kaz ends up destroying it with its own homing missiles, but not before it’s able to alert the First Order of the Colossus’ whereabouts, and not before it’s able to completely disable his entire ship and CB-23.

So, just to recap, in the span of a few minutes, Kaz ruins the Colossus’ hiding place that Doza and crew have spent months searching for, practically destroys the Firebird after Yeager had just told him to be careful with it, puts everyone including the Aeosians in danger by alerting the First Order, and leaves Norath hanging after he inevitably misses the rendezvous time with him and the Resistance.

I mean, is there a better metaphor to his ineptitude than Kaz, floating aimlessly in a disabled ship next to a probe droid completely in view of the planet he was just trying to leave for good? He is the absolute worst.

5. Is this a turning point or not?

The two-part episode begins with the Colossus safe and grounded on a planet with Kaz eventually resolving to rejoin the Resistance fight against the First Order. It then ends with the Colossus back in space with Kaz resolving not to leave. Basically, we’re back where we started.

It’s a disappointing ending to the twofer, because I thought we’d finally get a little traction in what has overall been a fairly stagnant season. Nothing of consequence ever happens and when it finally seemed like it might, they decided to just negate the entire thing.

However, there is one little breadcrumb in there that signals there might be some changes on the horizon. During the battle between the Aces and First Order TIE Fighters, Tam realizes the pilot in Yeager’s ship is actually Kaz based on his recklessness. You’d think this might give her a moment of hesitation and it does, but she very quickly makes the decision to shoot him down. She’s thwarted, of course, but ends up saving the Star Destroyer and earns herself a promotion. After the fight, Kaz reveals to Yeager that he’s sure that was Tam piloting that TIE and that she would have shot him down. Yeager has been Tam’s champion in a lot of ways, but in this moment he gives Kaz the stark truth: Tam made her choice to turn her back on them and they have to do the same. It’s an interesting development; maybe Tam won’t be redeemed after all? Or maybe she will, because this is a show for kids, but either way I’m interested to see how things pan out.

So, all in all, not the ending I was expecting from these two episodes, but not the worst ending either.


//TAGS | Star Wars: Resistance

Kerry Erlanger

Kerry Erlanger is a writer from New York whose accolades include being named Time Person of the Year 2006. She can be found on Twitter at @hellokerry.

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