And we’re back! Didya miss me? After taking the summer off after Star Wars: Rebels finished off its four season run, I’m back to tackle a new Star Wars animated show each week. This new era of Star Wars television is kicked off by “The Recruit,” the whopper 45-minute long premiere of Star Wars: Resistance.
Let’s dig into it, shall we?
1. A Strong Opening
If you listened to the last episode of one Force Ghost: Coast To Coast, the Star Wars podcast I co-host with Multiversity’s own Brian Salvatore, you’ll remember that underneath our excitement for this show was a weird apprehension. This show was announced back in April with nary a detail about what the show would be about beyond it being about a young pilot on a mission from Poe Dameron. Since then, we’ve had a couple of trailers that expanded upon that premise to explore the Leviathan and the racers there, but something wasn’t quite coming together.
Now, I couldn’t tell you what it was, but seeing the premise of the show play out over it’s 45 minute long premiere episode, I was hooked. From the opening conflict between Kaz’s squadron of New Republic pilot and a mysterious TIE ace to his recruitment to the Resistance by Poe Dameron to exploring the Leviathan and setting up for the show’s first big race, I knew this was something special.
I had a hard time adjusting during the switch from The Clone Wars to Rebels. It took me a while to come around to the latter. Here, though, I’m on board with Resistance with wherever it wants to take me. Why? Well…
2. Building An Environment
The majority of “The Recruit” is given to establishing the baseline world for the series. Sure, it opens with a dogfight between New Republic X-Wing pilots and an unidentified TIE ace before shoving us into a relic from the past while catching us up to speed with the nuances of the political divide between the New Republic senate and Leia’s Resistance in how they’re dealing with the growing First Order problem, but that’s all the first ten minutes. That’s the heavy lifting to establish the time period of the galaxy and the political turmoil it exists in.
Once Kaz gets to the Leviathan, the episode slows right down, introducing new environments and characters – some major and some minor, who are likely to be recurring – and getting the audience comfortable with the location, the people who inhabit and, most importantly why people should care.
Part of why I struggled with Rebels in the beginning was not understanding what made Lothal so important for the show to focus its entire attention on in the first season. Here, though, after following Kaz in a number of misunderstandings and meeting characters like Neeku, Yaeger, Tam, Torra and Aunt Z and my new favourites, Orka and Flix, I feel in love with this corner of the galaxy. It was such a strong first impression.
3. Now, This Is Podracing
I’ll admit, I was skeptical of the racing aspect of Resistance. I didn’t know how the show could focus on a platform of racers while also be about the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order. If I’m being honest, I still don’t know how that’ll play out, but after this premiere, I am all in on the racing aspect of the show.
“The Recruit” does a great job of building to Kaz’s first race. We see snippets of a multi-ship race just after Kaz gets roped into challenging for the next race and the show showcases just how fast and brutal a race it can be. It really does feel like the evolution of podracing and swoop racing that we’ve seen in Star Wars before, but this time it feels more integrated into the story being told.
After spending some time building up what a heap of junk Kaz’s ship, the Fireball, is and going on a fetch quest for parts, the episode finally settles into its setpiece and showcases some whopper animation. The ship designs are incredible, with both familiar and brand new elements, that are recognisable from a silhouette that allows the animation to do the heavy lifting in showing the speed and danger of the race. It also allowed for a great character moment, something far more important than any spectacle, as Kaz allows the mission to take greater importance than dying to achieve short-lived glory.
Continued below4. A Glimpse At New Republic Life
If I’m disappointed in anything from “The Recruit” it’s that we barely got to see Kaz’s life before becoming the eponymous recruit. Sure, the episode establishes that Kaz is a New Republic pilot and that his dad’s a senator, but we never get to see his dad and Kaz is able to walk away from working with the Republic Navy with a second thought.
If there’s one thing I want from Sequel Era content, it’s an establishment of ordinary life in the New Republic. From Bloodline to Phasma to The Force Awakens to this, the New Republic has existed purely as an ideology to be fought for or against. It’s destruction is pre-ordained, we barely got to know it existed before the senate and its entire naval fleet was destroyed by Starkiller Base. At the very least, I would appreciate for Lucasfilm to go back and fill me in on why I should care about the destruction of the New Republic beyond simply being told to because they’re the Good Guys.
I’m still holding out hope we’ll get that as Resistance evolves.
5. From Here, The Stars
I don’t know where Resistance goes from here and I’m excited about that. I love what I was introduced to in “The Recruit,” especially the show’s characters so far. With the unidentified TIE ace returning to Starkiller Base at the end of the episode (he announced himself as something, but I couldn’t make out what because of the voice filter of the helmet), I’m sure the First Order’s presence on Leviathan is sure to grow in coming episodes.
Regardless, this was a strong first salvo for a new era of Star Wars television and I can’t wait to see where the journey takes us next.
