Hello there!
It took me a few weeks to get into Star Wars Resistance so I did not initially plan to write about each individual episode of the show. However the way that the series is progressing now has me hooked and it looks like there is enough meat on the bones of this show to properly discuss. For my general thoughts of the first 5 episodes (“The Recruit”-“The High Tower”) check out my previous post here.
Plot Summary
Kaz’s struggles as a mechanic mean that he continues to have money problems, but an opportunity to make some money comes his way when he hears about a bounty for 2 children. Assuming that they are lost, Kaz sets out to find them and soon runs into them in the market. The children escape, but Kaz picks up a wooden charm that the boy, Kel, had dropped. Neeku introduces Kaz to the Chelidae, the engineers and maintenance workers of the Colossus and asks the shellfolk to keep an eye out for the children.
Kaz is summoned to speak to Captain Doza, who takes the charm but also begins to make Kaz question who has set the bounty on the children and why. After Kaz leaves, Doza contacts Phasma and informs her the children are on the platform in the interests of improving their relationship. When asked, Phasma explains the children are part of a wealthy and high-ranking family in the First Order who have gone missing, though Doza notes that the symbol on the charm does not resemble a First Order signal.
The Chelidae find the children and inform Kaz and Neeku. They come to the engineering platform and find that the girl, Eila, has a broken leg and a fever. The children explain that they are not lost but instead ran away after being the only survivors of their village, explaining that a being called Kylo Ren and his soldiers attacked their village on Tehar. Realising the children are running from the First Order, Kaz plans to keep the children safe and help them.
Kaz, Neeku and Kel go to the market to buy herbs to help Eila, but they are chased by a pair of First Order stormtroopers and their commanding officer, Commander Pyre. They are chased to engineering, where a blast door gives them time to formulate a plan while the stormtroopers force their way through. When the stormtroopers enter, the children step backwards through a broken gate, apparently plunging into the ocean. One of the troopers uses a scanner and reports that the life signs are slowing and temperature dropping. Pyre reports their death to Phasma, who is pleased as the children can no longer pass on information about the First Order’s plans to the Resistance, and the troopers leave.
It is revealed that the Chelidae had caught the children when they fell and that 2 of the shellfolk were in the water and used their ability to slow down their life systems as a way to fool the scanners into looking like the children were dying. The Chelidae invite the children to stay with them. Back at Yeager’s repair shop, Kaz contacts the Resistance and passes on the information about Kylo Ren’s attack on Tehar to Ello Asty, who will pass the information to General Organa.
Review
On the whole, I really enjoyed this episode. Kaz was incredibly naïve in his assumption that the bounty was because the children were lost rather than something more malicious, but I liked his change in attitude when he realised the truth and the plan he formulated to fake the children’s deaths. What did annoy me though is the way he has apparently made no progression in his mechanical skills and causes problems by not asking for clearer instructions as in the cold open, while I also felt that the gaga of him trying to open the grate from the wrong end took away from a great moment for him.
I found Neeku much more manageable in this episode and I liked how it helped his kindness show through in the way that he paid for Kaz’s drink when realising he had no money and also for the herbs to help Eila.
I really liked Pyre in this episode and I would imagine that he and Major Vonreg will become the regular antagonists in this show with Phasma overseeing their work, similar to how the early seasons of Rebels focused on Kallus and the Inquisitors as the main villains. My only issue with them at the moment is that they are doubling the number of First Order operatives in canon wearing armour other than the standard colours (Phasma and Cardinal being the others) so I hope we get an explanation for why they have these different coloured armours.
I really loved Eila’s name drop of Kylo Ren and the way she went on to describe him was a great reminder that not all of the galaxy will know these individuals in the same way we do. I also really enjoyed the Chelidae and while the information about them being able to regulate their life signs seemed unnecessary at first, it was a great way to allow the audience to guess what was happening as the stormtrooper used the scanner to report the children’s “deaths”.
Doza’s refusal to outright joint the First Order (as seen in the last episode) but his willingness to keep a good relationship with them is interesting in a kids show as it means we are not left with everyone being just good or bad, but in fact also having shades of grey in between. I got the feeling in the episode that Doza did not believe Phasma’s story about the children and think that will likely lean him away from supporting them if he can help it.
The show may have taken a few episodes to get into its groove, but I think it is now doing a really good job of progressing the story and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Moments in canon
- Ello Asty was one of the X-wing pilots killed during the Battle of Starkiller Base
- Pyre and the stormtroopers are seen arriving at the Colossus in an Upsilon-class command shuttle, as used by Kylo Ren in the films
- Asty surmises that Tehar must be in the Unknown Regions, which is where the First Order established themselves and hid Starkiller Base
Let me know in the comments what you thought about the episode. Thanks for reading and May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 