Hello there!
Welcome to my latest review for Star Wars Resistance. It took me a few weeks to get into the show, but by the end of “The High Tower” I knew that I was in for the long haul and have decided to start writing about it. This post will be focusing on episode 14: “The Doza Dilemma”
Plot Summary
Phasma and Commander Pyre are speaking with Kragan via hologram, unhappy about the lack of effectiveness his raids have had on the Colossus. Kragan says that the raids have cost him a number of men and ships and demands Pyre triple the money. Pyre agrees to this, but says that as a result, Kragan must steal something precious from Doza, something close to him.
At the loading docks on the Colossus, Synara receives a transmission from Kragan. He admonishes her for a lack of reports, suggesting that she is spending too much time with her new friends, before informing her that he is shipping 2 of his crew, Valik and Drell, on a mission and that she must get the container they are hiding passed through security and then get them inside Doza Tower.
Synara goes to Aunt Z’s Tavern, where she runs into Kaz, BB-8, Tam and Torra playing Holodarts. After losing to Tam, Torra invites the group – including Synara – into the tower to try out her new Drone Blaster game. The group go to Torra’s room and play the game with varying degrees of success. Synara and Kaz both subtly try to get information out of Torra that will help their respective missions. Synara goes to prepare for her crew’s arrival, making the excuse that she is working the late cycle. Before leaving, Torra says that she is welcome any time and gives her a security code to get into the tower.
“You haven’t reported in Synara. Spending too much time with your ‘friends’?”
After the group leave, Torra goes to tell her father about the great time that she’s had, but she finds him speaking with Pyre via hologram. Once she leaves the room, Pyre continues to put pressure on Doza to accept his offer of troops on the Colossus, but Doza reiterates that he will need more time to make a decision.
Kaz uses needing some parts for the Fireball as an excuse to visit Synara during her work, however when he arrives, he sees her with Drell and Valik, who he feels look shady. As the trio of pirates move into the Colossus, Kaz and BB-8 trail them, however as they hide to avoid detection, the pirates manage to slip away.
The pirates reach the tower and Synara uses the code she was given to gain entry. When asking what they are after, Synara is told that the pirates are kidnapping Torra and that she should stand guard. Drell and Valik find Torra in her room and capture her. Synara contacts Kragan and confronts him about the mission. He says that she is getting soft, thinking of these people as her friends and explains Torra is worth triple the credits alive. Synara finds Kaz and tells him that someone has taken Torra, they run to a platform where they see Valik and Drell escaping with Torra on speeder bikes. Kaz and Synara rush to Yeager’s garage, where Synara contacts Doza to inform him of Torra’s capture, while Kaz jumps into the Fireball and flies after the pirates. Hearing that Torra has been taken, Doza scrambles the Aces to find her. Meanwhile Kragan contacts Pyre to inform him they have successfully captured Torra. Pyre announces that he will send someone with the payment immediately.
“The First Order needs an answer, Captain. You’ve been delaying the inevitable for far too long now!”
Drell and Valik meet with a 3rd pirate in a skiff and send the speeder bikes off in a different direction to where they are going as a distraction. Kaz is close enough to see the switch and follow the skiff, but he comes under fire from the pirates leaving him unable to transmit the coordinates to Doza. Bo Keevil catches up with the speeder bikes and reports back that they are decoys. While trying to evade the pirates’ attacks, Kaz notices that 2 of the pirates are the strangers he saw Synara with, agreeing with BB-8 that he shouldn’t have trusted her. Kragan’s sail barge appears from the fog in front of Kaz and the increased fire causes Kaz to pull away while the skiff boards the barge. Major Vonreg arrives with a pair of stormtroopers and they land on the barge, which leads Kaz to think that the First Order are in league with the pirates. BB-8 gets the transponder working and sends their coordinates to Doza, who reroutes the Aces to Kaz’s position.
Vonreg tells Kragan that Pyre sends his regards and he and the stormtroopers open fire on the pirates, “rescuing” Torra. With Torra aboard their shuttle, Vonreg contacts Doza and informs him that they have rescued his daughter, so the Aces and Kaz help to escort the First Order back to the Colossus.
“What are you after, anyway? What is so important to Doza?”
“His little girl.”
Doza and Torra are reunited and he thanks Vonreg, who explains that the First Order have been monitoring pirate communications in an effort to stop their raids. He says that Pyre is concerned security has been compromised so a small security detail will remain at Doza’s disposal while he considers Pyre’s offer. Watching from the Fireball, Kaz remains suspicious.
The next morning Synara contacts Kragan, who tells her that the First Order has betrayed them and the deal is over. Before Synara can find out what that means for her, Kaz arrives to thank her for helping save Torra. Kaz mentions that he came to visit her for some parts the night before but had seen she was busy with some strangers. Synara lies that they were offworld salvagers and Kaz leaves. Once out of the docks, Kaz speculates to Kaz that Synara is either helping the pirates or one of them.
Review
I really enjoyed this episode. I’d already speculated that the First Order would turn against the pirates to make it look like they’re helping the Colossus, but I liked the decision to kidnap Doza to make sure Doza is directly affected by the pirates in an attempt to further influence him. I just wish that we had progressed with this storyline a little quicker as this was set up in “the High Tower” (Episode 5) but it has taken 9 episodes for any stormtroopers to be stationed on the base and Doza still hasn’t technically made any decision relating to the First Order’s Offer.
“You need troops to protect your station, not racers. You need us.”
I really like though how there are still reasons for character on the Colossus to doubt the First Order, from Kaz’ gut instincts – I may sound like a broken record it’s great to see him being less naïve now – to Synara knowing the truth from Kragan. I also got the feeling that Torra still didn’t feel wholly comfortable around the First Order (which is saying something considering how quickly she makes friends), which could lead to her still not trusting them, especially considering her having seen Kragan’s familiarity with Vonreg and heard the pirates mention payment.
This was another great example of Kaz growing as a character. He seemed more subtle than on other occasions when asking Torra about her father’s dealings with the First Order and has been much less trusting of individuals, including in this episode being willing to accept that Synara is trouble. He may still not be the perfect spy and may be useless with a blaster, but he continues to show his ability as a pilot, which is surely putting him on Doza’s radar.
I really like how Synara has been used in recent episodes, with her allegiances seemingly split between the pirates and her friends on the Colossus. I liked again how she was able to subtly get information from Torra about the Colossus’ defences as they were playing in Torra’s room and how she almost gave herself away with her ability with a blaster. I’m really interested to see where her story goes moving forwards, especially now the pirates have been betrayed and Kaz is aware of her affiliations.
“This isn’t a good idea. Security is heavier now than it’s ever been.”
Visually, the episode looked great. I have always preferred the animation when it has involved the ships and this was no exception, while Kragan’s barge emerging from the fog looked stunning and really hearkened back to pirate ships in other media, while the wings and mast also left it resembling a shark. I also really liked Valik and Drell being different character models to what we have often seen from Kragan’s pirates, though I do wonder why they couldn’t have been used in “Synara’s Score” to give more variety to the pirates attacking, especially as I remember Drell appearing in a hologram in the same episode.
I have previously been critical of the lack of success Vonreg has had in his missions and while he is still to be shown killing anyone in a dogfight, it was great to see him finally have some success taking out some of the pirates. It was also really good to see how involved Pyre is with the campaign against the Colossus and to see Phasma in overall command. It was also nice to see Bo Keevil given slightly more focus in this episode, given that he has been the member of the Aces who has featured least so far.
“Good evening Kragan. Commander Pyre sends his regards!”
The story is really starting to progress now and I am excited to see what happens next. With stormtroopers now stationed on the Colossus, I feel that Doza’s control of the situation will begin to deteriorate quickly, whether he agrees to the First Order’s presence or not. It wouldn’t surprise me if Doza realises the truth behind Torra’s kidnap once there are too many First Order troopers around for him to resist, leaving Torra’s wellbeing to be use as a threat to ensure his continued compliance. I can’t see the pirates making another move against the Colossus, but I can imagine them either being wiped out by the First Order in a show of strength or aiding the resistance Kaz is going to for on the Colossus, especially with Synara still offering a means of contact to Kragan. I think that Kaz will soon either confront Synara about her allegiance or turn her in to a higher authority and that when she hears someone mentioning the First Order saving Torra, she will reveal that the pirates were working for them. Potentially, she may also be a prime target for any troopers on the Colossus as due to Kragan’s deal with the First Order, they may be aware of who she is and choose to take her out rather than risk her divulging their plans.
Moments in Canon
- Drell and Valik use “droid poppers” to take down the security droids. These EMP grenades were frequently used against the Separatist droid army during The Clone Wars
- When explaining her accuracy with a blaster, Synara said that her father took her hunting on Vanqor as a child. Vanqor was shown in The Clone Wars to be the homeworld of the gundarks, creatures that could cause even a Jedi problems
- Drone-Blaster used holographic images of remotes similar to the one found in the Millennium Falcon and the ones used by the Jedi younglings in Attack of the Clones
- Kragan’s sail barge included pieces from a number of old vehicles, including an AT-AT head and what appeared to be the wings of a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle
What did you think about the episode? Thanks for reading and May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 