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 20: “No Escape: Part 1”
Plot Summary
Commander Pyre is in Doza’s office, using the intercom to tell all Colossus residents to stay in their domiciles or be in violation of First Order law. Captain Doza storms in to confront him about Yeager’s arrest and the First Order’s motives. Pyre orders his troopers to arrest Doza, but 4D-M1N attacks the stormtroopers until Pyre takes her out. More troopers arrive to take Doza away, while Torra watches from a hiding place. Back in her bedroom, Torra sends Buggles to find Kaz and bring him to her.
In Engineering, Kaz, CB-23, Neku, Kel, Eila, Bucket and the Chelidae are making plans to free Yeager. Once they have freed him, Kaz plans for them all to escape to Hosnian Prime, where he can use his father’s connections to the New Republic military to come back with help to free everyone else on the Colossus.
“We are well beyond the Republic’s reach. Fortunately, they are not beyond ours.”
Tam is in the Aces lounge with Agent Tierny, who has given her better food than she is used to and told her that she deserves more than the Colossus has to offer. When questioned, Tam says that she has told Tierny everything she knows about Kaz and denies Yeager is a spy. Tierny shows her a holorecording of Yeager confessing that he was the Resistance spy, that he had tried to recruit Kaz and that he was the one flying the Fireball in First Order space. Tam suggests that Yeager is taking the blame to protect Kaz, but Tierny claims Yeager did not trust her enough to tell her the truth.
Kaz and his group take out a trio of stormtroopers to get access to a control room. Kaz and CB-23 go through a hatch to enter the Colossus via the sea, while the rest of the group control the hatches from the control room. The pair are seen by a pair of First Order SCUBA troopers, who chase them into an underwater corridor. While Kaz and CB-23 fight the troopers, Neeku and the children try to find the button to pressurise the corridor. They finally find the right button and the troopers are sucked out of the Colossus, butCB-23 uses her grappling hooks to keep her and Kaz in the corridor. While celebrating their success, the group in the control room realise that the Colossus has a hyperdrive.
Kaz goes to Acquisitions to see if they have any weapons. He fins Flix, Orka, their droid, GL-N and Bitey hiding in a crate. They say that they are hiding in the crate to escape as they have arranged for the First Order to transport it offworld to Flix’s mother on Talivar. Kaz explains that the Colossus is underwater, so the plan will not work, however he reassures them that he is going to liberate everyone form the First Order. Buggles arrives and gets Kaz to follow him.
“Shut him up already, Ceebee!”
While being taken to his cell, Yeager sees Tam with Tierny. Yeager tries to explain and tell her not to listen to the First Order, but Tam is angry that he lied to her and put everyone in danger. Yeager is thrown into a cell with Doza. After they leave, Tierny tells Tam that she doesn’t want to see her potential wasted on the platform and says that if she comes with her, the First Order will make her dreams of becoming a pilot a reality.
Following Buggles, Kaz finds Torra in the ventilation. Torra tells him that her father has been locked up with Yeager and that she has been developing a plan to sneak into the tower and free them via the incinerator. The group are found by a First Order BB unit which raises the alarm. CB-23 fights the droid, damaging its visual processor before tricking it into falling down an elevator shaft. The group make it into the tower but run into a First Order trooper, who Kaz manages to disarm and stun, before hiding the body. Torra sends Buggles back to her room and the remaining 3 make their way towards the cells.
“Today is the end of the Republic. The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder. At this very moment, in a system far from here, the New Republic lies to the galaxy while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance!”
“Kaz come on, while they’re distracted.”
“This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand, will bring an end to the Senate, to their cherished fleet. All remaining systems will bow to the First Order and will remember this as the last day of the Republic! FIRE!”
Hiding behind some crates, they overhear 2 stormtroopers talking about Starkiller Base being operational as a group of troopers gather to watch a holographic projection of a speech by General Hux. The trio use the hologram as a distraction to sneak past the troopers, but they stop as they hear Hux announce this as the last day of the Republic. They watch in horror projection then shows Starkiller base fire and destroy a system of planets. Kaz asks CB-23 what system that was and is told that it was the Hosnian system, leaving him devastated.
Review
Wow. Just… wow!
I’ve been really impressed by the recent episodes as we have pushed towards the finale, and this was yet another amazing episode. The First Order have really been able to look more competent and menacing over recent weeks and their increasing control over the Colossus has helped this and Pyre’s moment in taking out 4D with ease – after his troops had been so easily dispatched – gave another hint as to his danger. I’ve really enjoyed Pyre’s growth through this season and hope he makes it into season 2.
“It’s another one of those things. I’ll take care of it.”
4D’s attack was yet another great link to previous episodes as the earlier episode “Secrets and Holograms” showed that she had a dangerous intruder mode, while the same episode also introduced the idea of the incinerator being a link between the tower and the rest of the platform.
The humour has been very up and down for me this episode, but in this episode it largely hit and there was nothing that especially threw me out of this episode. I loved the gags of the Colossus resident in the bar deciding he’d had enough to drink as he thought he was seeing things when Kaz and the SCUBA troopers – who looked amazing – swam past the window and I found the sequence of Neeku and the children hitting all the wrong buttons pretty funny – especially the confusion of 2 stormtroopers as the door next to them randomly opens and closes. I just think that the moment would have worked better if an earlier scene had not included Kel saying that the shellfolk have taught them everything, as this makes it feel odd that they struggle with the right button. The scene with Flix and Orka was funny, but felt a little out of place. I will reserve judgement for now though as given the series’ track record I would be shocked if there is not some payoff in part 2.
Tierny’s coercing of Tam continues to impress me and I love how Tam is not fully won over and is clearly struggling to figure out what she wants. I can’t wait to see how this pays off in part 2 and still can’t decide which side she will turn to.
“The Colossus can fly? You mean we’re on a ship, not a station?”
The fights in this episode were really great and very individual. I like how the first (to get access to the control room) happens largely off-screen, while the fight underwater was great as it utilised different weapons for the SCUBA troopers and also made good use of CB-23’s weight in a different environment. My favourite though was the great little fight between CB-23 and the First Order BB unit. We have seen similar from Artoo in The Clone Wars so it was great to see this done with BB-units and I also like how the story used CB-23 for this rather than do it when BB-8 was there as it helps grow CB-23’s character (making me want to re-do my Top 10 droids article), whereas BB-8 has been able to grow his character through the films.
And now, I’ve held off as long as I can, but I have to talk about that final scene. Having seen it in the trailer, I have known that it is coming for months, so while I did not necessarily get the shock factor of people who didn’t know this was coming (I do somewhat envy those of you who fall into this category!) I was so excited to see it and it worked perfectly. Both this and the last episode have taken a moment to remind the viewer that Kaz is from Hosnian Prime so when we realise what we are watching, we know that this is bad news for him. While I have had some issues at times with the way Kaz has been portrayed, it has always been relating to the way he has been written rather than Christopher Sean’s performance. He has done a great job throughout the season – all the actors have done a great job – but in the final moments of this episode, he was spot on and really hit the mark for me in his portrayal of Kaz’s horror, and devastation of watching the planets be destroyed and then realising that it was his home. I can’t wait to see how Kaz reacts to this event in the finale. When I look back at the season, I will be shocked if this final scene is not my favourite moment.
“Kaz pretends he’s an idiot, but apparently he’s far smarter than he lets on.”
It did feel odd having the finale split into a two-parter for this series as Rebels usually aired both parts together, but I think that it has worked really well in this case as it gives the chance to really take in the enormity of that final scene. I have found myself so excited for watching the finale and for that reason I think that the right decision was made.
Going into the finale, it is so hard to predict what is going to happen. While I am sure that Kaz and his friends will find a way to push the First Order back (I’m predicting some involvement from the pirates) and fly the Colossus away to join the Resistance (my prediction is that this season ends after The Last Jedi), I can still not decide who out of Tierny, Vonreg and Pyre will survive. I think that Tierny will continue especially as we have seen her face, which I would imagine means that she is more expensive to use than the other 2, who have remained in their helmets. I really hope Pyre survives, but I wonder if his recent menace has been to set him up as the big villain to be defeated in the finale, much like the Grand Inquisitor in season 1 of Rebels. Personally, I would like to see all 3 survive, but if we are to lose 1 I hope it is Vonreg, especially if Tam joins the First Order as this would allow her to take his place as the First Order’s elite pilot in the show. With Yeager and Doza both imprisoned, I expect them both to be freed, but I think that at least one of them will die during the episode. Whatever happens, I’m just excited for the ride!
Moments in Canon
- We see that Hux’s speech and the destruction of the Hosnian system was broadcast to First Order forces away from Starkiller Base
- Tam appears to be aware of Yeager’s history with the Rebellion
What did you think about the episode? Thanks for reading and May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 