Star Wars Resistance is back! The second and final season kicked off at the weekend with the episode “Into the Unknown“. I really enjoyed my weekly reviews when I started them last season so have decided to continue them through this season. They will take a very similar format to previously: an overview of the plot (so it goes without saying, there will be spoilers!), my thoughts on the episode and a few Moments in Canon – things I picked up on that linked to other stories or the larger galaxy as a whole.
Plot Summary
Picking up very soon after the season 1 finale, the episode opens back at Castilon. Commander Pyre and Agent Tierny contact Captain Phasma via hologram, reporting that resistance fighters took back control of the Colossus and disappeared into hyperspace. Phasma orders them to stop the Colossus falling into the hands of the Resistance, either by recovering it or destroying it, threatening them with execution if they fail.
Tam is brought to the bridge, where Tierny speaks to her to see if she can get any more information, but Tam says she has already told her everything she knows. When asked about her motives for coming with the First Order, Tam says the Resistance are outlaws and liars like the people she thought were her friends, while saying the First Order are trying to make the galaxy safe again and that she wants to use her piloting skills in service of a cause she believes in.
Pyre orders Tam to report to the Quartermaster to pick up her new uniform, and she is given the designation Cadet Pilot DT-533.
“Welcome aboard, Miss Ryvora. We look forward to hearing all about your friends.”
With the Colossus coming out of hyperspace, Kaz and Neeku go to Captain Doza’s office to see if they can help. Kaz feels responsible for bringing trouble with the First Order, but Doza says that he is at fault for bringing the First Order onto the platform, saying that Kaz made the right choice. Doza talks of how he lived through the Imperial Era and hoped Kaz and Torra would never have to experience a similar time.
Doza leads the pair up to the Colossus‘ command deck, which he has reopened. Yeager, Torra and a couple of droids are already working there. There are a number of malfunctioning systems and they can’t make another jump as the hyperdrive is out of fuel. Torra reports that they have emerged 3 parsecs from D’Qar. They try to send a transmission to D’Qar but find that the long rang communications aren’t operational. To make matters worse, the artificial gravity soon fails.
Kaz, Neeku, Torra and CB-23 go to the engineering deck to fix the gravity and communications. They find that the Chelidae have retreated into their shells, which Neeku explains means they are afraid of something. As they continue into Engineering, they miss the First Order BB-unit MB-13A hiding in the ventilation.
“Yeager, here’s another problem to add to our list.”
While Kaz, Torra and Neeku attempt to fix the gravity, CB-23 is sent to fix the communications. Just after switching a generator back on, she is attacked by MB-13A. Neeku notes that CB-23 is taking a while so goes to find her, while Kaz struggles to get the gravity working correctly, alternating between zero-gravity and too much gravity. Neeku finds CB-23 decapitated but is himself attacked by MB-13A.
Having little luck sorting the gravity, and unable to contact Neeku and CB-23, Torra and Kaz go looking for the pair. They find Neeku tied up and discover MB-13A, who Kaz recognises from their previous encounter. MB-13A chases Kaz and Torra away; while they hide in the ceiling, they see MB-13A connect to a terminal and begin activating communications – they realise that it waited for them to fix the communications to alert the First Order to their position. Kaz distracts MB-13A and forces it to chase him as a distraction, while Torra stops the communication.
“You know who was really good with integrated relays? Tam.”
While still bound, Neeku managers to use his feet to catch CB-23’s head and switch her back on. CB-23 goes to help Torra and Kaz, arriving just in time to knock MB-13A away as it was cornering Kaz. With Torra having stopped the communication, she and Kaz open up a floor shaft and Kaz opens a trapdoor to open space. While the others cling to machinery, MB-13A is sucked into space but grabs Kaz as it goes past with its grappling cable. Torra manages to close the trapdoor, which cuts through the cable and results in MB-13A floating away into the void of space.
The group manage to sort the gravity, and while they managed to intercept MB-13A’s transmission, Kaz decides to contact Tam on her personal comlink to explain himself. Aboard the Star Destroyer, Tam has just entered her quarters in her new uniform. Having just put her old mechanic clothes on her bunk, when she gets Kaz’s recorded transmission. He apologises for lying to her but she stops listening and puts on her new helmet.
Review
Star Wars series have generally done a good job with season openers (often being a double episode, which probably helps) but this felt very average to me. This didn’t feel like a season opener, but more an extended epilogue to last season. I felt that the sequences of everybody being stalked and chased by MB-13A were too repetitive an went on far too long, almost as if they were struggling to reach the necessary length for the episode, and think the time could have been better spent getting the reactions of more characters (Synara, for example) to what has just happened.
While I know and fully appreciate that this show is designed for kids, I continue to think that Neeku is being overplayed for childish fun and Kaz is too often made to look incapable. In this episode alone, he managed to fall down stairs, bang his head, lift the wrong end of a floor panel (exactly what he did in “The Children From Tehar”) and completely fail at any repair works he attempted. I like the character, but I feel that after everything he has been through recently, he should have grown more as a character and be the butt of the jokes less often. I was also a little put off by seeing characters “swimming” in zero-gravity rather than the more deliberate movements we see in other scenes.
“Maybe he’s… shell-shocked?“
“Very good, Kazuda.”
I really liked the early scenes with Kaz and Doza and I would say this was probably one of the best bits of the episode. Doza knows how important Kaz has become to saving the Colossus and the way he speaks to Kaz really feels like he is taking on a fatherly role, which would feel natural considering Kaz and Torra are around the same age. I also really enjoyed the scenes with Tam and Tierny and though I still wish we’d seen a bit more in season 1 to explain why she is so quick to disbelieve her friends, I really liked her going all-in for the First Order.
As for the return of MB-13A, I liked this and thought it made sense for the episode, while I liked that Kaz did recognise it and refer back to previous events. Having its visual processor cracked was a clever idea as it helped to show that this droid had been involved in the previous fighting, while also helping the heroes hide due to its inability to see properly.
“They’re not my friends any more. I’ve made my choice”
A couple of final thoughts from the episode:
- Kragan’s pirates appeared to have some new character models, which is good to see as it gives greater variety to the group, while also suggesting they will have a somewhat significant role to spend the money on expanding the group
- While I’ve never been 100% sold on the character animation, the ships continue to look amazing in this animation style!
- It felt a little odd that there was no mention of Major Vonreg’s death when Pyre and Tierny were reporting to Phasma
- The continuing use of Opeepit in short comedic sequences is still to me some of the best comedy. Plus someone needs to give him his floor sweeper back #JusticeForOpeepit
Moments in Canon
- Coaxium is mentioned by name as the fuel used by the Colossus, building on its introduction in Solo: A Star Wars Story
What did you think about the episode?
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 