Star Wars Resistance – “Rendezvous Point”

Hello there!

I’m back with another episode review for Star Wars Resistance. This is the second and final season of the third animated show in canon, focusing on Kazuda Xiono and his friends on the Colossus as they attempt to get away from the First Order and find the Resistance. These 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. Today, I will be looking at episode 8: “Rendezvous Point”

Plot Summary

The Colossus is under attack from the First Order. The Aces are just about holding their own against a TIE squadron, but will not be able to last much longer. Doza seems reluctant to leave, however he is informed by 4D-M1N that the deflector shields won’t last much longer. Torra tells him that they can’t wait for “her” any longer. The Aces return to the Colossus, which immediately jumps to hyperspace.

Seconds later, a Resistance X-wing arrives with a female Resistance pilot and her R2 unit, Torch. The X-wing is caught in the Star Destroyer’s tractor beam and pulled into the hangar. While being pulled in, the pilot converses with Torch about how to get away, deciding to play dead. Arriving in the hangar, she is arrested by the stormtroopers. She refuses to answer Tierny’s questions and the stormtroopers report that both the X-wing’s systems and R2 unit have been fried. Tierny orders the pilot be taken to the detention bay. On the way to the detention bay, the pilot passes Tam and Rucklin. Jace tells Tam that the pilot was looking for the Colossus and that Doza was clearly lying to them and working for the Resistance from the beginning. Tam asks Rucklin if the pilot looks familiar, but he doesn’t recognise her.

“We found their signal beacon, Torch. But that’s definitely not the Colossus.”

In the Aces Lounge, the Aces are discussing the recent skirmish. Hype Fazon and Bo Keevil both question Doza’s reluctance to leave when the First Order arrives, while Kaz tries to say that there must be a reason. As everyone else argues, Torra has had enough and tells them that they have no idea what her family has given up to protect the platform, before storming out.

Back in the hangar, Kaz tells Neeku that he’s never seen Torra so upset and thinks that she’s acting strange, but Neeku explains that Doza and Torra have a pattern of unexplainable behaviour on this day, showing how they would leave Castilon and travel to an undisclosed location on this day, dating back the last 6 years, which Kaz notes as being the time that the Resistance formed. Torra is in her father’s office trying to convince Doza and Yeager to let her jump back. Kaz enters and, thinking they are trying to get in contact with the Resistance, offers to help. Torra explains that they are not after the Resistance, but just one specific pilot: her mother Venisa Doza. Yeager leads Kaz away and tells him not to let anyone know about Torra’s mother. He explains that Venisa was a fellow Rebel pilot, who convinced Doza to defect from the Empire. When the First Order began causing problems, Venisa joined the Resistance but Doza refused to become part of another war.

Tam goes to see Venisa in her cell, asking if they have met before. Realising that Tam is a new recruit, Venisa tries to convince Tam to leave the First Order, eventually calling her by name and revealing her identity. Torch, who had been “playing dead”, arrives and shocks Tam, who is knocked unconscious.

“It’s not too late to get out of this, you know. I can help you.”

Torra is seen sneaking trough the hangar to her ship, but is caught at the last moment by Kaz, who intends to go with her back to the place they had planned to meet Venisa. Torra does not wish to put Kaz in danger and admits that Venisa probably doesn’t need her help, but explains that she really wanted to see her mother as it is the only day of the year she gets to see her mother: her birthday.

Having been freed by Torch, Venisa is making her way to the hangar, using Tam (who she intends to take with her to the Colossus) as a hostage. The pair continue to argue over Tam’s loyalties. Rucklin finds them and attempts to arrest Venisa, showing himself initially willing to shoot Tam in order to get a clear shot, but he is unable to go through with it and Torch manages to close the blast doors with him on the opposite side to the others. The alarm is sounded and Venisa has to shoot some stormtroopers on the way to the hangar.

Reaching the hangar, Torch creates a distraction by blowing up some fuel cannisters, placing detonators on a number of TIEs then hijacking a TIE fighter and attempting to fly away, whic draws the fire and attention of Tierny and all the stormtroopers. The TIE makes it out of the hangar but is soon destroyed, with Torch ejecting just in time and activating the detonators. Venisa stuns Tam and escapes in her X-wing, picking up Torch as she escapes.

Back in the hangar, Tierny speaks to Tam who admits she was taken prisoner by the pilot. When Tierny asks if the pilot revealed anything about her identity, Tam lies and says that she revealed nothing, to which Tierny reminds her that the First Order has eyes everywhere.

“Everyone makes mistakes, Tam.”

“My name is DT-533, and you don’t know a thing about me.”

Torra arrives in the Aces Lounge, where Kaz and the other Aces surprise her with a cake with a gorg inside. Captain Doza looks on as the Aces all wish Torra a happy birthday, before returning to his office and watching a holorecording of him and Venisa talking about the threat of the First Order, the need to protect Torra and how they are still a family despite being apart. Torra enters and speaks to her father, saying that she misses Venisa but realises that the galaxy needs her right now, while she and Doza still have each other.

Review

After a couple of weeks of disappointment at the way Resistance was going, this was much better in my opinion. For weeks, I’ve been complaining about Kaz’s clumsiness and stupidity, but put him in the cockpit and he looks much more assured, while his role in this episode was more of a supporting role, so his character was much more bearable. It was nice getting to see some more of Torra, who I have generally preferred in this show, and get some more backstory to her and her family. Meanwhile, bringing back the storyline of Tam’s indoctrination into the First Order made it feel like this episode was more important in a season that hasn’t been moving anywhere quickly.

“Nice going, Kaz-tastrophe!”

“What did I do?!”

There was so much to like about this episode. I continue to feel that the animation style is at its best in flight sequences, so having the dogfight to start the episode was great, while Venisa’s escape from the hangar amongst all the explosions also looked amazing! The music also really stood out to me this episode, most notably in the scenes where Venisa was trying to convince Tam to eave the First Order, Torra’s moment with her father at the end and the hangar escape sequence. I also really like the focus and contrast in the theme of families in this episode: Torra misses out on the chance to see her mother but knows that her family still care for her and also realises that her friends are like an extended family, in contrast Tam is once again reminded of how she is alone in the First Order and how Yeager cared for her.

I really enjoyed the character of Venisa, while her droid Torch certainly had some similarities to Chopper in Rebels in his enjoyment of blowing everything up and his attitude. I also really enjoyed the interactions between the pair as the make plans to escape by referring back to previous missions, instantly giving us backstory for the pair to make it clear that they are not only accomplished members of the Resistance but also have a long history together. I also really loved the decision to make Torch’s dome transparent – something that we have seen in live action before but I would imagine makes the animation a little more difficult.

“We need to talk.”

“I’m sensing this isn’t a ‘good job, Kaz’ conversation.”

While there was a lot that I liked in this episode, there were still some moments that left me frustrated or confused. First of all is Tam and her flip-flopping allegiances. She continues to recite empty messages and struggle to answer questions about how the First Order is helping her, and in this episode she is shot at by stormtroopers who didn’t appear to care if they hit her instead of Venisa, while she also had her one friend willing to shoot through her to hit an enemy. Not only that, but the way that she doesn’t react to Rucklin and Venisa’s comments surrounding the First Order destroying planets and ending the New Republic suggests that she knows what happens to the Hosnian system and yet still seems to trust in them. Yet she is willing to run along with Venisa rather than cause problems as a hostage, and also chooses not to give Tierny any information at the end. I just don’t see how after everything, Tam can still be toeing the line as she surely now has to either throw herself in with the planet killers or find a way to get back to her friends. I was getting so excited as the episode went on as I thought we were going to see Tam renounce the First Order, but nope, we have to keep waiting to see if she ever realises how blind she has been.

I also feel confused as to what the Colossus crew’s motivations are right now. I assumed that they were still trying to get back to the Resistance, but Kaz’s confidence in being able to contact them and a comment about how they were hiding out in the Outer Rim seemed to suggest otherwise, which disappoints me given this is the final season and we are going nowhere. For a show called Resistance, the Resistance presence has been surprisingly small and I hope this changes soon.

“Besides, he doesn’t have the shot… unless he shoots through you.”

“If I have to…”

A few final thoughts:

• It initially felt like we were missing something at the start of the episode as we didn’t have all the information, but I loved the way that this information was revealed as the episode went on
• It felt odd not having Tam or Rucklin shown as being involved in the opening battle – what was the point in showing them training if we don’t get to see them fly?

Moments in Canon

• Kaz mentions that Leia formed the Resistance 6 years prior, a moment seen at the end of Claudia Gray’s Bloodline
• Venisa mentioned to Torch about the way they previously escaped Terex, A First Order agent who was an antagonist in the Poe Dameron comic

What did you think about the episode?

Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…