Tag: Star Wars Resistance

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 18 – 19 (TV/Television Review) – Kaz Becomes A Leader

‘The Disappeared’ and ‘Descent’ were the episodes of Star Wars Resistance that would act as the foundation for the Season 1 finale. Everything has been building up to First Order control of the Colossus and I expected these episodes to finally put our protagonists in a place where they would have to truly fight back.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 18 – 19 Of Star Wars Resistance

‘The Disappeared’ acted as an episode which continued to highlight the First Order’s authoritarian oppression. This is because the racing, the heart and soul of the Colossus, was ended by the First Order and, as such, the ace pilots were grounded. Clearly, a move designed to remove any threat to the First Order as the ace pilots were also the Colossus’ protectors and they could probably hold their own in a fight against the First Order.

Tam and Kaz were still clashing over the First Order and we find out that Colossus citizens who defy or speak out against the First Order are disappearing. I immediately thought that these citizens were arrested, taken off world and imprisoned to do hard labour because this is what the Empire did to those who rebelled against them.

Hype Fazon and Aunt Z are two of these citizens who fall foul of the First Order, at least until Kaz and Torra break them out. Before this escape happened, Torra and Kaz see that Doza and Yeager are working together to knock out the communication blocker so they can let the Resistance know that they need help.

For me, to see the old Rebel Alliance pilot and the former Imperial officer working together against the First Order was great to see. I hope to see more of these two together going forward both in Season 1 and Season 2 of Resistance.

Escape, Arrest, Escape

Still, while I am sure that Kaz would have been personally relieved to see Doza and Yeager on the same side, him and Torra had a job to do and they help Hype, Aunt Z and a couple of others to escape the platform.

Once again, Takodana is referenced as a location by Aunt Z where she and the others call upon the help of an old friend which clearly implies Maz Kanata. The consistent references to Takodana in Season 1 of Resistance have made me convinced that we will see Takodana in the Season 1 finale as a way to show Aunt Z and Hype Fazon’s perspective of the destruction of Hosnian Prime.

Kaz and Torra saved the day but, sadly, ‘The Disappeared’ ended on a dark note as Kaz, Yeager, Neeku and Tam are all arrested by the First Order. ‘Descent’ begins where ‘The Disappeared’ ended with are protagonists being arrested and they are being arrested because the First Order traced the Fireball, Kaz’s ship, back to the workshop after the events of ‘The Core Problem’. Consequently, the First Order suspect they are all Resistance spies.

This puts out protagonists in a perilous position but Kaz, Yeager, Neeku and CB-23 are able to escape but Tam cannot because she is so confused by the whole situation. Tam is taken captive but is treated well by Agent Tierney, a new character in Resistance who works for the First Order.

Obviously, this is an attempt to get Tam to reveal information easily and perhaps shift allegiance to the First Order. Because of what we have seen in previous episodes of Resistance, this is a possibility and, now that she knows the truth about Kaz, she will clearly feel betrayed and untrusting of the people she believed trusted her.

Kaz Has To Step Up

Kaz’s true identity is revealed to everyone who did not know previously and he and the others who escaped hide out in Engineering with Kel and Elia, the children from Tehar. From that point forward, Kaz is now in a leadership role and he has to step up to the plate. He comes up with a plan to flood the station and knock out the communications blocker undetected to get a message to the Resistance.

Thanks to Doza’s help, the plan is successful and the message is transmitted and, interestingly, it is intercepted by Synara and the pirates. Perhaps they could provide Kaz with some help in the next episodes of Resistance. However, Kaz’s plan comes at a cost as Yeager gets captured which is a huge blow for Kaz.

Once he returns to Engineering, Kaz listens to the message Leia sent in response and, unfortunately, the Resistance is unable to send help. Their resources are stretched thin as it is and this means that Kaz and the others are on their own. Kaz therefore has to take even more responsibility than before.

He forms his own official Resistance cell to drive out the First Order and this showcases the arc of maturity Kaz has gone on since his time on the Colossus in a very meaningful way. I really liked ‘The Disappeared’ and ‘Descent’, the latter particularly because of Kaz’s progression as a character.

We now have two episodes left and, with the destruction of Hosnian Prime imminent, we will have to see how our protagonists react to this in the Season 1 finale of Star Wars Resistance.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 18 - 19 The Disappeared Descent Review

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 16 – 17 (TV/Television Review) – Another Leap Forward In Quality

As a season of television gets closer towards the season finale, things should be starting to really pick up in the main storyline. In the case of Season 1 of Star Wars Resistance, ‘The New Trooper’ and ‘The Core Problem’ were episodes which, from their descriptions, made me feel as though a lot of great connections would be made to the Sequel Trilogy. This was especially the case when I realised that Poe Dameron would be heavily involved in ‘The Core Problem’.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 16 – 17 Of Star Wars Resistance

Still, first up was ‘The New Trooper’, an episode of Resistance which began with a First Order Stormtrooper getting knocked out by the children from Tehar. Kaz uses this situation as an opportunity to impersonate this Stormtrooper and find out more about the First Order’s plans for the Colossus.

Once again, Tam clashes with her friends about the First Order and, this time, she debates with Yeager about them. The generational divide I spoke about in a previous review of Resistance is highlighted once more in ‘The New Trooper’. Given his past involvement with the Rebel Alliance, Yeager has direct experience with the Empire and knows that the First Order, the fanatical descendants of the Empire, are not to be trusted.

Tam is more trusting of them due to the fact that she has grown up in a time of peace and is unaware about the atrocities of the Empire. In fact, she actually has positive opinions of the Empire because her grandfather worked in an Imperial factory and was able to provide for Tam’s family.

When we eventually get to the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Resistance, Tam is hopefully going to truly see what the First Order is all about and come around to Kaz and Yeager’s side of the debate­. As ‘The New Trooper’ progressed, we learnt more about what life is like for a Stormtrooper and they come across more like battle droids than soldiers.

This is because the First Order has the ability to do brain scrapes, i.e. memory wipes. I thought this was a really interesting detail and it gives more meaning to General Hux’s line in The Force Awakens that his soldiers were “programmed from birth”. Again, a great connection has been made between Resistance and the Sequel Trilogy.

First Order Plans

A revelation that came out of ‘The New Trooper’ was what the First Order intend to use the Colossus for. Indeed, Kaz learns that a First Order garrison is coming to take over the Colossus and that the First Order wants the Colossus to be a military refuelling station for their fleets in preparation for their galactic invasion.

This capped off an episode in which some great developments in the main story happened. With each passing episode, Resistance is getting more serious in tone and storytelling which was a necessity given what we all know is coming in the near future.

I am of course talking about the destruction of Hosnian Prime by Starkiller Base and, in ‘The Core Problem’, the First Order superweapon cast a looming shadow even if our protagonists did not realise it. In this episode of Resistance, the opening shot is of Yeager looking at a TIE Fighter patrol with despondency which is probably due to the bad memories of the dark times flooding back.

Despite heavy First Order presence, Poe is able to sneak onto the Colossus to rendezvous with Kaz and retrieve BB-8 for an important mission on Jakku. Clearly, this establishes that we are on the cusp of The Force Awakens. Still, before Poe heads off to Jakku with BB-8, Kaz debriefs Poe on the First Order’s business on the Colossus and why they need it.

Mysterious Experiments

Moreover, with the intel Kaz was able to acquire in ‘The New Trooper’, they discover a location in the Unknown Regions where the First Order was located in a concerning capacity. Once they get there, it is all too apparent to us, the viewers, what the First Order was doing at this location.

A system with no sun? Planets and moons wrecked? First Order attempts to build Starkiller Base and make it operational occurred at this location in the Unknown Regions. It made for some quite striking imagery. Eventually, Poe and Kaz go to a planet where an old temple is in ruins and the population has been wiped out entirely.

The structures of this temple from an architectural perspective were eerily similar to Luke’s temple that was destroyed by Ben Solo/Kylo Ren as we saw in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Additionally, and probably more importantly to the story of Star Wars Resistance, this temple may be part of the village on Tehar as Alex from Star Wars Explained excellently pointed out in his review of ‘The Core Problem’.

Poe and Kaz run into the First Order at this temple but they are able to escape and BB-8 is returned to Poe. They both head off to Jakku and CB-23 takes BB-8’s place alongside Kaz. Kaz returns to the Colossus with Tam more curious than ever about Kaz and what he is really doing.

Something I found quite interesting was Yeager showing a real, genuine interest into what Kaz and Poe found. This was a far cry from who Yeager was in ‘The Recruit’ where he was quite apathetic about the Resistance/First Order conflict. This showed the character development of Yeager in Season 1 of Resistance in a great way.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 16 – 17 Of Star Wars Resistance

I am sure that Yeager will be fully involved in the fight against the First Order once he sees what is about to happen. Undoubtedly, given the way it developed the First Order storyline and how it connected to the Sequel Trilogy, ‘The Core Problem’ was one of my favourite episodes of Star Wars Resistance so far and a great way to tease what is to come.

I liked ‘The New Trooper’ too but not as much and I have come to realise that anytime Poe is involved in Resistance, the show is better for it. Perhaps that was why I preferred ‘The Core Problem’ over ‘The New Trooper’ but both episodes helped this animated Star Wars TV series take a leap forward in quality.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 16 - 17 The New Trooper The Core Problem Review

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 14 – 15 (TV/Television Review) – A Good Focus On The First Order

After the mixed return to Season 1 of Star Wars Resistance, I was hoping for the First Order storyline to take centre stage in ‘The Doza Dilemma’ and ‘The First Order Occupation’. Clearly, if an episode has “First Order” in its title as the latter did, it is a bit of a giveaway to what this episode will focus on.

With each passing episode, we get closer to the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This will make anyone watching this animated Star Wars TV show believe that the First Order will have a larger presence in Resistance going forward.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 14 – 15 Of Star Wars Resistance

Overall, both ‘The Doza Dillema’ and ‘The First Order Occupation’ continued the First Order storyline in a good way without being particularly spectacular. With ‘The Doza Dillema’, we witnessed just how cunning the First Order are when it comes to achieving their goals. In this episode of Resistance, the First Order commands the pirates to kidnap Torra and, in turn, force Doza to allow First Order presence on the Colossus.

The pirates are able to infiltrate the Colossus with the help of Synara whose loyalty to the pirates is absolutely waning given both her reluctance to help them from the beginning and to then inform Kaz what the pirates had done when she found out it was Torra they were after.

What Synara did not realise throughout her actions in this episode was the fact that Kaz saw her interact with the pirates prior to Torra’s kidnapping. By the end of ‘The Doza Dilemma’, Kaz realises Synara’s true identity but he does not know that Synara is essentially loyal to him from this point on.

Still, the most significant event of ‘The Doza Dilemma’ was Torra’s capture. In the end, it was actually the First Order who ended up rescuing her from the pirates. It was all a ruse to gain Doza’s trust, come across as the good guys and gain a foothold on the Colossus. As we see in ‘The First Order Occupation’, First Order presence on the Colossus is indeed established after the events of ‘The Doza Dilemma’.

A Generational Divide

From the beginning of ‘The First Order Occupation’, we can clearly see the First Order’s authoritarian ways being implemented to limit freedom under the guise of order and security. Obviously, Kaz is angry at all of this given his New Republic background. He is someone who would have been educated about the war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance from an early age and he knows what Stormtroopers truly symbolise; oppression and war.

Still, what was interesting to see in this episode of Resistance was the mixed response to the First Order presence. I already spoke about Kaz’s displeasure and Doza clearly saw the downsides seeing as he was alive during the rule of the Empire and was an Imperial before he left the Empire for reasons still unknown. They provided the negative reaction to the First Order presence on the Colossus and the positive reaction came from Tam.

Tam believes that it is not a bad thing that the First Order are here to protect them from the pirates. Putting aside the fact that Tam does not know the First Order collaborated with the pirates to cause the chaos that allowed them to be on the Colossus, it is easy to see why Tam would have this relatively positive opinion about the First Order.

This is because she was not alive during the Empire’s rule of tyranny. A generational divide shaped by experiences and/or awareness of the past exists and I am interested to see how this plays out in future episodes of Resistance.

Synara’s Escape

With the First Order now on the Colossus, one of their first objectives was to root out any remaining pirates which meant they were after Synara. A major part of ‘The First Order Occupation’ was watching Kaz help Synara escape the Colossus. Before her escape, he lets her know that he knows who she really is and I severely doubt that this will be the last time they see each other.

A small detail during Synara’s escape that I liked was the reference to Takodana. Kaz mentions Takodana as a safe place where Synara can go and hide out at. We know that Maz Kanata’s castle is on Takodana and hence clear why Kaz believed this would be a safe place to hide out seeing as those who frequent that establishment are not always the antithesis of scum and villainy.

Moreover, because of the importance of that location to the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it would be cool to see Synara there during The Force Awakens and the destruction of the Hosnian system. It would be a nice connection between the TV shows and the films.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 14 – 15 Of Star Wars Resistance

As the mid-season trailer for Season 1 showed us, Star Wars Resistance will overlap with The Force Awakens and the opportunities to establish various connections between the two are ripe. From the perspective of canon as well as a dramatic one, I cannot wait to see when this overlap happens and I am also looking forward to seeing how the continuous First Order presence impacts the Colossus and its citizens.

The upward curve in the second half of Season 1 was continued with ‘The Doza Dilemma’ and ‘The First Order Occupation’. While they do not rank amongst the best episodes of Resistance, they progressed the story nicely and aided my efforts to forget just how atrocious ‘Bibo’ was as an episode that kicked-off the remaining episodes in Season 1 of Resistance.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 14 - 15 The Doza Dilemma The First Order Occupation Review

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 12 – 13 (TV/Television Review) – A Mixed Return To Season 1

The trailer for the second half of Star Wars Resistance Season 1 was fantastic. It established a darker tone than we have seen so far in Resistance and it definitely increased my expectations for ‘Bibo’ and ‘Dangerous Business’, the episodes of Resistance that would kick-off the second half of Season 1. From the trailer, it seemed as though the First Order/Resistance conflict would be the overriding focus for the remainder of Season 1.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 12 – 13 Of Star Wars Resistance

If you have been watching Resistance, then you can therefore imagine how utterly disappointed I was with ‘Bibo’. It was twenty minutes of my life that I will never get back. Without a shadow of a doubt, ‘Bibo’ is the worst episode of Resistance so far and it was a terrible way to start the second half of Season 1 in my opinion.

In this episode, Neeku adopts a small sea creature and he calls him Bibo. The entire episode revolves around this creature – why? The show has some very interesting storylines going on. Why did we need this filler episode? In the grand scheme of things, it was an utterly pointless waste as far as I am concerned.

The only mildly interesting things of note that happened in ‘Bibo’ were that Synara came closer to finding out the true identity of Kaz and one of the children from Tehar may be force sensitive. Still, this is nowhere near enough in terms of importance to make ‘Bibo’ a necessary episode to watch. For me, this is the first bad episode of Resistance and one that you can absolutely skip.

Thankfully, compared to ‘Bibo’, ‘Dangerous Business’ was a huge improvement in quality. In ‘Dangerous Business’, Kaz is looking after the Acquisitions store and he has to deal with a shady alien who steals an important item for the First Order. This item is used for drilling and excavation and I can only assume that this item will be somewhat linked to Starkiller Base and the upcoming galactic invasion.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 12 – 13 Of Star Wars Resistance

Because of the links to the First Order storyline, ‘Dangerous Business’ was a step in the right direction because it was slightly more in tune with the tone set by the trailer for the remaining episodes in Season 1 of Star Wars Resistance. I pray that we do not get another ‘Bibo’ in Season 1.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 12 - 13 Bibo Dangerous Business Review

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episode 11 (Television/TV Review) – A Good End To The First Half Of Season 1

The mid-season finales of Star Wars Rebels were usually some of the strongest episodes of that animated Star Wars TV show. Going into the mid-season finale of Star Wars Resistance Season 1, titled ‘Station Theta Black’, I was hoping that this trend would continue.

From the synopsis, this episode had everything going for it. This was due to the fact that the focus would be on The First Order/Resistance conflict with Kaz and Poe as our main protagonists in this episode of Resistance.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episode 11 Of Star Wars Resistance

‘Station Theta Black’ was a good mid-season finale that should be looked upon as being one of the most important episodes of Star Wars Resistance. For one, this is because a good amount of the major players in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy were involved in this episode of Resistance.

As I have already mentioned, Poe was heavily involved in ‘Station Theta Black’. However, we also got to see Captain Phasma have an expanded role in this episode of Resistance than we have previously seen which was cool.

Still, the biggest character that appeared in this mid-season finale was General Leia Organa. I liked the role she played in this episode of Resistance but I personally thought that the voice performance given by Carolyn Hennessy was mixed. Indeed, Leia appeared in two scenes in ‘Station Theta Black’.

In my opinion, I thought that the voice performance given by Carolyn Hennessy in the first scene Leia was in was pretty mediocre. However, Hennessy’s voice performance as Leia was much better in the second scene Leia was in. The mixed voice performance was probably my only real problem with ‘Station Theta Black’. I liked everything else.

The Story Of ‘Station Theta Black’

In ‘Station Theta Black’, Kaz and Poe investigate The First Order’s presence at a mining facility in the Unknown Regions. They were only able to do this thanks to Kaz’s work in the previous episode of Resistance. At this mining facility, they eventually discover that The First Order are mining materials which are used to create blasters.

To us as the audience, this was an obvious sign of the galactic invasion to come. Again, this is more evidence of the importance of this episode of Resistance. Additionally, because this show is set before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we also get to see an instance of Poe’s reckless, hot-shot pilot attitude.

Certainly, he is very willing to disobey Leia’s direct orders and it puts both himself and Kaz in considerable danger with Kaz almost losing his life on this mission. For me, it is little details like this which connect the television shows and the films in a great way.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episode 11 Of Star Wars Resistance

So, overall, the roles of major Sequel Trilogy characters like Poe, Phasma and Leia as well as the focus on the wider First Order/Resistance conflict made ‘Station Theta Black’ a good and extremely relevant episode of Star Wars Resistance.

We are now at the halfway stage of Season 1 and, so far, I would say that Season 1 of Resistance is at a slightly better level of quality than Season 1 of Rebels. This only increases my excitement to see what happens in the second half of this season of Resistance.

star wars resistance season 1 episode 11 station theta black review

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 9 – 10 (Television/TV Review) – Great Character Development of Yeager, Torra and Doza

In my opinion, Yeager has been a big miss in the most recent episodes of Star Wars Resistance. For me, he is the most compelling character in this animated Star Wars television show because we hardly know anything about him. This gives him a mysterious aura and I have been dying to find out more about his past.

Thankfully, in ‘The Platform Classic’, we would get the chance to heavily focus on Yeager and his past. We would also find out more about Doza in ‘Secrets and Holograms’ and this all ties into what I mentioned in my last Star Wars Resistance review in regards to this first season having episodes that will prioritise characters rather than the main plot.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 9 – 10 Of Star Wars Resistance

‘The Platform Classic’ is easily one of the best episodes so far in Season 1 of Star Wars Resistance, especially when it comes to character. In this episode, Yeager is reunited with his brother Marcus and they clearly do not have the warmest of relationships.

As we find out later on, this is because, in a past race involving Marcus and Yeager, Marcus used hyperfuel to boost his ship to disastrous results. His ship spun out of control and killed several people, including Yeager’s family.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well this dark backstory linked very well into the story beats of ‘Fuel for the Fire’ which itself was probably the weakest episode of Resistance so far. In this sense, ‘The Platform Classic’ gave ‘Fuel for the Fire’ more relevance to the narrative of Resistance. Plus, this was an episode that really fleshed out Yeager as a character which was great.

Eventually, a race at The Colossus takes place that Marcus needs to win to pay off a debt to the Guavian Death Gang (that itself was a nice link to Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Yeager races against Marcus and they let everything out about the past and their relationship. As a result, they are able to settle their differences which establishes the foundation for forgiveness.

Indeed, the last moments of ‘The Platform Classic’ showcase an important message from Yeager; “it’s important to forgive people. When you don’t, nobody wins”. I hope that we get to see more of Marcus and Yeager together sooner rather than later if it leads to more great moments and messages like this.

Doza’s Past

As I mentioned earlier, ‘Secrets and Holograms’ gave us insight into Doza’s past through a story that showed us more of his daughter Torra as well as progressing the main plot of Resistance. Indeed, we see that Doza is still reluctantly collaborating with The First Order and is considering their offer of “protection”.

We also get to see how much Torra is suffering from cabin fever on The Colossus. This helped us find out more about her character which was good and, in this episode of Resistance, she uses Kaz as an escape from her enforced reclusive lifestyle.

However, Kaz has a mission to do and his continuing distrust of Doza is not helped when he discovers an Imperial uniform in Doza’s quarters. The reason why he was there in the first place was to obtain the contract data given to Doza by The First Order but, clearly, the more interesting piece of knowledge that Kaz obtained was the fact that Doza used to be in the Empire.

Now, for Kaz, this is more “proof” that Doza is The First Order spy. However, for us as the audience, it is obvious that, given how Doza has shown that he does not like The First Order and that he wants to protect Torra from them, he defected from the Empire. The question is what caused him to do this?

Kaz’s actions in ‘Secrets and Holograms’ did not go unnoticed by Torra who suspects Kaz’s true purpose on The Colossus. Consequently, I would expect that she would be the first person who Kaz tells about who he really is and what he is really doing on The Colossus.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 9 – 10 Of Star Wars Resistance

Still, we will probably not get to that stage until the end of Season 1. For now, all I will say is that both ‘The Platform Classic’ and ‘Secrets and Holograms’ were great episodes of Resistance that developed characters like Yeager, Torra and Doza while still giving us the good humorous moments that give this TV show its heart and soul.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 9 - 10 Review The Platform Classic Secrets and Holograms

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 7 – 8 (Television/TV Review) – Decent Side-Mission Episodes

From the synopsis’ for ‘Signal from Sector Six’ and ‘Synara’s Score’, these episodes did not come across as ones that would showcase the main plot of Star Wars Resistance. Clearly, in a first season of any television series, character personalities and dynamics need to be established so not every episode of Resistance is going to heavily showcase the main story.

With that in mind, I hoped that these episodes of Resistance would be entertaining and would establish things that could be important in the future.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 7 – 8 Of Star Wars Resistance

My hopes were realised. I would class ‘Signal from Sector Six’ and ‘Synara’s Score’ as decent “side-mission” episodes of Star Wars Resistance which will have relevance at a later time in this animated Star Wars TV show. In ‘Signal from Sector Six’, Kaz and Poe Dameron reunite and go for a bit of flying to catch-up on how Kaz is doing as a spy on The Colossus. They end up picking up a distress call from a ship where a pirate attack has gone badly wrong.

After some trouble, they eventually rescue Synara, a female Mirialan, and escape from the ship. The actual story of ‘Signal from Sector Six’ was a bit disposable but it had some funny moments. Indeed, some of the interactions between BB-8 and CB-23, a new droid, made me chuckle and some of Poe’s lines on the ship were great, with one line that acted as a subtle homage to The Simpsons being a highlight.

I also appreciated how we had an episode that took place off The Colossus and seeing the relationship between Kaz and Poe develop was also good as seeing them together was one of the key aspects of ‘The Recruit’. Still, the ending of ‘Signal from Sector Six’ was the most important aspect of that episode. This is because we find out that Synara was actually one of the pirates who attacked the ship and she is part of the pirate gang that attacked The Colossus in ‘The Triple Dark’.

Kaz does not know this. Hence, he brings Synara to The Colossus and integrates her into the community. When I finished watching ‘Signal from Sector Six’, I immediately thought that this could link into the Pirate and First Order plot lines of Resistance very well in future episodes.

Synara and Tam

As it turns out, ‘Synara’s Score’ did a good job at building upon what ‘Signal from Sector Six’ established when it came to the character of Synara and the Pirate plot line. Clearly, as she is loyal to her Pirate gang, Synara is acting as a spy on The Colossus and spots an opportunity to cause a Pirate attack.

However, a redemption arc for Synara is clearly established in this episode with the friendship she established with Tam. The interactions between Synara and Tam were a nice element of ‘Synara’s Score’ and Tam will be the key to Synara’s eventual turn to the good side.

The humour that was provided by Neeku worked quite well and the ending of ‘Synara’s Score’ also has a lot of relevance going forward. This is because the pirate attack that Synara instigates causes Doza to contact The First Order about the deal that was offered to Doza in ‘The High Tower’.

As a result of this ending, I expect that The First Order will have a larger role in the next couple episodes of Star Wars Resistance. However, having more episodes that focus on one particular character and/or relationship would not surprise me.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 7 - 8 Review Signal from Sector Six Synara's Score

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 5 – 6 (Television/TV Review) – Entertaining + Important Episodes

After watching ‘The Triple Dark’ and ‘Fuel for the Fire’, ‘The High Tower’ and ‘The Children from Tehar’ were the next episodes of Star Wars Resistance I was able to see. Because the rise of The First Order is a key part of this animated TV show, I wanted to see more of them in these episodes of Resistance.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 5 – 6 Of Star Wars Resistance

‘The High Tower’ and ‘The Children from Tehar’ were significantly better episodes of Star Wars Resistance than ‘The Triple Dark’ and ‘Fuel for the Fire’. They were just as enjoyable to watch but they were much more important episodes when it came to the main plot. For instance, in ‘The High Tower’, we were introduced to Hype Fazon, a new character in Resistance who is an ace pilot.

The reason his appearance was so important was because it is implied that Hype has bad history with The First Order. Indeed, whenever The First Order is around, Hype wants absolutely nothing to do with them. This could be relevant going forward when it comes to both Hype’s character arc as well as fleshing out The First Order’s burgeoning place in the galaxy at this point in time.

We also learn in ‘The High Tower’ that Hype has history with Tam which means that an interesting character dynamic has also been established in Resistance. Captain Doza was another new character that was introduced in ‘The High Tower’ and Doza is in charge of The Colossus.

Undoubtedly, he is going to have an important role in Resistance going forward. Indeed, Doza is caught between a rock and a hard place due to the fact that he is being forced to work with The First Order and possibly do a deal with them to protect The Colossus and its citizens from pirate attacks. However, he has no idea that, as we saw in ‘The Triple Dark’, The First Order are the ones who are really behind these attacks.

Kaz

At the centre of the introduction of Hype Fazon and Captain Doza in ‘The High Tower’ was Kaz who was able to do some real spying for the first time in Star Wars Resistance. But, he eavesdrops on a meeting between The First Order and Captain Doza with pretty terrible results. He nearly gets caught by Stormtroopers and he completely misreads Doza.

Kaz has a suspicion that Doza is the person supplying information to The First Order but it is quite clear that Doza is not the mole Kaz is looking for. It is obvious that Doza does not want to willingly work with The First Order which shows that Kaz still has much to learn about his new role in The Resistance.

Thankfully, in ‘The Children from Tehar’, Kaz gets to make amends for this misinterpretation of Doza and do something meaningful. In this episode, two siblings are fleeing from The First Order after Tehar, their home-world in the Unknown Regions, is occupied and their village destroyed by Kylo Ren.

Links To The Force Awakens + The Last Jedi

The namedrop of Kylo Ren was cool as were the links to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Indeed, the destruction of the village on Tehar sounded eerily similar to what we saw at Tuanal, the village on Jakku, in the beginning of The Force Awakens. Additionally, what the siblings went through echoes what we learnt in The Last Jedi when it came to what Paige and Rose Tico experienced at the hands of The First Order.

Kaz comes to learn what the siblings have gone through after initially seeking to claim the bounty for them. He successfully protects them from The First Order and, at the end of ‘The Children from Tehar’, Kaz passes on what he has learnt about Kylo Ren and The First Order’s acts on Tehar to The Resistance.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 5 – 6 Of Star Wars Resistance

I thought it was fantastic to see the main story of Star Wars Resistance play as heavily as it did in ‘The High Tower’ and ‘The Children from Tehar’. These two episodes were a marked improvement over ‘The Triple Dark’ and ‘Fuel for the Fire’ and I pray that the upward trend in quality continues because we could be in for a great first season of Star Wars Resistance if this happens.

The only downside of these two episodes was a lack of Yeager. For me, the more of Yeager and The First Order/Resistance conflict we see in Resistance, the better the show is.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 5 - 6 Review The High Tower The Children From Tehar

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Episodes 3 – 4 (Television/TV Review) – An Enjoyable Continuation Of Season 1

Like Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance began its first season with a great two-part premiere episode in the form of ‘The Recruit’. Going into the third and fourth episode of this first season of Resistance, titled ‘The Triple Dark’ and ‘Fuel for the Fire’, I was hoping that they would be at the same level of quality as ‘The Recruit’.

If they were, then Resistance would do what Rebels could not because the two episodes in Season 1 of Rebels that followed ‘Spark of a Rebellion’ were a real step down.

My Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 3 – 4 Of Star Wars Resistance

What ‘The Triple Dark’ and ‘Fuel for the Fire’ truly confirmed for me was how Kaz really is more like Ezra than I initially realised. This is in the sense that Kaz is a complete idiot but endearing.

He is impatient, naïve and quite annoying at times but you do root for the guy and, hopefully, seeing Kaz learning and maturing as a person in Resistance like we saw with Ezra in Rebels will be just as compelling of an arc. That was the main takeaway from these two episodes which were enjoyable but not as great as ‘The Recruit’.

Another highlight from ‘The Triple Dark’ included the continuation of seeing a diverse range of aliens that, for me, fleshes out the Star Wars universe. We also heard Kaz’s father being mentioned again after seeing a blurred image of him in ‘The Recruit’.

We know that Kaz’s father is a New Republic Senator but the great mystery about the identity of this man is peaking my interest as to what his importance will be in the story of Resistance before he probably meets his demise with the destruction of Hosnian Prime in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. On a side note, I hope that this is shown in a future episode of Resistance.

‘The Triple Dark’ ended strong with another glimpse of The First Order and our first glimpse of Captain Phasma in Resistance. I then watched ‘Fuel for the Fire’, an episode whose only truly interesting moment came when Kaz, and we as the viewers, learnt more about Yeager’s past.

We find out that he fought as a pilot at the Battle of Jakku and that he also has, or possibly had, a family. Yeager is, for now, my favourite character in this TV show so to learn more about him was great.

My Final Thoughts On Season 1 Episodes 3 – 4 Of Star Wars Resistance

In the end, ‘The Triple Dark’ and ‘Fuel for the Fire’ were enjoyable episodes of Star Wars Resistance that moved this television show forward in different ways even if they never reached the heights of ‘The Recruit’. So far, I like Resistance but I am not madly in love with it but that was the same with Rebels in its first season.

Like Rebels, Resistance has been very light in tone at its beginning and, like Rebels, I expect that to change as the show progresses from season to season. I am looking forward to seeing more of the main story in Resistance, i.e. Kaz spying on The First Order, and I hope that we get away from The Colossus in future episodes to expand the storytelling in Resistance.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Episodes 3 - 4 The Triple Dark Fuel for the Fire Review Pin

 

Star Wars Resistance: Season 1 Premiere (Television/TV Review) – A Very Good Start

All of us who were fans of Star Wars Rebels were saddened to see the show end back in March of this year. Still, we knew that a brand-new animated Star Wars television show was coming out later in 2018 which did soften the blow of Rebels ending. Star Wars Resistance is this new animated TV series and I was really excited to see the premiere episode of this show, titled ‘The Recruit’.

Granted, it is pretty easy to get me excited for the majority of new Star Wars content coming out nowadays. In the case of Resistance, I was really grabbed by the trailers with its crisp animation style, quirky characters as well as the potential in its storytelling. Certainly, the show is set in a time period that is ripe for exploration.

In the Star Wars timeline, Resistance begins six months before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The protagonist of this show is Kazuda “Kaz” Xiono, a New Republic pilot who is recruited into The Resistance by Poe Dameron, voiced by Oscar Isaac, to spy on the rising threat of The First Order.

Ideally, I hoped that I would instantly connect to most of the characters in Star Wars Resistance and be entertained in this Season 1 premiere. The premiere of any television show will have pressure to draw in its viewers from the beginning and I was rooting for Resistance to get off to a really good start just like Star Wars Rebels did with ‘Spark of a Rebellion’ which was its Season 1 premiere.

My Thoughts On The Season 1 Premiere Of Star Wars Resistance

Thankfully, ‘The Recruit’, in my opinion, turned out to be a really good start to Star Wars Resistance. Nothing blew my mind in this premiere but it would be unfair to expect that from the pilot episode of any TV show. Saying that, I would contend that Resistance has a much better foundation than Rebels in one key aspect; its animation style and design.

I believe it is clear to see from ‘The Recruit’ that this aspect of Resistance is leaps and bounds better than what we saw in Rebels’ premiere episode. I loved how beautiful and lucid the animation looked and felt, particularly in the flying sequences as we saw at the beginning with a dog-fight between a First Order TIE Figther and New Republic X-wings as well as at the end with a race between Kaz and Torra Doza at the Colossus.

This leads me onto another aspect of Star Wars Resistance, established in ‘The Recruit’, that I liked a lot; the setting. The majority of ‘The Recruit’ was spent at the Colossus, a refuelling station on the ocean planet Castilon which is located at the edge of the known galaxy.

This location was fleshed out very well with its diverse range of inhabitants along with its vibrancy and it is great to have a base for our characters that is larger in scale than the Ghost in Rebels.

The Characters In Star Wars Resistance

Speaking of characters, I thought that they were all well-established when it came to their personalities and I already have clear favourites in the form of Yeager and Neeku. Yeager has a cool demeanour and seems to have an interesting past that I cannot wait to find out more about and Neeku provides humour that made him an endearing protagonist.

Still, the main protagonist of Star Wars Resistance is Kaz and, so far, I like him and I can already see that he is similar to Ezra in some ways. I also loved the small role of Poe Dameron, the cameos of Leia and Starkiller Base as well as the name-drops of the Battle of Scarif and Battle of Jakku in ‘The Recruit’.

It is great to see these tie-ins to the wider Star Wars universe and I am curious to see how the larger story and the growing conflict between The Resistance and The First Order plays into Resistance. I mean, how could I not be after the way ‘The Recruit’ ends with that look of Starkiller Base.

My Final Thoughts On The Season 1 Premiere Of Star Wars Resistance

So, overall, Star Wars Resistance is off to a very good start. As I stated earlier, nothing in ‘The Recruit’ blew me away. But, at the same time, nothing major let me down in this premiere episode. Going forward, I hope that the following episodes of Resistance will, at the very least, have the same level of quality seen in ‘The Recruit’.

Star Wars Resistance Season 1 Premiere The Recruit Review Pin