The first season of Star Wars Resistance is officially over. “No Escape” was the last tone in the new symphony, so to speak. Was it a hopeful one or a sad one? Perhaps a bit of both. Let’s take one last look back and evaluate what we saw in the finale.
Kazuda’s Loss
Where we started is where we ended, with Kaz watching the destruction of Hosnian Prime and the Galactic Senate by the Starkiller. It was a good move from the writers to include the scene again. And not merely to repeat it, but to show Kaz’s reaction in detail (it was his whole family, his friends, and his homeworld, after all!).
It was clearly good for Kaz that Torra was there with him, to offer her support. The fact that they shared this moment should be definitely important for their relationship in the future. It marks the end of one relationship arc: they started season 1 as rivals in a match, which quickly developed into friendship mostly thanks to Torra’s warm and welcoming personality. Kaz could hardly have asked for a better person to be with him at the moment of his greatest loss, and I daresay now their friendship has been cemented.
Broken Bonds
What is definitely not cemented, on the other hand – in fact, what has crumbled into pieces – is the relationship of everyone with Tam. This, too, I consider a masterstroke from the writers. I predicted this in my previous review, but even with that, I was not 100% sure how Tam would decide as I watched the critical scene. Her decision was ultimately to turn away from those who had lied to her (and they did!) and to side with the First Order (who are also lying, obviously, but she does not know it).
Tam therefore did a “reverse agent Kallus”. I won’t get into making too many predictions here, but one thing comes to mind: next time the others might meet Tam in the cockpit of a TIE fighter. Obviously, now the First Order can give Tam everything she ever wanted, starting with her own starfighter. Personally, I can’t wait to see how her story develops.
Pirates to the Rescue
In the grand finale, everyone played some role in saving the station. Aunt Z and Hype Fazon returned. Presumably thanks to Synara, Kragan’s pirates had been persuaded to come and pay the First Order back for their treachery. It remains to be answered whether the citizens of the Colossus won’t also like a payback for the pirates’ raids. At the same time, they might need extra security and firepower the pirates can provide. It will definitely provide enough plot for several episodes of the next season.
The finale culminated with the Colossus’s spectacular launch and some dogfighting involving Major Vonreg. To be fair, I felt that part was maybe a little underwhelming. Especially when it comes to Vonreg himself, he did not really get much space in the series, and was cool for maybe two minutes in the first episode. He definitely served the purpose of showing how Kaz’s flying skills had developed, however: from menacing Kaz in the first episode into getting shot down by him in the last. Still, I wonder whether he is going to resurface, or whether this has been the end of him.
I could also remark that the Aces, despite being the Aces, got proportionally very little attention in the series. But maybe that, too, will be rectified in future seasons.
Into The Unknown
What to say in conclusion? The finale was certainly great, and overall, the last two episodes were clearly the best out of the entire series. It is again the same pattern as Season 1 of Rebels.
The writers have conveniently left the destination of the re-launched Colossus open. I would bet that they are reserving the final decision to tie-in neatly with Episode IX. Whether Colossus is going to get new environment to dock in, or whether we are going to get a Star Trek-esque series of traveling from planet to planet in search for the Resistance remains to be seen.
