Forgiveness, family and music from Knights of the Old Republic: that’s how I would, in short, sum up the latest Resistance episode.
“The Platform Classic” brings back racing, one of Resistance’s main underlying themes. It also tells more about the backstory of one of the secondary characters – this time it’s Yeager. In many ways, it is a cliché: estrangement between family members, the need to decide between old grudges, personal pride, momentary needs and the chance to move on. It is a theme that never gets old, and it is good that it gets featured, even though there would surely be ways to tackle the same topic in a fresher way.
The episode didn’t really bring anything groundbreaking on the level of story or the overall plot. What we got was the appearance of two new minor characters (Marcus Speedstar and his alien friend Oplock – with an interesting design, to be sure). There was also a cameo of Guavian Death Gang familiar from The Force Awakens, where we saw them chasing Han Solo (together with Kanjiklub). This has probably something to do with the fact that in the original design for the episode, it was Han Solo himself who visited the platform. Only later did the creators decide that introducing somebody from Yeager’s family might be better. Another detail about the episode, potentially relevant for the future, may be the fact that some space has been given to Griff Halloran, the tough, Imperial-looking racer. We still don’t know much about him, but his role may be important once the Aces get again more space – or once the First Order gets on board, if they are going to try to make connections based on old Imperial ties.
I have enjoyed the race and its aesthetics, the fact that you could follow various racers participating (all the Aces appeared on the scoreboard at some point). A detail small but impossible to ignore for someone who has played Knights of the Old Republic was the music playing in Aunt Z’s cantina during the scene of Marcus’s encounter with the Guavians. The electronic music plays in Tarisian Upper City cantina in the game (and whoever has spent a lot of time playing pazaak there won’t forget). To me, it is another sign that the development team are really devoted Star Wars fans, not necessarily making huge and forced cameos and connections, but giving tiny nods and easter eggs here and there.
Resistance keeps showing us more and more of its characters’ backstories, which is good. I am also hoping (though I am not sure) that this event might move Yeager away from the “brooding old mentor” archetype into a more nuanced personality. The remaining secondary character we still haven’t heard so much about is Neeku (and Bucket). After this little diversion in the form of “The Platform Classic”, however, I am fully expecting the main plot to get more dramatic very soon…
