It’s the mid-season finale for Star Wars Resistance, and the story culminates in a head-on encounter with the First Order. For Kaz, this is his first actual one-on-one firefight and one has to appreciate the realism it’s portrayed with. But let’s start from the beginning.
Heroes And Villains Come Back
As expected from a mid-season finale, the episode does not shy away from showing multiple “celebrities” on-screen within one episode. Poe is back to accompany Kaz after a briefing with Leia, this time in person. After infiltrating First Order’s abandoned station, Kaz and Poe are pursued by none other than Phasma, with a little help from the “Red Baron”, Major Vonreg.
All of the familiar characters are portrayed very realistically, from Leia’s voice (performed by Carolyn Hennesy) perfectly mimicking that of Carrie Fisher’s in the sequels, to Phasma’s behaviour and also Poe’s recklessness combined with heroic bravado.
The dynamic between Poe and Kaz really stood out in this one, and I think they are a perfect duo. They are both reckless, but in a different way, and it was fun to see Kaz as the more careful one this time. After all, he’s still the one who has been living a more sheltered life, even after the recent events.
Civilian In A Firefight
In “Station Theta Black”, Kaz was for the first time in a real firefight, and acted accordingly – and realistically. No shooting fifty stormtroopers on the run as if it was nothing. It isn’t nothing, neither in terms of skill nor psychologically, especially for one who hasn’t shot at people before. If I said about the previous episode that Torra acts like most of us would in the middle of military espionage net, then the same can be said about Kaz. Gone are the superheroes – Resistance’s heroes are instantly relatable because they are normal people.
If anything is a pity, then that Phasma and especially Vonreg didn’t get nearly enough space to let us see more of their personality traits. Maybe another time. Since Poe has managed to make fun both of Kylo “Difficult To Understand With That Thing On Your Face” Ren and General “Hugs”, giving him the chance to mock Phasma in the same way would only complete the set. And where else is he going to get the chance, right?
The Looming Tragedy
The episode ended up with the revelation that First Order is making weapons – hardly a surprise for us, who have seen The Force Awakens, but an important piece of evidence for the Resistance. At this time, the Galaxy doesn’t yet know about the First Order’s plans and their scope.
The ending was therefore not at all as trivial as it may seem. While reporting back to Leia, Kaz made a remark that may not seem important unless you stop to think about it: he voiced his skepticism that the Senators, like his father, won’t be convinced unless more evidence about the First Order’s plan is found.
Well, this innocent piece of dialogue is, in fact, terrible because it hits the mark. As we know from The Force Awakens, the Senate will be convening on Hosnian Prime when the Starkiller is used, and the shocks on their faces in the film shows that they had not expected anything like that to happen. And now I will leave you to consider what it means that Kaz’s father is a Senator, and Resistance takes place barely half a year before The Force Awakens.
Happy waiting for the second half of the first season!
