Star Wars Resistance episode 19: The First Order's reign allows No Escape (Part 1)
The first half of the season finale brings us to The Force Awakens' darkest hour.
The First Order is about to come out of the shadows, as General Hux delivers his speech.
Well, that escalated quickly.
We're in the first half of the two-part season 1 finale of CGI animated series Star Wars Resistance and thrown right into the events of The Force Awakens.
With the Colossus refueling platform underwater, two of his friends in First Order custody and his cover blown, Resistance-spy-posing-a-mechanic Kazuda Xiono (AKA Kaz, played by Christopher Sean) plans a daring rescue.
After that, he's going to get to a shuttle and escape to Hosnian Prime, where he'll persuade his father -- who's a New Republic senator -- to send reinforcements and wrest the Colossus from First Order control.
A solid plan…
Doza's droid is deadly
Finally sick of the First Order pushing people around on his platform, Captain Doza (Jason Hightower) confronts Commander Pyre (Liam McIntyre) and threatens to bring in the New Republic.
"We are well beyond the Republic's reach," says the ever-sinister Pyre. "Fortunately, they are not beyond ours."
He orders his Stormtroopers to arrest Doza, but the captain tells droid 4D-M1N (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) to "stop them." She goes into a previously unseen combat mode and takes several troops down before being blasted by Pyre. With his ally destroyed, Doza is tossed into a cell.
Pyre's shiny gold armor looks beautiful in this scene's bright lighting. He's a total jerk but has plenty of style.
The Resistance members hatch their plan.
The Colossus is more than a platform
Neeku Vozo (Josh Brener), Kel (Anthony Del Rio) and Eila (Nikki SooHoo) end up in the Colossus' main control room and back Kaz up by opening and closing hatches. However, they also discover that the platform has a hyperdrive.
This basically confirms that the Colossus is a mobile space station; a very exciting prospect. Kaz orders Neeku to get the platform in the air.
Assuming they manage to kick the First Order off it, the Colossus could end up being the Resistance's base after it was scattered in The Last Jedi.
This is major speculative territory, but it could make a cinematic appearance in Episode IX -- is it too much to hope that some of the characters could make their live-action debuts as well? Justin Ridge, one of the show's executive producers, hinted at the possibilities around this in an interview with Good Morning America last week.
These guys look super cool.
Scuba troops!
Seeing new Imperial units was always fun in Rebels (the previous Star Wars CGI show), but we haven't really seen any new First Order troopers in Resistance… until now. As he swims outside the Colossus, Kaz encounters a pair of Stormtroopers in scuba gear.
Like the jumptroopers in Rebels, their specialized outfits are awesome. Their blasters also have a cool effect on the water when they open fire on Kaz, even if they're predictably poor shots.
Tierny sows the seeds of doubt in Tam.
Tam gets an offer
The very charming First Order Security Bureau agent Tierny (Sumalee Montano) continues to get into the head of captive mechanic Tam Ryvora (Suzie McGrath) by making her believe Kaz and her boss Jarek Yeager (Scott Lawrence), who's also in First Order custody, betrayed her.
With Tam set against her friends, Tierny offers to make her dream of becoming a pilot come true if she joins the First Order. Since her prospects on the Colossus seemed limited, this is pretty much the offer of a lifetime. Will she go for it?
Kaz and Tam sneak around before coming around the holo of Hux's speech.
There is no more New Republic
Kaz's plan goes awry in the closing moments of this episode, when he and Torra Doza (Myrna Velasco) see a holographic projection of General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) delivering his fanatical Starkiller Base speech from The Force Awakens.
Then the First Order superweapon fires, wiping out five planets in the Hosnian system. This includes Hosnian Prime, the seat of the New Republic government and Kaz's homeworld.
"My parents… my home," he says, bringing the episode to a dark conclusion.
It's great to finally see the emotional weight of Hosnian Prime's destruction. Princess Leia's reaction added some depth to Alderaan being destroyed in A New Hope, but Hosnian Prime was just an unnamed world getting blown up in The Force Awakens. At last, we'll see a survivor reacting to it.
Even though the New Republic can't help any more, there are still two sources of backup in play for the second part of the season finale. A number of Kaz's friends went to Takodana to seek help (most likely from Maz Kanada) and the pirates are still itching for a little payback after being betrayed by the First Order.
Star Wars Resistance airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Disney Channel, DisneyNOW and Disney Channel VOD.