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SYFY WIRE Star Wars Resistance

'No Escape Part I' hits us where it hurts on this week's Star Wars Resistance

By Preeti Chhibber & Swapna Krishna
Star Wars Resistance Episode 21 Hux

Wowza, what a week on Star Wars: Resistance! "No Escape: Part I" picks up directly after the events of “The Descent,” with Kaz and Neeku planning on how to move forward, Jerrick in custody, Tam being wooed by the First Order, and Doza confronting Pyre. Kaz spends most of the episode trying to get to his friends, alongside CB-23. Neeku, Kel, and Eila meanwhile make a discovery about the Colossus. And Doza ends up in the brig alongside Jerrick, now that he’s finally picked a side.

Swapna: I wasn’t emotionally prepared for this episode. When I saw “Part 1” on the episode title, I was like OH NO.

Preeti: Same! Especially after the adrenaline rush that came from last week’s fantastic episode. I’ll admit, this one started a little slower for me, but the slow burn had a huge payoff at the end. Initially, it felt like it was going back to the playbook of earlier Resistance episodes, dragging a little at Kaz’s inability to find his friends. It took him over halfway through the episode to even get to Tora!

Swapna: Agreed, I wasn’t sure where the episode was heading because it felt like it was meandering a little bit. But now I realize they needed to give us time to get ready for that twist at the end.

You know, it’s a testament to the writing and Christopher Sean’s voice acting that I actually often forget that Kaz comes from a world of privilege. I think what I like about it is that he isn’t playacting at being poor or acting like he’s doing something tremendous by going without. He’s just doing what he has to for a greater cause.

Star Wars Resistance Episode 21 Kaz and Tora
Preeti: Christopher Sean was in particularly fine form this week, too. Let’s start at the end! We have this wonderful slow burn of an episode leading to the reveal that all of this is happening as Starkiller base is decimating the New Republic. I really loved this moment because I genuinely did not see it coming. When Tora notices how quiet it is, I assumed they were about to be ambushed. But instead, we see Kaz watch his home system get blown up, and we know he needs to hold it together, but we aren’t sure if he’ll be able to.

And, we have a specific timeline now. We know exactly where we are in the scope of the films. It was a lot to take in in the last five minutes!

Swapna: Yes, exactly! I’ve known that Kaz is from Hosnian Prime, and I knew that this season would likely end around the same time that The Force Awakens/The Last Jedi ends. But I didn’t really take the next logical step in that line of thinking — of course Kaz would lose his family, lose everything, when the New Republic was destroyed. It’s devastating.

Preeti: It has echoes of Leia and Alderaan and I wonder if next season we’ll get to see Kaz and Leia bond (and maybe get some long-overdue closure to see how Alderaan impacted Leia’s mental state). I mean, I hope we’ll get something like that next season.

Swapna: Kaz needs to grapple with what that means — I think at the back of his mind, he’s always known he has a place to go back to once his spy work is done. Now he doesn’t have that safety net anymore. This is his life. (Plus, you know, the implications of losing the people he loves and all that.)

Preeti: He’s a little like Fin in that regard — not forced into the work, but forced into defaulting, if that makes sense. By taking away the option of his home, he literally has nowhere else to go.

Star Wars Resistance Episode 21 Tam
Swapna: I do wonder how Tam is going to justify this — she’s defended the First Order with every breath. But now they’ve destroyed the New Republic and murdered countless people in cold blood.

Preeti: I wonder if she’ll even know. I’m nervous they’re going to put her solidly on the side of The First Order and slowly have her come back? And I don’t want her to be used for too long. She’s already had so little agency in the series because of the lack of information, about which she is rightfully furious.

Swapna: Yep. But at the same time, the question is whether she’d have reacted differently if she’d had the information earlier. Really, is it a question of them protecting her (in which case, they really should have told her) or Yeager thinking they might not be able to trust her?

Preeti: I’m leaning towards the trust-issue. Partly because the protecting-you-for-your-own-good is my least favorite trope when it comes to dynamics between male and female characters, but also because Kaz knows that Tam is aware of what The First Order did to Tehar. How they killed everyone. And despite that, she still gives the Order the benefit of the doubt. There’s an understandable weariness to letting someone like that in on a secret that could end you. Although, none of that thought process is said on screen, so I’m guessing, for sure.

Swapna: Also, it’s nice that Doza came out against the First Order. I understand the logic of having him in place but covertly helping Yeager and the Resistance, but it’s also nice to see someone stand up for what they believe in, even when they know it will hurt them.

Preeti: I did love that for a moment, we thought Doza might get away and join up with Kaz to help bust Yeager out. For just a moment. It was refreshing to see him take a stand after so many episodes of him playing a part to keep the First Order happy.

We also got a glimpse of our favorites, Bird and Pig!!!

Star Wars Resistance Episode 21 Orka and Flix
Swapna: Orka and Flix, I love you so much. Oh, also, can we talk about how weird Torra’s bird-dog-rabbit-pig is? Because I don’t think I realized how strange it is until now. It’s got kind of rabbit ears/antennae, six (SIX) bird-ish legs, but it acts like a dog with the body of a pig???? WHAT ARE YOU???

Preeti: He’s Lassie!!!!!

Swapna: Oh my god, I’m crying/laughing.

Preeti: That whole sequence of him going to get Kaz was very “What, Timmy’s stuck in the well???”

Swapna: It totally was — “What’s that you say, boy? You want me to follow you??”

Preeti: Okay, also. The two droid fights in this episode were excellent. I’m really enjoying the use of droids in Resistance. They’re active participants in the Resistance, in a way that I’d argue Chopper wasn’t (in the beginning). The fight between evil round droid and CP-23? 23 destroys that droid. It did remind me of when Chopper dropped that other astromech off the Ghost, but we got to see it was safe by the end of the episode … whereas this time. Nope. That droid was dust.

Swapna: BB-H8!! I feel like that was the droid fight we wanted to see in The Last Jedi between BB-8 and BB-9E but didn’t actually get.

Also, the Colossus is a spaceship? WHAT? I’m getting real Stargate Atlantis vibes here.

Preeti: WHAT EVEN. I KNOW. When Neeku found the hyperdrive, I was like wait. WAIT. WHAT. It opens the story way, way up!

Swapna: Yep. It’s very much been a closed story this season, but being able to move the platform between star systems gives us a lot of potential for the coming seasons.

Preeti: I can’t wait to see where we end up in Part 2 next week. How are they going to save Yeager and Doza? What’s going to happen to Tam??

Swapna: WILL TIMMY BE RESCUED FROM THE WELL? We’ll find out next week.