Review: Star Wars Resistance “Descent”

“We are the resistance now – all of us.”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After being apprehended by Commander Pyre at the end of last week’s episode, Kaz and his cohorts barricade themselves in Yaeger’s office. All except Tam, that is, who maintains that it’s all just a misunderstanding, and surrenders herself to the First Order. While Kaz, Yaeger, and Niku are trying to plan their escape, Tam gets interrogated by a very friendly-feeling agent of the First Order.

Eventually, Kaz comes up with a plan just as crazy as always: he’s going to sink the Colossus. Just enough so that only the transmission towers on top of the station remain above water. Then they’ll swim up, disable the First Order’s jamming system, and send a message to General Organa requesting assistance. Their plan works surprisingly well, except for the fact that they’re discovered by Commander Pyre – who takes Yaeger, prisoner.

Our Take:

Wow, what an ep! Let’s all take a moment to appreciate the most dramatic part of Descent – that’s right when Bucket fell off the Colossus. Yaeger’s sobbing exclamation and Kaz’s comforting him is really funny and kind of sweet. It shows the old mechanic really does have a softer side, at least where his droids are concerned. I have to say, I’m still a little confused about why Yaeger chose to push Kaz to safety at the end instead of just jumping in after him? Perhaps he wanted the Stormtroopers to focus on taking him into custody rather than going after Kaz, but that’s a stretch, and I feel like Yaeger is experienced enough not to make a dumb move like that.

So the First Order has finally caught on to Kaz’s little expedition to the forbidden sectors. It appears they were able to get an I.D. on the Fireball, and then track it to Kaz from there. Why they arrest everyone instead of just focusing on Kaz, I’m not entirely sure. No one knows about his secret spying life except for Yaeger, and he certainly wouldn’t have spilled the beans to anyone. Regardless of their motives, the First Order has Niku and Tam on their radar as well, which makes for some of the more interesting character work throughout the episode. With everything going on, Kaz decides he can’t keep the truth from his friend anymore and tells Niku that he is actually a Resistance spy. Of course, in true Niku-fashion, the little green guy thinks it’s a poorly-timed joke for most of the episode’s runtime. When it finally does sink in, it’s clear that he’s shaken by Kaz’s lack of trust in him. Tam, on the other hand, has total faith in her friend. That is until she’s shown evidence of his lies. Despite telling her he’s from a poor family on Coruscant, the First Order interrogator brings up the record of Kaz’s service with the New Republic, and lets Tam know he’s actually from one of the upper-class families on Hosnian Prime. Both Niku and Tam now know about Kaz, but they’ll react in very different ways in the future based on who and how they were informed, I’d wager.

Captain Doza is continuing to try and get the First Order out of his hair as the episode begins, saying he’s trying to work quietly from the inside out. But his plans to stay on the First Order’s good side are starting to go awry. His cluelessness about the timing of the Colossus sinking does not go unnoticed by Commander Pyre, and I think it won’t be too long before Doza finds himself under interrogation.

Even with all the craziness going on, Descent still had plenty of time for good gags, like Kaz leading Yaeger and Niku straight to a dead end, which is a very Kaz-y thing to do. I had to laugh at Yaeger’s comment near the end of the episode: “If there’s one thing I believe you can do, it’s sink this station.” So much shade! Speaking of shade, the kids living with the shell-folk just cut right to the chase: “We heard you through the vents… you guys are really loud.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the First Order has learned to put listening devices inside all secret tunnels by now.

This episode was super good at advancing the situation on the Colossus in an exciting way, while also introducing a new First Order character and exploring more about the existing characters on the station. With General Organa’s depressing message received, it looks like the season finale will focus on Kaz and his friends rescuing Yaeger themselves – and maybe even liberating the Colossus along the way?