This first season of Star Wars Resistance has been a real slow burn–and in my opinion, that’s been the perfect way to introduce audiences to this show. As we watch the First Order begin to creep across the galaxy, the show responds by increasing the tension and getting darker, more ominous. This week’s episode, “The New Trooper,” is a perfect example of Resistance cranking up the atmospheric dread as we get closer and closer to the destruction of the Hosnian system.
Although this is a kids’ show, longtime Lucasfilm animation fans know that the cartoons have never shied away from the darker aspects of war. Opening this episode with a moment of childhood innocence between Kel and Eila, and then completely destroying it with the very immediate threat of First Order stormtroopers, eloquently describes how war can come, quite suddenly, even to places we think are safe. It’s clear from every part of this episode that standing up to the First Order can be, at best, painful, and at worst, fatal: from Commander Pyre’s not-so-thinly-veiled threats toward Captain Doza, to troopers using blasters to stun citizens protesting the Colossus’s occupation, to Kaz narrowly avoiding being sent to reconditioning. The humor is still definitely there in this episode, but it comes more as a gulp of air to break up the First Order’s suffocating presence.
“The New Trooper” also does a fantastic job of beginning to discuss how good people get caught up in evil, and how murky morality can be in practice. At the beginning of the episode, Tam mentions that her grandfather worked in an Imperial factory, and how his wages kept his family fed, a classic example of an ordinary man being a small cog in a giant totalitarian machine. She also explains how much safer she feels with the stormtroopers around, even as it’s clear that she does not yet understand that the price of her comfort is her freedom. It’s easy for us, the audience, to paint the Resistance as good and the First Order as bad, but the beauty of our current era of Star Wars storytelling is that it’s doing more to show that life isn’t always so simple. A stormtrooper can become a Resistance icon. The son of two of the galaxy’s greatest heroes can become an evil even darker than Darth Vader. A Jedi master can fall victim to his own insecurities. Although Star Wars is always, ultimately, a story about the conflict between good and evil, nothing is cut-and-dried, a fact that keeps this universe ripe for rich storytelling.
We’re only five episodes from the end of Resistance‘s first season, and I can’t wait for the twists and turns to come. Next week, “The Core Problem” promises the return of Poe Dameron, which is always a delight for viewers! Be sure to check back here for our review of that episode.
