Star Wars Resistance Review: “Secrets and Holograms”

– Spoiler Review –

Star Wars Resistance‘s “Secrets and Holograms” offers a glimpse into peacetime life in Star Wars, but it’s that idle time that offers a new theory on who is the First Order’s spy on the Colossus.

Kaz decides to redouble his efforts at finding dirt on Captain Doza, managing to find an opportunity when a bored, but welcoming of a distraction, Torra Doza asks him over to play some video games. Captain Doza, having said he’s willing to hear the First Order’s proposal after the pirate attack in “Synara’s Score,” has his meeting with Commander Pyre, who leaves a datapad of their agreement that Kaz is able to copy after sneaking into Doza’s office, which he narrowly avoids detection thanks to Torra’s intervention. Resistance really seems to want viewers to mistrust Captain Doza, as while Kaz is poking around his office and has to hide, Kaz finds himself in the Captain’s closet, where he stumbles into an old Imperial uniform. Marking Doza as an ex-Imperial continues Kaz’s suspicions of the station’s Captain, but considering he’s “old” friends with Jarek Yeager, an ex-New Republic Navy fighter, and his natural distrust of everything Pyre tells him, he doesn’t seem like someone fervently awaiting the Empire’s return/having any real desire to be part of the First Order. He has a daughter to protect, after all, and when Pyre says he’s uncertain when the First Order would leave the station after “dealing” with the pirates, Doza doesn’t look happy in the slightest, and his worried glance at the stormtroopers’ blasters gains new context when you factor in his Imperial past, as he knows how readily the faceless men behind those masks will use them. The fact he keeps Torra sequestered in her room is the best measure of how untrusting of the First Order he is, as while he still fills her in on his dealings with them, he doesn’t want her around them, as he probably knows they could try using her against him, via kidnapping or anything else nefarious like it. I’m not falling for Captain Doza is a bad-guy, dear Resistance, but now “Secrets and Holograms” has actually given me a new contender for the FO sympathizer on the Colossus.

While Yeager is still my top choice, after last week took the mystery about his family out of my theorizing potential, he’s looking a little less likely week after week. So who is my new contender? Torra Doza. The episode starts with Torra bored, stuck in her room due to her over-protective father, scheming her way out of her room and sneaking around the Colossus with Kaz in search for some fun/distraction. The denizens of the station recognize her and take their frustrations with the Captain out on her, asking her to explain his actions/lack of protection over the extensive pirate attack two episodes ago, but Kaz helps her out of the situation. She tells him about her father’s dealings with the First Order and their plans to offer protection to the station, and her mentioning of video games is an in Kaz takes advantage of to gain access to the Tower and find out more. What helps makes Torra a candidate is how she knows A LOT about her father’s dealings, something she admits to Kaz when she tells him she keeps a close eye on his business, while she knows plenty of secret paths and passcodes around the station, and can even override the security droids, but these things alone aren’t enough to qualify her for the FO’s spy, though they do help my theory: Her boredom is a weakness the FO could’ve exploited, offering her an opportunity to get out in her racer more once they manage to take over and keep the station “safe,” potentially something she’d feel her father would appreciate and thus be less protective of her. Combine that with her knowledge of all his dealings and her ability to sneak around the Colossus, it begins to look likely she could be a spy of her own, but the real kicker is how she even knew Kaz was in her father’s office when she rescues him from discovery. See, Jace Rucklin, aka Elijah Wood whom Kaz pissed off a few episodes back, sees Kaz and BB-8 breaking into Doza’s office, and because he has a vendeta against Kaz, Rucklin runs straight to Doza, who is suspicious of Rucklin but follows him back anyways. Not only is Torra supposedly in her room during all this, when she comes up into the office and distract her father, she knowingly looks into the closet where Kaz is hiding, which she could only know about if she had access to cameras around the station (like her father), even having a hidden one in her father’s office to keep tabs on him…which I imagined she’d only have because she’s doing it for the First Order. Weaponizing youths is something we know the First Order is more than capable of doing, and using her dissatisfaction against her, promising more fun and distractions when her father doesn’t have to worry about his station anymore, certainly sounds like a viable reason to make her spy on him. I’m obviously theorizing here, but this sounds much better than all my Yeager ideas so far, and while I’m still betting on him, Torra’s rose in my ranks considerably.

It’s a little thing, but what I appreciated the most about “Secrets and Holograms” was Kaz and Torra hanging out, playing video games. Resistance falls in an odd time of Star Wars, when there’s more noticeable Stars than any public Wars, so what exactly does the galaxy do in peacetime? The races on the Colossus are one avenue, but what about two youngsters like Kaz and Torra? Their brief friendship over video games was a neat and unusual thing to see, as it’s rare heroes from the other eras ever had a chance for idle time, and showing how they can afford to mess around like this fleshes out how this era feels for the younger generations, and also sort of helps my theory about Torra and how that idle time can be used against people. Plus, it was nice for Kaz to stop seeing Torra as his source inside the Tower at one point this episode and instead see her as a fellow person his age, commiserating with her over her boredom and feeling of being overprotected, allowing the two characters to just be friends and not potential love-interests, as these things are always wont to do.

Here are a few other things:

While Rucklin’s appearance felt like it was out there just as a reminder of their feud from “Fuel for the Fire,” it did allow us to see the repercussions of Kaz’s actions. Plus, it gave us a chance to see more of Hype Fazon (give that man his Bantha milk, damnit!), which I’m always here for.
Another episode of Resistance, another new alien species for the galaxy! The shop keeper who up-charges Torra once he recognizes her was a neat design, something myself and fans have taken to wonder, once again: is it a Bothan?
Over the course of the episode I was pretty sure Torra’s dog-like pet was named Buggles, not Bubbles like it initially sounds, and Tracy Cannobbio was nice enough to clear it up.
A trash incinerator was a nice change-up from trash compactors.
I’ll update here with the Bucket’s List when it goes live 12/3!

“Secrets and Holograms” gives us a rare glimpse of idle activities in peacetime, furthering characters, plotlines, and giving me lots to theorize about.

+ Peacetime and friendships
+ Torra’s new potential
+ I’m not falling for that misdirect, but nice try, Resistance

Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.

STAR WARS RESISTANCE REVIEWS:

Star Wars Resistance Review: “Secrets and Holograms”

+ Peacetime and friendships

+ Torra’s new potential

+ I’m not falling for that misdirect, but nice try, Resistance

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