I AM HERE FOR THIS ACES CONTENT! Before the show ever started, the Aces were the number one thing I wanted to see the most. They were the first thing about Resistance that hooked me in from the promotional material. I was so disappointed in season one how Griff, Freya, and Bo barely got any screen time. I especially wanted to know more about Griff with him being an ex-Imperial. I wanted to know his thoughts on the First Order.
Actually Griff has some of my favorite lines of the episode. Like Captain Doza, he has seen the inner workings of the Empire, and he’s grown past them. He knows this First Order thing is going to fail, because they’re following the similar path of the Empire. I love the line where he acknowledged that the Empire fell because of their lack of compassion for each other. To me, Griff is one of their best resources along with Captain Doza. They’ve been there, done that, and got the evil T-shirt, and then they moved on.
But I do feel like the First Order is far more radical and in ways more successful than the Empire. They learned from the Empire’s mistakes, and I think they’re more bloodthirsty.
To use real world comparisons, if the Empire was the 1940’s Nazis then the First Order is the current day Alt-Right. Everyone knows that Nazi are bad, but the Alt-Right are a far more fanatical version of them. The First Order is the same. We learn from books like Aftermath and Alphabet Squadron that the First Order is built from the most radical parts of the Empire. They are the top worst of the worst people who didn’t jump ship with other Imperials who had a moral compass. And they train new recruits to be that way too.
I think Griff and Captain Doza were some of the people who realized that the Empire was worse than they thought. They’re like Ciena Ree from Lost Stars realizing that this wasn’t what they signed up for. They might have believed in parts of the Empire at one point, but it’s clear that’s it’s not where they are in life now.
In hindsight of season one, I realized a bit of awkward writing watching this episode. Kaz freaked out when he found out that Captain Doza was an ex-Imperial. But here’s Griff flying a Tie Fighter and wears Imperial clothes. Why wasn’t Kaz nervous around Griff like he was with Captain Doza?
But there’s a great message in there too. Captain Doza and Griff used to be part of the baddies. No one is holding that against them now. While he might be blunt and gruff, it’s clear that Griff cares for the other Aces and the Colossus. He wouldn’t be the one suggesting that they need to work together. People can go through bad things, make wrong choices, run with the wrong crowd, and come out of it with better insight to make good choices later in life. They can grow from hardships. No one is holding their Imperial past against Griff and Doza, because they’re working to be better now. That’s such an important message.
For the first time ever, I’m really interested in Rucklin’s story. Lieutenant Galek told Tam right in front of Rucklin that he should be a dead man, because he wasn’t as good as she was. That’s a lot for someone to take. I think Rucklin can take two paths from that:
He can either realize the First Order doesn’t care about his life and defect back to the Colossus, or he can double down on his cruel nature and try to prove himself. While I think he’s going to double down, it would be interesting if he’s actually the first to come back to the Colossus. I would love to see Rucklin as the one who leaves the First Order before Tam.
Or he tries to leave and they brain scrape him. That would be such an awful ending (that I would love because he’s a jerk face and it would horrify Tam. Give me all the drama).
GOSH I LOVE GALEK! I DRINK UP EVIL WOMEN LIKE AIR WATER! Women should be allowed to be evil in media just like men. More often than not evil women usually written to be a one dimensional bitches with little to no depth. But we’ve already seen so much depth with Tierny. And in this episode, Galek was just as fearful of Pyre’s judgement. The Filoniverse has always written evil women so well starting with Asajj Ventress to Arinhda Pryce and now Tierny and Galek. GIVE ME ALL THE EVIL WOMEN DAVE FILONI.
I also love the parallel story with Kaz and Tam. As Kaz is rising, getting more of a reputation, and finding his place with the Colossus, Tam is falling. She’s falling into the First Order in a similar fashion. She’s also getting a reputation showing she’s a good pilot with compassion, just like Kaz, but she’s punished for it. Kaz is rewarded. She’s finding her place in the First Order, but she’s sticking out and not fitting in unlike Kaz who is finding a new home. While Kaz and Tam are going through the exact same story, Kaz is getting positive reinforcement while Tam is getting negative reinforcement. It’s such a compelling narrative telling the same story from the opposite sides of the same coin.
Skytalkers pointed this out on their show, but it’s such a good point:
What is Tam going to think when she finds out that Kaz is an Ace and the Fireball is practically his? Her dream was to be an Ace. The Fireball was her ship. I can see a scenario where she’s ready to defect back to the Colossus, she’s getting ready to leave, and then she finds out that Kaz is an Ace with her ship. I can see that making her mad enough to stay with the First Order longer.
Hype is such a dramatic bastard I love him. He had to be a theatre kid in his previous life. AND HIS DROID IS A SASSY BASTARD TOO!
Here’s looking to next week!
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