Warning: Spoilers for “The Platform Classic” and prior episodes of “Star Wars Resistance” follow.
While maybe not one of the best, the latest episode of “Star Wars Resistance” once again delves deeper into Yeager’s (Scott Lawrence) past. The show continues to thrive on its ensemble roster of characters, and while there is surprisingly no Synara in this one, the closer look into Yeager’s family history is a nice consolation.
The basic gist of the episode centers around the big race Captain Doza (Jason Hightower) is holding on the platform, where he brings in the famous racer Marcus Speedstar (Keston John) who is revealed to be Yeager’s younger brother. Immediately a rift can be noticed between the two, and Marcus explains to Yeager that his only reasoning for coming was to make amends. Yeager is hesitant to do so until towards the end, which is shown to be for a very good reason.
Marcus himself is an interesting character, and his sort of swagger at Aunt Z’s (Tovah Feldshuh) cantina reminds me a bit of a hybrid of Han and Lando, but just in his manner of speaking and way of sweet-talking when two of the Guavian Death Gang confront him (the same who confront Han aboard the freighter in the beginning of “The Force Awakens”). They take his non-basic (basic being the English equivalent in the “Star Wars” realm) speaking partner Oplock (Jonathan Lipow) hostage to settle a debt, forcing Marcus’ only option to be to win the race for the prize pool. Marcus and Oplock mirror Han and Chewie, and these similarities were made more clear when I checked starwars.com where I learned Marcus was originally supposed to be Han himself in the early development of this episode.
After a bit of heckling from Kaz (Christopher Sean), Tam (Suzie McGrath) and Neeku (Josh Brener), Yeager disgruntledly agrees to take part in the race and prove he is the best, which is unfortunate for Marcus as he is well aware he can never beat his older brother. This leads us to the main event which turns out to be the best part of the entire episode.
The race consists of the Aces, Marcus and Yeager, though the latter two essentially hold the top two spots for the majority of the race. This race is not only exciting to watch, but the animation is downright phenomenal and furthers my prior sentiment that the ships look incredible in this art style. Throw on top of this the tension between Yeager and Marcus about what happened in the past between them and everything culminates in an overall compelling climax. The major takeaway here is that Marcus was responsible for the death of his older brother’s wife and daughter, the result of a crash gone wrong in a race between the two. Marcus was at fault because he used hyperfuel to try and finally beat his older brother, which as we learned from “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and a previous episode, is a very dangerous substance to play with.
Right as the race ends, Yeager veers off before the final checkpoint, allowing Marcus to win. While Yeager makes it clear afterward that he hasn’t fully forgiven his younger brother, they are on the path towards reconciliation. Overall, Marcus was an interesting new character to add to the cast because he allows us to learn more about Yeager’s own motivations.
I think what stands out the most in this episode is just how visually appealing it is. Like I mentioned before, the race itself with all the ships looks great in contrast with the bright blue ocean setting. The Guavian Death Gang also looks great with their armor really solidifying how good metallic surfaces look in this show.
While Kaz has some solid screen time along with Tam and Neeku, the focus on Yeager and his relationship with his brother was well worth the time spent. While I liked Yeager before, learning about the fate of his wife and child at the fault of his brother and his actions which lead to their demise really made the old mechanic even more compelling. This episode did not get much into the Synara/pirate plotline with the First Order which I am alright with. Each episode doesn’t need to be a bombastic tale of espionage like last week’s, and reserving episodes for these deeper character developments have been well worth the investment thus far. Look out for the next episode of “Star Wars Resistance” when it airs next Sunday at 10 p.m. on Disney Channel.