Ricky Church reviews the ninth episode of Star Wars Resistance…
After devoting the past few episodes to the First Order and pirate attacks, Star Wars Resistance has at last gone back to one of its central elements: racing. ‘The Platform Classic’ revolved around a popular race held by the Colossus in a pretty entertaining sequence, but beneath the cool race was an introspective look at Yeager and his mysterious past. It gave the best look yet at the way the former Rebel pilot is the way he is as the root of his past tragedy is explored in more detail. It offered a great balance of engaging action with personal stakes and character development for Yeager.
The discovery that Yeager not only has an estranged brother who is a famous racer, but was also a prominent racer himself was a surprising one that opened a door into the type of life he must have had before coming to the Colossus. His relationship with his brother Marcus was fraught with tension right from the start as the two were pitted to race against each other in the upcoming Classic. However, it was a nice subversion that the tension wasn’t just because they were racing each other, but because Marcus caused a disaster that didn’t just cost them a race, but ended the lives of Yeager’s family. It certainly explained why Yeager was out in the middle of nowhere all on his own and his grumpy nature. Scott Lawrence gave a very good performance as Yeager that displayed the anger and pain he was feeling at having to deal with his brother. While Kaz was pushed to the side for most of the story, the spotlight on Yeager was a very welcome one.
Marcus, meanwhile, was a very interesting character. We’ve met a few racers on the Colossus now and though the degrees of their egos have varied, each one has been pretty full of themselves and their capabilities. Marcus still showed himself to be a bit egotistical, but he really did want to repair his relationship with Yeager. It would have been easy for a character like him to refuse owning up to his mistakes or instead place all the blame on Yeager, but the fact Marcus took the blame for the deaths of Yeager’s wife and child was refreshing. It avoided the typical tropes in this situation and instead placed the ball in Yeager’s court, forcing him to see how his brother had changed and move past the anger he felt. Guest star Keston John gave a good performance as Marcus that shared some nice chemistry with Lawrence, making their relationship feel authentic. Though the gulf between them is still wide, it offered Yeager a bit of closure as he took a lesson from Kaz in forgiveness.
While there weren’t Stormtroopers or chases through mysterious ships, the excitement from ‘The Platform Classic’ came from the race itself. The race differed greatly from that in the premiere episode by appearing as much more of a challenge for the pilots. It was pretty cool to see spinning rings and the ships go up into the stratosphere, forcing them to do a powerless dive down to the surface. The animation on all the ships were well done as each one weaved between the other and performed spins as they tried to get ahead. It was much more impressive than the premiere’s race and hopefully we’ll see more like this in the future.
‘The Platform Classic’ may not have been a very story-driven episode, especially in connection with the main series plot, but it delivered a very good insight into one of the series’ most enigmatic characters. What was learnt about Yeager made him much more of a interesting and tragic character by showing his family wasn’t taken away because of the war, but in the bliss of a post-war blossoming career. The episode’s story was a good window into how he and Marcus were both trapped in their grief and using vastly different means to escape it as Yeager just wanted to ignore it and Marcus accepted it and wished for repentance. It is one of the strongest episodes of the season yet.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church
