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Recap / Star Wars Resistance S1E8 "The Platform Classic"

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This episode aired November 25, 2018.


It's the day before the Platform Classic, and Tam, while explaining that they have to get all their work done so Yeager will give them time off so the three mechanics can watch, notices that Kaz is grinning and asks him what he's so cheerful about. Kaz responds that he's heard something that, if true, will make the race the best in the galaxy, which Neeku misinterprets as a joke. When Yeager arrives, explaining that he's been called up to Captain Doza's office, Kaz asks if he, Tam and Neeku can come up as well, which Yeager wonders at. When Team Fireball arrives at Doza's office, Doza has a request for Yeager: to compete in the Platform Classic, since the race brings a much-needed boost to the Colossus' economy. Yeager refuses, but Doza suggests that he won't be able to resist competing against a legend, and he introduces the famed racer Marcus Speedstar. Tam and Kaz are awed, but Yeager is decidedly less so, and he reveals that he knows Marcus because they're brothers, to the shock of his employees. He refuses Doza's offer again, and Marcus' claim that he came to the platform specifically to see Yeager, and leaves, hoping he won't see Marcus again for another decade. Tam has to drag Kaz out of the room after he tries to say hello to Marcus, since it's not a good time.

In the repair shop, Yeager scoffs at Neeku thinking that "Speedstar" is Marcus' actual last name, and is not happy with Kaz for keeping the rumour he heard about Marcus' arrival a secret, even though Kaz had no idea Yeager and Marcus were related. Yeager also reveals he and Marcus agreed never to race each other again. Marcus arrives with his mechanic, Oplock, and astromech droid, R4-D12. In the back of the shop, the two brothers have an argument over something that Yeager is surprised Oplock forgave Marcus for. Marcus insists he didn't come to the Colossus to race, but to see his brother, but Yeager doesn't believe it. While Neeku, who can understand Oplock, introduces him and R4 to Kaz and Tam, the brothers part acrimoniously. Tam and Kaz suggest that Yeager is too afraid to race Marcus again, which he denies. Eventually, when Tam points out that, not having seen Yeager fly, she and Kaz will have to assume Marcus is the better pilot, Yeager decides to challenge Marcus to a race, in order to prove that he'll back out like he always does.

Meanwhile, at Aunt Z's, Marcus is confronted by two enforcers of the Guavian Death Gang, who want him to pay up a debt from something that happened on Rishi. Marcus insists he'll have the money when he wins the Platform Classic, but the enforcers take Oplock hostage to ensure he keeps his word. Just then, Team Fireball arrives, unaware of what just happened, and Yeager challenges Marcus to a race. To his surprise, however, Marcus does not drop out, and when Aunt Z starts taking bets, Yeager tries to get out of the race, but Kaz is only too pleased to remind him that backing out of a race is not allowed once you've signed up for it. When Team Fireball leaves, Marcus catches up and tries to explain the hostage situation to Yeager, who brushes it off. He does, however, loan Kaz to Marcus when the latter explains that his mechanic is "temporarily unavailable". When Tam asks Yeager about his claim that Kaz is his "best" mechanic, he points out he never said what Kaz is the best at.

While working on Marcus' ship, Kaz talks to him, and learns about Marcus and Jarek's past. Marcus explains that, when the brothers both raced, he only raced for himself, while Yeager raced for his wife and daughter. Eventually, Marcus was so desperate to beat his brother just once that he stole and used hyperfuel in a race, but wasn't prepared for the power, and he clipped Yeager's racer and there was an accident. At the repair shop, Tam and Neeku are impressed by Yeager's racer when they enter his private hangar and see him and Bucket working on it. After Tam is sent off for a part, Neeku asks Yeager why he won't forgive his brother, since Neeku's people would even give each other internal organs if necessary. Yeager simply responds that brothers are supposed to be there for you, and Marcus wasn't.

The day of the race dawns. Kaz, returning to the repair shop, tells Yeager that Marcus really wants to reconnect with him, and that he should really try and talk to him. Yeager refuses, again, telling Kaz that he doesn't understand what Marcus did. When the racers are warming up their engines, as Tam, Neeku and Kaz head to a vantage point at the marketplace, Yeager and Marcus trade snipes about their astromech droids. Eventually, the race begins.

Marcus and Yeager quickly enter the lead, outperforming all five Aces. During the second stage, the obstacle course, Yeager gets ahead of Marcus, a position he holds on to throughout the third stage, the climb. As the race goes on, the brothers argue about what happened a decade ago, with Marcus trying to explain that he has to win because his mechanic's life is at stake. Yeager, thinking that Marcus still only cares about fame, isn't ready to try and forgive. Eventually, in the home stretch of the race, back to the Colossus, as the argument reveals that Yeager's family was killed in the accident Marcus caused, Yeager realizes that Marcus is serious about trying to save Oplock's life, and lets him win at the last minute.

Marcus pays up the Guavians, and Oplock is freed. Yeager explains that he hasn't forgiven Marcus, yet, but he's now open to the idea. After Marcus and Oplock depart in Marcus' ship, Yeager tells Kaz that he was right about what he said earlier, that if you don't try to forgive someone who is trying to earn that forgiveness, no one wins, although Kaz didn't say it in so many words. After Kaz is left alone with BB-8, he says that maybe he and Yeager are becoming friends. BB-8 beeps skeptically, and Kaz is shocked when he learns the droid doesn't consider himself and Kaz friends.


Tropes:

  • An Aesop:
  • Always Someone Better: Marcus could never beat his brother Jarek, no matter how much he tried. Ultimately, Marcus' desire to win on just one occasion led to tragedy when he tried to use hyperfuel and caused a racing accident that killed Yeager's wife and daughter.
  • The Atoner: Marcus comes to the Colossus mainly to mend his relationship with Yeager.
  • Call-Back:
    • The episode follows up on several plot points from "Fuel for the Fire", including Yeager's ship, what happened to his family, and why he has a can of hyperfuel despite knowing its dangers and hating it.
    • Kaz takes a lot of joy in reminding Yeager, like he once did for him, that he's not allowed to back out of a race once he's enrolled.
  • The Cameo:
    • The Chelidae can be seen working on the legs of the Colossus after Kazuda knocks down a pit droid.
    • Flix is one of the audience members cheering after Marcus wins.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Marcus is a three-time winner of the Five Sabers, which was introduced in Bloodline.
    • Marcus has a debt to the Guavian Death Gang.
    • Yeager and Marcus became racers after the New Republic demilitarized its forces.
    • The Guavians are angry with Marcus for destroying one of their ships on Rishi.
  • Easily Forgiven: Averted. While Yeager is now aware of how Marcus has changed, he's not willing to forgive him just yet. The most he gets is that he might, someday.
  • Ejection Seat: Griff Halloran is forced to use his when his ship, Black Ace, is knocked out of the race.
  • Exact Words: When Marcus tells Yeager that his mechanic is "temporarily unavailable", Yeager gives him Kaz, who is his "best mechanic", even though we know that Tam and even Neeku are better at it than he is. He never said what Kaz is best at. Cut to Kaz having no idea how to work on Marcus' ship. When Marcus expresses his doubt that this is Yeager's best mechanic, Kaz clarifies that he's in the top three... there only being three mechanics at his shop.
  • Famed In-Story: Marcus is famous enough in racing circles that Tam and Kaz have heard of him, and they're shocked that he and Yeager know each other, let alone that they're related.
  • The Gloves Come Off: We get to see Yeager fly a racer for the first time, and see where he puts the "badass" in Retired Badass.
  • Handshake Refusal: In his first scene, Marcus holds out his hand to Yeager, who ignores it. At the end, when Marcus holds out his hand again, Yeager not only accepts the handshake but pulls Marcus in for a hug.
  • Ladies and Germs: When Aunt Z opens up the bets for the Platform Classic, she says "Ladies and gentaliens".
  • Laser-Guided Karma: During the race, Griff Halloran fires blasts knocking out Bo Keevil's engines and causing him to crash into the ocean. Later, Halloran misses the reignition ring while trying to knock Marcus out of the race, and thus his ship crashes as well.
  • Luke Nounverber: Subverted and parodied. Marcus Speedstar's incredibly appropriate name is a racing name he took up after Yeager disowned him. Yeager even asks Neeku if he thought "Speedstar" was an actual name.
  • Mythology Gag: The music playing in the background of Aunt Z's is the same as Jayvar's Cantina.
  • Not So Above It All: After giving Marcus a firm rejection, Yeager offhandedly says to Marcus as he's leaving that he could still beat him at racing any day. This leads to his workers playing chicken with him to goad him into entering the race. Yeager continues to act rather insecure about how he's the better pilot between the two, just as an older sibling would to a younger sibling. It's also possible that he had Kaz help Marcus with his ship to sabotage it.
  • The Reveal:
    • Yeager has a younger brother, Marcus.
    • We get to see Yeager's racing ship and flying prowess for the first time.
    • Ten years ago, Yeager's wife and daughter were among those killed when Marcus' attempt at using hyperfuel went horribly wrong.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Marcus goes up to Yeager to tell him that his mechanic is being held hostage and that's why he needs to win the race. Yeager wants to hear none of it and gives him Kaz, who had been bugging him, to make the both of them shut up.
  • Spectator Casualty: How Yeager's wife and daughter died, in a racing accident.
  • Throwing the Fight: Yeager throws the race at the last minute when he realizes that Marcus is being serious about racing for his mechanic's life.


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