As Star Wars Resistance inches toward the she’d been there from the beginning.Â
“Rendevous Point” began with the Colossus waiting for…something. Apparently the ship sent out a beacon to alert someone, or something, to its location. Unfortunately, the First Order found the ship first and engaged it in a huge battle, forcing the Colossus to flee before this mystery arrived.
That’s when we met Venisa Doza (voiced by Tasia Valenza), the person the Colossus was waiting for. The last name should give everyone an idea of who she is”Tora’s mother and the Captain’s wife. Because Venisa arrived at the beacon point too late, though, she was greeted not by the Colossus, but by the First Order. Their tractor beam made quick work of her ship and soon she was captured, just like the Millennium Falcon in A New Hope.
[referenced url=” thumb=” title=” excerpt=”]
It’s revealed Venisa is a Resistance pilot, working with General Leia Organa to fight the First Order. And she’s got that Han Solo, Poe Dameron, cocky swagger that we love in Star Wars. Being captured on a Star Destroyer means nothing to her. Venisa and her R2 unit, Torch, immediately have a plan and it’s not long before she begins to execute her escape. She even gets some unexpected help from former Colossus friend-turned-First Order pilot, Tam.
Turns out Venisa is way more linked to the Colossus than we expected. Years ago, she flew with Yeager in the Rebellion against the Empire and even got Doza to defect from the Empire out of his love for her. (How very Lost Stars of them.) The Empire was defeated, they had Tora, and everything seemed fine…until the First Order started rising to power. Doza wanted to stay out of the fight, but Venisa wanted to rejoin Leia and her newly formed Resistance. Which she did, leaving her family behind in the process.
Back in the present, using Tam’s conflict to her advantage, Venisa stages a daring escape from the Star Destroyer, with massive explosions, stealing a TIE Fighter and more. It was a blend of the Poe and Finn escaping from The Force Awakens and Leia’s rescue in A New Hope. Things are left with Tam as conflicted as ever, and Venisa shuttling back off to the Resistance.
Venisa’s story is so good, and so wrapped up in Star Wars lore, it’s a shame it gets told to us via quick, third-person exposition. Really, her story could have been the entire plot of this show. Look, Kaz and Neeku are great. The Aces? Super fun. And yes, the show was not created to tell another story of the Rebellion vs. the Empire or Resistance vs. the First Order…but that’s what it’s become. So to meet a character that has so much drama and conflict locked in her history, you wish that story could have been at the centre of an entire show, not a single episode.
In Venisa, Star Wars Resistance has a hero in the mould of the scoundrels it’s been built on. Her daughter is an Ace. Her ex is the Captain of the Colossus. Here’s hoping she plays a much bigger role moving ahead. She’s got confidence almost everyone on the show is lacking.