Main cast: Samira Wiley (Lieutenant “Cutter” Colby), Daisuke Tsuji (Chief Warrant Officer Lee), Nestor Serrano (Major Graham), Stanton Lee (Sergeant Howard), Noshir Dalal (Sergeant Pettibone), Jeffrey Pierce (Private First Class Macdonald), David Paladino (Private First Class D’Esposito), Jeff Schine (I-MC), and Melissa Sturm (Bitching Betty)
Director: Jerome Chen
Set in the distant future on a war-torn planet, Lucky 13 refers to Dropship #13-02313, which is at first called Unlucky 13 because the previous two crews had been entirely wiped out while the ship remained intact, without a scratch.
No one wants to pilot that thing, so when rookie pilot Cutter comes in, she is of course handed that ship as hers to fly. Together with Chief Warrant Officer Lee, however, she manages to go through a whopping 20 missions without any man lost or left behind. The ship is now rechristened Lucky 13, and this is the story of a woman and her beloved plane. Okay, space-plane, or spacecraft… oh, you know.
While there is nothing really new here, this episode delivers all the exciting wartime action it can pack in its slightly-less-than-15-minute runtime. Shooting, air chases, explosions, near-death experiences… woo-hoo.
Mind you, it’s very unrealistic how nobody gets injured or even a little bruised here, what with all the shootings and explosions going around the place, and it’s especially implausible how Cutter still looks clean and shiny after all she has been through.
Still, the pacing is rock solid and the protagonist is a very likable character worth rooting for. Cutter is a strong female protagonist done right, as she is loyal, capable, and smart without being snotty, self-centered, bitchy, and other traits prevalent in modern-day “strong” female characters.
The episode also trusts me to see that Cutter is a strong black woman, and doesn’t go overboard in shoveling up the male characters as useless or hateful in a cartoon-y way to prop the character further. Cutter walks the talk, and that’s more than enough to make her a worthy protagonist that embodies girl power.
This one can also generate some pretty good feels too.
All in all, this is a rock solid episode that hits all the right spots.
