The situation on the Colossus concerning resources is getting dire. With The First Order on the march all around them and a cantina restricted to serving water while running out of food a solution must be found. All the while the pirates are secretly plotting against Captain Dosa. Is the Colossus about to collapse? We find out in this episode! Spoilers!

Who brings the resources gets the authority

The episode starts out with making a very simple point about the nature of authority and trust in crisis situations. Captain Dosa’s authority is slowly diminishing as resources start to run dry and food supplies become problematic in every day life on the Colossus. The raid on the remnants of the First Order dreadnought over D’Qar in Episode 2 was successful as far as the hyper-fuel coaxium was concerned, but no consumables for living beings were retrieved from the hasty retreat following the First Order’s reappearance in the system. Captain Dosa tries to address this by giving a speech but that backfires somewhat.

Because there are other players in the game as well. The Pirates that Dosa gave an asylum from First Order persecution on the Colossus see the situation could work to their advantage and offers them a future opportunity to take control over the ship. Neeku and Kaz are worried and discus this with Torra and they decide something needs to be done. Given their experiences in episode 3 with the ‘monster’ showing up they start wondering whether the ‘monster’ couldn’t actually be ‘lunch’? And so a plan is hatched that get co-opted by the Pirates who see their opportunity to appear as the true carers for the wellbeing of the Colossus’ residents.

A forced hand

Captain Dosa initially disagrees with the mission. But the Pirates pushing ahead with it leave him little room to manoeuvre and essentially force his hand. So Kaz and Tora get to go along in their own ships with the Pirates who, with a bit of Dutch courage, head out to Celsor 3 in the assumption this will be an easy fish to fry. Kaz tries to warn them, and Synara is listening, but not the others who see this as an opportunity they can’t afford to miss.

It becomes quite clear that the Pirates have no clue what they’re up against and the mission quickly ends in the ‘loss’ of two Pirates in the depths below the murky clouds shrouding Celsor 3’s surface, the realm of the beast, and significant damage to the pirate’s ship. They decide to return, abandoning their mates, to the Colossus escorted by Kaz and Torra. Torra and Kaz however convince Captain Dosa that they could return with a little more fire-power and more chance of success.

A new mission

Torra and Kaz make a second attempt, now with a piece of ‘artillery’ with them that might just give them an edge over the monster. Sure enough they lure the monster out of its hiding and the mission seems to have a decent chance when two developments put everything at risk. First of all, Kaz is a great pilot but perhaps not so very good at many other things. Secondly, Torra’s pet Buggles had been stow away on Kaz’s ship and starts causing a stir once he has touched down on Celsor 3’s surface to set up his gun. A cute aspect of Buggles’ appearance in this episode is that it sets up a small pay-off in the next episode. I really relish in these tiny story-telling details that, although not significant in the grander scheme of things, nevertheless fills these episodes with lots of connecting tissue in the background. It generally makes Star Wars: Resistance feel like a very coherent and self-contained narrative.

To cut a long story short, after a considerable amount of slapstick and genuine fun with a BB droid doubling as a power-bank Kaz does pull off a great shot securing dinner for the Colossus for plenty of episodes to come. Torra is reunited with her Buggles and all ends well, despite the fact that our two “lost pirates” return halfway through the episode to steal Kaz’s ship and make their way back to the Colossus. And so a very entertaining and fun episode ends with steak in the cantina and who could argue against that?

Summary

Some might call this episode a ‘filler’ episode and some might object to Torra forgetting all about the mission and the greater good in pursuit of saving her pet. But overall it is an episode that combines a bit of harmless fun, with some actual stakes for some of our deluded pirates and some real character development of Kaz. Although Kaz still has his bumbling fool moments which are Jar Jar-esque (and I mean this in a good way!) he is also slowly developing to a place where his leadership skills and his courage shine more frequently than they did in season 1. I like this hero who doesn’t necessarily save the galaxy from the Sith, but who does care enough about the crew to put his life and limbs on the line for providing them with food.

Ships

There is an interesting ship-situation arising for shipping-fans of Star Wars: Resistance. Now I am not saying that every Star Wars output should contain a ship but … it is entertaining to consider this for a moment for this series.

There are a number of possible ‘straight ships’ conceivable. Kaz obviously likes Torra, cares about Tam and has a complicated relationship with Synara. In terms of gay ships the only one I could potentially see is Neeku and I don’t recognise much in the story-line that goes there. Neeku and Kaz’s friendship is obviously deepening as we watch season 2 unfold. But that seems to be more a growth of appreciation than anything else. The only other male character that Kaz has had significant interactions with was Poe Dameron. And no … I don’t see a love-triangle Poe, Finn & Kaz happening at any time in the near future.

Now in Star Wars: Rebels there was plenty of fan speculation shipping Ezra and Sabine. Ultimately the story didn’t go there but there was plenty of writer’s delight at toying with this and throwing the fans a piece of meat every now and then, though always originating from Ezra’s character arc while Sabine had other things on her mind. But what I loved about that was that as Ezra grew out of his ‘puberty’ hang-ups the relationship between him and Sabine became really profound, based upon common experiences and a real mutual appreciation. Where Star Wars: Rebels left us was with a Sabine for whom seeking out Ezra’s whereabouts was a credible quest filled with genuine caring and not cluttered with romantic interest.

In Star Wars: Resistance I currently see only the relationship between Tam and Kaz ending in such a place, although I think the show could be surprising us there. What I find far more interesting though is the underplayed relationship between Synara and Kaz. There is something that keeps them attached to each other while their allegiances to different sides in this Colossus community complicates things and also feeds development. It could be that this relationship is simply set-up as a mirror for Kaz’s connection to Tam, but it could also be more.