We’re on to episode 4 of our Star Wars: Resistance recap. As always, remember: the spoilers are strong with this one.
1. Fighting a resistance makes you hungry
I feel like this issue might have been touched upon in a previous episode, but either way, it’s official: the Colossus is out of food. I guess that’s what happens when you take on a bunch of pirates and misfits on top of your regular crew and then get separated from the main group after your base gets utterly destroyed? Presumably they are also out of drinks as well, and everyone is sobered up enough to be pretty upset at this latest development. Aunt Z leads the charge with enough angry concern to rally the rest of the troops, and despite Doza, Kaz, and Torra’s attempts to calm them down, everyone decides it’s within their best interest to get the hell off the ship. Sure, the First Order is still out there somewhere, wanting them dead, but who wants to slowly starve to death in the dark of space? Even Neeku seems to agree, which probably isn’t great for Kaz’s friend abandonment issues brought on by Tam, but the impending crisis doesn’t give him a lot of time to dwell on it. It’s honestly unfortunate, and I think does a bit of a disservice to his and Neeku’s relationship, but c’est la vie.
2. It’s lonely at the top
Captain Doza is facing a lot of threats this week, and none of them are from the First Order (in fact, we don’t even hear from the First Order at all in this episode). With the supply shortage comes short tempers; his authority is being questioned and he’s essentially blamed for the state of the Colossus, which I guess is fair. It’s interesting that after his initial attempts to take charge, he basically hides away in the bridge with his stress (and Yeager) for company, okay with letting his daughter and Kaz handle the entire affair — definitely the qualities you want in a leader. Of course Kragan sees the perfect opening for a mutiny in this and decides it’s time to weasel his way into a position of power for Doza’s eventual downfall. He volunteers to save the day and slay the mighty jakoosk for sustenance. What’s a jakoosk, you say? We’ll get to it.
3. Return of the giant ice stingray
Remember last episode when the Aces went head to head with a giant monster on an ice moon? Turns out that wasn’t completely random, because it ends up being a pretty big plot point this week. Ends up the monster has a name: jakoosk (which I kept mishearing as “jacuz” aka what my friend calls a jacuzzi, which was stupidly confusing). It also apparently is edible; Aunt Z lets it be known that the entire Colossus could be fed if only they had some of that sweet, sweet jakoosk meat. This is the bulk of the episode’s conflict, then — how to take down a giant monster that is practically immune to blasters. Kaz and Torra accompany the pirates on their mission to keep an eye on things and, despite having previously encountered the jakoosk, Kragan pretty much writes them off as dumb kids and ignores all of their advice completely, which doesn’t turn out great for him (more on that in a minute). After one failed attempt on the monster, Kaz and Torra are eventually able to slay it the second time around with a well-placed canon shot to its soft underbelly, powered by CB-23 (teamwork!). And of course what would this show be without a lame pun from Kaz: “the jakoosk got jacooked!” Sigh. This leads to my favorite scene of the entire episode, though, in which we cut to the Colossus and Aunt Z’s where there is just jakoosk roasting on spits as far as the eye can see. It’s kind of hilariously morbid for a kid’s show? This thing was just alive, trying to eat Kaz, Torra, the pirates, and Buggles, and in a matter of seconds it’s dead, chopped up, and roasted to perfection on the Colossus where every member of the ship is joyously eating it. Dark, Disney. Good grief.
Continued below4. Let them eat humble pie
One of the central themes in this episode is about teamwork and listening to others. Kragan, blinded by his want for power and desire to inspire a mutiny, acts selfishly and doesn’t heed the warnings of Kaz and Torra regarding the jakoosk. In the real world (or on an adult show), these decisions would probably get people killed, but instead it just gets them in a lot of trouble. They lose three ships before Synara is able to convince Kragan to retreat by telling him that he can’t be a captain if he doesn’t have a ship to command; she also scolds him, saying he should have listened to Kaz and Torra in the first place. He doesn’t acknowledge this, but you can tell he knows it and is pretty annoyed about it going forward, but diverts the blame onto Doza, Kaz, and Torra instead of owning up to his mistakes. Joke’s on him, though, once Kaz and Torra succeed where he couldn’t in slaying the beast. The pirates apologize, and our teachable moment for this week is complete.
5. Neeku is full of surprises
Neeku folds pretty easily to Aunt Z’s suggestion that they all leave the Colossus, which is pretty shocking to Kaz, but I feel like as the viewer, we know better. Especially since it’s sort of brushed aside for the majority of the episode; you’d think they’d make a bigger deal about it if Neeku was, in fact, leaving temporarily/for good. So again it’s no surprise when at the end, the whole thing ends up being a misunderstanding on Kaz’s part. Neeku wasn’t packing to leave, he was packing to sell his personal possessions and trade them for parts! Parts for what, you ask? Neeku — adorable, sweet, Neeku — has built a machine that projects the sky onto the ceiling of the ship. “Now the marketplace looks less like a prison and more like a home,” he says. And it’s true, it does. It really does.
