Plot Summary
Yeager takes Kaz on a “salvaging job” off platform which turns out to be an excuse to meet with Poe Dameron, who has come to speak with Kaz about his mission. Poe and Kaz fly off in X-wings – with BB-8 and Poe’s replacement droid CB-23 joining them – and after discussing how the mission is going and Kaz’s doubts about his ability as a spy. They take advantage of a nearby asteroid field as a chance to have some fun flying, while Poe also shows Kaz how to perform a “backward tail slide”. Kaz struggles to perform the manoeuvre, but they are interrupted when they pick up a nearby distress signal coming from sector six (shock!). Making their way to the source, they find a wrecked freighter which appears to have been the victim of a pirate attack gone wrong – one of the pirate ships is still docked to the freighter. BB-8 reports that life signs indicate several survivors on board, so the two of them dock and go to investigate. As they start down the corridors they find a number of empty cages, before hearing a loud roar and coming across two pirates just before they are grabbed by a pair of giant hands. As the group continue through the ship, they have some issues with a group of Kowakian monkey-lizards, but eventually force them to flee – minus one that Poe inadvertently shot! Following a faint sign of life, they find an unconscious Mirialan hidden in a crate. Kaz begins to carry her out on his shoulder, but the group soon run into a Kowakian ape-lizard (think Salacious Crumb on steroids) which chases them through the ship.“So… that wasn’t the best plan!”The group just manage to get to their X-wings in time, but as they leave a trio of pirates arrive in starfighters. Poe shoots one down and Kaz manages to successfully pull off a backward tail slide to make another crash into an asteroid. The final pirate breaks off their attack and leaves. The group return to Yeager and decide to take the Mirialan to the Colossus for treatment, but Yeager is sceptical. After Poe and CB-23 leave, the Mirialan comes round and says that her name is Synara and that she was a member of the freighter crew, but locked herself in the crate when the ape-lizard broke out during the pirate attack. Kaz helps register Synara on the Colossus as she has no identification on her, but she quickly goes off on her own.
“Our little mishap might just work to our advantage.”Once alone, Synara communicates pirate leader Kragan (the pirate leader from “The Triple Dark”) and it is revealed that she is one of his crew. She explains that the rest of the crew were killed but that she was “rescued” and taken to the Colossus. Kragan tells her to stay put and blend in as he will have an assignment for her soon.
Review
I was not a fan of this episode when I first watched it, the animation style really looks at its best when focusing on the ships, so sequences like meeting Poe in the clouds and the time in the X-wings looked amazing, however I felt that the sequence with the monkey-lizards really made Poe and Kaz look stupid and went on too long. However, having watched the episode a couple of times, I soon found myself getting over that feeling during that segment and enjoying it, to the point that I was almost in tears laughing when Poe accidentally killed the one monkey-lizard when firing into the air. Having got past the initial disappointment, I really enjoyed Poe’s portrayal in this episode. At this stage, he is not one of the leaders of the Resistance, just a hotshot pilot entrusted with some important missions. I got the feeling that the way he spoke to Kaz was very similar to how a big brother would be, making Kaz feel better about himself and his efforts but then also suggesting some risky actions for fun. My favourite bit about Poe in this episode was the way he acted with BB-8, it really was like in the films! I also really got the feeling that Oscar Isaac and Christopher Sean must have been enjoying themselves recording this episode, with Poe complaining about how he hates monkeys and Kaz squealing as he was chased by the ape-lizard. It was nice seeing CB-23 and BB-8 initially jealous of each other as jealousy is something we saw with Chopper in Rebels and I liked how BB-8 saving CB-23 from one of the monkey-lizards helped them settle their differences. I also really enjoyed the little nod to Return of the Jedi by having BB-8 shocking a monkey-lizard off Kaz, similar to what R2-D2 did with Salacious Crumb and C-3PO.I must admit that when the group first arrived at the ship I assumed the pirates would be Kragan’s crew and I was pretty certain that was going to be the case when the Trandoshan appeared as I remembered there being on during “The Triple Dark”, however my conviction faltered when I first saw the monkey-lizards as I thought we were about to get Hondo. Unfortunately when Synara was found, I was pretty certain she was part of Kragan’s crew (she was in “The Triple Dark” but wearing a helmet to cover her face) so the reveal at the end did not have the same impact for me, but I think that that is due to me being a 27-year old geek that pays far too much attention to little things like this and it probably did catch younger children out. I’ll be really interested to see where things go from here as Synara can’t be the spy Kaz was sent to find as she was not already on the Colossus, therefore there are now 2 undercover antagonists on the station. I have seen some people speculating that she will turn against the pirates but I personally think it’s more likely that she will be found out and mistaken for the main spy at some point. I also think that she may be involved in Yeager taking a bigger part in Kaz’s mission as he appeared suspicious of her. If nothing else, with 2 spies on the station and Captain Doza’s questionable loyalties, there’s certainly going to be plenty to keep Kaz busy as the season goes on.“How you doing, buddy? Did you miss me?”
“You know it!”
“I was talking to BB-8.”
Moments in canon
- Poe refers to the Resistance not having the best resources when showing Kaz his fighter. The fighters flown in this episode are T-70s, as in the Sequel Trilogy films. As a member of the New Republic Navy, Kaz flew a T-85 in “The Recruit”
- When speculating on what monster could be on board, the creatures Poe mentions are a Rathtar (seen in The Force Awakens), a Gundark (mentioned in Attack of the Clones and shown in The Clone Wars) and a Reek (one of the creatures in the arena during Attack of the Clones)
The Canon Padawan 