Star Wars Resistance – “Hunt on Celsor 3”

Hello there!

I’m back with another episode review for Star Wars Resistance. This is the second and final season of the third animated show in canon, focusing on Kazuda Xiono and his friends on the Colossus as they attempt to get away from the First Order and find the Resistance. These will take a very similar format to previously: an overview of the plot (so it goes without saying, there will be spoilers!), my thoughts on the episode and a few Moments in Canon – things I picked up on that linked to other stories or the larger galaxy as a whole. Today, I will be looking at episode 4: “Hunt on Celsor 3”

Plot Summary

Things are going poorly on the Colossus as a number of residents are complaining to Captain Doza that they have ran out of food and water, while a couple of residents also mention how much they miss the sky and fresh air they had on Castilon. Aunt Z announces that she will be leaving as she is unable to run her tavern without supplies and would rather take her chances out there. Watching from the back of the crowd, Kragan notes that Doza’s issues are an opportunity for the pirates.

Kaz and Torra go to Aunt Z’s Tavern to try convincing her to stay. When asked what they can do to help, Aunt Z mentions that if they can return to Celsor 3 and take down the Jakoosk, there will be enough meat for her to feed the Colossus for a while. While Torra wonders if her father would approve of the mission, Kragan announces that he and his pirates will take on the endeavour as it won’t be difficult for them and unlike Doza, he is not afraid to try.

“Looks like he’s got a real mess on his hands.”

“Which means an opportunity for us.”

Torra and Kaz go to speak to Doza and Yeager and tell them about Aunt Z’s offer and Kragan’s plan to go after the Jakoosk, noting that this would be a way for Kragan to undermine Doza’s authority. Doza agrees to let Kaz and Torra go with the pirates as representation for him. As Kaz prepares to leave, he runs into Neeku, who is packing his things. Before Kaz can speak to Neeku, he has to launch.

The pirates fly to Celsor 3 in the Galleon while Kaz and Torra escort them in the Fireball and Blue Ace respectively. Reaching the atmosphere, the majority of the pirates fly out in airspeeders and begin to drop explosives in order to lure our the Jakoosk. The Jakoos appears and begins to take down the pirates, causing some of them to abandon their airspeeders, while Snarl and Drell are seen crashing. Kaz tries advising Kragan to target the Jakoosk’s underside as the skin on top is too tough, however Kragan ignores him. With the pirates struggling, Synara eventually convinces Kragan to order a retreat, while Kaz and Torra force the Jakoosk to retreat rather than chase them

Back at Aunt Z’s Tavern, Kragan announces that the Aces interfered with the mission and stopped them being successful. Torra and Kaz tell Doza that Kragan is convincing everybody that the whole mess is Doza’s fault, to which Doza does not wholly disagree due to his responsibility to the people on board. Kaz and Torra retire to Torra’s room, trying to think of any way they can help. They realize they need to find a way to get properly underneath the creature so that they can get a clean shot, deciding that they need to get down to the surface of Celsor 3. Knowing that they will need a more powerful weapon, Kaz suggests using a high-powered cannon that Tam had been working on for the Fireball before she left. The pair go to leave, but don’t notice Buggles follow them out of the room.

“Oh man, Torra’s gonna kill me if she finds out you came along.”

During the flight down to Celsor 3, Kaz realises that Buggles has snuck onto the Fireball. He tries to hide this from Torra, but she quickly finds out on landing. Too busy arguing over Kaz bringing Buggles with him, neither Kaz no Torra notice that Buggles has wandered off until it’s too late. The pair go looking for Buggles, and in doing so Torra disturbs the Jakoosk. Before they can get back to the ships and the cannon, Snarl and Drell run past and steal the ships. While Torra looks for Buggles, Kaz sets up the cannon, but an attack from the Jakoosk causes him to lose the battery. Torra finds Buggles at the top of a pinnacle, but the Jakoosk is also after him. Kaz uses CB-23 as a makeshift battery and manages to shoot the Jakoosk’s underbelly just in time, killing it. While Torra reunites with Buggles, Kaz contacts Doza for a pick-up.

The Colossus residents gather in the Colossus marketplace, where the Jakoosk is being cooked. Synara forces Snarl and Drell to apologise to Kaz and Torra. Aunt Z tells Torra that she will be staying with the Colossus for now. Doza makes a speech, thanking Torra and Kaz and reminding the residents that as their captain, he will never forget his responsibility to care and look out for them. The walls are suddenly covered with a holographic projection of Castilon’s blue sky, while Neeku reveals to Kaz that he was not packing to leave, but trading some of his possessions to get the parts he needed for the projector, telling Kaz that he would never leave as the Colossus is his home and everyone aboard is his family.

Review

Though I preferred last week’s episode, this was still a good episode and I liked how it followed on from the last adventure. Once again, the show looks great seeing everyone out flying, with the Galleon looking fantastic and very reminiscent of a pirate ship in our past, while Kaz is once again much more competent when in the cockpit.

“Though these are dark times, I know the light will shine upon us again.”

I really liked the way the characters were portrayed in this episode, Kaz was less stupid than in some adventures (though I don’t understand why he didn’t just tell Torra they had to turn back to drop off Buggles), while Torra has clearly matured from her initial introduction, but there are still moments to remind us that she is young. I loved seeing Doza being weighed down by his responsibility towards the other inhabitants as well as Kragan looking to take advantage of the situation to grab influence from Doza. I do however hope that this is not the end of the power struggle, as otherwise I feel that it has been settled too easily. I also want to shout out the role of Synara, who has stayed with the pirates but is clearly trying to do what is right for everyone and is quickly becoming like the mother and conscience of the pirates.

“How do you think they’re gonna catch that thing?”

“Honestly Kaz… I don’t think they have a clue!”

I definitely felt that the first half of the episode was stronger and that the narrative choice of having to save Buggles did bring down what had been a largely good episode, but I completely understand the decision given the younger audience – and Buggles is oddly cute. What did feel strange to me was the lack of reasoning behind Tam having worked on a cannon for the Fireball given the lack of need for a racer to have that and her disbelief in the danger provided by the First Order.

While this could understandably be described as a “filler” episode, every episode so far has advanced the plot in some way: “Into the Unknown” set up where the Colossus was following their escape from Castilon and Kaz still trusting in Tam, “A Quick Salvage Run” got new coaxium for the Colossus to be able to jump through hyperspace, while also sending the inhabitants off on their own adventure after finding the Resistance have left D’Qar, “Live Fire” had the Aces learning to work as combat pilots, while this episode brought in food for the Colossus and expanded on the power struggle between Doza and Kragan.

“Guess you could say that Jakoosk got Ja-cooked!”

A few other quick thoughts from the episode:

• Snarl is fast becoming a favourite of mine and I don’t even know why! I really hope that the pirates continue to have a large role in the show
• Similarly, I’m interested to see how long until Synara gets a larger role in the season, as she has generally just been stuck with the pirates so far
• It was interested seeing Kaz make the decision to use CB-23 as a battery, as the usual narratives for the good guys have been to see their droids as friends, I wonder if this would have played better in my mind had CB-23 made the decision herself
• Kaz’s puns are awful, but I’m loving them, and Torra’s lack of amusement

Moments in Canon

“What do you say?”

“We’re sorry for stealing your ships.”

“And…?”

“… And for leaving you stranded on a freezing cold ice moon.”

“And…?”

“… And your little smugglie bugglie.”

There weren’t any real clear ones in this episode so this is a stretch, but Kaz’s cold weather jacket is the same colours as his New Republic Navy flight suit.

What did you think about the episode?

Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…