With “Hunt on Celsor 3” and “The Engineer”, Star Wars Resistance seems to have settled into a more casual, more predictable storytelling. Both these episodes resemble many of the classic Rebels or Clone Wars episodes that did not particularly move the plot forward. At least not on first sight. Like in many previous cases, some of the elements that appeared here (the planet of Celsor 3 or Nena the engineer) may resurface later in a more important way.
“Hunt on Celsor 3” is a short adventure focussing on the shortage of supplies on the Colossus. The location from the previous episode as well as the monster (jakoosk) that appeared there play central parts. This time, Kragan’s pirates intend to solve the shortage of food by hunting down the jakoosk. This episode featured some really pretty visuals again. The “Hoth vibe” of the icy planet was further reinforced by Kaz and Torra’s outfits reminding of the cold weather outfits worn by Leia, Han and Luke in Episode V.
“The Engineer”, on the other hand, started with maintenance problems at the station. By stroke of luck, the crew picks up a distress signal from an engineer whose ship was attacked by the First Order. Or so it would seem. The engineer gets friendly with Neeku, but also raises her doubts about the intentions of the pirates. And more questions are raised.
We Are Not Homogenous People
Both episodes share quite a few common characteristics. The focus shifts away from the external threats (the First Order) towards internal problems (the sorry state of the station and tensions between its inhabitants).
Another thing that connects the two episodes are the pirates. “Hunt on Celsor 3” reminded the audience of the fact that the pirates are an independant faction. Even if they are on board of the Colossus, they have their own agenda and they look out chiefly for themselves. “The Engineer” showed the problem as more complex: the pirates are not as bad as people may be led to suspect, but they still are operating outside Doza’s supervision (so what was all the power cable stuff about?).
Both episodes also gave more space to Synara, who is in yet different position being friends both with the pirates and with Kaz. Synara is more and more moving towards the role of “the voice of reason”: when the pirates face the jakoosk, she is trying to convince Kragan to turn back. In “The Engineer”, she both defends the pirates and raises her doubts about the engineer that turn out to be well-grounded.
Nena the engineer herself is an interesting character. Most importantly because of the way her story (thus far) ends. A bit like Qi’ra in Solo, she leaves the story after having made her decision, and her generally somber worldview remains unchallenged. I perceive several ways in which she might resurface in the future. One obvious possibility is her being captured by the First Order and Neeku deciding to rescue her. Or she might even meet Tam and they could compare their stories: growing up amidst the uncertainties, which in Tam’s case led to her appreciating the security promised by the First Order, and in Nena’s case led her to her “survivor” mentality.
After these two episodes of easy(ish) adventure, we will see if the following episodes are going to turn more “serious”.
