Ricky Church reviews the fourth episode of Star Wars Resistance – ‘Fuel for the Fire’…
The latest Star Wars Resistance episode ‘Fuel for the Fire’ doesn’t do nearly as much world-building as the previous episode and instead back peddles on the development of its lead character, Kaz. However, it still delivers an entertaining, if somewhat predictable, story and a couple interesting bits of information on one of the lead characters. It doesn’t raise expectations for Resistance, but it doesn’t decrease them either.
Kaz’s development took a bit of a step backwards compared to the previous episode, ‘The Triple Dark’, where he learnt a bit more about the importance of maintaining his cover and not hogging the spotlight for himself. That lesson seemed to have been forgotten as Kaz once again grew impatient with pretending to be a mechanic and not working his actual mission of discovering who the First Order’s spy is. Instead of maintaining his cover, Kaz instead hangs out with a bunch of young racers who seem more interested in using him than being his friend. The reasoning for this departure isn’t really stated, but seems because of Kaz’s growing frustrations with Yeager and his lack of interest in both Kaz and the Resistance. The beats of this particular story were a little predictable due to how shady Recklin and his friends were from the very beginning, but it was still entertaining and offered some great animation (which is quickly growing on me) as Kaz and Recklin raced over the sea.
Outside of a few scenes with Kaz, we don’t really see too much of Yeager or learn more about him. While the premiere established he was once a part of the Rebel Alliance, ‘Fuel for the Fire’ confirms Yeager took part in the Battle of Jakku, which was the final battle in the Galactic Civil War, but more importantly we learn he has (or perhaps had) a family. Its affirms just how much Kaz and the audience don’t know about his new boss, but he doesn’t seem to be as hardened as he puts on. Despite Kaz’s mistakes here, the episode concludes with Yeager recognizing Kaz is a good person at heart and possibly realizes the potential he has to his team as well as the Resistance if he can just curb some of his youthful impatience.
Most of the side characters took a backseat to focus more on KAz’s misadventure with Recklin and his gang. Neeku perhaps got the most time out of the supporting cast with a couple of funny moments. It’s clear he’s meant to be the series’ source of comedic relief by filling in as a sort of straight man, something akin to Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy by being so literal he doesn’t understand sarcasm, metaphors or common expressions. The amount of humour in the episode doesn’t just come from Neeku, but other sources as well whether they’re Kaz himself or the Colossus’ other inhabitants. Some may find the humour off-putting, mostly because its catering itself to a younger audience right now, yet the comedy isn’t quite thrown in your face and is more built around the character’s personalities rather than simply creating a situation and watching them react to it.
‘Fuel for the Fire’ didn’t expand as much on the world-building aspects and while its story was a bit of a step backwards for Kaz, it was still entertaining. Hopefully the character development will get a little more consistent, but the introduction of further characters helps open up the Colossus more and adds new foils for Kaz, Yeager and the team to go up against. Star Wars Resistance is still finding its footing, but its potential remains in place.
Rating: 7/10
Ricky Church
