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Neeku makes a new friend in this week's Star Wars: Resistance
In this week's episode of Star Wars Resistance, "The Engineer," Kaz is quick to trust a new friend, and it ends up haunting him. When Neeku receives a distress call, Kaz and Synara head out to check out what’s going on. It's Nena, who claims to be on the run from the First Order, and she’s a pretty great engineer. Kaz invites her back to the Colossus, where she bonds with Neeku and helps fix the station. But it turns out she’s actually working with the First Order, and the Colossus only narrowly escapes after she leads the villains right to the platform.
Warning: This recap will contain spoilers for Episode 2, Season 4 of Star Wars Resistance.
Swapna: "The Engineer" was a good episode (the second season of Resistance has been very strong so far), and it further examined the complicated loyalties of people who deal with the First Order. I don’t think Nena was a bad person, and I liked her as a character. But she made some very bad decisions.
Preeti: I have to be honest, I kind of wish this episode had been a B-plot paired with a stronger A-plot. I enjoyed it, but it did feel a little reminiscent of Kaz and Poe finding Synara, but somehow Kaz didn’t learn any lessons from that experience. I agree, Nena was a fun character (though I’d like to see more of her to get more depth), but it felt a little too similar to something we’ve seen before. I did find the loyalties question to be the most compelling, however!
Swapna: I think that’s why I liked it — it showed that Kaz’s good, pure heart hasn’t changed. But I agree, it is reminiscent of Synara's situation, and I wish they had been more creative with that aspect of the plot.
Preeti: I did appreciate the Neeku focus! It’s true that we rarely get a sense of who he is or what his history is, so I loved that the writers pulled that in. It was a reminder that even though Kaz is our hero, his perspective is tunnel-visioned.
Swapna: Yes! I loved getting to see more of Neeku, and while he will always be the eternal optimist and such a good, supportive person, it broke my heart a little to hear him say that his friends didn't seem to be very interested in him (I’m paraphrasing here). Kaz is Neeku's best friend, but how much does Kaz know about Neeku? I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet that Neeku knows a lot more about Kaz than vice versa.
Preeti: It was a creative way to tell us Neeku's story and to reinforce the importance of perspective when it comes to Star Wars — from a certain point of view, etc.
Speaking of perspective: There’s something coming with the pirates. With the focus on them this season, and the building tensions between Doza and Kragan Gorr, I’m waiting to see how this explodes and what it means for the Colossus and their fight with the First Order.
Swapna: I completely agree. I mean, besides Synara, the pirates aren’t with Kaz and his friends out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re allies out of necessity because the First Order turned on them. If the First Order decides to reach out again, there’s no telling what Kragan Gorr will do.
Preeti: Do you think that might be where it’s headed? Clearly, as we saw in this episode, the First Order and Agent Tierny have plans on plans on plans.
Swapna: I’m honestly not sure. I think it’ll be more of a manipulation if it happens, the First Order acting through someone else and the pirates not realizing it. But I also think that the First Order's habit of putting out kill orders on people who work with them (like the pirates and Nena) is catching up with them. If you know your ally or customer will turn on you the second it’s convenient, that’s not much of an incentive to work with them.
Preeti: Truth, and that moment, in addition to the cutthroat nature of being within the Order itself, have both been highlighted this season already. What’s particularly strange about the timeline for Resistance is that it’s the first animated show that will exist before the movie it precedes and I’m wondering if any of this will impact anything we see on screen this December.
Swapna: I think there's something coming — the Colossus isn't just going to aimlessly float around forever — but I think it will take a while to get there. We’re going to have a lot of self-contained episodes that don’t really tie into greater galactic events first.
I also wonder if they’re waiting for Rebecca Roanhorse's Resistance Reborn to come out on Tuesday before they tie in any larger narratives. That’s the book that fills in the post-The Last Jedi timeline.
Preeti: Oh, that's a good point! I guess that’s something we’ll have to wait and see about, but I hope so — since they have the opportunity, why not further connect the universes together?
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors', and do not necessarily reflect those of SYFY WIRE, SYFY, or NBCUniversal.
