The Force plays a role in this week's Star Wars: Resistance

Kaz, Torra, and Freya Fenris go on a supply run and get more than they bargained for in this week's episode of Star Wars: Resistance. When children and former stowaways Kel and Eila decide to come along, they wander into a Force Temple, but uncover a Sith temple underneath. Kaz interacts with a mysterious artifact inside and meets a Sith relic hunter, Meeka Gray. It turns out the First Order is after her and the treasures she possesses.

Warning: This recap will contain spoilers for Season 2, Episode 7 of Star Wars Resistance.

Swapna: WHEW. There was a lot going on in this episode, writing that summary above felt like I was skipping over so much! It was a nice change of pace from the episode-of-the-week style, self-contained installments we've had over the past two weeks on Resistance.

Preeti: I was nervous when I read the summary, but whew! What a doozy of an episode. This had a heavy Dave Filoni hand (even though he didn't write the episode) but in the best possible way. I've been waiting for Resistance to tie into the larger universe and boy did it do that this week. Where do we even start??

Swapna: Let's start with THE FORCE. I'm not sure it's even been mentioned on this show, beyond the saying, "May the Force be with you." But it played a big role in this episode.

Preeti: The minute Kaz, Kel, and Eila entered that temple I was ready for some Force action. I love that they pull us in thinking it's going to be Jedi but then very quickly shift to the Sith perspective.

Swapna: It was interesting that Kaz said he didn't really believe in the Force.

Preeti: Yup, it brought back major The Force Awakens feelings. There's clearly still a huge campaign to bury the past, here.

Swapna: It really did. What about Meeka Gray? She was super interesting, I hope we find out more about her — and I'm glad we finally learned her name, or we would have had to call her "creepy old woman" like Kaz does.

Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

Preeti: Haha, yes! Oh, I loved her character. I loved that they brought in this older brown woman to be some kind of Indiana Jones-esque character, stealing violent artifacts from the First Order — remind me, is hers the first reference we get of the Supreme Leader outside of the First Order itself?

Swapna: I think it is, and it's especially interesting that at this point, it could potentially be Kylo Ren and not Snoke. Clearly, he has First Order troopers hunting for Sith relics. Is this tied into what's going to happen in The Rise of Skywalker, I wonder?

Preeti: YOU'RE RIGHT! The timeline totally slipped my mind, but this very well could be Kylo Ren who is sending the Raiders on a hunt through the galaxy for Sith artifacts. That makes me very nervous.

Swapna: The question is what is he looking for. Could it be the source of Snoke's powers? We know that the Emperor was also obsessed with old Sith artifacts and that he found great power within them. Of course, it's possible that this episode takes place BEFORE Snoke was killed. And it's also possible that it takes place after, but that these troopers are still acting on Snoke's orders.

Preeti: If this after The Halfening and it's Kylo Ren wants the Sith artifacts, it would be an interesting turn from the way he talks to Rey at the end of The Last Jedi — killing the past, etc. But if it's Snoke who wants them, I wonder where this hidden stash of Sith artifacts is and how it will show up in The Rise of Skywalker — wait, Swapna… remind me about the artifacts scene in Chuck Wendig's book Empire's End and the importance to Palpatine.

Swapna: Right, so basically, Palpatine had been collecting Sith artifacts for decades and storing them in these vaults around the Empire. The idea was that these relics held great power, maybe even the key to immortality. So basically, regardless of the identity of the Supreme Leader who ordered the hunt for these Sith artifacts, it's clear that the person is seeking power. But the question is for what purpose, and we likely won't see an answer to that question until The Rise of Skywalker — because even if it's Snoke here, I have a feeling Kylo Ren is going to make use of them.

Preeti: This episode really brought on the larger universe implications, goodness. The short conversation that Eila has with Mika Gray at the end was interesting — as was Kaz listening in. We're moving closer to the idea of the binary of Sith and Jedi being problematic in terms of the Force. "The Force doesn't belong to any one person, it is something that is inside all of us. We just find it in different ways."

Swapna: It's similar to what Luke says in The Last Jedi — the Force doesn't belong to the Jedi.

What I really liked about this episode though, is that we're sitting here dissecting just a few minutes — maybe even seconds — of dialogue as it connects to the larger Star Wars universe. They did an amazing job adding that in there while still making it feel like this show can stand alone. You don't have to be fluent in Force lore to understand this.

Preeti: You may get a deeper understanding, but that's it! You can dip in and out as you choose, which is great. One point of contention for the plot this week, I didn't love how leaned back into what a disaster Kaz is. They've been balancing his accident-prone, occasionally thoughtless manner with a real understanding of how important his actions are, and it felt like he fell a bit backward this week.

Swapna: I completely agree. I like the character growth that Kaz has been on, and I don't love the plot lines where the crux is everyone having to clean up his messes. I feel like we've moved beyond that at this point.

Preeti: Hopefully he'll be back to form next week. But overall, lots of good stuff in this episode! I really dug the use of CB-23, and the visuals of the planet they were on.

Swapna: Definitely — I can't wait to see what happens next.