Star Wars: Resistance season 1 episode 3 recap: The Triple Dark

In the pilot episode of Star Wars: Resistance, young pilot Kazuda Xiono was given a mission by Poe Dameron to investigate any First Order activity aboard the Colossus. But as green as Kaz is, he’s going to have to learn fast to survive.

The second episode of the newest animated Disney show, Star Wars: Resistance, begins

with Kazuda Xiono (Christopher Sean) complaining about his top-secret mission as a spy aboard the fuelling facility, Colossus. Kaz is undercover as a mechanic, working with Poe Dameron’s contact, Jarek Yeager (Scott Lawrence), but, as Kaz explains to BB-8, he’s a pilot, he just flies ships, he doesn’t know how to fix them.

Unfortunately for Kaz, a hot-tempered client has arrived and needs Yeager’s team to fix his ship in a short amount of time. Kaz is enlisted to help, but he knows absolutely nothing about being a mechanic.

He goes on to prove his ineptitude by handing Neeku (Josh Brener) the wrong tool resulting in poor Neeku getting electrocuted.

More from Show Snob

• The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
• Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
• Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
• Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
• Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”

While fiddling with a console, Kaz activates a piercing feedback sound that deafens everyone on the platform. Having witnessed all this, Tam Ryvora (Suzie McGrath) interrogates Kaz about his skills.

Suffice to say, she is unconvinced by his claim that he ‘used to work on Coruscant’ on new ships. She sarcastically asks him if he went to the Mechanics Academy. ‘I’m self-taught’, Kaz retorts and escapes.

Kaz is understandably desperate to get started on his spying mission, but he’s forgetting what Poe told him in the pilot episode of Star Wars: Resistance – he has to blend in first. He isn’t doing a great job at it as is evident when Yeager hands out the team’s commissions – Kaz has earned only a third of what the others have. Neeku confirms that those credits aren’t even enough to sustain Kaz for a month.

As Yeager, Neeku and Tam start work on the ship, Yeager sends Kaz to Acquisitions to get some parts for the client’s ship, which Kaz misinterprets as code for going ‘deep undercover’. ‘Let’s find the First Order’, he exultantly tells BB-8.

In the market outside, Kaz is ‘spying’ on the people bustling around. Being the hilariously incompetent fool that he is, Kaz ends up walking right into a metal pillar (that looked like it hurt) and now he’s feeling up an alien. Just great!

Finally, Kaz spots something interesting. Two aliens suspiciously arguing with each other. Kaz, of course, jumps to the conclusion that they’re First Order but it turns out they are betting on the races – similar to the one he participated in during the Star Wars: Resistance pilot. He’s so excited by this revelation that he doesn’t realize they’ve spotted him and BB-8.

As he’s about to become bantha food, Grevel from the pilot episode appears and reminds Kaz about the debt he owes him from the dart game Kaz lost. Kaz tries to offer the commission he received from Yeager, but he has so few credits the alien just scoffs at him. There’s no time like the present to make a run for it.

Except Kaz isn’t the greatest at running. He is caught by the aliens and they shake him down. Kaz’s lucky trophy falls out of his pocket – Grevel’s eyes shine at the sight. The trophy will easily pay off Kaz’s debt and then some. But, Kaz refuses to part with his sole personal possession.

When Kaz fails to shake off the aliens, BB-8 comes to the rescue. BB spots an alien carrying some scary-looking fish and chooses to zap the poor fellow, causing the fish to fly and land on Kaz’s captors. Kaz and BB again make a run for it, and end up hiding in a crate – that is immediately lifted and sent careening down a chute and right into… Acquisitions. Finally, that series of events is over!

The aliens in Acquisitions remember Kaz from their previous encounter in the Star Wars: Resistance pilot, and ask him whether he has any credits this time. Of course, Kaz does but he does get an earful about his trophy being enough to set him up for a good few months.

He still won’t part with it. Just as Kaz has the compressor Yeager sent him for, Tam arrives, howling at him for being late. She pulls him back to the platform by the ear. Poor lad.

Yeager is furious at Kaz’s tardiness and orders him to get the compressor installed immediately. The client is still haranguing Yeager about finishing the job quickly. Tam asks if Kaz has got it covered, and corrects him when he is turning the compressor the wrong way.

While installing the compressor, Kaz overhears the client speaking into a commlink. ‘They’re all set for the Triple Dark’, he is heard telling someone. In Kaz’s enthusiasm to tell the client that his ship is ready to go, he startles the portly alien, making him lose his commlink down the gutter. This scene is more important than we realize.

Yeager gives Kaz a quick dressing down for not taking his undercover job seriously. ‘The average person doesn’t even know about the Resistance, but it’s not the average person you need to worry about’, Yeager tells him.

Kaz is despondent – I feel like this is his natural state of being. He affectionately holds up his lucky trophy telling BB-8 that it was from the first race he won. He competed despite his father’s disapproval. It has got him through a lot.

Just then, a platform operative tells Kaz to head inside as the Triple Dark is coming. Curious to hear this phrase repeated for a second time in a day, Kaz inquires about the Triple Dark. ‘It’s a kind of storm, low visibility’, the perfect opportunity for pirates to attack, the operative explains.

On hearing this, Kaz realizes that their client was most likely working with space pirates on a mission to attack the platform. How right he is!

Led by Kragan Gorr (Gary Anthony Williams), pirate ships appear in the sky and begin firing at the base. Inconveniently, Grevel is back, this time with a blaster, threatening to take Kaz’s trophy from him.

Defense pilots are deployed to protect the base. It’s so wonderful to hear so many female actors voicing the pilots. Star Wars: Resistance is doing diversity right.

Kaz is blown into one of the pirate ships, along with Grevel, who hangs onto Kaz’s leg. When they and BB land back on the platform, Kaz and BB manage to get inside before the blast doors close, but Grevel is still winded and almost gets left behind. He pleads for Kaz to hold the door.

Kaz is a hero at heart – he sticks his trophy in between the doors leaving enough space for Grevel to wriggle through. The trophy gets bent out of shape but at least it saved Grevel’s hide.

Kaz has an idea to help the fighter pilots win against the pirates. But first, he needs Kragan’s commlink. Despite reaching for it with all his might, Kaz’s fingers can’t grasp the commlink. Fortunately, BB-8 sticks out an antenna and retrieves it for him.

The pirates are trying to take out the east generator. Kaz realizes that the commlink is patched to the pirates’ communications and replicates his earlier feedback loop which busts all the pirate ships leading to a hasty retreat. Kaz and BB-8 make a good team – they just saved the station.

Elsewhere, we see the Red TIE fighter pilot, from the first Star Wars: Resistance episode, speaking to Kragen. The pirates were sent to the Colossus by the First Order, and now Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) is displeased that the Order’s faith in Kragen’s team has not led to any success.

It appears this facility is of importance to the First Order, though it is not clear why. Kragen ensures that soon he will succeed and the commander of the facility, Doza, will be begging for the First Order to take over.