– Spoiler Review –
“Fuel for the Fire,” Star Wars Resistance’s fourth episode (the premiere is actually two episodes), is titled to fit an obvious reference to events within, but its hidden meaning is the episode’s real delight. Also within? Guest appearance from Frodo Baggins himself, Elijah Wood!
While the premiere ignored Kaz’s ineptitude at both being a mechanic and a spy, the following episode, “The Triple Dark,” spent its 22 minutes devoted to dealing with how unprepared he was, and now “Fuel for the Fire” looks if his heart is in right place. In Star Wars Rebels, it sometimes felt like lessons learned or strides made by characters were forgotten by everyone an episode later, so it’s been nice that Resistance doesn’t seem to forget developments as much/has been more serialized from the beginning than Rebels. After Kaz’s blunders in the mechanic department last week, he gives it his best try at making the Fireball’s engines work again, but his failure (see: first attempt fails and then he doesn’t pay attention to his work, which plummets into the ocean beneath) draws the ire of Yeager and Tam. Yeager’s anger comes more from how Kaz’s continued inability to be a mechanic could come back to bite the entirety of Team Fireball if the wrong people find out he isn’t what he says he is, resulting in the members of Fireball who didn’t sign up for a mission with the Resistance dealing with the potential (deadly) fallout. Just when Kaz is trying to be enthusiastic about the work, this puts him in the dumps and he heads to Aunt Z’s for a drink, giving us two of the funnier moments of the episodes, and introducing us to Elijah Wood’s character, Jace Rucklin.
Rucklin is another would-be racer on the Colossus, and he and his team, Gorrak Wiles (Eric Bauza) and Lin Gaava (Rachael MacFarlane), have Kaz hang out with them because of his performance in the premiere’s race against Torra. As cool and relaxed as the three seem to be, it’s quickly apparent to viewers young and old they aren’t up to anything good, going as far to rig a speeder so Rucklin can “save” Kaz and make him indebted to them, all in attempt to steal Yeager’s secret stash of hyperfuel for their racer so they can place first against the Aces. What I liked about Rucklin and his crew as “villains” is how they aren’t tied to the First Order or have stakes in the greater galactic conflict, and instead they’re just some punks trying to make it big in the fighter racing subset of the galaxy. Kaz is inherently a good person so he doesn’t sense the deception, nor realize Rucklin stole Yeager’s hyperfuel, until almost too late (a bit later than I liked). Despite Rucklin’s actions, Kaz still rescues him from his soon-to-blow racer, as the eager star puts too much hyperfuel in the tank, causing it to blow (the obvious reason this episode was titled “Fuel for the Fire). Yeager and BB-8 rescue Rucklin and Kaz as they tumble in a parachute-less eject chair, and as angry as Yeager is about the whole ordeal, he recognizes Kaz’s good heartedness and earnestness, realizing the kid means well in his impossible new situation and is doing his best (despite a lack of skill for the mechanic or spy stuff), thus causing him to cut Kaz some slack and give the kid some hope that even Yeager might like him now (the subtle reason this episode was titled “Fuel for the Fire”).
Since the premiere, Yeager has been my favorite and most intriguing character, due both to his past with Poe and his gruff, disillusionment with being part of any cause. What happened to Yeager to make him that way? Due to Kaz and Rucklin sneaking into Yeager’s personal room in the Fireball hanger, we get a minor, but impactful glimpse into his past. Kaz picks up a hologram of photos which contains two very important ones: Yeager and his Rebellion pals celebrating the win at the Battle of Jakku and another of him with his family. The first one tells us Yeager and Poe must’ve known one another because Yeager served in the Rebellion around at least the Battle of Jakku, likely sticking with the New Republic, potentially even having known Poe’s parents. But the bigger reveal from the second photo is important in two parts: First, that Yeager had or has a family. Kaz makes the assumption he HAD a family, but it’s possible he still does…they are just being held by the First Order, who are forcing him to do as they please to keep them alive. Remember, I’m placing bets on him being the FO spy on Colossus, and the idea they are holding his family hostage isn’t too far-fetched, even for a younger skewing show. It’s possible they died, and maybe it was due to New Republic action, hence his distrust of causes, so that could still end up with him as a First Order spy because he feels burned by the NR, but I feel like this show wouldn’t go that mature with this bit of his background. We’ll see though; Second, his family was on Batuu at some point, the planet we’ll all be able to visit on Disney property when the two Galaxy’s Edge’s open next year! It was noticed by Twitter user Skynobi, as the background of the family portrait matches the background used for concept art of Batuu/Galaxy’s Edge. From Thrawn: Alliances actually visiting Batuu and Black Spire Outpost, Solo even referencing it, and now this, they’re seeding Galaxy’s Edge all over the canon. In the end, knowing Yeager has or had a family is the most important factor to this glimpse of his past, and I’m using it as confirmation bias of my theory he’ll be the traitor in the Colossus’ mist, but the more I learn about him, the less I want to be right. UPDATE: We’ll learn a bit more about his past when we meet Yeager’s estranged brother in an upcoming episode, “The Platform Classic” in late November (via Jedi Bibliothek), so it’s possible we’ll learn what happened to his family then and we can put Yeager out of contention for the spy.
Here are a few other things:
- The fact that Yeager was at the same spot at the right time to catch Kaz TWICE was a little much for me. Like, the Colossus is HUGE and that he happens to be there to catch Kaz fooling around with “friends” and sneaking away to save the day AT THE SAME PLACE was just beyond my suspension of disbelief (you know, instead of all the aliens and fighter races and what not). Though…if Yeager’s a FO spy, it would make sense he was tailing Kaz, but until that theory is debunked or not, this remains a point against “Fuel.”
- “Fuel” made me laugh the most so far this season, whether it was the lack of music and funny sound effect as the engine in the beginning of the episode plunged to the ocean below or Aunt Z’s (Tovah Feldshuh) hilarious response to Kaz’s question if she’s ever said anything she regretted, while still managing to cover less goofy subjects. I hope the show can continue to handle its humor and depth as well as “Fuel” has.
- I feel like I’ve been using Rebels to compare/contrast what’s happening with Resistance A LOT, but it was the first show I reviewed on here and it has been interesting to see the differences/similarities, which isn’t hard considering they’re both meant for a younger audience than The Clone Wars ended up being, and I feel like a good portion of Rebels fans are tuning in/reading these.
I’ll update here once the episode guide goes live!Nothing too major in the episode guide, but I did enjoy the idea Rucklin and his crew were originally going to be named after Luke’s friends from deleted scenes of A New Hope!
“Fuel for the Fire” manages to balance holding the attention of both Star Wars Resistance’s younger target audience and the older fans who might be tuning in, by introducing intriguing new characters, diving into Yeager’s past, and matching humor with depth.
+ Glimpses of Yeager’s past
+ Elijah Wood as Rucklin/being a different type of “villain”
+ Provided plenty of hearty laughs
– Yeager conveniently in the same spot, TWICE
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
STAR WARS RESISTANCE REVIEWS:
Season One – Ep. 1.1/1.2: “The Recruit” | Ep. 1.3: “The Triple Dark” | Ep. 1.5: “The High Tower” | Ep. 1.6: “The Children from Tehar” | Ep. 1.7: “Signal From Sector Six” | Ep. 1.8: “Synara’s Score” | Ep. 1.9: “The Platform Classic” | Ep. 1.10: “Secrets and Holograms” | Ep. 1.11: “Station Theta-Black” | Ep. 1.12: “Bibo” | Ep. 1.13: “Dangerous Business” | Ep. 1.14: “The Doza Dilemma“ | Ep. 1.15: “The First Order Occupation” | Ep. 1.16: “The New Trooper” | Ep. 1.17: “The Core Problem” | Ep. 1.18: “The Disappeared” | Ep. 1.19: “Descent” | Ep. 1.20: “No Escape” – Part One | Ep. 1.21: “No Escape” – Part Two