'Star Wars Resistance' Is Back To Charming Civilian Idyllics And Death Gangs In "Kaz's Curse"

The day on the Colossus starts off idyllic in this episode of Star Wars Resistance. While no spoken attention is brought to it, the Colossus citizens seem to be enjoying a spurt of economic activity after the Aces' racing stint in "The Voxx Vortex 5000." Kaz (Christopher Sean) is blithely gambling against a pirate. And miraculously, he's winning jackpot after jackpot! Aggravated, the pirate, Leoz (Steve Blum), mumbles some words and licks Kaz's forehead, instilling him with a supposed curse. Kaz dismisses the idea of the curse, but his supposed bad luck sabotages his Ace obligation to protect the Colossus. So he and Neeku (Josh Brener) sets out to reverse the curse.

Directed by Brad Rau and written by Eugene Son, the comedy of "Kaz's Curse" dives into a vague absurdity that renders it into one of the funniest episodes of the season, but most importantly, depicts a balance of civilian and military life.

So the Colossus unfortunately runs into Guavian Death Gang (Matthew Wood) on the asteroid field. Kaz's ship malfunctions unfortunately allow a Guavian member to escape, leading to a confrontation with the entire gang, who are willing to turn in all the citizens to the First Order to get what they want.

While Kaz is well integrated into the Aces, he is still "Kaztrastrophe" to Hype Fazon (Donald Faison). And Kaz's newfound "bad luck" becomes costly when a Guavian Death Gang scout ship escapes Kaz's sight to warn the entire gang.

I was cheered a little at the first instance of Kaz being scolded by a superior, Captain Doza (Jason Hightower), for his costly on-field clunkiness, even if his ship malfunction is probably the least of his faults considering his previous transgression on missions. It does dodge the question of whether Kaz and Neeku are working hard to keep the Fireball in solid maintenance.

Luckily, Kaz falls back on his military training and figures using the asteroid field to their advantage to outwit the Gauvian gang.

Hooray, we have more Mika Grey (Tudi Roche) and she's happily settled into the Colossus's life and its economy, running her own fortune-telling business, sans the stereotypical crystal ball, which is appropriate considering Grey's knowledge of Force practitioners. Her first seen customer, Bolza Grool (Fred Tatascoire), asks if he will survive the war. She feeds him a vision about "sharp teeth," probably because she knows he is a Gorg seller and he can draw his own conclusions.

Mika hands Kazuda a small talisman that may just cancel his bad luck, or really, offer him a placebo object for him to realize that his anxiety about bad lucks is simply in his head and manifesting in invasive ways.

Unlike the racing-focused episode "The Voxx Vortex 5000" reverts to its charms by allowing the Colossus civilians back into the picture and illustrating community through light touches that are easy to take for granted, such as other Colossus citizen fleeing from Kaz because of off-screen rumor-spreading. Even Grevel (Dee Bradley Baker), still very much Kaz's archenemy, interacts with Kaz and the pirates in social spaces. Grevel and Leoz's awareness of Mika Grey's presence as a "witch" tells of the Colossus's everyone-knows-everyone tight-knitness even among unscrupulous characters. Even a glimpse of the brutish Gorg-seller fretting over his mortality in the war is a comedic touch that also shows minor citizens worrying about their own interiorities.

While the Colossus civilians were seen protesting resource-shortage in "Hunt on Celsor 3" and shown wariness of the First Order threat, it's disappointing to see Resistance unconcerned with the Colossus residents' preparation and reaction to precarious events like the Guavian Death Gang attack. What do they make of Captain Doza and the Aces' security competency when danger strikes?

Director Rau juggles its punchlines, civilian life, and the lesson-of-day for a highly amusing episode and seems less concerned about its skewered-for-comedic-effect message about "bad/good luck is simply in your head" in a world where the Force has a place and more on offering just another breezy—and harrowing—day on the Colossus.