Tam Watch 2k19 continues! Bring! Back! Tam!
Wait. That’s not a review of this episode of Star Wars Resistance though… just a note of who isn’t in it. (But seriously… where is Tam?)
The Colossus might be doing a little better than it was at the start of the season but it still has its fair share of problems. It seems as if every time one gets solved, another one pops up to take its place. This week, it’s electrical problems. Neeku is doing his best to solve them but when his only help is Kaz… yeah. When the Colossus receives a distress signal, Kaz and Synara go investigate and find Nena who coincidentally happens to be an engineer. She agrees to help the Colossus in exchange for a rescue. Neeku is overjoyed but Nena isn’t exactly what she seems… because she’s got another agenda. (You’re shocked. We know.)
I’m torn about how I feel about this season so far. On the one hand, I’m enjoying seeing how everyone’s faring after the First Order so loudly declared their evilness. In retrospect, the show as a whole has a very Season 1 of Agents of SHIELD feel as in yes, they had a story to tell and there were adventures to be had but they were waiting to reach the point where a movie in the same universe did something explosive to really leap forward. However, Agents of SHIELD has had half a dozen seasons since to explore their characters and the galaxy. Resistance is just getting this one, which makes the ‘fix the problem of the week’ format a little frustrating despite the stories being good.
“The Engineer” puts Neeku a bit more in the spotlight but doesn’t tell us tons new about him. We already know he’s good at his job and we already know he’s too trusting. Sure, Kaz’s feelings get a little hurt when he thinks he’s been replaced but we the viewers know that Neeku will never consider Kaz anything but his best friend. Well. Bestest friend now. It would be nice for Neeku to have another friend though.
Despite feeling a little frustrated about the format, I did like how this episode and the season in general are emphasizing the tensions between different factions aboard the Colossus. None of them signed up for the Resistance and now they’re all targets of the First Order because of the actions of a few people. We saw how things went when food was scarce last week and now we’re seeing what happens when everyone’s looking for someone else to blame. The pirates are hardly innocent victims but it won’t be surprising when they actually do something super bad further down the line after everything. I just hope that Synara continues to be awesome and eventually is a part of that team that goes and rescues her girlfriend Tam from the First Order.
As for Nena, I would’ve liked to get to know her a little better because I’m still not sure how someone goes from ‘was enslaved and hates pirates’ to ‘working for the First Order’. Yes, the First Order has done a good job of lying to people about their true intentions but I’m not sure how they were able to flip Nena so she’d track down targets for them and then leave them defenseless once the First Order arrives.
“The Engineer” is a solid episode but I hope we’re going to get to see more of the cast in future episodes sooner rather than later.
