“Kaz’s Curse” felt like a return to form. It reminded me a lot of the episodes from season one especially in the first half. This is what I wish the “Voxx Vortex 5000” was. While it didn’t move the big plot forward, it was a character centric episode that helped build Kaz’s story while pulling from elements of previous episodes.
The most significant difference to me in this episode compared to most of season two was the inclusion of background characters. I’ve missed the people of the Colossus. I’ve missed their antics and getting little sneak peeks into their daily lives. It’s been lacking for most of this season. But they add so much to the world of Resistance. They really make the Colossus have so much personality. The citizens were my first love of this show. They didn’t have to add in Bolza Grool’s side story about his Gorgs. They didn’t have to show Grevel hanging out with the pirates, but that addition shows the shadier citizens getting along with the pirates. Maybe that will come into play later if we see the society of the station split into factions. Now that Jace Rucklin and the female member of his crew, Lin, have joined the First Order, we see their last remaining member Gorrak working with Yeager in the hanger. In “Fuel for the Fire,” he was making fun of Yeager with Jace and Lin. And now he’s working with Yeager. That’s character development for him. The background characters aren’t adding to the overall story. But they are adding to the world of Resistance. We can infer more of the side stories just by seeing them. They have been sorely missing this season which really helped give this episode that season one feel.
I also love the addition of Mika Grey to the people of the Colossus. And she’s using her abilities to make money. I laughed so hard at this development. While I think she’ll play a more pivotal role later, I love this small part now. She’s finding her niche with these people, and it’s really nice to see.
SWINDLE THEM, MIKA! YOU MAKE THAT MONEY!
But to come back to Kaz, there are so many layers to his development this episode. It felt like a callback to “Relic Raiders.” Eila called him out about his lack of faith in the Force. She stated that just because he couldn’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not real. Now I’m not saying that Kaz was actually cursed. It’s more calling out his practicality and how sometimes that can get in the way. Kaz created his own mental block. He was getting in his own way more than usual.
It was a lesson for him to trust himself and his skills. But it was also a lesson that sometimes outside forces can make things spin out of his control. It seemed like a set up for bigger things to come. If Kaz had some kind of interaction with the Force, would he still trust his skills? Would he trust himself? That’s what I feel like this episode was getting at. It was a lesson about Kaz learning to have more faith in his abilities even when things are going drastically wrong. He doesn’t need some lucky trophy or a talisman from Mika Gray. He just needs to trust himself to claim his own path and destiny, which is a very Star Wars theme.
And we get to see this pay off in the end. He pretty much goes, “NOT TODAY, CURSE!” and he takes charge of the Aces in the final dogfight.
While this season has been uneven in plot, they’ve done a really great job building Kaz slowly but surely as a leader. He’s starting to come into his own more and more.
I might be looking a bit too much into it, but I wonder why they showed us that moment at the end of the episode where the lights of the marketplace flickered. It wasn’t a quick thing either. It was a couple long beats of the lights going on and off. I took this as one of two ways. It could help drive home Mika’s final line about superstitions just to add a whimsical effect. But I think it’s some kind of ominous foreshadowing. It felt like a really deliberate moment to showcase right there at the end. I don’t know what the foreshadowing might be, but it felt really important.
Just a couple little random bits here and there from this episode that stood out to me:
-I like that Kaz brought up to the pirate that the curse was scaring Neeku. After “The Engineer” where Neeku and Kaz’s friendship was questioned AND that Kaz is self-centered, it was really great to hear that part of the reason he confronted the pirate was for his friend’s well-being.
-It’s SO, SOOOOOO GROSS but so freaking funny that the pirate licked his hand and smeared it all over Kaz’s face to curse him. The pirates are ridiculous and I love them so much. They just mess with people, and it’s great.
-Kaz lying face down on the floor for a good chunk of the episode is a mood I understand well. I felt that on a deep level.
-I’m glad they brought up Kaz’s trophy again. With all their money problems on the Colossus, I was wondering if Kaz might have sold it to help out since it was worth a lot of credits. But I wish they would have brought that up sooner. It would have been a really nice moment to see him handing the trophy over to Captain Doza as a gesture to help out his new home.
-I’m ready for them to use Aces other than Hype. When they went out scouting together, they could have sent another Ace. I say it just about every week, but I want more from Griff, Bo, and Freya. Though, it is really great seeing Hype develop more and more into a team player.
I really enjoyed “Kaz’s Curse” because of that season one feel. This episode felt like the Resistance I fell in love with. Maybe after an up and down season, it was nice to return to something familiar. Whatever the reason, I really loved it. I only wish they applied more of these elements with episodes like “Voxx Vortex 5000.”
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