Kaz, Kel, and Eila meet a treasure hunter named Mika Grey on Ashas Ree. While First Order Raiders arrive to collect in, The Relic Raider.
This article contains plot points from Star Wars Resistance The Relic Raider.
Star Wars Resistance: The Relic Raider inched ever so closer to having a relevant episode, but it still missed the mark by a Wookiee hair. This is so frustrating because all it would take to make the last five episodes of Resistance better is a minor tweak in the story and boom! Relevancy. In the case of The Relic Raider, Captain Doza sends Freya, Kaz, Tora, and CB-23 to Asash Ree to purchase some supplies with what little money the Colossus has left. Before they go, Kel and Eila sneak aboard with Kaz’s permission.
It was only a matter of time when Resistance included the Force as a story element, but when Kel said, “I think it’s a temple of the Force,” it came out of nowhere. What gave him that impression? They could’ve said a temple of some kind, and it would’ve sparked enough interest. Mentioning the Force seemed…forced. Eila recognizes it as similar to a Jedi temple on their home planet of Tehar. Except they quickly realize what Jedi temple was built on top of a Sith temple.
The Temple of Arash Ree
When Kaz nearly touches the relic, the floor opens up, and he falls down to a level below. This mirrors Star Wars Rebels Twilight of the Apprentice when Ezra fell deeper and deeper into the depths of Malachor, which symbolized the depths of darkness he had fallen before he found himself. The Relic Raider doesn’t quite have the same symbolism.
Thus far, Star Wars Resistance has mostly stayed away from mentioning the Force, Jedi, or Sith. Kel and Eila have been the only ones to bring it up early in season one, so it did make sense to have them in the episode. Kel and his younger sister, Eila, have been cooped up in engineering since the end of season one, and now, in the first episode, they appear in this season, and they run into a temple of the Force. It would’ve made it look less coincidental if the writers used the temple to bring the kids out of hiding.
The Relic
For example, when Kaz, Kel, and Eila approach the temple, they hear a woman’s voice calling for help. This call for help could’ve been a disturbance in the Force the kids acknowledged. The way it’s done comes across as too coincidental. Hey! The only two Force-sensitives on the Colossus arrive on this planet, which just happens to have a Force temple.
Yes, Kel and Eila don’t possess a strong connection to the Force, so maybe they wouldn’t have heard the distress call, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to adjust that a bit. As soon as Kaz enters the temple, it’s obviously a callback to the temple on Malachor in season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, which was interesting that the creators would use Star Wars Resistance as a platform to display it again. The question is now, what are they going to do with that information?
Sith Artifacts
Mika Grey, the woman who was calling out for help, is an artifact hunter of sorts. Her goal is to prevent any Force artifact from getting into the hands of Kylo Ren. This treasure hunt by Kylo Ren and to a lesser extent, the First Order is something visited in the Galaxy Edge comic book series and the Black Spire novel by Delilah Dawson.
It’s no secret Star Wars Resistance has been spinning its wheels—stalling even. However, the animation is still the best animation of any Star Wars series and is beautiful to watch. The scene with Kel and Eila chasing the glowing butterflies is stunning. If it weren’t for the animation, Resistance would not have gotten a second season. But if the Force and specifically the temple is what The Relic Raider is all about, then more detail should’ve been given to the temple. Mika Grey explains that she excavated the Sith temple but doesn’t go into any detail about the temple itself, just that the natives panicked at the evils held within and left.
Mika Grey and Eila
Near the end of the episode, on the flight back to the Colossus, Grey tells Eila that the Force isn’t exclusive to Jedi or Sith, but that it resides in all of us. This is a sweet gesture by Grey to assure the child that everyone is Force potential, regardless of their midichlorian count. This Force distribution is an aspect of Star Wars that has been around from the beginning but has been emphasized in the last few years with characters like Ezra Bridger, Rey, and Karr (Force Collector). Rey’s story isn’t finished yet. Still, all three of these characters’ stories began with them as virtually unknown for the majority of their childhoods without any formal training until a mentor entered their journey.
According to the official Star Wars website, Asash Ree was pulled from the Tales of the Jedi Companion book (1996). In that book, Asash Ree was “an ancient system deep in the dark heart of what had once been the Sith Empire.” Whether or not this source was used for its ancient Jedi and Sith lore, it’s interesting to note that these reference books play a part in modern Star Wars stories.
Conclusion
Star Wars Resistance The Relic Raider took an unexpected turn in the series, but at least it took A turn instead of maintaining its wayward course without direction. Again, what they do from here will determine its importance. Kylo Ren is scheduled to appear in later episodes, and no doubt the Raiders will inform him of her involvement and her cooperation with the resistance. Perhaps now the events of The Rise of Skywalker will start to emerge.
Once upon a time in a town no one’s heard of, there lived a boy who enjoyed Star Wars from the quiet of his bedroom. A time came when a new comlink allowed the boy to hear that there are others like him. Overjoyed, the boy wanted nothing more than to join in the conversation. So he did. The rest is HIStory. Besides Star Wars I also enjoy Marvel and Game of Thrones (I dabble in all sorts of geeky fun). You can find me on the couch watching one of several streaming services, reading or writing. Let’s go, Bruins!