Star Wars Resistance: Kaz, his father, and the theme of forgiveness

Yeager’s brother turned up recently, seeking help and forgiveness, and Kaz watched as they made peace with each other. Will this experience affect Kaz’s own relationship with his father?

There has been a lot talk about forgiveness lately, thanks to the latest episode of Star Wars Resistance. In “The Platform Classic,” Marcus Speedstar arrives in the hopes of repairing his relationship with his brother. By the time the episode ends, they’re back on speaking terms, but Yeager makes it clear there’s still a long way to go before things get better.

Throughout the episode, Kaz took part in talking things out with Marcus and discovering more about what drove the brothers apart. He also reached out to Yeager and shared his thoughts as a way to help bridge the gap. Kaz even stood nearby at the end as Yeager and Marcus shook hands, hugged, and shared some parting words.

Like Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels, Kaz is being exposed to situations that could help shape him as a character. In this episode, he saw two people start the process of healing and building trust again. This is important because he still needs to make peace with his own father, Hamato Xiono.

For the past few months, Kaz has been operating for the Resistance in secret. As far as we know, he has had no contact with his father or anyone else in his family. Even though what separates Kaz and Hamato is more about Kaz’s life choices rather than a tragic sky racing accident, there’s still a lack of communication and understanding that drives them further apart.

Kaz doesn’t seem like the type of guy to hold any grudges, but when he cut off the transmission between himself and Hamato in the series premiere, he felt more comfortable burying their differences and ignoring his father altogether. If and when he and Hamato reunite, will the memory of Yeager and his brother reconciling push him to mend his own relationship?

Before that happens, though, Hamato would first have to realize the error of his ways and seek his son’s forgiveness. After all, he has been forcing Kaz to live a life he doesn’t want, making decisions for him and denying him the thrill of racing. Kaz even mentioned back in “The Triple Dark” how he joined a race to prove his dad wrong. That’s how he ended up winning his lucky trophy.

The only way Hamato will recognize his mistakes is by listening to his son instead of projecting his own professional desires and dreams onto him. That’s when Kaz will be able to apply what he’s learned and forgive his father, thus healing the open wound between them.

We won’t be surprised if a future scene or episode harkens back to this lesson of forgiveness. Maybe, it won’t necessarily apply to Kaz and his father. What if this lesson comes back after Tam and the others discover the truth about Synara. After Synara explains her side of the story, will Tam forgive her? Better yet, will Tam forgive Yeager once she finds out Kaz is a Resistance spy and they’ve been lying to her and Neeku ever since?

Forgiveness is a recurring theme in Star Wars, so it’ll be interesting to see how it’ll play a part in the series and in future Star Wars stories. Whatever happens moving forward, most of us will no doubt look back at this episode and quote Yeager’s words, “It’s important to forgive people. When you don’t, nobody wins.”

The next episode of Star Wars Resistance, “Secrets and Holograms,” airs on Sunday, Dec. 2, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on the Disney Channel.