The episode is one hour and premiered October 7, 2018.
Three New Republic X-Wings are in a dogfight with a red First Order TIE fighter. Two of the pilots, Mia Gabon and Hugh Sion, are concerned that they won't be able to hold out long enough for Poe Dameron of the Resistance to arrive, but the third, Kazuda Xiono, is insistent that they can do so. He persuades the other pilots to escape into hyperspace while he delivers the intel, and covers them while they do so. He manages to hold out against Major Vonreg for a little bit longer, but then his engine is knocked out. Fortunately, Poe arrives just in time, and the two of them manage to drive the red-armoured pilot off before a Resistance corvette arrives.
Kaz is thrilled to be on a Resistance ship, and after handing the intel he was sent to deliver over to Poe, is awestruck when he learns that Poe will be reporting to General Organa. After using the refresher, he tracks down Poe, who is talking to Leia via hologram, by falling through the door. After Poe escorts him out, demanding to know if Kaz was spying on him, Kaz begs Poe for an opportunity to join the Resistance. Poe eventually agrees, explaining that the intel Kaz delivered is proof that the First Order plans to attack the New Republic. Kaz agrees, but asks to contact his senator father first. Through a scrambled transmission, he tells his father he's with the Resistance, but then hangs up after realizing he doesn't want to ask him for anything.
Poe takes Kaz to the remote Outer Rim planet Castilon, explaining that he's going to be a spy. Kaz is disappointed because he wants to pilot, and Poe tells him he'll be both. As they approach the Colossus, Kaz says that he's heard of the place's racing circuit. After landing, Kaz is unnerved when he sees a Klatooinian throwing a Gotal off the platform, but Poe tells him not to worry about it. After seeing some of the Aces flying overhead, Kaz tells Poe that he always dreamed of being an ace pilot, imagining himself as "Kazuda Xiono, the Greatest Pilot in the Galaxy". Unfortunately, Literal-Minded Neeku Vozo walks up just in time to hear that, and promptly begins spreading the news across the platform, so that by the time Kaz and Poe reach Aunt Z's Tavern, everyone on the Colossus is talking about him.
After an incident with a rigged dart causes a Bar Brawl, Poe's contact, and Neeku's boss, Jarek Yeager, is not particularly thrilled at the prospect of letting Kaz work in his shop. After Kaz explains to Neeku that he's not the greatest pilot in the galaxy, Neeku is hurt, assuming that Kaz was intentionally lying, not quite understanding the concept of hyperbole. Kaz's attempt to apologize to Neeku leads Neeku to, in a well-meaning attempt to help Kaz achieve his dream of being a great pilot, announce that Kaz will be challenging in the race tomorrow. Kaz wants to back out, but is told he can't. Poe wishes him luck before leaving, asking BB-8 to stay and keep an eye on him.
Yeager and Neeku explain that Kaz can't back out of the race because he'll be thrown off the platform, and left to be eaten by Castilon's sea creatures, if he does. After the day's race ends, with Hype Fazon the victor, announcer Jak Sivrak brings Kaz up on the screen and asks him to choose which one of the five Aces he'll race against tomorrow. Told that Ace Five, Torra Doza, is the youngest of the Aces (and combined with her goofy photo), he picks her as his opponent. Everyone in the vicinity either laughs or facepalms, and Kaz asks if he made a bad decision.
At Yeager's shop, Kaz is shown the ship he's being loaned, the Fireball, which he's been told is named due to its tendency to explode. He's not impressed, noting its state of disrepair. Hearing this, the final member of Yeager's crew, Tam Ryvora, pops out, affronted at what she takes as an insult about her mechanical skills. She's further infuriated when Yeager tells her he's loaning the Fireball to Kaz as a favour, as she's already been promised the ship if she can repair it, and storms off in a huff. Torra drops by briefly to wish her opponent good luck. After realizing that a lot of work is needed to get the Fireball flight-worthy for tomorrow, Kaz and Neeku are sent to Flix and Orka's shop for parts.
Kaz, as the pilot, has to pay for the parts. As he doesn't have enough money, he instead makes a deal to bring Flix and Orka lunch (one gorg) in exchange for some used parts. The owner of the gorg stand turns out to be the same guy that Kaz hit in the back with a rigged dart, and Kaz only manages to defuse the situation by promising to put his business' logo on his ship for the race. Finally, after acquiring the used parts, the repair work begins.
The next day, Kaz and Torra race. Kaz does quite well, but pushes the Fireball too hard and crashes, losing. He wakes up in Yeager's shop, with Torra and the rest of Team Fireball present. Afterwards, Yeager takes Kaz off for a talk, wishing him good luck on his mission but clarifying that he doesn't want to get involved.
Meanwhile, Major Vonreg arrives at Starkiller Base and requests that Captain Phasma be informed of his arrival...
Tropes:
- Action Prologue: The episode starts with Kaz and two other pilots in the midst of a dogfight with Major Vonreg.
- The Alleged Car: The Fireball, whose name is quite literal.
- Arc Words: Borrowing from the previous show, Kaz tells his teammates to get back to base while he holds off Vonreg, promising that he'll "be right behind them". He doesn't fulfill it, but for a good reason this time.
- Bar Brawl: Kaz accidentally sets one off.
- Call-Forward: The intel Kaz delivers to the Resistance is, as Poe informs him, information that the First Order is planning to launch an attack on the New Republic. And at the very end of the episode, Major Vonreg arrives at Starkiller Base.
- The Cameo:
- Ello Asty is the Abednedo pilot that we see when the scene cuts to Kaz climbing aboard the Resistance ship.
- C-3PO is heard summoning Poe over the intercom.
- The Cavalry: During the opening dogfight, after Kaz's fellow New Republic pilots have left, Poe arrives just in time to prevent Major Vonreg from shooting down Kaz for good.
- Chain of Deals: In order to compete in the race and avoid getting thrown off the platform, Kaz has to obtain a bunch of parts for the Fireball. In exchange for the parts, Kaz has to obtain a gorg for Orka and Flix. In exchange for the gorg (and to placate the stand's owner, who has a grudge against him), Kaz offers to put the stand's logo on the Fireball.
- Character Title: "The Recruit" is Kaz, who's just joined the Resistance at the beginning of the show.
- Continuity Nod:
- Poe says that the Resistance ship was in service with the Rebellion from the Battle of Scarif to the Battle of Jakku.
- Kaz waking up on the Colossus after crashing, with no memory of how he was rescued and his friends around, is reminiscent of Anakin Skywalker waking up after the Battle of Bothawui.
- Facepalm: Several people standing near Kaz, including Yeager, do this when Kaz picks Torra to race against.
- Fingore: Kaz gets his finger bitten by the gorg he's getting for Orka and Flix.
- Gossip Evolution: Neeku misinterprets a remark from Kaz about wanting to be an Ace Pilot, and then spreads it around. By the time Kaz and Poe get to Aunt Z's, everyone considers him the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy and he has an entire fabricated history of races.
- Hero-Worshipper: Kaz is thrilled when he hears Poe is about to meet with the Leia Organa and asks him to tell her that he thinks that she's the bravest person in the galaxy. He's also quite excited to meet Poe.
- Jumped at the Call: Kaz begs Poe to let him into the Resistance, and is outright thrilled when Poe tells him he's got a mission for him.
- Pride Before a Fall: Kaz nearly suffer a lethal dose of this trope when he thought he could win a race against Torra by pushing the ramshackle Fireball's engines too hard. Luckily Yeager reminds him that he's not there to win but to survive (he still suffers his engine catching on fire, but it didn't explode into his ship's namesake).
- Single-Biome Planet: Castilon is an ocean planet.
- Tempting Fate: Poe promising Yeager that Kaz won't be any problem, just as Grevel slams into the window behind them.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: One of the first things Kaz sees upon landing on the Colossus is a Gotal being thrown off the platform to his apparent death. When Kaz asks about it, Poe tells him to ignore it. From the sound of things, this is a normal thing on the Colossus.
