Taro’s long-term goals are a bit murky to me now. He was clearly using von Carnaj to his own advantage and probably intended to play both sides, getting what plunder he could from Carnaj’s shortsighted plans and then betraying him to the forces of law and order, claiming that he only acted under duress. Maybe that’s still his angle: his dialogue suggests it is.

But there’s a note in the script that implies Taro is aware that starting a fire on this blimp could have very deadly consequences for all involved. If that’s true, then maybe he intends to escape unsupervised, taking a little treasure with him, before the ship explodes. As the sole survivor, he could then shape the narrative of his kidnapping and escape, trading on the story to gain access to other contacts, even outside his family’s considerable network.

I’m not sure he would’ve made it. But I can be totally confident that he’d be confident he would.