Skeleton Crew's best episode yet is one big Indiana Jones adventure

After paying homage to swashbuckling classics like Treasure Island, Peter Pan, and The Goonies, Skeleton Crew cooks up one big Indiana Jones adventure this week—and it’s the best episode of the season so far. We get some actual answers to the mystery, even more fake names for Jude Law’s sketchy Jedi, lots of booby traps, and a Cthulhu-like monster that’s actually a decent guy.

We begin with SM 33, who promises he’s not going to attack the kids again (a promise he breaks 40 minutes later), telling the story of his old captain, Tak Rennod. Not only is the name Rennod a cool nod to Goonies director Richard Donner (Rennod backward), but he is clearly a Captain John Silver analog. Once the most notorious and feared captain in the galaxy, Rennod grew paranoid of his own crew. And once his concubine and his first mate tried to challenge his rule, he killed them all. Though SM doesn’t have the coordinates to At Attin, he knows his captain would have hidden them in his secret pirate lair.

Except, the dangerous, gritty, edgy pirate lair is not on a planet worthy of being called The Demon’s Rest or Battle World, but on a lavish resort planet full of pleasure yachts. It’s a space Switzerland where the workers constantly repeat that they are a neutral place, which is never a good sign. The moment they arrive, SM is hilariously distraught and having a full-blown panic attack over his home being ruined. This is no place worthy of the name Skull Ridge Mountain. There are no fighting pits, and no vats of acid to throw your enemies in, but rather luxury buffets, mud baths and spas. Star Wars, meet gentrification. 

Now, Skeleton Crew is in some ways the anti-Andor, a show that doesn’t necessarily offer a deep interrogation of the ways institutions serve as vessels for oppression and fascism, and one that’s, well, more fun. And yet, there are places where Skeleton Crew does show itself to be cut from the same cloth as Andor and the same cloth as the more controversial aspects of the Star Wars prequels. Even if we don’t spend much time exploring the resort of Lanupa, we get some glimpses at things being more than meets the eye in this episode. As much as we hear that Lanupa is a neutral place, we do see members of the Banking Clan (who apparently survived being nationalized by Palpatine) doing business in the same spa that houses members of the Hutt Cartel, which does raise some questions.

Much of the episode is spent on Jod and the kids trying to find the secret entrance to Rennod’s lair, and it bears repeating that this show has excellent casting. Jude Law’s Jod continues to prove himself one of the best characters in Star Wars in years, and his chemistry with the younger cast is awe-inspiring, especially when they’re driving him nuts. Jod’s advice to Wim when he finally realizes his wish for adventure is stupid and he wants to go home is about as warm and comforting as you’d expect from a pirate without scruples. His grand idea to make Wim less sad is to basically ask him if he’s tried not being sad. He suggests Wim to forget about them because attachments are simply bad. Even if he still refuses to admit he’s a Jedi, Jod is very clearly following their teachings, even quoting Qui Gon to Wim. Now, going by Law’s real age, Jod could have easily been a padawan about to take his trials before the Jedi Purge, and he might have even seen or heard of Qui Gon as a youngling. 

At the spa, having Jod being so close to getting a day off and enjoying some luxury at the spa before the kids hijack his plans and start jumping on the big bed at their lavish suite while shouting that they want to look at the buffet is hilarious. This all makes Jod’s eventual betrayal hit all the hardest, because the episode smartly reminds you at every turn that he is not here to play. When he is confronted by a former acquaintance who knows him by a different name, Jod/Dash/Silvo’s mask drops, and we see the ruthless pirate he really is before he once again becomes the nice yet sketchy guy who is decent with kids. When they are being chased by Brutus’ crew, just as Neel suggests apologizing and trying to make peace, Jod orders SM to drown their chasers in acid instead.

After finding the entrance to Rennod’s lair beneath the spa, it’s time for a treasure hunt worthy of Indiana Jones. There are deadly booby traps straight out of The Penitent Man in The Last Crusade, clever puzzles, and, at the end, a massive treasure room that even has a High Republic-era lightsaber. Robot & Frank director Jake Schreier does a good job in making the traps feel dangerous enough to create tension, while still ensuring this remains fun for all ages. Between this episode and the great treasure-hunting season-two episode of The Bad Batch, perhaps Star Wars should do Indiana Jones-style swashbuckling adventures more often.

Thanks to SM accessing the last recording of Captain Rennod (who is suspiciously obscured), we learn what the treasure of At Attin really is. Turns out, the planet has the last Old Republic mint, which explains why Wim so casually had shiny and most importantly new-looking credits. It really is the planet of eternal treasure, because you can simply keep making new credits for all time.

Now, this does raise some massive questions that, despite this still being a fun adventure show, have some big implications about the larger political and socioeconomic state of the galaxy. Remember how the kids were taught some extremely advanced economics at school, primarily focused on exchange rates? There’s a big chance all of this is a massive money laundering operation that produces Old Republic credits and then launders the money via the still-existing Banking Clan. In a way, Skeleton Crew is a big spiritual sequel to The Phantom Menace, telling an adventure story at the foreground of a tale of how corrupt economic systems control the fate of trillions in the shadows. Perhaps it’s like Asimov’s Foundation, an insurance plan to keep the galaxy afloat in case the Republic fell.

Regardless, the kids have more pressing matters at hand, namely that Jod now has the coordinates to his treasure and no longer needs the kids, so he invokes his right to challenge Fern to become captain as per the Pirate’s Code. As I said before, the cast is wonderful, and the jump from them having fun at the spa’s suit to Jod holding a knife to Fern’s throat is heartbreaking (while Wim trying to be a hero by grabbing the lightsaber, only to ignite it upside-down is hysterical). They may be involved in a big space adventure, but these are still very much kids—and they are terrified. Though they manage to escape via a trap door, they are more lost than ever before, while Jod now has a ship, SM, the coordinates, and a lightsaber.

Stray observations

• • Neel asking Jod what a concubine is is funny as hell.
• • The parents are finally making a move, with Neel’s mom and Wim’s dad stealing the access codes for the barriers to try and communicate with people outside the planet.
• • So far, Jod’s other names include Dash Zentin, Crimson Jack, Silvo the Mad Captain, and Jodwick Zank.
• • This week’s weird little alien guy is actually a massive alien guy named Cthallops. This very Cthulhu-coded spa-enjoyer helps the kids in exchange for hearing some amusing stories. He seems nice and wants the kids to return someday to tell the rest of the story.