Skeleton Crew enters its darkest chapter in an ace penultimate episode

Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood is one of the most fascinating characters in recent Star Wars history, one that is challenging the depiction of Jedi in the franchise. Not only does Law give an incredible performance as what is basically Long John Silver from Treasure Island with a lightsaber, but the way the writers carefully integrated pieces of Jedi iconography and philosophy within the character’s overall piracy has been a joy to witness. Jod (or Silvo, Crimson Jack, Dash Zentin, Gorelox, or even Jodwick Zank) is charismatic, sure, has a silver tongue that makes you want to follow him, and his dialogue with Wim (especially this episode and how he refers to the kids as spoiled and sheltered) hides a deep hurt presumably stemming from Jod’s time during the Clone Wars.

And yet, we really should have known the moment he showed up in the first episode wearing a helmet that he was not good news, because the only people who wear masks and helmets in Star Wars are bad guys. Indeed, Jod just went from an opportunistic jerk to an outright evil and cruel guy who deserves a grandiose but painful Captain Hook death in this episode. It wasn’t enough that he abandoned the kids on Lanupa; he all but embodies everything the Sith stand for—just without their philosophy. He is greedy, selfish, cruel, covets power, and is willing to go to any lengths for it. 

More than anything, Jod is an A-class charlatan capable of talking his way out of almost any situation. When the pirate crew arrives at the coordinates for At Attin, they find only a planet surrounded by a toxic maelstrom of electricity in the atmosphere, one that fries a poor Quarren pirate’s ship when he gets nearby. And yet, Jod continues to talk his way out of being thrown off the airlock by Brutus. He reminds the pirates that the treasure planet is hidden on purpose, and that they need a key to enter: a ship. And it just so happens that the one ship that can fly into the planet just exits hyperspace at that exact moment.

After some good quality bonding last week, the kids finally get a brief moment to just be kids and play around on their shiny ship. Except Wim isn’t having it. Now that the adventure is almost over, he realizes he’ll soon have to return to his boring life at the old mint, and he doesn’t want to. He may regret the life-threatening dangers of the trip, but not the adventure. The difference is that he is not alone this time, for the journey also changed the rest of the crew. Even Neel says he’s glad he went on this adventure, despite almost dying half the time.

Sadly, Neel isn’t exactly right about that last part. He almost dies all of the time, including this time, because the crew gets captured by Brutus and the pirates the moment they get in proximity of their tractor beam. Even after they manage to trap Brutus using a loading crane when he gets close to the Onyx Cinder, it just gives Jod an opportunity to shoot his former first mate in the face and take control of the pirates—who Jod is convinced love him, though Brutus is sure they just love plunder, regardless of who leads them. This time, we get a different side of Jod, one who puts on a theatricality mask in front of the other pirates, talking a big game about treasure and acting like a captain, but who is himself in front of the kids now—unfiltered, dangerous, annoyed, angry, and willing to go all Anakin on these younglings if he doesn’t get what he wants. 

After receiving a transmission from their parents, Wim decides to recklessly go on the attack and try to overwhelm the pirates, failing miserably, of course. He does confront Jod, however, and says that the ship belongs to them because they found it first. The Jedi-turned-pirate dismisses the kid’s ramblings, but it turns out that there is a force in the galaxy almost as strong as, well, The Force: the rule of claimsies. According to SM 33, the Pirate Code states that a captain can claim command of only one ship at a time, and Jod has taken command of Brutus’ frigate. Sadly, the pirate covers Wim’s mouth right before he can claim the Onyx Cinder, though not before Fern calls unclaimsies on Jod’s claim and declares the ship is for kids only. It turns out that is a valid enough claim in SM’s book, bending the rules just enough to allow himself to give Jod the sock to the face he truly deserves and beat all the pirates up before kicking them off the ship. This is the kind of ludicrous, silly ruling that makes Skeleton Crew such fun to watch, as it treats the world of the kids and their words seriously. Do we need Ahsoka to suddenly call claimsies on Thrawn’s fleet when they inevitably meet in the future? No, but the fact that this show allowed a group of kids to outsmart a pirate crew with “unclaimsies” is utterly delightful.

The barrier is a series of massive electrical floating stations generating huge electricity, frying anything that gets close. Tak Rennod figured this out and stole an emissary ship on its way to At Attin (which he then dressed up with the armored hull to make it more pirate-y). The giant, toxic maelstrom planet hid the much smaller one of At Attin. Unfortunately, the good times are short-lived for the kids, because Jod was on board all along. Right when SM 33 gets ready to give the pirate another ass-whooping, Jod pulls his lightsaber and decapitates the poor droid. They arrive on At Attin to the sound of an automated message from the supervisor (voiced by Stephen Fry!) welcoming the Republic Emissary. It looks like there hasn’t been one in ages, because people in the plaza seem very surprised when a little park opens up and reveals a landing platform under the ground. Jod convinces the security droids that he is the emissary and must have the kids kept at his side for their safety. 

The underground mint is in fact a massive facility hiding 1,139 vaults, each with a truly unbelievable amount of shiny gold credits, the mere sight of which makes Jod laugh and cry from joy. The episode ends with the kids’ parents arriving at the vault and hugging them, a tender moment that gets interrupted by Jod arriving and igniting his lightsaber threateningly. It’s a scene that distorts everything we know of the imagery of a Jedi, and it rules.

Stray observations

• • The parents pull an E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, going out to the woods at night to create a communication buoy that can reach the kids. (The device even looks like E.T.’s ship.) Also, Neel’s mom is a badass for not even hesitating for a second before trying to run away with the device the moment security droids arrive. 
• • Goodbye, Brutus. You became a classic Star Wars character this week. You did absolutely nothing, but you looked cool doing it. 
• • How much do you want to bet that Neel or Wim remembers that there is a giant gun on the roof of the school at At Achrann, meaning there probably is one here, too?
• • Though he only showed up for a second, Neel’s dad just joined Qimir as one of the hottest characters in Star Wars. Just look at those husks!