Skeleton Crew gives Star Wars its most poignant disability representation yet

Skeleton Crew slows down in its sixth episode so its titular crew can face hard truths, learn lessons, and come together as a proper team. This is classic Star Wars at its most basic—a ragtag crew of misfits learning to become a crew and forming a little found family. It’s the basis for the original trilogy, sequel trilogy, Rebels, and most Star Wars video games. It works like gangbusters every time, but there’s something about seeing it happen with a group of kids that feels unique and also obvious. With only two more episodes left, it’s about time the kids grow into their roles in the titular crew, each getting a lesson. Fern learns patience, Wim steps up as a hero, KB learns to open up to others, and Neel gets to save the day and gain confidence. 

After the trap door on Rennod’s secret lair safely sends the kids out on the side of the mountain, they have to quickly figure out how to get back on their ship and beat Jod to At Attin. Thankfully, KB has the coordinates. Rather than this realization giving the team momentum, things quickly take a turn toward infighting when Fern suggests they all climb a dangerous cliff and refuses to listen to KB’s insistence that it’s not possible. They may have just survived an Anakin at the Jedi Temple situation with Jod last week, but this is their hardest challenge yet. 

It turns out that KB’s warnings last episode about the steam from the spa being dangerous to her augmentations were not unfounded, because as soon as the group splits up and KB decides to follow Wim—whose gut feeling gave him absolute certainty that a group of trash crabs are definitely going to lead them to help—the corrosion in her augmentations leads to near total system shutdown. This leads to one of the best representations of disabilities in recent TV, and most certainly the best for Star Wars, a franchise with a long history of mixed results in its cyborgs as parallels of disabilities. Kyriana Kratter does an incredible job portraying the terrifying moment KB loses her motor functions and then her ability to speak, while Ravi Cabot-Conyers sells Wim’s desperations as he tries to replace KB’s corroded fuses, a scene more tense than many big-stakes action scenes in recent Star Wars. 

We get incredible insight into the reality of KB’s situation and her lived experience with her disability, not just in the life-or-death aspect of her shutting down, but also in the frustrations she feels around people close to her and their treatment of her condition. Fern has tried pretending everything is like it once was, that KB can do everything and anything, refusing to acknowledge that her best friend clearly needs accommodations. Likewise, KB is terrified to speak up and ask for consideration because she’s scared she’ll be left alone again. This is a phenomenal scene that avoids many pitfalls that other portrayals of disability and chronic illness fall into, focusing on the importance of KB communicating her needs, setting up her boundaries, and having people around her listen to her. This could easily fall into “very special episode” territory, but the fact that it happens in a scene between the mostly silent KB and the hugely empathetic (almost to a fault, going by his terrible judgment of good guys) Wim makes this a bonding moment full of nuanced character development. KB realizes what she should do rather than Wim giving her advice. That the conversation quickly cuts away to Fern practically dragging Neel up the mountain before he makes her realize that not everyone is built up the same, and it’s okay that people are capable of different things is just adorable and poignant.

Unsurprisingly, Wim’s plan of following the trash crabs fails miserably because all the little buggers do is lead them to a giant trash crab (a practical creature built by Phil Tippett’s studio!). Thankfully, Neel and Fern get a hold of the ship and the kids all get inside, but then it is trapped by a giant trash machine about to crush them to death. Now that the kids are reunited, and they’ve learned about themselves (and KB and Fern apologized), they put their lessons to practice and nail what is a big-budget scripted version of the Smuggler’s Run ride at Galaxy’s Edge. They each grow into their role on the ship and become a proper crew, with Neel and Fern acting as pilots. Wim goes straight for the turret (someone should check on Wim and how quickly he reaches for weapons at every opportunity) while KB takes the engineer role. It fits them, as Fern is the one to drive them forward while Neel makes sure they go at a nice pace. Wim may not be the best shot, but he is at least unafraid to make a move and take action, while KB is undoubtedly the team’s brains. It’s a thrilling moment that gets better the moment Fern decides to push the Hull Destruction Sequence button SM 33 explicitly told them not to push, allowing the ship to shed like it’s a snake and reveal a shiny-looking ship underneath that escapes safe and sound from the clutches of the trash machine.

What about Jod, you may ask? Well, while the kids were turning into a proper crew, Jod/Silvo/Jack goes through a “Zero Friends Again” moment. Awaiting sentencing by Brutus, who apparently survived along with Gunter, Jod is given the opportunity to make his final appeal as per the Pirate’s Code on board Brutus’ ship. He then goes on to pull his best charming scoundrel face and deliver a speech about how he promises to give the biggest treasure in the galaxy to the crew. He goes around talking about the dreams certain crewmembers have and how he can make them a reality like Jeff Winger pointing at random people in the audience and making up stories about who they are and what they need. Sure, he succeeds in getting one last chance to prove himself or die if there is no treasure in At Attin, but this is just another trick by a lonely con artist who is more alone while surrounded by former crewmembers than the kids he abandoned on a snowy mountain.

Stray observations:

• • “How come I’m always wrong about who’s the good guy?” Poor Wim, he can’t catch a break. At this point, I am convinced he could meet even Darth Sidious and invite him over to dinner thinking he was just a nice guy.
• • Jod sings a pirate shanty about Captain Rennod, and it’s one of the coolest things to ever happen to Star Wars. A close second? The fact that they have an hourglass, but it’s filled with liquid plasma, just to Star Wars-fy it.
• • I hope this isn’t the last we see of Pokkit, she rules.
• • Part of what makes the At Attin mystery so compelling is how little of the planet we see. We get just enough to be aware that things are happening, that the parents are trying to reach their kids, but not enough that we figure out the bigger mystery ourselves
• • Bryce Dallas Howard continues never to miss. Give her a Star Wars movie, you cowards!