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Skeleton Crew delivers a satisfying, homage-filled finale

Pirates attack, heroes rise, and "The Real Good Guys" band together.

Skeleton Crew delivers a satisfying, homage-filled finale

Skeleton Crew‘s season finale offered arguably the purest expression of Star Wars as a franchise in years—not necessarily the best Star Wars but the one that best captured what the project is at its core. Sure, it would be nice to know what happens after the fighting is done or how the planet is affected by all the developments of the episode, but the story ended right when it should, with this group of kids being reunited with their parents, finally back home after the adventure is completed. At the end of the day, Star Wars is an adventure, with the first film barely hinting at the larger world and the repercussions of the Rebels blowing up the Death Star. It simply told an exciting adventure story.

The finale starts with yet another cool homage, this time to The Wizard Of Oz. After Jod convinces the kids’ parents he is a Republic Emissary (don’t mind the menacing lightsaber in his hand), he politely and not-very-discreetly takes Fern and her mom hostage as they all go see the Supervisor. Kerry Condon is delightful as Fern’s mom, Fara, with her initial excitement at the thought of her daughter going to see the Wizard—the Supervisor—quickly turning to despair and horror when Jod shows his true colors. 

We soon learn that the Supervisor is not Captain Rennod in disguise but just a simple droid with a big Stephen Fry-like personality, one that immediately realizes Jod is a liar when he mentions that he is a Jedi. It turns out that good old Palpatine did one thing right in his entire term, and the last message Attin ever got from the Republic stated that all Jedi are traitors. Unfortunately, even if the Supervisor is quick to turn the droid guards against Jod, he isn’t quick enough to take down a skilled Jedi pirate, who turns his lightsaber on the Supervisor and cuts him down with a single stroke (in retrospect, it was very stupid to have the droid’s chip right behind what is clearly meant to by his eye/mouth), shutting down the entire planet’s electrical grid. 

When Jod forces Fara to allow his ship to pass the barrier (lest he blows the whole barrier up), we get another sight we hadn’t really seen in Star Wars before: an alien invasion. This is up there with the shots of the Star Destroyer and the Death Star suddenly appearing in the sky in Rogue One as one of the coolest things Star Wars has done in years. I know the sight of a suburban neighborhood in the galaxy far, far away was disorienting and weird the first episode, but it was all worth it for this moment. Seeing the giant pirate cruiser flying over that same neighborhood, all turrets pointing downward before opening fire on the buses, speeders, and people below is a horrifying and extremely cool visual. 

This is what makes Skeleton Crew special, not the larger lore implications of At Attin or what the discovery of a mint can mean for the New Republic and Thrawn’s Imperial Remnant. It’s the fact that, thanks to this show, we got the Star Wars equivalent of the raid on Port Royal scene from The Curse Of The Black Pearl with alien space pirates pillaging and plundering a suburban neighborhood.

If that wasn’t exciting enough, shortly after we get another great sequence, one that makes homage to the climactic bike chase in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, with Wim, Neel, and KB deciding to take the Onyx Cinder outside the barrier to try and get help while Wim’s dad tags along. It is a thrilling sequence, as we see the speeder bikes moving across the neighborhood while evading the pirates. Wim’s dad also gets super excited when they make the jump and manage to cross the forest cliff, which is adorable. Unfortunately, the ship is grounded, and the only way to unlock it is to restore power from the top of the Supervisor’s tower.

In true Amblin fashion, a big part of this episode is finding cool ways of deploying the trope of parents not listening. The parents are initially reluctant to help or even listen to the kids’ concerns. And yet the moment they start coming around and helping is fantastically written and performed by the adult cast. Of course, KB’s moms are the only ones to fully support and believe in her daughter and her ability to pilot the ship to get help, while Wim’s dad, Wendle, is understandably simply not about to lose his son again despite knowing the right thing is to stay and help (until he realizes that he can actually help his son because a Level 7 Systems Coordinator can certainly turn the power back on).

Then there’s Fana, who sees the oppressive barrier around At Attin as more of a safety measure to protect children from the horrors of the galaxy. If they let more people in or threaten the integrity of the barrier, it will all be for nothing. Except, as Fern tells her mom, they have already been out in the galaxy and they’ve seen some of the worst places you can see—a pirate port, a decadent spa resort for rich gangsters and bankers, a post-apocalyptic wasteland—and they still kept finding people wanting to help these kids and to do some good. Just like Fern had to learn to listen to her friends and be a better leader because of it, Fana learned to listen to and trust her daughter this episode.

But that only happens after Wim arrives at the top of the tower and immediately tries to bullshit his way to intimidating Jod, spouting lies about bypassing the barrier’s communication block with the secret Crystal of the Founders, which he gained from an ancient guardian hidden in the forest. (Never change, Wim.) The lie might have worked (it was never going to work) except for the fact that Wim mentions that he called the Jedi Army for help, which is when the final shoe drops and Jod finally tells the kid what happened to the Jedi. Maybe because he doesn’t fully trust Jod or he doesn’t have time to process but Wim doesn’t seem as affected by this as I thought he would be. Still, the lie is just enough of a distraction to allow Wendle to reactivate the power.

This allows KB to fly the ship—with the help of the best first mate, SM 33 (who’s back, only with his head detached)—while Neel mans the cannon on top of the school building and shoots at the pirates. There is no way these kids can simply go back to school and learn about economics when they just became the coolest bunch of youngsters since Anakin single-handedly blew up the droid-control ship in The Phantom Menace. After contacting Kh’ymm and having her call the New Republic for aid, all that is left is shutting down the barrier. This is where the parents get their moment to shine, with Wendle sucker punching Jod and then Fara helping him pull the lever that blows up the barrier in a colorful and fantastic shot that shows the barrier disappear and give way to a star-filled galaxy in the night’s sky.

After Mandalorian season three and Ahsoka made the New Republic into an inept and corrupt organization, it is refreshing to see their fighters actually be badass heroes in this episode. But it doesn’t matter how the New Republic reacts to the discovery of At Attin or what happens to Jod (who we simply leave behind at the top of the Supervisor’s tower). All that matters is the final shot of all the kids reuniting, having saved their parents and their home. There are questions left unanswered, but the season certainly went out with a bang. 

Stray observations

  • • This week’s common object but Star Wars-fied: a space microwave!
  • • Gotta love a Star Wars planet-wide control system that has zero redundancies and can be destroyed by just stabbing a droid in the eye.
  • • What makes Jod’s backstory tragic is that he could have easily turned into another Cal Kestis, another Kanan, but instead, his worldview turned darker.
  • • It’s good to see Wim take the necessary time to assess which end of the lightsaber lights up this time around.
  • • Can Neel finally take a bath uninterrupted now that the adventure is over?
  • • And that’s a wrap on Skeleton Crew. It’s been a delight to follow this special little show with all of you!

 
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