Skeleton Crew episode 2 reviewed
Way, way out past the barrier
Skeleton Crew is a new series streaming on Disney+. It is set in the Star Wars universe and occurs at some vaguely-defined period between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
What happened: The kids scream a lot until the ship abruptly drops out of hyperspace, then start screaming again as the decrepit droid SM-33 (who has a space rat living in its empty eye socket and talks like a pirate) challenges them as stowaways. The droid grabs Wim to take him to see the captain, but Fern—who’s already been established as a liar of opportunity—tells SM-33 that she killed his former captain, making her captain now. After a moment, the dottering droid agrees with her logic. SM-33 shows the kids how to pilot the ship and prevents Wim from pressing the “Emergency Hull Detonation” button. Unfortunately, SM-33 has never heard of At Attin, so cannot return the kids to their homeworld. Instead, they decide to visit Port Borgo, which the droid is familiar with, to seek directions home. Wim explores the ship, and discovers the long-decayed skeletons of the former crew who appear to have died fighting among themselves. He is delighted by the cool stuff he finds, including flamboyant hats and a brass spyglass straight out of Treasure Island.
Back on At Attin, two security droids investigating a mysterious seismic disturbance, run across Wim’s father, who tells them about the children trapped aboard the myterious starship. The droids say that’s impossible, as starships are prohibited. Frustrated, Wim’s dad argues that they need to hurry as the ship had probably breached the barrier. To his exasperation, the droids answer that breaking the barrier is a serious violation.
Reaching their crowded destination, the kids board a rickety ferry seemingly made of duct tape and clear vinyl to reach Port Borgo proper while SM-33 stays behind to make much-needed repairs. When Wim pays the ferry operator with one of the handful of credits his father had given him early for lunch money, the little alien is ecstatic, acting like he won the lottery. Wim wisely hides the rest of his credits in his socks. They pass a brothel, which the boys obliviously think might be able to give them directions home. Fern, clearly recognizing it for what it is, tells everyone to keep moving. As she’s lecturing the others to stay together, she realizes they’ve all separated in the crowd. KB, watching a weapons vendor, realizes Port Borgo is much more dangerous than they initially realized. She reunites with Fern as a sex worker from the brothel confronts them, pretending to be a friend. When they tell her they’re from At Attin, the sex worker laughs in disbelief. Wim and Neel sit down at a Star Wars equivalent of a food truck for lunch, but when Wim tries to pay a riot breaks out over his “mint condition Old Republic Credit.” The boys flee with a growing crowd of aliens in pursuit, running into the girls. Vane, a pirate last seen in The Mandalorian, assumes leadership of the mob and swipes Fern’s blaster, intent on shaking down the kids for all the credits they have. At Attin, it turns out, is a legendary lost planet of eternal treasure. None of the pirates believe the legend, but they do believe the kids have wealth upon them. SM-33 shows up then to defend his captain, and like a Rock ‘em Sock ‘em robot, beats the ever-loving crap out of Vane and the other pirates. As the kids flee back to the ferry, Fern demands to know why SM-33 brought them to a pirate port. The incredulous droid responds, “Because we’re pirates, too.” Fern shouts that they can’t be pirates because they’re kids. As SM-33 is responding that he sees no reason why kids can’t multitask, he’s shot in the back by the wolflike pirate who led the mutiny at the beginning of episode 1. When Fern mouths off to him, he has the kids thrown into the brig… which looks exactly like the prison cell from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at DisneyWorld. Since there’s no starving dog to entice to bring the key to them, the kids attempt to get the space rat living in SM-33’s eye socket to retrieve the key. This gambit fails miserably. Suddenly, a mysterious, shackled stranger who sounds suspiciously like Jude Law emerges from the shadows and offers to help the kids escape if they promise to take him with them. After Fern mouths off again (she just doesn’t learn) the stranger uses the Force to retrieve the key and throws back his cloak to reveal that he is, indeed, Jude Law. Surprise!
Disturbances in the Force: As uneven and meandering the first episode may be, the second episode has momentum going for it. Dispensing with the tedium of setup, it delights in throwing the clueless kids into increasingly baffling situations while allowing the viewing audience to piece together the context of the story faster than the main characters. The improbably artificial suburbia of At Attin now makes perfect sense—for At Attin is/was not properly part of either the New Republic or Empire, at least not publicly. It is indeed a planet of extreme wealth hidden safely behind the nebulous protective barrier. Comings and goings are strictly regulated and controlled to preserve the secret location of this planet. If it is part of the New Republic, it has off-the-ledger membership that’s kept hush-hush. The opulent, bougie suburbia is absolutely artificial in a galaxy that is, by default, grubby and run-down.
SM-33, a clunky pirate droid, actually talks like a stereotypical pirate. Voiced by Nick Frost, no less. I imagine the writers are still giggling to themselves over that one.
The peril and menace here is equivalent to what was seen in the animated Rebels series—ubiquitous, but never examined too closely. Like The Goonies, which this show is increasingly channeling, danger takes a back seat to the adventure. Wim’s impulsive urge to press any button that catches his attention has become a running joke, as has Fern’s unfiltered tongue and Neel’s abject fear at, well, pretty much everything. Only KB remains lacking in the character development department, although she does have a cool Geordi La Forge visor, so I guess it evens out. As for Jude Law’s deposed pirate captain Jod Na Nawood, I did not expect him to be a Force user. Wim, being a Jedi fanboy, immediately identifies him as a Jedi, at which point Jod says to keep it secret. For the record, I don’t think he is an actual Jedi. A talented Force-sensitive who’s used his limited abilities to further his pirate career? Sure. That’d be interesting to see a Force user in the Star Wars universe who is neither Jedi nor Sith. On the other hand, the whole Jedi vs. Sith thing is wearing thin and one begins to wonder that why every series and movie in the Star Wars universe has to center around Force users when there are trillions of other beings out there who don’t fight their battles with “laser swords.”
There are echoes of Treasure Island here, although that seems inescapable when one combines kids and pirates. I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into a remake of Disney’s ill-fated Treasure Planet, but thus far it seems to be avoiding that hackneyed course.
This episode wasn’t quite a rollercoaster ride, but by golly it did pack a good burst of forward inertia into its lean, 29-minute run time. This is some fun Star Wars-style adventure that has yet to be sullied by fart or poop jokes. I’m quite eager to see what episode 3 has in store.
Skeleton Crew episode 1 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 3 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 4 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 5 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 6 reviewed.