Skeleton Crew episode 7 reviewed
We're gonna be in so much trouble.
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 parents conspire to launch a message buoy to contact their kids. Alas, At Attin security is tighter than they believed and security droids show up and stun the parents, but not before Undersecretary Fara manages to launch it.
Long Jod Silvo leads the pirate frigate to At Attin, but upon finding a deadly, impenetrable nebula rather than a treasure planet, Brutus orders Jod spaced. At the last moment, the Onyx Cinder drops out of hyperspace (SM-33 recognizes is “without its armor”) and Jod is spared. The frigate tractor beams the Onyx Cinder aboard. Brutus attempts to board but the kids capture him with the loading arm and try to use him as a bargaining chip, promising to release him if the pirates let them go. Jod spoils this plan by shooting the immobilized Brutus dead and taking control of the frigate, the Onyx Cinder, the pirates and imprisoning the kids. At this point the beacon message the parents sent out is picked up, proving that At Attin is hidden within the nebula. Jod plans to take the Onyx Cinder through the nebula but SM-33 points out by the Pirate Code, Jod can’t captain both the frigate and the Onyx Cinder. The kids claim the Onyx Cinder and SM-33 sides with them, beating up the pirates and throwing them off the ship. They launch and dive into the nebula with pirate fighters in pursuit. The nebula is actually generated by a defense grid, which destroys the pirate fighters while allowing the Onyx Cinder to pass unharmed. SM-33 reveals that the ship is actually an Old Republic mint transport that Captain Rennod had stolen to allow safe passage through the defenses. A ground-controlled automated landing sequence takes over. Job, who managed to get back aboard before the Onyx Cinder departed, decapitates SM-33 with his lightsaber and takes the kids prisoner again. Agitated and angry, he threatens to kill their parents if the kids don’t obey his instructions.
On At Attin, the captured parents are being gently interrogated about their transgressions when all activity is put on hold—a Republic Emissary ship is on approach for landing. The parents, realizing it is their kids, race out to the landing area (the security droids have completely lost interest in them at this point). The main greenspace in the center of the city opens up to reveal a giant landing pad that also doubles as an elevator. Jod greets the security droids and passes himself off as the Republic Emissary. The kids are too frightened to say otherwise. The elevator takes the ship, Jod, the kids and the droids deep beneath the city to an enormous vault that contains billions, if not trillions, of credits. Jod, his mounting frustration over not being able to contact his pirate frigate, gives into avarice and channels is inner Scrooge McDuck to take a bath in an unending waterfall of golden credits. The kids’ parents arrive at the ship on a floating lift platform and have an emotional reunion with the children. Before the kids can say anything, Jod shows up and draws his lightsaber on the families.
Disturbances in the Force: A lot is packed into this episode, but for everything that happens, the primary goal of this installment is to move all the chess pieces into place for the final act. And that is where we are. Jod is increasingly desperate, his fast talking and various gambits barely keeping him alive throughout. He goes from feast to famine and back several times throughout the episode as his fortunes reverse and reverse again. He ends up in a forgotten Old Republic vault with more treasure than he could possibly imagine (with nearly 2,000 identical vaults scattered around the planet, the security droids helpfully inform him) but absolutely no way to get even a fraction of it off world and the clock ticking on his ruse being discovered by the absurdly trusting security droids. His eruption at the children on final descent to At Attin—calling them spoiled, whiny and self-absorbed—is on point, but also betrays his inner rage and envy at having to fight and struggle for even table scraps in a cold and indifferent galaxy. Early in the episode, the children make one observation about Jod that is equally insightful—that he lies about everything. They are later cowed by his threats to harm them and their parents, but Jod, for all his duplicity, has yet to kill or even seriously injure anyone who didn’t deserve it (and, by that logic, either SM-33 deserved it or was never alive to be killed). I think Jod’s threats against them and their families are empty threats that get exposed next episode. We’ll see.
What’s disappointing is that the kids really didn’t get any memorable scenes this episode, which was completely dominated by Jod. Even last week, where Jod pretty much took over, each of the child characters had several strong scenes that showed off the characters’ growth and the young actors’ impressive ability. Not so this time around—they mostly just cowered the entire episode.
For all of At Attin’s obsession with security, there’s remarkably little in place to verify the Emissary’s identity. Yes, it is one of the mint’s own ships coming in but from the reaction of the droids and humans on At Attin, this is an even that hasn’t happened in decades. With the fall of the other eight mint worlds in the past and obsessive monitoring of its own population, one would think At Attin security droids wouldn’t be so fast to accept the Emissary on faith—especially since swimming through piles of Old Republic credits is presumably not typical protocol.
The mysterious supervisor is almost certainly a droid, considering the rigid adherence to policy and procedure despite a whole host of extenuating circumstances that should’ve triggered some strategic adjustments to the unusual spate of events that have occurred on- and off-planet. It is also further indication that At Attin was simply forgotten about at the time of Order 66 and the Emperor’s overthrow of the Republic. If the droid Supervisor’s orders were to keep the mint functioning in secrecy and wait for transport ships to arrive from the Republic for pickup, what difference does it make if the transports arrive once a month or once in 30 years?
I really don’t know what to expect in the finale, other than Jod, like Long John Silver before him, will fail in his quest for riches beyond the dreams of avarice. While a second season of Skeleton Crew featuring the kids traipsing through the galaxy doesn’t seem likely (and would take a good bit of hand-waving to justify) the further adventures of Long Jod Silvo, hard-luck schemer, seem far more likely. I can’t imagine At Attin going back into isolation after this, but the sudden reappearance of an Old Republic mint at a time the New Republic is rebuilding would be too much of a windfall and offer too much convenience and stability for the folks trying to stabilize the galaxy (from what we see in The Force Awakens on, at least). As much as I dislike the Abrams sequel trilogy, it’d make a certain amount of sense if Moff Gideon or Grand Admiral Thrawn showed up in the finale to seize the mint in order to finance the Imperial remnants’ ongoing guerrilla war against the New Republic, but events in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, not to mention zero foreshadowing, make that outcome increasingly unlikely.
Once again, I will go on record as saying I am disappointed that Skeleton Crew turned into a straight-up retelling of Treasure Island, but I am delighted that they have done said retelling so well. I am sincerely looking forward to next week’s finale. See you there.
Skeleton Crew episode 1 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 2 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 3 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 4 reviewed.
Skeleton Crew episode 5 reviewed.