Very Interesting, As An Astrogation Problem (Skeleton Crew - S01E03) - Live Action

Discuss the latest Chapter! (Discussion)

Why didn't we land closer? You need the exercise! SPOILERS.

Welcome to brutalist utopia!

Remember last week when I told you Skeleton Crew is "dumb fun"? I take that back. After episode 3 I believe Skeleton Crew is probably the smartest and best written Star Wars series on Disney+ right behind Andor. Why? Because for once a Star Wars series on Disney+ not only does not insult your intelligence, no, the writers even anticipated what questions or even fan theories people might have - and they adress it all!

As the biggest Jedi fan in all the galaxy Wim is extremely pleased to meet a "Jedi"

Since Skeleton Crew is just yet another 4 1/2 hour movie disguised as a tv show this week's episode is a direct continuation of the two pilot episodes last week. We do get a very short sequence on At Attin, the home planet of the kids. The parents of the missing children are meeting and want the administration to help. It is here that we learn that the planet is ruled or overseen by some "supervisor" and that he or she or it, by proxy of security droid, refuses to contact the Republic for help, since leaving the barrier is illegal and calling for outside help deemed to dangerous. In this short scene it is not made entirely clear what "Republic" the droid is referring to. It may very well be that the people on At Attin have no idea about the fall of the Old Republic, the Empire and the New Republic that succeeded it.

You came in that piece of junk?

Meanwhile on the pirate outpost the kids and newly found ally Jod stage their escape. And this is where the series displays a certain sophistication so many other Star Wars projects are often lacking. Not only does the show address questions the viewer may have, it also anticipates certain fan theories people might have. And the show also does not insult your intelligence by having "mysteries" that are not worth talking about, but instead it offers alternative mysteries that are actually intruiging.

No one trusts anyone

In episode 3 it becomes obvious that while Jude Law's character is taking over, which was to be expected, he is the star here, the kids in turn become the audience surrogate. And so they not only ask questions the viewer will have, they also talk about theories viewers may have. And while the two boys Wim and Neel are more than happy to meet a Jedi, the two girls, Fern and KB, but especially Fern, are much more wary of their newfound ally. It is rightly pointed out that they met their new ally in a prison cell, maybe not the best place to meet a new ally you know nothing about. Fern also calls into question if Jod is actually a Jedi, he could use gadgets or simple tricks instead. All these are things the audience will wonder too. And while the show does not waste your time on mysteries that are not worth talking about - for example, in this episode we learn that Jod is commonly referred to as Captain Silvo and somewhat later we learn he also goes under the name of "Crimson Jack" and is indeed the pirate captain that found no treasure on the ship in the prologue of the first episode and was disposed of by his crew, awaiting his trial - we do get new much more interesting mysteries instead.

Jod made the kids some food

The show tries its best to answer all the simple questions about Jod immediately, as mentioned no time is wasted on establishing that yes, he is a pirate. And no, this is not all just some elaborate pirate scheme to gain the trust of the kids. Jod is indeed a prisoner, and when asked why he didn't escape when he could get the key that easily the show also anticipates this question the viewer may have: Jod explains that without having access to some ship escape from the cell was pointless. Instead the show tries successfully to make Jod still a mysterious character by raising questions about his background. Yes, he's a pirate. But is he a Jedi? Is he even a force user? The episode does suggest, yes, Jod can use the force (we hear the mind trick sound effect when Jod distracts two guards), but the big question is, was he ever trained by the order? Or is he self taught? Or maybe he was a padawan that survived Order 66 and after that took to piracy to survive in a hostile galaxy without friends or allies? Later in the episode Jod does admit that he is maybe no proper Jedi, which only underlines the mystery of his past.

Are we there yet?

A quick word about the plot: the first half or so of the episode is about the escape from the pirate outpost. The kids and Jod make it to the ship when the kids inform him that they want the droid SM-33 rescued (maybe they could have told him that before?). Jod is very reluctant (he does not seem to care about droids at all, as is common in the Star Wars galaxy), but the kids insist and so Jod goes back and retrieves the droid. In this sequence we do learn that Jod is "Captain Silvo" (it sounded like Silver from Treasure Island first) and that he was awaiting trial in his cell. After some shenanigans with the ship that culminate in the kids and Jod going into hyperspace while still being attached to a fuel line, we get some downtime on the ship and it's further underlined how Fern and KB are not so easy to trust Jod, whereas starry-eyed Wim and naive Neel are more eager. The plot then moves forward when Jod tells the kids that he knows someone who may be able to find where At Attin is.

This is not Harry Potter's Hedwig

And so the kids and Jod land on a moon orbiting a pretty gas giant. It's all CGI with some soundstage work, but it looks beautiful. Here it's further emphasized that the kids, especially Fern and KB, are not gullible idiots. When they wonder why Jod landed the ship some distance away from the base they are headed to they correctly deduce that Jod wants to hide the ship and his approach. Jod confirms this when he says he's not quite sure if his contact will stab them in the back or not.

The fabled hidden away planets of the Old Republic

The contact turns out to be an owl-like alien. The creature looks pretty impressive. Anyway, the alien sees Jod and the kids approach and immedately believes that the (former) pirate probably kidnapped the children and she informs the New Republic who will send some X-Wings, the owl-alien wants to stall for time until they arrive. But that does not keep the alien from actually helping out with the info. And we learn that At Attin is part of some Old Republic project, the so-called "Jewels of the Old Republic", planets that were hidden away to protect some secret. All but one of those worlds have been destroyed, only At Attin remains. The owl notices the logo on Fern's backpack and hopes it will provide some more clues. The description of what the barrier, which is only visible at night, looks like has the owl assume that the planet may be hidden inside some nebula, and the kids know that their planet is somewhere between Coruscant and Alderaan, which somewhat limits the number of planets, and with Fern's logo the owl uses as a cross reference, the subtitles reveal her name to be Kh'ymm, she believes she can actually pinpoint the location of At Attin. In this scene we also learn that indeed, the people on At Attin have no idea about the fall of the Old Republic, they have no clue the Empire rose to power and the events of the Clone Wars, that Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star and that the New Republic is now ruling the galaxy. But when it becomes clear that Kh'ymm the alien owl alerted the authorities a little fight breaks out, during this the owl also tells the kids the truth about their "Jedi" and that he is a pirate captain, Crimson Jack. The fight is not too serious, but in the confusion Jod snatches the search results from the computer and then destroys it, then he urges the kids to make for a swift exit. And since Jod is their best option to get back home, especially now that he has the coordinates from Kh'ymm's computer, they follow him. Him being a pirate or not.

Who doesn't like to shoot at things?

Jod and kids make it to the ship. But the two X-Wings have arrived, Jod tells Fern and Wim to man the turrets and to shoot in the direction of the X-Wings, without making any real damage. The two kids apparently love shooting at things. Wim accidentally hits one of the X-Wings, but nothing too serious and ultimately the ship escapes the moon and can make it into hyperspace. With coordinates for At Attin. It may very well be that Skeleton Crew is nothing like we believed it would be, since it's pretty obvious now that finding the way home may not be the great adventure, that instead solving the mystery of At Attin and "The Great Work" and whatever treasure may or may not be on the planet is the real focus of the show.

As I said, in my opinion Skeleton Crew, while aimed at a younger audience, is actually one of the smartest Disney+ Star Wars shows to date. The show does not waste your time, it has no filler really even if the first episode was a bit slow, mysteries that are not worth spending too much time on are resolved immediately, the mysteries we get are instead actually pretty interesting. The writers thought about the plot and tried to anticipate questions the audience will have... and those questions are answered without delay really to remove any confusion and the audience is not tempted to waste time and thoughts on things that do not matter. Even potential fan theories are addressed. You can say the writers tried their best to think of it all, which is pretty rare. When was the last time, outside of Andor, that a Star Wars show did not waste your time or insult your intelligence?

The mysteries we do get here instead of the very obvious ones are all pretty interesting. Why were the planets hidden away during the Old Republic? What is the "Great Work"? Who or what is the supervisor on At Attin? Is everything benevolent or does the brutalist utopia in downtown At Attin give us a hint? And while the show wasted no time to confirm that Jod is Crimson Jack, a pirate, the question is what he was before he became a pirate. A padawan? Someone who picked up a few Jedi tricks on his own? Or something entirely else? And ultimately: will Jod betray the kids or not? For once I actually look forward to finding out more. It's ironic that a show aimed at families or younger audiences is in many ways more sophisticated than most of the other shows. It's tragic then that Skeleton Crew may very well have abysmal ratings with few people watching it. But when even the usual YouTubers have little negative to say about Skeleton Crew and actually like it maybe word of mouth can convince more people to tune in. And if not... then it could be a sign that Star Wars is now on the decline, that too much damage has been done to the brand, that fandom was replaced by apathy. In different times Skeleton Crew could or would have been a huge hit. It's fun, it's entertaining, it does not waste your time, it respects your intelligence as a viewer. So let's see where this is going.

What else: while Wim (and Neel) where the focus in the first two episodes it becomes obvious in episode 3 that the show tries to give each kid about equal screentime, so Wim and Neel both take a backseat and Fern and KB get more dialogue and more to do. But the real focus is Jude Law now, but even then without taking away from the kid characters. They do have a mind of their own, they have their own agency, they are not just props or gullible idiots or annoying precocious pre-teens who do not act their age. I said it last week, as far as kid characters go these are probably the best we ever got in Star Wars.

The third episode was once again very solid and enjoyable entertainment, it had some action, it had some intrigue, it answered questions, it asked new ones. If you find the time and you haven't done so yet give the show a chance. Especially if you have kids of your own, this is something the whole family can enjoy.