Star Wars: Skeleton Crew: Season 1: Episode 8: The Real Good Guys
What is it ? : With Jod igniting his lightsaber, the parents recognise him as a Jedi, and he commands that the children should be put under house arrest for the trouble they've caused, something the droids instantly agree to. But to keep some leverage he orders that Fern should accompany him, and her mother comes along as well.
He is taken to the Supervisors tower, and the Supervisor turns out to be a droid intelligence, and asks for them to allow his cruiser to arrive through the defensive cloud. But the Supervisor wants some more information, as he is not only the Emissary of the Republic, but also a Jedi, and the last message that they received from the Republic was that the Jedi were traitors.
Fern blurts out the truth that Jod is a pirate here to rob the Mint, and the Supervisor says he suspected as much and orders the droids to capture him. But Jod stabs the Supervisors computer with his lightsaber deactivating him, along with all other technology on the planet, including all the droids and power.
Jod figures out a way of destroying the defensive cloud with a large lever that he pops up, but Ferns mother begs that he not leave the planet unprotected, and that she can allow his ship through, something that Jod agrees to, saying he doesn't want to destroy he just wants the money and to leave.
They allow the cruiser access to the planet, and it enters the atmosphere. The other kids spot the cruiser, and gather now their house arrest isn't being maintained by the now shut down droids. Their speeder bikes were built by themselves, so aren't under control of the Supervisor, so they head off towards the Onyx Cinder, but are spotted by the pirates who are invading, and they give chase. Wim's father steals a working speeder bike and joins them as they come under fire from the cruiser.
To avoid the fire, they head through the corridors of their school, but an explosion knocks Neel from his bike and he is left behind, but remembers there is a defensive laser cannon on the roof so heads for that.
Wim, KB and Wim's father reach the Onyx Cinder, but their efforts to take off are hampered due to a locking mechanism the landing pad has attached to the ships landing gear. Wim's father tells them that he can get power to the systems, as he knows from his job, but they'll need access to the supervisors tower, so Wim and his father races off towards it.
They get access, with Wim distracting Jod with a story about them having found a Jedi artefact and they've called on the Jedi for help, but Jod knows this is false as the Jedi are all dead. He tells them of how he was found by a Jedi in the aftermath of Order 66, and his training was begun, but the Inquisitors found them and put the Jedi to death before his eyes.
Wims father sneaks and activates the power, allowing the Onyx Cinder to take off, but Jod captures him as well. The Onyx Cinder speed into the sky but the cruiser opens fire on it, damaging it, but Neel uses the Laser Cannon on the school roof to fire on the cruiser allowing the Onyx Cinder to escape into space. Aboard, KB has used the time she was waiting to reattach the wiring between SM-33's severed head and body, allowing him to fly the ship. She contacts Kh'ymm asking for help and sending the coordinates for At-Attin, and Kh'ymm says she'll contact the New Republic who are experts in dealing with pirates.
But a starfighter launched from the cruiser attacks and causes the Onyx Cinder to crash back to the surface of At-Attin.
Jod tells them it was all for nothing, as the barrier will keep the Republic out, Win leaps for the lever to destroy the barrier, but Jod holds his lightsaber against his fathers throat until Wim gives up. Wims father outraged punches Jod, knocking him down and causing him to drop the lightsaber, which Wim grabs. Jod tries to pull the lightsaber back into his hand, but Wim and Fern hold onto it. Wims father leaps for the level, so Jod turns his attention to him, using the force to pull his hand away from the lever. But in the confusion and at the insistence of her daughter, Ferns mother pulls the level, destroying the shield and allowing the people of At-Attin to see the stars for the first time in their lives.
A New Republic Squadron soars in from space, with X-Wings and B-Wings attacking the cruiser and causing it to crash, and Jod sees that it's all over allowing them all to leave.
They rush to the school to meet up with Neel, only to discover the Onyx Cinder has crashed there as well, and KB and SM-33 are fine, with the droid declaring it one of his better landings.
Above the city, a New Republic Corellian Corvette arrives and the city lights go back on . . . .
High Points : So it wraps it up all nicely, without leaving us with nowhere to go. We've still got a mystery of what happened to the original captain of the Onyx Cinder, and we've now got a new mystery of what the heck is the Republic going to do with vaults and vaults of money, which if releases will totally devalue the economy.
And apart from that, the story is generally pleasing, with Neel getting to be a hero manning the guns to save KB. And that goes for the other kids as well, Wim gets to stand up to Jod, KB gets to fly the Onyx Cinder and call in the cavalry, with only Fern not really getting a hero moment, but she supports the others and convinces her mother to act at the last second to save the day.
I also adore that Wims father gets so large a part in this episode, his knowledge of At-Attin power systems proves vital, he gets to punch Jod, and tries to deactivate the shield, only being held back by the force.`
Low Points : It just kind of ends. We don't see what happens to Jod, we don't get to see what happens when the Republic arrives. I sat through the end credits thinking we were at least going to get a post credits scene to explain something, but nope. While the story itself is all wrapped up neatly, the repercussions of it's effects are massive, and totally not touched on.
This makes this episode really unsatisfying as a season finale.
So what do you really think ? : As said above, this comes across as really unsatisfying as a season finale, it just leaves you hanging. Everything up to then is really pretty good, there's loads of action, each of the kids gets a moment in the spotlight, it's fun, and it wraps up the story.
But then it just ends. I know a lot of movies and series give us too many endings, as they come back to deal with every character and detail, but Skeleton Crew goes too heavily in the other direction by not giving us any feeling of conclusion at all. It would be like A New Hope ending with the Death Star exploding without the medal presenting scene afterwards, yes the story is over, but we just need a little more to finish things off.
Final Words : A couple of things I want to mention, the B-Wings fire their composite-beam lasers to damage the pirate cruiser, something we've only seen in animation before (in Rebels). Which is very cool to see.
I was slightly bothered by the ease with which the pirates locate the kids when they're trying to get to the Onyx Cinder. They leave their homes, which the pirates just seem to have decided to gather outside, and then the cruiser fires at the kids. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. The pirates land were the people are, it's night time, so everyone is at home, as we see them later rounding up the population. And the reason the kids are targeted, is that they're the only ones on functioning vehicles with lights, so are the most obvious targets.
So we're left with the question of, does Skeleton Crew get a second season, or are the story lines finished off elsewhere, as this happens at the same time as Ahsoka and The Mandalorian, so the effects of the riches of At-Attin could be dealt with elsewhere?
Score : 8.5/10
Comments made about this Article!
There are currently no comments for this article, be the first to post in the form below
