- Created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford
- December 2, 2024 to Present
- Based on Star Wars created by George Lucas
- Disney+
Main Cast
- Jod Na Nawood-Jude Law
- Wim-Ravi Cabot-Conyers
- Fern-Ryan Kiera Armstrong
- KB-Kyriana Kratter
- Voice of Neel-Robert Timothy Smith
- Voice of SM-33-Nick Frost
Recurring/Guest Cast
- Wendle (Wim’s dad)-Tunde Adebimpe
- Fara (Fern’s mom)-Kerry Condon
- Tuut Orial-Alan Resnick
- Kh’ymm-Alia Shawkat
- Hayna-Hala Finley
- General Strix-Mathieu Kassovitz
- Brutus-Fred Tatasciore
- Gunter-Jaleel White
- Chaelt-Dale Soules
- Vane-Marti Matulis
- Koma-Sisa Grey
- Beef-Dominic Burgess
- Melna-Paloma Garcia-Lee
- Benjar Pranic-Alfred Molina
- Pokkit-Kelly Macdonald
- Nooma-Geneva Carr
- Hotelier-Julie Ann Emery
- Cthallops-voice of Patrick Seitz
- Glerb-Jacob Roanhaus
- Snobbius Snee-voice of John Hodgman
With the location of At Attin revealed, one side races to claim the prize while the other just wants to get home.
So here we are at the final two episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
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We’re Gonna Be in So Much Trouble
- Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
- Written by Christopher Ford and Jon Watts
- January 7, 2025
Things come to a head as all parties converge on At Attin.
We finally get to episode seven at At Attin. In We’re Gonna Be in So Much Trouble the story seems to be heading more in the direction of Treasure Island than your general 80s adventure film. I’m left feeling that’s what they’re going for anyway. Jod (Jude Law) is certainly a pirate captain at this point having betrayed the kids. Jude Law is striking the correct tone here. His character has transitioned smoothly to villain but there is still a level of like ability about him. More importantly Jod is an appropriately competent villain. He could be an actual threat.
Director Lee Isaac Chung and writers by Christopher Ford and Jon Watts do an excellent job of keeping the kids as kids and the inexperienced parents as inexperienced parents. They’re capable children but not suddenly far beyond what would make sense having been isolated on At Attin for their entire lives. The parents knew their jobs and can only so much in the extreme circumstances.
My previously declared theory of legendary pirate captain Tak Rennod seems to have been quashed in this episode. If SM-33 were that character things would have gone very differently. SM-33 (voice of Nick Frost) grows a bit of a spine and some loyalty to the kids and is promptly beheaded with a lightsaber that Jod stole. Again SM-33’s portrayal is inconsistent. Is he comedy relief? Is he a danger?
There was clearly some thought put into this show as demonstrated by this episode. We at least learn how the Onyx Cinder came to be physically on At Attin though there isn’t a clear indication of why it crashed or why the people there didn’t find it before. The Onyx Cinder is basically a cargo ship designed to pass through the barrier when visiting the planet.
That still does not explain why it was never searched for. Proximity of the ship set off all sorts of things meaning someone somewhere should have questioned why this important craft with an important person never showed up. But a minor bit of plot convenience aside doesn’t hurt the episode.
The special effects tend to be very smooth and what is real and fake is difficult to distinguish. I could see two instances where those effects just didn’t work. One was a distance shot to show the parents out in the middle of nowhere as they tried to contact their children. I’ve seen older examples of this that work much better using that did not use CGI. The other was a scene where what was behind the actors was clearly CGI. The tones and shading just didn’t match.
Once the story takes the characters to the vaults they give them a very Fort Knox feel. This wasn’t a letdown. Even with fake currency you feel that the characters have found the mother lode and Jod’s greedy dreams have all been fulfilled. This probably was the most important moment of the show. If this had not worked not only would the episode have failed but so would the show.
Things are certainly building with We’re Gonna Be in So Much Trouble having a sense of momentum. How this will be resolved is beyond me and that’s a good thing. You can see paths but nothing is obvious. The episode feels like it stops rather than a cliffhanger. It’s a distance shot and then boom with that stop being effective. I want to know what happens next. If anything it felt like the commercial break before the big climax.
I hate We’re Gonna Be in So Much Trouble’s abrupt ending but weirdly also like it. With how this progressed I feel like the finale will have a resolution to most if not all storylines. At least enough to satisfy. I look forward to the final episode
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The Real Good Guys
- Directed by Jon Watts
- Written by Christopher Ford and Jon Watts
- January 14, 2025
The pirates lay siege to the planet of At Attin.
They give a condensed version of Jod’s (Jude Law) origin and how come he has some Force abilities. If his potential was obvious to an unequipped Jedi then he should have an easier time developing than Sabine Wren. Going off on a tangent Jod may not be able to think outside the box if he was not able to build much.
Jod beyond his origin story does get a touch of rehab for his evil. He demonstrates some care for the kids when the Onyx Cinder is crashing with KB (Kyriana Kratter) on it when she tries to get a signal beyond the barrier. He clearly doesn’t want her to die so I guess he wasn’t all bad. In his final moment you actually feel kind of bad that everything he’s been working for not only the whole show but much of his life is all gone. It all falls apart.
KB has more to do in the last two or three episodes than she had in the preceding five. What they have her do fits nicely. It doesn’t seem to out of the realm of probability like they were trying to give the actress something.
This episode felt like a classic example of Star Wars. The last minute the cavalry (a New Republic squadron) shows up at the last minute. Lots of spaceship action done like old school aerial dogfights. Explosions and crashing ships. The villains on the verge of victory with the good guys coming in and finally saving the day.
They go all in on creating a rousing finish. There is no attempt to be ironic or downbeat or hints of destiny. Not that this show had any of those. This is very much a Star Wars story. The Real Good Guys gets right what so many other Star Wars shows have got wrong. It felt climactic. It felt significant. This is what you want in a season finale. Especially that of a show where the whole season is about a single story. It moves quickly and packs a great deal in. There’s never a lag or a dull moment.
They don’t toss in any new big developments. This isn’t focused on the next season but rather focused on wrapping up this season. They’re smart enough to know that they are not guaranteed anything more and have decided to allows fans to feel okay if this is all they get.
The Real Good Guys was a great conclusion to one of the better Star Wars shows. It’s fun and exciting and everything you could want.
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I am still confused on how Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) became so significant in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Given that they were going with the kid adventure vibe of the 80s, Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) should’ve been much more important than Fern since he got the ball rolling.
They do leave some questions unanswered yet it doesn’t leave things unconcluded. There’s enough left dangling that if they wanted to build for a second season there’s something there to work with but unlike the recent Ahsoka, this show wasn’t eight episodes for nothing to really change. It has beginning, middle, and end to this story.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew at least on some level understood what makes Star Wars what it is. It was a bright spot in an otherwise dimming universe.
Warren Watched A Movie 