Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Eps. 7 & Season Finale Review
After seven weeks and eight episodes of pirates, treasure hunts, and life lessons, Skeleton Crew has come to a close. Fans have seen a quartet of kids in over their heads as they’ve had to outwit murderous pirates to get home. However, like any good, coming-of-age story, Skeleton Crew cannot end without changing the status quo its main characters left behind. And with pirates on their home’s doorstep and knowledge of what the outside galaxy is like, things do change. As the chaos of the galaxy at large comes to At Attin, the kids have one chance to save their home. Meanwhile, the big question that fans have is whether or not Skeleton Crew was a worthwhile addition to the Star Wars mythos.
Honestly, yes.
Jod Loses Once Again
When we last saw Jod, he managed to weasel his way out of death by offering to lead his former crew straight to At Attin. It looked like the story might end with him not surviving. However, in a surprising turn of events, Jod doesn’t just make it to At Attin. He manages to do it while reclaiming the leadership of his former crew.
It’s apparent by this point that Jod was always going to be the main antagonist of the story, and these final two episodes see him at his most dangerous. He threatens the kids and their parents, kills the Supervisor of At Attin, and has his pirates outright invade their home and hold its people hostage. Jod may know how to use the Force, but he’s anything but a Jedi!
As the finale reveals, there’s a reason why Jod’s the way he is. Like Ezra Bridger, he was a street orphan who was found by a Jedi, presumably after Order 66. Whereas Ezra managed to become a full Jedi, Jod had to watch as his master was killed in front of him. That led him to become the selfish, greedy, and cynical man who only cares about himself. And while it’s never stated outright, it’s hinted that Jod was much like Wim was in his youth. Thus, when Wim confronts him during the climax, it feels like Jod’s personally trying to break his spirit.
He fails, of course, thanks to the kids he mocked, but gets to live to see his plans fall apart. The finale doesn’t make his fate clear, but he’ll likely be going to a New Republic prison.
The Skeleton Crew Steps Up
With home within their sight, the Skeleton spends the penultimate episode having mixed feelings. They have a better appreciation for how good they had it on At Attin, but they also understand that the people running it are just out of touch and unprepared for the wider galaxy. Case in point, none of the parents realize that Jod’s a pirate until Fern outs him before he can stop her. What’s more, when the pirates make landfall, the parents are so stunned that they don’t even come up with a plan to fight back. It’s the kids that have to take the initiative and come up with a plan to stop Jod.
From its inception, Star Wars has had this ingrained theme of the youth being the ones who change their world for the better. The most proactive characters in the franchise are often kids, teens, and young adults, AKA the people that society would look down on as young and naive. However, underestimating someone because they’re “young and naive” often proves a fatal mistake. The Skeleton Crew perfectly exemplifies this, as their adventure has taught them skills that, considering the galaxy they live in, can come in pretty handy.
- Wim’s love of storytelling distracts Jod long enough to put their plan in motion. The kid could be a smooth talker like Poe Dameron and Han Solo one day!
- Fern’s street smarts help her push Jod into a corner
- Neel uses what he learned on At Achrann to fight the pirates
- KB pilots the Cinder like a pro! And survives a crash landing!
Thanks to those kids, they not only manage to save their home, but they talk the adults into dropping the barrier, opening it up to the wider galaxy.
TAKE THAT, ASSESSMENT TEST!
So that’s the Supervisor? That explains so much!
Besides the reveal that At Attin is as loaded with money as the stories claimed, the finale also revealed why At Attin is so static. When Fara brings Jod to the Supervisor of the planet, it’s revealed that they’re not a person, but a droid. A supercomputer that’s run the planet for centuries, carrying out its assigned task, ignorant to the fact that said task is now pointless.
The reveal that At Attin is run by a droid explains a lot. The reason At Attin’s culture seems stuck in the past is because their leader was the kind of droid that couldn’t grow beyond their programming. As a result, they kept at a task for a government that no longer existed, never considering making contact with the galaxy at large to see what was happening.
To be fair, that might have been a blessing in disguise, at it kept At Attin safe from the worst of the chaos that’s ensued in the last few decades. I shudder to think of what the Separatists, Empire, and Sith could do with that much money. Since the show ends with At Attin exposed to the galaxy, there’s a chance it becomes a target for the First Order in the future. At the same time, though, that wealth could end up being what helps funding groups like the Resistance to topple the First Order. Given how open-ended the show’s conclusion is, either outcome is possible.
This Was a Good Finale
Once the dust settles, nothing is the same for Wim, Fern, Neel, and KB. They’ve opened up their home to the galaxy, proven that they can survive in it, and basically rendered At Attin’s government pointless. And since the Cinder remains (largely) intact, there’s a chance they could use it to have more adventures when they’re older. Given how Wim looks up at the New Republic starfighters as they swoop in, he might even become a starfighter pilot one day.
The real question though: was the finale good? In a nutshell, yes.
Unlike the last Star Wars show on Disney+, Skeleton Crew wasn’t trying to push some kind of agenda or add confusing lore to the franchise. It just wanted to tell a fun, relatively low-stakes story set in the Star Wars universe. It wanted to make the older viewers remember what it was like looking at Star Wars as kids and thinking that it was the coolest thing ever. And while some more cynical fans are going to bash it as pointless and a waste of time, I’m going to disagree. Skeleton Crew knew what it wanted to be and stuck true to itself until the end. An ending that, I daresay, hit all the right notes. They even had a cooler speeder bike chase where they managed to get over that ravine!
After watching this series, I can honestly say that Skeleton Crew was worth the time and resources that went into making it. In fact, Disney should’ve just focused on this show instead of The Acolyte.
