One of the things I really don’t like about the bulk of the recent Star Wars television shows is their penchant for ending an episode at what feels like a commercial break and not the natural stopping point for an episode of television. My guess is that this habit – of which Skeleton Crew was guilty this week – is that the writers are treating their series as “X Hour Movies” rather than actual television shows (which, in case anyone from Hollywood is reading this, are not simply movies with more time, but an artistic medium with a structure that is not the same as a film). But it’s one of my major TV pet peeves. The end of this episode was so abrupt I found myself angry when the credits came up – and a tad disappointed to see that this was the episode of the series directed by The Daniels (who’s Everything Everywhere All At Once had such a cool and distinct feel while this episode was just a bit of a slog).
Back in my in first review of the series, I mentioned I would be grading Skeleton Crew on a bit of a curve since its expressly meant to be a children’s show, and this is the first episode where I’ve really felt that I had to pull that curve out and use it. Sure, we learned a bit of key information – SM-33’s previous captain was actively seeking out At Attin before they crashed there, forbidding the driod from talking about the planet and ordering the destruction of anyone who asked it about it – and we got a look at what happened to one of the other hidden planets – continual civil war, where one side was decidedly French (there’s a joke somewhere in that part of the story about the French fighting and refusing to surrender if anyone wants to workshop it) – but the episode’s point was simply to show us that At Attin is unique for a reason, while holding back just what that reason is. I will say, the liberal use of child soldiers within the episode was, well, pretty dark for a kid’s show, so the episode does get some points for being unafraid to really go there. Although there was certainly more room to drill down into just why the adults were so okay with using their kids in this manner and some of the political issues on the planet itself, mostly as a means to compare to At Attin once we learn its secrets in the future.
Speculation? Well, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Supervisor ends up being that mysterious captain who has taken the planet for their own use and enacted that safety grid to ensure that no one else can get there. I still can’t quite get over the strangely militaristic feel of At Attin, where driods keep everyone in line and there’s no real knowledge of Big Brother. Something’s off there, and while I suspect there’s some sort of Sith or Empirical presence pulling the strings, there’s also something about that previous captain I want to learn more about as well.
But, as an episode of television, this one wasn’t a winner for me. Barring a means for the denizens of the planet to get on a ship and bring their firepower to At Attin to “save” it (although I’m not sure it needs “saving” per se), most of this episode felt like a story that could have been handled in half the time before our heroes headed off to their next adventure. As it stands, the abrupt cut tells us nothing about what’s coming next. Where are they going without the coordinates? Can KB extract them from 33? Are they just going to be able to waltz off to their ship without getting caught again? Or are we just going to pretend everything was okay and see them in their ship, heading off to some other planet next week? This wasn’t our best Skeleton Crew, even with the curve, and that was a bummer.
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Writing
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Acting
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Direction
