This week’s installment of Skeleton Crew kept up the theme of expositional dumping, letting us know just what At Attin was – but crucially not what it currently is – and shedding a little light on just who Jude Law’s character is – since he’s absolutely not a Jedi, even if he does appear to have some Force abilities.
When it comes to this series, since it’s aimed more at a youth audience than any of the other live action Star Wars fare currently airing, I’m grading it a bit on a curve. Did the episode fill in some key blanks? Sure. Did it manage to do it with some finesse? I guess, but one would need to have a pretty liberal definition of finesse to make that claim. But the story continues to move, we met a fun one-off character in Kh’ymm (voiced by Alia Shawkat), and I’m still intrigued enough in the mystery of what At Attin is now as the last surviving planet hidden from the darkness of the galaxy that I remain invested in the story being told.
As expected, it was revealed that the masked captain from the opening scene of the premiere was, in fact, Law’s character, who goes by a host of names, including Crimson Jack this time around. A pirate looking for that one big score, he sees At Attin as his chance to get it – even though he’s going to roll into the planet with next to no firepower with his only bargaining chip being four children. Yeah, their parents might desperately want them back, but I’m not so sure a secret, hidden planet is going to want its location revealed in any way, shape, or form.
There’s also been a good deal of chatter online as to just what At Attin is in present day. We now know what it was when it was first hidden. But it has managed to stay hidden for years – and presumably a section of the population (if not the entire population – although I suspect Win and Fern’s parents have an idea of just what is really going on in the government) are in the dark as to how the planet works, what’s happening out in the wider galaxy, and just why they planet remains hidden. One of the major theories I’ve seen batted about is that there’s some sort of Imperial remnant or Sith stronghold on the planet. You know, perhaps housing some sort of cloning facilities? We know that the wider Republic doesn’t know the planet is there. But someone has to want it to stay hidden – someone with the power to keep it hidden and keep its status secret from the populous at large.
So, while there’s some fun in the kids teaming up with Law’s scoundrel to try and make it home, the mystery of At Attin and just who or what is in control there is much more intriguing to me. After all, you don’t hire Oscar nominee Kerry Condon just to play a mom. She’s got to have something interesting coming her way (even if her American accent is . . . not great). Law is doing a perfectly fine job in his mysterious quasi-villain with a secret heart of gold role, although he’s not quite charming enough yet to really pull off what he needs to. But, then again, Fern and KB can’t be won over too easily – there needs to remain some derision within the ranks of kids for there to be enough conflict to keep the story rolling. I’m hoping things kick out of exposition land and into true narrative storytelling in the next episode, though, as I’m not sure how much longer I can wait to really start getting some answers.
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