We’re down to the final two episodes of Skeleton Crew!
After dropping the first two episodes of Skeleton Crew at once on December 2, Disney+ is dropping one episode per week at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays. The seventh and penultimate episode will be directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who won a Golden Globe for Minari and previously directed an episode of The Mandalorian, season 3’s The Convert.
But before we look ahead, let’s take a look back at the sixth episode of this series, Zero Friends Again, which mostly focused on the kids and their interpersonal relationships, mixing up the pairings and perhaps drawing them closer together … and closer to home.
Timing notes
Zero Friends Again was the second shortest episode of the series, clocking in at just 34 minutes with credits. I didn’t really feel short-changed by the episode as I thought it brought character development, growth and understanding between our four intrepid heroes. Wim helping KB fix her augs and her showing her appreciation by calling him Jedi and then Fern showing the most emotion she’s shown to date at being reunited with KB were heartwarming and great performances from these young actors.
Notes
(Warning: Spoilers for episode six of Skeleton Crew ahead.)
- Say what you will, but Star Wars has long been consistent with its love of trash chutes and having its protagonists slide down tubes with reckless abandon. Episode six picked up with the kids immediately after Wim activates the trap to escape from the now Captain Jod and his dutiful first mate bound by the pirate’s code SM-33.
- KB reveals she has the coordinates home in her brain now and Fern wants to climb back up to the ship. However, KB doesn’t reflexively back her play and actually thinks it’s actually impossible. KB points out that because Fern can’t think of any other options she just assumes there aren’t any and if she was so concerned she would actually listen for once and they would actually talk about something, suggesting previously unseen cracks in the foundation of their friendship.
- Wim remains a wide-eyed optimist and is mesmerized by the “trash crabs,” thinking that because they can talk that means they are intelligent and perhaps they can lead the kids to someone who can help them get back to the ship. This time Neel is not going along with his best friend’s plan, and Fern is taken aback when KB sides with Wim. After a “stupid baby fight” that reminds us that these are still kids, Fern takes it as an invitation to split up, dragooning Neel to go along with her, despite just moments earlier admitting her concerns about Neel’s climbing ability.
- Sure enough, Neel struggles to climb because of the differences in his physiology (he doesn’t have Fern’s “long spider legs”) and reminds Fern that not everyone can do things the way she can. This seems to be a light blub moment for Fern and she sees a way to help Neel and perhaps that she was treating KB unfairly.
- After not being able to move when the kids flew out of the trash chute earlier and now not being able to move at all on the trek with the trash crabs, we learn that KB’s augs are corroding. She tells Wim to gather some droid servos and walks him through how to help her. He puts together that this is why KB didn’t want to climb and he asks why she didn’t just tell Fern. KB says sometimes Fern isn’t living in the real world and still assumes that KB can do everything that she can. She admits she’s afraid to remind Fern that she’s different because she fears that if she stands up for herself she’ll have zero friends again. But Wim lifts her spirits by saying it’s alright, she can just be friends with him and Neel. After a momentary scare, KB successfully reboots and casually comments about him helping her avoid total system shutdown and says that he probably thought it would be more exciting to save someone’s life. She expresses her gratitude by calling Wim a Jedi, and just like that a new friendship is formed.
- Meanwhile, Fern figured out how to help Neel, forging another strong bond, but this is where things take a turn. KB and Wim unknowingly have been brought to a giant trash crab to serve as a sacrifice (proving that like Indiana Jones, Wim’s taste in friends remains consistent). Meanwhile, the Onyx Cinder is getting towed to a compactor. Luckily, Fern and Neel jump on and are able to get Wim and KB to safety where they have an emotional reunion, with Fern and KB apologizing to each other and re-affirming they are each other’s best friend.
- The heartfelt moment is short-lived as the kids need to save the ship. Just when it looks like they’re about to be crushed, Fern makes the decision to press the hull demolition sequencer, which not only helps them escape but also somehow makes the ship look BETTER and sleeker. Why SM-33 said never to press it, we’ll never know (perhaps as a janky pirate himself he preferred the janky look of the Cinder). Clearly this new version of the Onyx Cinder will be on toy shelves before you know it.
- While the kids are on their way home to At Attin, Jod and his pirate “friends” (if you want to call them that) are on their way as well. We don’t spend much time with Jod in this episode, which is just as well, but he’s quickly captured by Jaleel White’s Gunter thanks to some help from Pokkit and the other bounty hunters/pirates who did NOT die in the acid in the previous episode. Jod is brought before Captain Brutus to stand trial. Brutus plans to kill Jod by airlock, but per the pirate code Jod is entitled to the right of rebuttal. Jod uses all his “glitter words” to appeal to his former comrades, appealing to their hunger after years of settling for the galaxy’s scraps and enticing them with loot that never runs out. He even uses the legend of Tak Rennod and a jaunty pirate song to sway the pirates to his side before his hourglass runs out. It appears Jod has staved off his demise once again, but Brutus reminds him that if he fails them again he will make good on his promise of what is sure to be a gruesome death by airlock.
- We never see the lightsaber that Jod picked up at the end of episode five, and I can’t believe it’s not going to play some role as the series reaches its conclusion. A part of me thinks that Wim will get another chance to emulate his Jedi heroes and wield that lightsaber before all is said and done.
- For someone gifted with the force, Jod is fairly easily captured. Perhaps he never received full training, but there’s no denying he’s a smooth talker who is more adept at talking his way out of (and really into) trouble than he is fighting his way out, even with the Force on his side.
So all of our main characters are on their way to At Attin. Is the planet ready for a pirate invasion? Will its existence be revealed to the larger galaxy? Will the kids’ adventure the kids reshape their future and that of their homeworld? And has Jod made his final turn, or will he find more kinship with the kids than his old pirate comrades at the end of the day and make some noble sacrifice? Stay tuned and may the Force be with you!
