REVIEW: Skeleton Crew – Season 1, Episodes 5 and 6, “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” and “Zero Friends Again”

“This is Skull Ridge Mountain? They've ruined it!”

Television Reviews

***SPOILERS***

In “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates,” Neel’s mom brings Wendle a tool to get a message out past the barrier. This doesn’t go well, and he’s caught by a droid, but Fara gets him out of trouble. Meanwhile, Jod and the kids nervously wake up SM-33. He’s had his circuits rewired by KB to prevent him from attacking again, and he tells the kids how to find Rennod’s lair, which will lead them to At Attin. He takes them to Lanupa, a luxury planet for adult guests. The group gets accommodations on Lanupa, but Jod runs into Pokkit (Kelly MacDonald), an old associate who isn’t happy to see him. She calls in a bounty on Joe and the kids, and before long, more pirates pour into the place. SM-33 helps our heroes infiltrate Rennod’s lair, buried deep in the mountains. There, they find Rennod’s treasure and his captain’s log containing the needed coordinates. However, things go awry when Jod challenges Fern as captain and bests her in combat. Jod orders SM-33 to take the kids prisoner, but they escape through a trap door. 

“Zero Friends Again” opens where “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” left off, with the kids coming out of the trap door in the snowy mountains. KB is experiencing a malfunction, likely as a result of the steam that blew into her face last week. Meanwhile, Jod runs into his old friends instead of escaping as intended. The pirates don’t get their way either, though; X-Wings arrive and chase them off. Fern wants to take this opportunity to return to their ship, but KB responds aggressively that Fern never listens to her. The kids end up splitting into two teams, with Wim taking KB and Neel following Fern. On the pirates’ ship, Silvo’s former crew sentences him to death. However, one of them invokes a pirate rule entitling him to speak for himself. He promises them the treasures of At Attin, with Brutus promising death if they don’t find it. KB continues having difficulties and talks Wim through repairing her circuitry. Just as Fern and Neel get close to the Onyx Cinder, it’s taken away by droids. They climb aboard the guiding ship and rescue KB and Wim from a monster, but the Cinder ultimately crashes. It seems like everything will be alright at first, but a trash compactor approaches the Cinder. The kids immediately reboard the ship and attempt escape. They’re forced to activate the demolition sequencer despite SM-33’s earlier advice, but they escape. 

I’m baffled by the decision to air these episodes over the holidays. Honestly, the whole handling of Skeleton Crew by Disney and Lucasfilm is just puzzling. The Acolyte was garbage both in terms of quality and cohesion within the Star Wars canon, yet it got a massive budget and tons of marketing. Meanwhile, Skeleton Crew is much more like what I think of as Star Wars. It’s fun, has good moral messages, and contrasts the humor with genuine danger. I love Andor and can’t wait for season 2, but Skeleton Crew is a more general-purpose Star Wars you can enjoy with your kids. “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” is my favorite episode of Skeleton Crew yet, and I’m so frustrated with the decision to show it over Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I don’t associate Star Wars with my Christmas celebration. As such, this review is quite late. I was similarly unable to get “Zero Friends Again” watched and reviewed in a timely manner because of the New Year holiday and its impact on my job. This is neither here nor there when it comes to the episodes’ quality, but it does both the audience and a good show a disservice. 

The pirate intrigue has been one of the more engaging aspects of Skeleton Crew for me, so I loved the tidbits about Tak Rennod in both episodes. This is the original captain of the Onyx Cinder and SM-33’s master. This also leads to fun interactions with the main characters, like Fern asking Jod what a concubine is after learning that Rennod’s concubine betrayed him. Jod also has an effective scene bonding with Wim. Jod explains the concept of attachments, suggesting he had some Jedi training, but his understanding has been warped by his life as a pirate. Rather than a general sense of compassion, Jod expresses a selfish way of life. On Lanupa, the kids are introduced to Jod’s old friend (and maybe more?), Pokkit. Kelly MacDonald (Brave, Boardwalk Empire) plays Pokkit, who tells the kids not to trust Jod. Pokkit calls Jod Dash Zentin, prompting the kids to ask how many names he has. “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” is full of funny dialogue and develops the characters well. I also really enjoyed SM-33’s reaction to seeing what has become of Rennod’s lair. 

Speaking of Tak Rennod, he’s headless in the hologram Jod and the kids watch. This reminded me of “King no head,” the headless statue the kids noted on At Acchrin. I’m more and more curious about Rennod. Who is he really? Why hide his identity unless he ends up being more than an ancient, dead pirate? This whole episode is great, but the ending is a highlight, with Jod finally turning on the kids. I especially like Fern exclaiming, “You’re a grownup; you can’t fight us. We’re just kids. It’s not fair!” Ryan Kiera Armstrong puts just the right amount of terror into the line reading. This line easily could have been too silly for such a dramatic moment, but it’s so genuine and conveys Fern’s shock and desperation. “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” is tense, and the action is really well done. Skeleton Crew balances its tone really well, and the result is so much better than I expected. The only real criticism I’ve heard of this show is that it’s “for kids,” which I don’t really get. Star Wars is supposed to be for families, even if the sequels utterly failed to grab kids’ imaginations. I don’t necessarily think Skeleton Crew is for everyone, but it has more of a general appeal than a lot of what Lucasfilm has been putting out. But it’s not generic either, especially as the season goes along. I’m just very impressed. The last thing I want to touch on in this episode is the section where they’re trying to find the treasure. Fern makes friends with a big Cthulhu-esque alien with a really cool design. I’ve loved the visual effects and alien designs in this show; that’s something Disney has been neglecting about Star Wars for a long time. KB is reluctant to go near the steam and later gets blasted in the face, which ends up being important in the next episode. 

I enjoyed “Zero Friends Again” quite a bit, too, but not as much as the previous episode. I like the trash crabs a lot, both in their design, which is very Star Wars, and the way they repeat whatever the characters say. They originally seem helpful and benevolent, originally chanting “follow,” but that soon changes when they lead Wim and KB to their leader. The Queen Crab looks to be done in stop motion, or at least some kind of practical effects. She’s genuinely scary, as is the trash compactor ship that almost consumes the Onyx Cinder. So far, Kh’ymm is still my favorite new creature original to Skeleton Crew, but I’m still loving what I’m seeing. 

If I have a complaint with “Zero Friends Again,” it’s the episode length. Disney+ is crushing these shows with their weird runtime rule. For whatever reason, they seem to think our tiny attention spans can’t handle more than 25 minutes, but it’s just not true. I often find that an episode ends just as it gets into a groove, and I’m left unsatisfied. This is very different from a great ending that leaves you on the edge of your seat wanting more, like in “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates.” That had me dying to see what happened next, whereas the brevity and relative lack of screentime for Jod in “Zero Friends Again” left me feeling that something was missing. In fairness, there are two great things in this episode: Jod’s one big scene and KB’s character growth. When Jod is granted the opportunity to speak for himself by his fellow pirates, he talks about Tak Rennod and the treasure on Lanupa. This speech is a little like Fern’s outburst at the end of the last episode in that it’s actually very basic and could have so easily become silly or boring. Jude Law’s charisma carries his character and much of the show’s overall intrigue, with this scene being no exception. KB challenges Fern in this episode, and we finally learn more about her. So far, she’s been overshadowed by all three of her friends, so it’s great to get some insight into her. KB’s Geordi La Forge glasses aren’t just for looks; she was involved in a mysterious accident, leading to much of her brain being replaced with cybernetics. KB’s run down in this episode, feeling the effects of going without maintenance and the injuries she sustained in the previous episode. She walks Wim through fixing her cybernetics, saving her life, although he doesn’t initially realize the significance. KB tells Wim here that she’s afraid to be honest with Fern about her limitations because she’s essentially her only friend. I love Wim’s response that he and Neel would be her friends, not thinking anything of her disability. I also really enjoyed Kyrianna Krater’s delivery when she tells Wim he saved her life. It’s very nonchalant, but not in a forced way. 

Overall, both episodes are good, though I enjoyed “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” more than “Zero Friends Again” because it’s paced better. It’s nice when an episode actually leaves room for the characters to breathe.

Let us know what you thought of “You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates” and “Zero Friends Again” in the comments!

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