Last week, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew delivered a genuinely touching episode that allowed the kids to fully come together as a group. Elsewhere, Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood (aka Captain Silvo and many other names) was trying to save his neck while leading his former pirate crew to At Attin in search of galactic history’s biggest treasure. In episode 7, we finally return to the hidden planet, but things get more complicated for everyone involved…
‘We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble’ was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who helmed the surprising Chapter 19 of The Mandalorian and cracked last year’s perfectly fine big-screen blockbuster Twisters. This time around, he gets up close and personal, with only one big set piece ‘breaking’ the fun banter and constant betrayals that drive the episode forward. Much of Twisters’ charm came from those moments that made you care about all the surrounding chaos, and roughly the same can be said about his work here. Still, we can’t shake the feeling this would’ve been better off as a movie versus a randomly cut four-hour show.
Jude Law has consistently been a highlight of the show, and episode 7 gives him even more opportunities to steal several scenes. He didn’t just Captain Hook his way through the show either. Instead, Jod comes across as a far more nuanced and complicated pirate even if many of his motivations and insecurities are the same. It’s also here where those in the audience who are familiar with Watts and Ford’s previous works will notice their signature approach to adults that are horrible towards kids and teenagers to the point of threatening their lives. We got plenty of that in Watts’ Spider-Man trilogy, but the Clown and Cop Car vibes are strong with this one.
Looking to the future, there are plenty of upcoming Star Wars games to be excited about as well as the return of Andor in 2025 and The Mandalorian & Grogu hitting cinemas in 2026. The Force really will be with us always!
Spoilers ahead for Skeleton Crew episode 7: ‘We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble’
How do the At Attin parents contact their children?
Almost every episode of Skeleton Crew has cut back to the group of worried parents on At Attin trying to find and bring their children back home safely. Due to the tight runtime of each chapter, however, their scenes after the season premiere have been quite limited. In episode 7, they finally ‘break’ through the Barrier, though at the cost of getting caught by the planet’s security droids.
Only Wim’s father and Fern’s mother have received meaningful development, but this episode finds some time to underline how similar each parent is to their children… in their own, more mature ways. Though it’s a group effort, especially when it comes to distracting the droids, KB’s moms – as tech savvy as their daughter – are the ones who create a communication device that flies up and into outer space to quickly send a message to the lost youngsters in case they’re nearby.
The range of the device is never really addressed, and the message itself ends up being redundant beyond giving the kids an emotional moment right before they descend later into the episode. That said, this first scene explains that passage (either in or out) across the Barrier is nigh impossible without access codes or a ‘key’ that’s built into the ships used by Old Republic emissaries.
What’s the key to getting through At Attin’s storm shield?
Brutus and his motley crew are immediately disappointed by what seems to be an impenetrable storm. Even pirates know their limitations when traveling across the vastness of the “Star Wars” galaxy. Thus, Jod once again almost goes out the airlock before SM-33 confirms thanks to Tak Rennod’s diary that At Attin lies at the center of the gargantuan storm. How can anyone get through it without being destroyed though?
Well, it seems that at least one pirate in Brutus’ group was crazy enough to fly into it with a fighter to check what’s up. It’s refreshing to see a Quarren inside a cockpit, but it’s not long before the poor sod is blown to pieces. Brutus isn’t a patient captain and is just eager to get rid of Jod, but a potential answer arrives right before their eyes: the real Onyx Cinder, now perfectly captained by the group of kids. Rennod got in and out of the planet with it, so it must be the key or at least contain the solution to their present problem.
There’s no riddle nor mystery to be figured out ‘Indiana Jones style’ here though. After the Onyx Cinder is captured by Brutus’ much larger frigate, the kids make a last stand of sorts by using a voice modifier and trapping Brutus with a cargo crane. They’ve much to learn about pirates though, as no one really steps in to save the captain, who’s quickly relieved of his post (and his life) by Jod, who I guess we could call Captain Silvo again.
Brutus isn’t the only major character who bites the dust in this episode, as SM-33 loses his head after switching sides once again and helping the kids recapture the ship and fly into the storm (the Onyx Cinder is just a stolen At Attin ship). The “Star Wars” galaxy’s ‘pirate code’ doesn’t make much sense, and in this show, it’s just been used to force a number of situations. Not that pirate stories aren’t typically chaotic, but clearer rules would’ve been nice to have here.
Anyhow, it was time to put that episode 5 lightsaber to good use, but if you were patiently waiting for a Jedi-adjacent backstory to go along with it, you might be disappointed. “Skeleton Crew” keeps doing its own thing, and Jude Law’s character might just be a man born with the talent of tapping into the Force who made some really bad decisions in life. Redemption – a recurring theme in “Star Wars” – doesn’t seem to be in the cards, sorry (and we like that).
As for the solution to the storm dilemma, At Attin’s ships (and other authorized Old Republic vessels) have the access codes that deactivate the planet’s massive defense devices which generate its storm barrier and zap any unwelcome visitors with lightning strikes. Silvo manages to sneak into the Onyx Cinder and get to the planet, but he’s yet to find a way to bring the pirate frigate across the Barrier too …
How big is the treasure of At Attin?
While we’re not ruling out a pirate invasion and/or New Republic visit just yet, it seems that Silvo is on his own, lightsaber in hand and cheating his way as deep into At Attin’s installations as he can. It’s worth raising the question of why the planet’s security seems so lax; Silvo is smoothly welcomed as an emissary of the Republic only because he had the Onyx Cinder.
Then again, we know the Supervisor is either Rennod or a descendant of his, so the system has been corrupted and isn’t working correctly … even if everything seems normal for the citizens.
Silvo isn’t only welcomed by the security droids; he’s also immediately taken down to the mint and into one of the vaults housing an absurd amount of Old Republic credits. We also get to briefly see a vast mining operation of sorts, which suggests the planets chosen for the ‘Great Plan’ all have vast deposits of the metals that allow them to continue to operate for hundreds of years. “Star Wars” has sometimes struggled to convey how hard it would be to run either a Republic or an Empire on a galactic level, and after “Andor” walked us into a handful of the planet Coruscant’s most important government buildings, “Skeleton Crew” is doing a good job of showing an impressive fraction of the ridiculous amount of money the Old Republic government was keeping hidden.
Though he’s got no plan to get even a fraction of that money out of At Attin, nor his crew down to the surface, Silvo (or Jod, whichever name you like best) has probably never been happier in his life. It’s abundantly clear that money is the main driving force behind his actions, and his past seems less and less important with each passing minute. It remains to be seen what the Supervisor thinks about all this. Even with a lightsaber in his hands and a handful of hostages, our villain seems to be at a disadvantage and forced to continue to improvise.
Will the security droids finally turn on Silvo? Is the Supervisor inviting everyone in for a revealing chat at their tower? Will any of the parents sacrifice themselves to save their kids? We’re excited to find out how everything is wrapped up next week and whether there’s promise of a second season, but can we please get a slightly longer runtime for the finale?
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