It’s that time again: a new Star Wars show has dropped on Disney+, and it’s called Skeleton Crew! I’ve mostly enjoyed the Star Wars Disney+ outings and haven’t hated anything they’ve put out. I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Mandalorian Season Three and The Book of Boba Fett, but I’ve enjoyed Andor, The Acolyte, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. So when it was announced that there would be a Star Wars show focused around a group of kids and pirates as well as starring Jude Law, I was immediately intrigued. And now, after a long wait, it’s here. The first two episodes dropped together, so it’s time to see if Skeleton Crew made a good first impression.
Episode 1 began with a good ol’ fashioned pirate raid on a New Republic cargo ship. After a firefight and some forced ejections out of the airlock, the leader of the pirates is betrayed by their subordinates, with their fate left a mystery. Then we get put into the shoes of Wim, a kid living with his Dad on At Attin. He spends his days attending school, hanging out with his friend Neel, and learning all he can about the Jedi. After stumbling upon an abandoned ship with Neel and the dynamic duo of Fern and KB, they are whisked away into the stars.
The story of these first two episodes of Skeleton Crew can be broken into two parts. The first is the pirate side of things with the group of pirates seen in the trailers (the group with the wolfman). The second is the kid storyline, which revolves around four kids as they find the aforementioned abandoned ship on their home planet. I initially thought these stories would run parallel, maybe intersecting toward the end of the season. Instead, by the start of Episode 2, they’ve already combined them into one narrative, making me very interested to see what happens next.
I’m very much vibing with this story so far. I’m intrigued by the pirate side of things as it’s a side of Star Wars we haven’t really seen before (except for Hondo back in The Clone Wars). I’m also oddly invested in the kid’s story as well. Some people have claimed these kids are annoying, but I don’t see it that way. They’re just different types of idiots.
I’ll admit I was a tad sceptical about these characters leading up to the show, mostly the kids. Child actors can be really good or painfully awkward. But lucky for myself and everyone else, these kids are the former. I really enjoyed their characters and their dynamics with one another, with excellent performances all around. Sure, they do some dumb things, but they’re kids, and I don’t expect them to make the right call every time.
Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), for example, is textbook autism. His hyperfixation is the Jedi, has trouble paying attention, has time blindness, and takes everything literally. I can see how he may come off as annoying, but I saw it as rather endearing. Speaking of endearing, there’s Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), Wim’s best friend. This little blue alien has a heart of gold but is a tad naïve, but that’s what makes him so lovable. You can’t help but root for the little guy.
Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) is a little less endearing with her cool kid attitude and disregard for most other people. I’m still holding out for her character, though, because we’ll probs get her backstory, and it’ll be extraordinarily depressing (Mommy issues inbound). And then there’s KB (Kyriana Kratter), who’s just a chill dude with a cool visor. I would bet that it’ll be revealed she has social anxiety or confidence issues, which would be interesting to see explored.
I think these kids have done a great job so far, and I’m hopeful for the rest of the series. I also hope to see more of Jude Law in the coming weeks. We didn’t see much of him in these first two episodes, but I enjoy most of the stuff he’s in, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy him here as well. I also hope that we’ll see more of the pirates because they’ve got some really weird designs, and I wanna see how crazy they can get with the practical costumes.
There was one part of Skeleton Crew that didn’t sit quite right with me: the sets. They look fine enough, but they all looked so fake (I know they technically are, but shoosh). The main areas of these first two episodes, At Attin and the Spaceport, looked like they were ripped straight out of Disneyland. Moreso the suburban neighbourhood on At Attin than the Spaceport, but still, I couldn’t shake that feeling whenever we got wide shots of all the houses or looked inside buildings. I felt like I was on a Star Wars ride and not in the best way. The Spaceport, by comparison, looks better, but it still looks a bit artificial.
I am open to changing my mind on this, though. For instance, maybe when we see more of the Spaceport and other locations, they might feel less like an amusement park, which I think will most likely happen. I just wish I didn’t get that vibe from the get-go. Regarding At Attin, I have a feeling its manufactured aesthetic is by design. I would bet money that the entire planet is hiding something/being manipulated for nefarious purposes. If that ends up being the case, I’ll be more than happy to take back what I’ve said about the look of the planet.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is off to a pretty good start. I’m intrigued by the story and vibing with the characters, which are the most important things in my book. While I am a bit iffy about the environment and hope they get better/retroactively make more sense to look the way they do, I’m optimistic about the rest of the series. For more on Skeleton Crew and all things Star Wars, keep it locked to Couch Soup.
Have you seen the first two episodes of Skeleton Crew? What did you think? Are you going to continue to watch? Let us know in the comments where we can all gush about how much we love Neel.
